5 Smooches!
Synopsis
*** Inspired by a community tragedy ***
(Characters and other events are a work of fiction)
“Forgotten Treasures is beautifully layered with twists and revelations you will never see coming! Dani Hart keeps the pages turning in this sweet romance sprinkled with the hope of undying love. I found myself engrossed, demanding to know what happens next. Each revelation is another key to the puzzle. Perfectly complex! Mesmerizing.” Addison Moore, New York Times Bestselling Author
“I have read some great books so far in 2015 but this one is definitely in the top 3 for me. I could not recommend this book any more- you should not let this one pass you by.” Kellie, Eye Candy Bookstore
In the aftermath of destruction, hearts were destroyed, strengths were stripped, and vulnerabilities were exposed.
A community was ripped apart after a tragic accident, and the loss hit one family particularly hard as it claimed the lives of three, leaving only one surviving member to pick up the pieces and move forward.
Baylor’s life was wiped clean in the blink of an eye. No family, no home, no name. That is, until she met Brandt. He took a chance, giving her hope and a reason to start over. A reason to rebuild a life full of forgotten memories. A reason to trust. A reason to love.
Finding love in all the right places should be easy, but when truths are revealed, it’s anything but. Brandt will help her rediscover the true meaning of unconditional eternal love that will prove painful, life altering, and redeeming.
Together, they will try to face the future and will use each other’s strengths to learn how to live again. Can they rewrite history, or in the end, will the tragedies of their pasts be too much?
Music Lyrics by Brogan Kelby
Review
There are those books that we read to lift us up. There are those that we read to make us laugh. As romance readers – be honest now – some of the books we read are purely for their smut value. Every once in a while, we come across a truly special book. Something so profound and meaningful, a book that invokes such deep feelings and responses in us merely by what we read on its pages. This is one of those books.
Truthfully, I didn’t want to read this book. I even put it off for a few days. I picked it up, started it and put it back down to return to later. I’ve had a long, scary and depressing week, and I was fully expecting this to be nothing more than a morose and tragic sob fest that I wasn’t sure I was up to reading. But this is what my RCR blogger boss lady assigned to me, so this is what I was reading. And I couldn’t have been more wrong. Oh, don’t misunderstand me, this was book was tragic alright – immensely, overwhelmingly, horrifically tragic – but it was also surprisingly full of hope and a love so deep, true and pure that it was staggering. No, I wasn’t expecting that, not at all.
“In my eyes, you will always be my little girl. No matter how old you are, I will always come to your rescue.”
Baylor lived a golden life, adored by her loving parents and Tessa, her best friend/sister. Tessa was in the throes of her own beautiful love story with her high school sweetheart, Grady Reilly. Through them, Baylor is introduced to Grady’s stepbrother, Brandt, and that meeting was the unmistakable beginning of a special, once-in-a-lifetime love story. It’s benign to say that Brandt and Baylor’s “attraction was instantaneous” because, really, how can you describe the moment that two halves destined to become a whole meet? There is no way to adequately describe that, but yet somehow the talented Dani Hart managed to capture this poignant moment between Brandt and Baylor perfectly.
“I love you, Bay. You’re the reason I breathe.”
Two years after they met, surrounded by the ones they loved most, Brandt and his Bay married in a touching private ceremony. Little did Brandt and Baylor know that that day, one filled with such happiness, promise and love, would also be a day so heartbreakingly, horrifically and tragically life-altering for all of them.
“My heart was bleeding a pain that no one could ever explain.”
Unfortunately for Brandt and his Bay, the aftermath of their wedding was but the first stop on their tragedy train ride. Fate had more pain in store for them, so much more that, frankly, it left me breathless. But through all of this pain, through all of this tragedy, the one constant force that held them up and together was the love that Brandt and Baylor had for each other. That love fed their strength and their wills to move forward.
“You’ve always had so much strength. Where does it come from?”
“From loving you, Bay. It all comes from loving you.”
This was one hell of a long and painful road these two had to travel to get to their happily ever after. The thing is, while it was painful and difficult to read at times, it was honest and real and yet still had this undercurrent of hope and love running through it. Brandt never wavered in his love of and devotion to Baylor, and even while she was so immersed in her pain and the all-consuming darkness she felt, the one thing – the only thing – she knew was that she loved him, and she clung to that love with both hands.
“…fate has it’s own plans and failed to ask us what we thought.”
This book is an epic journey of the promise of real soul deep love, loss, healing and, finally, redemption. It is one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read. I started this book warily and with a very heavy heart, I just knew I was in for a deep and heavy read and I wasn’t sure I was up for it. I finished it with a much lighter heart, one full of hope and reminded of the beauty of true love. It’s an amazing experience when an author can make her readers feel so deeply and honestly, it’s a rare gift and the mark of true talent. This book was so well written, so richly developed and the characters and their stories so remarkable, it has earned 5 smooches from me!
“Their love story may have started out tragic, but they were destined for a happily ever after ending.”
~ Danielle Palumbo
