Review of The One You Fight For (The Ones Who Got Away #3) by Roni Loren
The One You Fight For is the third book in the series The Ones Who Got Away.
Taryn Landry lost her sister in the Long Acre school shooting, and she's dedicated her life to preventing tragedies like that from ever happening again. Her entire focus is on fighting the tragedy and the guilt of a secret she's been guarding since that night.
Shaw Miller has spent fourteen years running from what his brother did. Known to be the brother of one of the Long Acre shooters destroyed his life—his Olympic dreams, his family, and the life he held dear. He's started over with the help of his best friend. New look, new name, and a new business where he can just be Lucas Shaw with no one the wiser.
Neither of them planned to fall in love, and the pain of knowing what his brother cost Taryn drives Shaw crazy, but when you let one aspect of your life consume you, where does happiness fit in?
This book wasn't quite as good as The One You Can't Forget.
Taryn was a character who'd defined her entire life by a tragedy. Her life's work was noble, but she lived and breathed it with no downtime. She didn't take breaks and hardly slept as she prepared her work to be presentable before people who might give her program a chance. After a health scare citing stress as the cause, she agrees to sign up at a gym with a friend in order to get healthier and work in some time that's not focused on her research.
Shaw was the stronger of the two characters, one that had real depth, anguish, and conflict built in. He's spent his whole adulthood running from his brother's legacy, and once he discovers the new woman that's caught his attention is a survivor of the tragedy his brother created, he panics. Eventually, he knows he has to tell her who he really is, not Lucas Shaw the trainer, and hope she doesn't out him.
The back and forth between the two, the draw for each other despite their secrets, built their relationship up to a satisfying peak. Their chemistry filled the pages and made the characters pop even more. The women Taryn is friends with from high school act as a sounding board and support system for her troubles, but Taryn keeps Shaw's identity a secret from everyone to protect them both.
Shaw's hidden identity was the obvious Chekov's gun. It would come out and throw him and Taryn to the wolves. And it does. The knowledge of who he is and what his brother did causes more problems than they expected and made for an intense climax. My heart broke for them and despite it being romance and the HEA ending being requisite, I was tense with a desire to know how it turned out, and it wasn't what I expected.
The twists and turns of the plot made for addictive reading, and the writing pulled me in.
Dialog was good, not forced and rarely cheesy, though there was little difference in patterns of speech for all the characters. It's hard to come up with individuality in this, so finding a book that does so well is a treasure. Unfortunately, this is not one of those books.
Descriptions were also good, but not great. There was little description of locations besides the gym, not even Shaw's apartment where they spend a good deal of time. The bar they meet at was pretty clear, but those were the only two places. I would have liked much more of this to anchor me in the story better. I have a tough time immersing myself unless I know where I am. People were clearer, and I knew what everyone looked like. Action sequences were easy to picture and follow. Settings are crucial to convey, and authors are advised to think of them as an additional character. Roni Loren did not.
I enjoyed this book, and I think these were the most vivid characters of the series so far, but not the best book.
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