I reviewed this for the June digital edition of RT Book Reviews magazine. You can see my full review there

There's so much that's wrapped up in this story. It isn't just about Rebecca's PTSD over the school shooting over a decade ago. There's so many layers to this story that it's hard to not get enveloped in it all. Both Rebecca and Wes have been through so much in life. Not only does Rebecca have emotional and physical scars from the shooting, but she also has this crushing sense of guilt over it all. She feels like there was something she could have done, things she could have done differently that would have prevented that tragedy from happening. Wes hit rock bottom when his wife divorced him, drug his name and his livelihood through the dirt, took his future away from him, and left him with nothing. He's starting to get his feet under him when we meet him coming to Rebecca's rescue. Little do we know how entwined their past, present, and future really are.

One thing that I loved about this story is how completely different these characters are. I'm not talking about their personalities, but their current status in life. Rebecca is a highly sought after divorce lawyer who is on top of her game. Wes is just starting to pick himself up off of the ground. He's starting to get that spark of life back in his eyes, and I loved watching these two come together. Not only does Rebecca help bring him to a better place, but he helps calm her and allows her to see that there is more to life. These two were perfect for each other.

I love that this story is so much more than what the synopsis leads you to believe. I thought it was just going to be a romance that would explode at the climatic part when Wes finds out that Rebecca is the lawyer who helped his ex-wife ruin his life. Instead, that bomb is dropped close to the beginning which leaves so much more story development to take place. And trust me, there is a lot of awesome plot twists in this story. If you're looking for a well-rounded romance, then you have got to pick up Roni Loren's, The One's Who Got Away series.

What to say about this story? Loren rocked it. There was so much to this one that I can name just one thing good about it. Rebecca has PTSD from a tragic event 10 years ago. A mugging goes wrong and she ends up rescued by a man she helped destroy. Makes for some great drama but it gets dealt with earlier and there were so many other great things to develop. I just adore this new series!!! I can't get enough of Lorens' writing style.

*ARC from NetGalley for Honest Review*
I Give this book a 3 star rating

I’m a MEGA fan of Roni Loren, as soon as a book comes out it’s an instant buy.

This is a good series don’t get me wrong, but it just seemed lacking.

The Beginning for both characters were great, then when the characters meet and so on so forth it seems to drag a little too long.
To me, it just felt like the characters were put together just to make a storyline like a filler, I didn’t care much on how the two interacted with each other, they just didn’t fit. I don’t normally get bored with Roni’s books, but I had my moments of just impatiently tapping my foot, and wanted to order the book to get to the point already.

Despite this review, I don’t give up on my favorite authors.
This Book just didn’t click with me.

Would I read more from this author? Heck yeah!

Second in the series, Those Ones Who Got Away, surprised me for a minute. It wasn’t like the first book, and I realized I would have been disappointed if it was. These survivors are moving on with their lives and at different stages. By the second chapter I was completely swept up with Rebecca and Garrett’s story. Both had past demons and that raised their ugly head at times. Rebecca and Garrett slowly learned to lean on each other and love began to grow Learning that together, they just might make it.
Roni Loren has written another great story worthy of a five star rating and I highly recommend this series.

I was super excited when I saw this book, the first book was great so I had high hopes and I wasn’t disappointed, I thoroughly enjoyed Rebecca and Wes’ story, I loved the age old theme of opposites attracting. It’s a beautiful story full of depth and emotion. Looking forward to more of the series.

This is the second entry in a series featuring survivors of a school shooting, and I enjoyed it even more than the first book. Rebecca carries guilt leftover from the shooting, and Wes somewhat unfairly lost everything in a divorce where Rebecca represented his ex-wife. But they meet again through chance and come to realize that the future is more important than the past. I look forward to the next installment.

What I love: THIS SERIES!!! So excited to get to read the newest one!
What I like: The storyline in this one was fun. MC Rebecca is still battling those Long Acre demons...some she has NEVER voiced to anyone. I liked that this was similar to the first book, but different.
What I hated: can't say I hated anything.
A definite read if you read Book 1. You can pick this one up and read it without the first one, the author does a great job of recapping just enough that pull you into this one without needing book one. BUT, she doesn't recap so much you get bored if you did read the first one.

4.5 stars

Wow!! I absolutely loved this book! This story was so so good. With everything that is going on in our country right now, this book is such a real mirror of life for many. The subject of school shootings are real, and I really like how Roni addressed the subject in both books in this series. She doesn't sugar coat it or smooth over anything. She shows the ugly and real truth for the victims and the shooters aftermath. And I found myself in tears several times throughout this book.

I would highly recommend this book and the first book in this series. They are both very well written, and the characters and story line are just as intriguing.

So, SO GOOD!!!! I loved this book from start to finish, even more than I loved The Ones Who Got Away. Roni Loren is an amazing author, officially able to cover a wide range of romance, from the kinky to the sweet. Can't wait for more from this series!

The One You Can't Forget is a beautifully written, compulsively readable book that will melt any readers hearts. I enjoyed every single second of this novel and know it is going to be a hit with romance fanatics. It's swoon worthy, utterly emotional, and contains characters you wouldn't mind befriending. I absolutely recommend this one to all readers.

