Everyone has a plan.
Dr. Guy Hunter secures his dream fellowship with a beautiful free spirit by his side. Two unexpected blue lines don't even shake his resolve—he is on his way to having it all. Until he isn’t.
Abruption: a sudden breaking off
Jules Chiappetti loves her boisterous over-involved Italian family but is determined to pave her own way. An MBA and boardroom job is her ticket out. Until it isn’t.
Abruption: an unexpected event
Four years later, Guy is consumed by the challenges of being a single father, still struggling with the aftermath that derailed his life and left his son with special needs. He doesn't realize his world went dark the same day his wife's did, until Jules, his son's new nurse, shows him the light.
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Review - Stars
This book! How do I even begin! This books is amazing! It
broke my heart, made me laugh, and had me fanning myself from the heat. This
story is beautifully written and so well plotted. They had me guessing, a lot.
I’d think I had it all figured out, then I’d think, oh maybe not. This was a
vicious cycle! One of the things I love about Riley Mackenzie’s books is the
way they present the medical information. They explain it in a way that I
understand and to bring further awareness to the issues, they have more
information in the back of the book. It’s pretty awesome. And, let me just
swoon for a sec, the ending…oh, the ending… *sigh*
This book is a complete standalone, however Guy is a
prominent character in Riley’s Mackenzie’s first novel, Beautifully Awake (OMG
5 fan-freaking-tastic stars for that one too). It was fun to see the drop in by
one of the other characters too. At the end of their first book, I wanted Guy
to have his own story, so I was stoked to finally get it! He’s adorable and fun
in that book…but in this one, they added smoking hot, a fabulous father, and,
as if that wasn’t enough to make you swoon all day long, has a dirty mouth in
the bedroom. Just writing this review makes me want to go back and start all
over from the beginning again.
Guy has been handed a crap lot in life, it doesn’t get
any worse than watching your child suffer. He doesn’t regret giving up his
dreams for his children, they are his whole world. But, that doesn’t stop him
from wishing things had been different. Things have been hard and he’s had to
make sacrifices and concessions, all because of someone else’s selfish actions.
With all of this weighing on him, it’s easy to see why he closed off his heart.
And yet, it doesn’t take long after meeting Jules for him to open himself back
up again and I loved that. He’s skeptical but he doesn’t fight the reality and
refuse to see how special she is once his misconceptions are blown away. Guy
has a huge heart and he isn’t able to stop himself from sharing it with Jules,
despite the hurt knowing that she is still holding up walls between them.
Jules has had her heart shattered into pieces and she is
positive that it is irreparable. On the outside, she is happy, loving, and
content with her life. But the reality is that she s coasting through life,
simply being, not living. Then Guy and his sweet, sweet babies burst into her
life and she isn’t able to stop the influx of emotion they bring with them. Now
she is caught, wanting to open her heart to them, but afraid that if she does,
the fragile stitches holding the last vestiges will disappear and she’ll never
survive it. Yet, there is no way to keep them out, they were made for each
other.
I had several scenarios in my head that were
possibilities for the ending, I guessed correctly with one of them, but I
didn’t know which of the 5 or so options was right, until it was revealed. But,
unless you carry ridiculous, completely useless knowledge in your head from
certain movies, I think you’ll be shocked.
I can’t recommend this author duo enough. I have loved
each of their books and Abruption is definitely high up on my re-read list.
I’ll be harassing them frequently to put out a new book as soon as possible!
This is definitely a must read! 5 Huge stars!
“I’m not playing games, Dr. Hunter.”
I backed up until I was leaning on the opposite counter, crossed my legs, and folded my arms against my chest. “Then explain to me why I haven’t heard from you all week. I get it was our first date and it turned into a really shitty night, but I thought we ended on a high note.” Jules’ eyes widened and she bit her bottom lip. Yeah, she thinks it ended on a high note too. “I text, I call a few times, and not once did you think to pick up the phone or text back. I’m the first to admit that I’m rusty in the dating department, actually if you want to know the truth, I haven’t dated since my wife died. I’ve hooked up, not going to lie, but I haven’t dated someone with the intention of getting to know them. You’re the exception. So I’m asking, what’s with the games?”
