e-Audio, 15:15:21
Narrated by: Wesleigh Siobhan & Jakobi Diem
Release Date: May 13, 2025
Published by: Hachette Audio
Read from: April 29, 2025
Skyland, #3
Source: Netgalley (I received a free e-ALC from Netgalley and the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Dementia, Sexual Content, Grief, Death of a Parent, Racism, Medical Trauma, Body Shaming, Car Accident, Death
For Readers Interested In: Neurological (Caregiver), Adult, Audio, Contemporary Romance, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Black), Romance, So Good I Read the Acknowledgements, Dual POV“Kennedy Ryan pours her whole soul into everything she writes, and it makes for books that are heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming.”―EMILY HENRY, #1 New York Times bestselling author Hendrix Barry lives a fabulous life. She has phenomenal friends, a loving family, and a thriving business that places her in the entertainment industry’s rarefied air. Your vision board? She’s probably living it.
She’s a woman with goals, dreams, ambitions—always striving upward. And in the midst of everything, she’s facing her toughest challenge caring for an aging parent.
Who has time for romance? From her experience, there’s a low ROI on relationships. She hasn’t met the man who can keep up with her anyway. Until…him.
Tech mogul Maverick Bell is a dilemma wrapped in an exquisitely tailored suit and knee-melting charm. From their first charged glance at the summer’s hottest party, Hendrix feels like she’s met her match. Only he can’t be. Mav may be the first to make her feel this seen and desired and appreciated, but he’s the last one she can have. Forbidden fruit is the juiciest, and this man is off limits if she plans to stay the course she’s set for herself.
But when Maverick gives chase—pursuing her, spoiling her, understanding her—is it time to let herself have something more?
*MY THOUGHTS*
It took me a little while to write this review because this book was a little personal to me. As of right now, I lost my grandma 12 years ago to cancer. She also had dementia. Add on to that, my aunt-in-law is currently in the beginning stages of this disease as well. This was so hard to read, but also so necessary.
I say that it was a necessary read because I have felt so much guilt with not being around as much as I could have been with my grandma. I felt a lot of some of the same things that Hendrix did. Granted I was away in college back then, but I always felt like I could have done so much more. But I also know it wasn’t really much I could do. There isn’t a cure and there’s not much any one person can do to help them. Hendrix helped me heal a part of me I didn’t know still needed that permission to feel better. Hendrix living her life and knowing that her mom would have wanted that for her made me cry happy tears. I spent a lot of my time cheering her on. Her mom is further along than my aunt, but at the same time, seeing her forget things in real time and just knowing that everything I just saw in this book is also some of the same things I saw my aunt do had me in tears.
The characters were my favorite part of this book tho. Hendrix was my favorite throughout the entire rest of the series, and I’m so happy to say she was just the same in this one. I was so happy that she got her happy ending. She deserved to be and feel seen. Maverick was the one who impressed me tho. He saw that she didn’t need saving, but just needed someone to SEE her and to help her. She needed someone she could learn from and trust, and he more than rose to the challenge.
The romance was cute tho. I was in awe with the way Maverick loved her. Just like the synopsis says, Maverick “pursued her, spoiled her, understood her” and there was no lie told. Usually I’m not a fan of millionaire romances because I don’t like the way they just throw money around to get what they want, which sometimes includes the love interest. But this one wasn’t like that. He spoiled her yeah, but it was with like flowers. Nothing that forced her to give an answer. It was pretty sweet to me. And omg the spice! I knew that Hendrix was going to be the ONE, but that closet? I gave Mav a little round of applause after that lol They were hot together and I thought they really complimented each other.
The friend thing was another layer to this one, but I was glad it turned out the way it did. This just felt more realistic. I hate to say that, especially since you know being a girl’s girl, but it is actually more realistic than being besties after something like that. Especially considering where they were in the relationship. I think it worked out for the best.
The ending was what I didn’t like. The thing that happens at their job was like an after thought. I wanted more there I think. Like since we brought it up could we have another scene in the court room? Could there be more of what happened to either one of them there? It just felt a little thrown on there so we could come to a stopping point. It made it seem like it didn’t actually need to be there at all.
This book was so much more than what I expected. I cried, I laughed, I swooned, I went through almost every emotion when i was reading this. I should have known this would be the case when I read another Kennedy Ryan book, but here we are. And let me tell you, I wouldn’t change it for anything. Now excuse me while I sit here on pins and needles and wait for the Skyland show to come out!!!!
Overall, I give this