4.5 stars

The One You Can’t Forget is an emotional but ultimately uplifting story. The author has found a way to get you thinking about the horrific subject of a mass shooting in a way that you might not have already. We see Rebecca seriously struggling with some demons caused by this trauma she has survived. Such an event has altered Rebecca’s thinking to such a point she cannot forgive herself for how she once treated someone in high school. Her actions, however as mentioned in the book, though typical and common for a teenager become something so much bigger in her mind as a result of the trauma she experiences. It made me think about how much we are shaped by the different experiences we go through in our life, bad or good but particularly the truly awful and negative experiences.
I loved Wes’s character. I thought he was so loveable and honest with his feelings and struggles which only made him seem more down to earth and genuine which in turn, to me, is what made sense about the relationship between Rebecca and Wes.
I found the relationship between Rebecca and her father to be an interesting dynamic. The relationship had a very realistic feel to it in the way it wasn’t picture perfect, nor was it horrific or abusive but somewhere in between the huge spectrum that is a parent – child relationship. There was a level of dysfunction and her father struggles with some control issues but you could see the love still very evident in the relationship, for example within the honest dialogue they were able to have with each other, particularly towards the end.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. As I said I found it ultimately uplifting despite its central theme, as Rebecca works to overcome her struggles and deal with the trauma she has lived through while finding a way to continue to grow and help others. I’d definitely recommend this book.
*Thanks to Netgalley and Publisher for ARC*

Roni Loren weaves another fantastic tale. Rebecca is wracked with guilt over a past mistake and stumbles into a situation that feels like redmption to her. Wes is sexy and delicious and Rebecca's partner in in every way. I love how the book's titles have such a deeper meaning. "The One You Can't Forget" was not who you might initally think. I highly recommend this series!

‘The One You Can’t Forget’ isn’t a title that lends itself to easy guessing—one could be forgiven for thinking this is a typical second-chance romance when it really isn’t quite—but the unique context in which school-massacre survivors rebuild their lives brick by brick has put Roni Loren on the book map for me.

For Rebecca Lindt, the woman who’d physically escaped the school shooting, but remains mentally fettered by it years later, ‘The One you Can’t Forget’ is pretty much her story. Despite the book being a romance between a disgraced chef and a staid lawyer who’d a painful teenage school dream and had it shattered underfoot, only to find love again much later, it’s also a story that I can get more or less behind, because it’s probably the most realistic type of narrative out there that states love (with a different person) can be found again, in a different time, in a different context entirely.

The kind of mediated response Rebecca had to the world as she got lost in her career, the so-called philosophical musings she had concerning love and life, the complexity of survivor guilt, the lingering effects of PTSD, and the slow steps back into getting into a relationship with a person who’d once come and gone in her life are what Loren expresses very well. I just wished she had more courage where Wes was concerned, though that was (incidentally) resolved through an untimely interruption that proved to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back for them.

It was impossible not to like Wes just as much though, considering he was a protagonist who was as well-crafted as Rebecca with his own motivations and his own demons, yet had gone through the tunnel with a clear vision of the mistakes he made and the precious insight he’s gained from them. That he talked about them, laid out his feelings for Rebecca and stepped bravely out of his own comfort zones? Absolutely brilliant. In fact, I loved seeing every step of his growth and the uptick of his fortunes the moment he and Rebecca crossed paths…which Loren almost writes as kismet.

If I wasn’t entirely sold on Loren’s first book, ‘The One You Can’t Forget’ definitely worked out better for me, with an epilogue that’s tooth-achingly happy and a wrap-up that made me think that Wes/Rebecca’s hard-earned HEA was nothing but well-deserved.

great mystery and heart. i'm newly addicted to this series and i can't wait to see where it takes me.

To put it frankly, this one just wasn't as good as the first. There was no drama to the central relationship. There was an argument, one character would leave and then in the very next scene they'd be thrown together and would just reconcile their problem by talking. Which is probably the healthy way to deal with problems in real life but doesn't make for very interesting plot.

Our hero felt flat. sexy chefs are my catnip but he was an open book: there was no mystique or journey for him to embark on and us, the reader, to root him om.. Our heroine had a rather predictable journey to finally coming to terms with what happened to her in high school (the series traces survivors of a high school shooting) and included many of the cliches of over achieving, albeit lonely, lawyer.

The other females in the story remained as interesting and varied as they were in the first novel and I look forward to reading their stories in books 3 and 4, but dang the cast of supporting characters surrounding our hero were boring. His brother was smug and insufferable and his friends, both male and female, spoke with the exact same tone and style, as if they were all created from the same cookie cutter. It was by no means a bad read, just not a very captivating one. I'd give it a solid 3.

Oooooohhhh my! What a fantastic read! The One You Can’t Forget is the second book in Roni Loren’s, The One’s Who Got Away series and it’s an absolute must read! I didn’t read the first novel, but I had no issues with starting with book 2. In saying that, I will definitely be 1-clicking book 1 asap!

From the moment I started The One You Can’t Forget, I was totally captivated with the endearing characters! The storyline was paced perfectly and I was amazed with the amount of depth Roni Loren packed throughout this 5 star novel. This book gave me all the feels—love that! I am so darn excited for the next book in this series!

Devoured this book in a day! Roni Loren is my new favorite after I bought the first book in this series and the follow up didn't disappoint. I LOVE her well-developed female characters who have passions, emotions, interactions with other female friends. I wish all romance novels were this good!

This was a very solid book 2 of the series. The trajectory of the romance, the character development. The trauma and suspense. It was thrilling, comforting and hopeful all wrapped up into one!

Oh Rebecca! I loved loved LOVED The Ones Who Got Away. LOVED IT. So I was super excited when I realized this would be a series! I was a little hesitant about Rebecca because I didn't originally click with her. However, I was pleasantly surprised! I loved Wes, though! He was such a treat to meet and idk why but his gruff attitude got to me good.

I'm so excited for the next book in the series!