If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all. - Oscar Wilde
We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. - B. F. Skinner
No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. - Mary Wortley Montagu

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Review: Surrender My Heart by L.G. O'Connor / @LGOConnor1 @TLCBookTours



Series & Title: Caught Up In Love, Book 3: Surrender My Heart
Author: LG O'Connor
Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Publisher: Collins-Young Publishing LLC
Release Date: February 13, 2018
Genre: Contemporary, Dual Timeline (Present & Coming of Age), Romance
ARC Received From: LG O'Connor
Reviewed For: TLC Book Tours


Do you remember your first love in high school? What if you never stopped?

For decades, Katherine "Kitty" McNally has secretly loved John Henshaw, the man lying shot and unconscious in the hospital bed next to her. Then again, maybe not so secretly. Those closest to her, including her soon-to-be ex-husband, have suspected it for years. Their story ended with a gunshot wound the last time, too. Life seems to have taken her full circle, but only the dead know the secrets she still keeps.

Detective John Henshaw fell in love with his "Kat" the moment she became his geometry tutor in high school. When they graduated, he thought their future was sealed. Wrong. Enter life's nonstop curveballs. The worst two moments of his life were the two times he lost Kat. After thirty-five years and one failed marriage trying to forget her, he can't escape the fact that he's never stopped loving her. Maybe it's just his ego, but he could swear he sees a spark of love in her eyes every time she looks at him. That's what keeps him in the New Jersey town that holds his most painful memories. That's why he accepted his place decades ago as a family friend to the McNally sisters.

As John recovers from his injuries in Kitty's care, she has one last chance to confront her past and rekindle their love--if John can forgive her once he learns the truth.

**Romantic Women's Fiction - includes BOOK CLUB discussion questions. Contains adult content but little to no violence.

Follow up to the 2017 Kindle Scout Winner, Shelter My Heart.

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Other books in this series


When you have a chance to find out if there is still something there, do you take it? But is the chance enough to lighten the shadows that have haunted you for years?

In the case of Kitty and John, yes, the chance, the risk is completely worth it. Their romance started years ago. It was abruptly cut short due to outside forces, but the lingering feelings they experienced at such a young age stayed with them throughout the years. Some could say that their failed marriages attested to the love they had for one another. Some would argue they just weren't invested enough in those relationships. But, honestly, how invested can one be when their heart does, is, and always will, belong to another?

Coming home was a blessing and a curse for both. They could stand on the precipice and see a future together, finally, if only the past wasn't so dark. Wasn't willing to stay in the past. What you don't know can't hurt you, right? Or however that saying is. Trouble is, it can. No matter how much time passes, when the past comes knocking and demands acknowledgement, the future can't begin until the past is dealt with.

This story is, surprisingly, heavy. The overlapping timelines, the jumps between past and present, create an ocean of murky waters that need to be overcome to reach the shores of happiness. Ms. O'Connor is a new-to-me author. I haven't read any of the other stories in this series. But this story was worth reading.

Kitty and John's transition from teens in love to adults still in love is beautiful to watch but not without white knuckles and anxiety. Theirs is a well-written, well-developed, highly-detailed story that will demand much from the reader but also give much in return. The happy ending was a long time coming, and I don't mean the length of the book, and it was satisfying to see them stand together at the end, hand-in-hand, hearts belonging to one another, ready for a future that should have been theirs all those years ago.



LG O’Connor is a corporate marketing exec by day who takes her author cape out at night. An avid reader, she loves books with memorable characters that make her heart sing. She’s the author of the urban fantasy / paranormal romance series, The Angelorum Twelve Chronicles, and Caught Up in RAINE, her contemporary romantic women’s fiction debut. Shelter My Heart (a Kindle Scout Winner) is the second novel in her romantic women’s fiction series, Caught Up in Love, a series which follows three women in the same family on their road to redemption and a second chance at love. A native ‘Jersey Girl,’ she’s always in search of the perfect cup of coffee and fine Italian leather. Her perfect hero always keeps the heroine fed. You can find her new book, Recipes from Raine’s Roost (which first appeared on Joyce Lamb’s USA TODAY Happy Ever After blog), by Caught Up in RAINE hero, Raine MacDonald, on Amazon under the Cooking & Wine section.

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