Some authors, you leap at the chance to read their latest book. Susan May Warren is one of those. Last year, I reviewed It Had To Be You, When I Fall In Love, and Evergreen by her.
Today, I want to share Always on My Mind
with you. As I hoped at the end of the last book, this one is about Raina and Casper. At the end of It Had To Be You, Casper found out that Raina and his brother Owen had a fling before she met Casper. Casper didn't handle that well, and took off for the tropics. Meanwhile, Raina discovers that fling had some long term consequences.
As Always On My Mind opens, we find Raina great with child, living with Caspar and Owen's sister, Grace. Casper can't get Raina out of his mind and decides to go home. He shows up on Grace's doorstep, not knowing about the baby, only to find Raina in labor!
Raina pushes Casper away, believing that he feels sorry for her or wants to "fix" her situation, but not that he could love her enough to look past the circumstances. She relinquishes her baby for adoption, believing it to be the best choice for her baby, and refusing offers of help from the Christiansen family.
One of the things I love about Susan's books is that you get the chance to check back in with characters from earlier in the series. As Casper and Raina traverse the rocky path to friendship, we get to see what's going on with former couples, like Derek and Ivy, who are expecting a baby, and going through their own troubles.
Lonely, damaged Raina is the perfect prey for Monte, who seems nice at first, but becomes controlling and abusive.
The adoptive parents Raina chose for her baby, Layla, turn up pregnant unexpectedly, and decide to cancel the adoption. The social worker offers to find another nice family for Layla, but Raina decides to raise her baby on her own.
I enjoyed Always On My Mind, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, The Wonder of You, due out this summer!
I haven't read any of her books, but you've sparked an interest for me. I'll have to check them out. The story line of this one sounds intriguing.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing.
Wishing you a lovely evening.
xoxo
I've really liked all of them. As an older mom, Evergreen was meaningful to me, as it was the parents of siblings from the other books. It dealt with "empty nest" and regrets and such, and was thought provoking for where I'm at in life. But I also really liked the hockey one. They're the sort of books that make your chest ache.
DeleteI used to read a lot of fiction like this. Now I mostly just read non-fiction.
ReplyDeleteDoing book reviews has been a blessing to me, in that I wouldn't ordinarily take the time to read so many neat books "just" for pleasure.
DeleteI haven't read that book but I've heard good things! It sounds fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get a chance to pick it up! :)
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