“I needed a minute.” Her voice was low and trailed off. So much so, I thought I misheard. Then she broke eye contact and scurried away, opening cabinets and drawers for plates and silverware.
“A minute, as in four days?” We apparently had a different definition of a minute, so I needed clarification. Suddenly, the anger I thought I was over began to resurface. “Look, Jules, I’m sorry I don’t have the luxury of tiptoeing around your feelings here, so I’m going to come straight out and tell you that your minute doesn’t work for me. And it sure as hell doesn’t work for my family. I’m not trying to pressure you into anything, but I have kids, kids that already know you. Kids that already like you. This was not news when we hooked up. So if you aren’t into it, into me, or you decided all of a sudden you have an issue with my baggage, I need to know and we’ll end it now.”
Before they get too attached. Liar. Before I get too attached.
Damn, she was making me soft. She froze mid-plate grab and pivoted back around with her eyes squinted together at a peculiar angle. This expression was a new one and not one of my favorites if I had to compare. “Baggage?” She dragged out the word and cocked her head more to one side. Shit. “You think I consider Maxine and Finn baggage?” The tide changed, and I sensed she wasn’t exactly feeling me right at this moment. “Is that what you’ve been thinking all week? Seriously ... seriously?” The second seriously hit an octave I’d yet to hear from her and probably could do without hearing again, so I opted to use my northern brain and keep my mouth shut. “How could you even think that? Not for one point one second. Do you hear me?”
Nope, still not answering. That was a trick question.
“Have I ever given you any inclination that I had an issue with Finn or Max, ever? No. Never!” She answered for me, loudly, and she was pissed. “I adore your children, and I’m just as attached to them as they are to me. That’s why we needed a minute. Everything was moving so fast. You don’t even know anything about me and you opened your home to ... to me. You called me a natural, for God’s sake. You have no idea. So I didn’t know what to do with that, and you needed time to think about all that. I’m not sure either of us were ready for what we already let happen, never mind more. That’s why I didn’t call.”
Oh, we needed a minute. What were we, French now? I was tempted to call her on it, especially on the half of what she said that made no sense, but the look in her eyes stopped me. There was a vulnerability there, a softness, so I let her have that play. For now.
“Tell me, are you sure now?” I asked with a bite. She turned her back to me and unwrapped and plated the breakfast sandwiches.
Don’t think so, doll. You got your answer, my turn.
I walked up behind her, pressing my front to her back, pinning her in. She involuntarily shuddered, sucking in a bit of air when I kissed the spot where her neck met her collarbone. “Are you sure, Jules?” This time I asked against her skin.
Her entire body stiffened and she whispered, “No.”
Fuck.
Riley Mackenzie~Authors
Yep. That's an “s.” There are two of us!
We’re East coast girls separated by Long Island Sound who met in Physician Assistant School and have been besties ever since. We can safely say that thirteen miles of water does not get in the way because we talk or text, no exaggeration, at least 150 times a day. No, really, we do—about everything and nothing. Shockingly, we never (we mean never) run out of things to say. Umm, ever. We definitely laugh A LOT and we’re a tad sarcastic. And if we’re being totally honest, one or two people might have, on occasion, used our names and ‘dramatic’ in the same sentence. But it’s hard to trust the sources since they married us.
It only took twelve years, two husbands, five kids, two dogs, and a two-week vacation in Cape Cod later to decide the romance world needed a splash of medicine. Write what you know.
So you can easily find us at 4 o'clock on Bank Street beach with a glass of cold Prosecco brainstorming. And guaranteed if we bump into you, literally, it’s only because our iPhones are glued to our hands (totally out of our control) either writing or editing our next novel (and yes, it is possible to do from your iPhone, we mastered it … damn those straight quotations).
When we are not working on our book or reading the latest angsty romance on our kindles, you basically name it and we have it going on. Soccer, lacrosse, golf, swimming, dance, gymnastics, football, chess, baseball, basketball, skiing, ice skating, school, homework, and more school.
Oh yeah, did we forget to mention our careers in medicine?
Needless to say, we realized fast that something had to go, so we opted for sleep. It’s completely overrated (yet so AMAZING) and delirium makes everything funnier. Good thing we share a brain and can pretty much complete each other’s sentences (definitely weird, we know).
So that’s our story, who we are … just add AUTHORS to the list!
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