Roni Loren has completely blown me away with her The Ones That Got Away series! The One You Fight For is the 3rd installment and just when I think she can’t top herself, Roni writes a book like this— fan-freaking-tastic! From the premise, I knew the storyline would be deep, but that was an understatement! Shaw and Taryn both grabbed my heart from the beginning and held on until the very last page! I felt the subject of this book (and series) is super relevant in today’s day and age and Roni Loren does an amazing job of showing different points of view! The One You Fight For is a 5 star novel that packs an emotional punch that will stay with you long after you finish! I am already excited to see what Roni Loren comes out with next!

Part of a series on the survivors of. A high school shooting.. it serves as a stand-alone but... you really should read the others first. Unlike many series I’ve read, these don’t have the rhythm and cadence that pull a reader in. Instead it feels like your dropped in on a run-on sentence and are scrambling to remember what came earlier. The story follows Taryn, a smarty pants, and Shaw, a personal trainer-esque former sports star. Both are traumatized from the incident in their youth. Overall it was a well plotted story but one that I didn’t particularly get drawn into.

Side note: I really, really don’t like how cramm d together the words on these pages are, but maybe that’s an ARC thing so I won’t let that affect my review

The One You Fight For is great. I love the way the author infuses lightness into heavy themes. She also has a knack for creating chemistry between the main characters that leaps off the page becoming a living, breathing entity. I love the way she does banter it seems so effortless. I thoroughly enjoyed this book Thorpe that Kincaid is getting a story because in really looking forward to reading it. I love this series and highly recommend it to contemporary romance that doesn't shy away from difficult themes.

Loving these books. Hooks you from the beginning and doesn't let go til the end. Have been hooked on these books since the first one.

Roni Loren’s The Ones Who Got Away series brings romance into a decidedly unromantic story – the lives of a group of friends who survived a Columbine-like high school shooting.  Considering the nature of the subject matter, this is unlikely to be a romance for everyone, and definitely won’t be a comfortable subject for every reader – but for me it was a well done combination of love story and everyday storytelling that was wonderful to read.

Dr. Taryn Landry has been fighting a war with her own guilt for years. Her sister Nia was one of victims of the Long Acre High School shooting fourteen years earlier, and Taryn suffered with survivor’s guilt ever since. She responded to this personal disaster by becoming a psychology professor and by stuffing her life with bright, energy-spending activities.  She spends much of her time in a research lab when she’s not teaching, trying to create a program that will help protect children from school shooters and act as a stopgap between on-site prevention (i.e armed guards) and crisis management. In addition, Taryn devotes a lot of her time caring for her mother, once an independent, strong woman, who has been subject to paranoid delusion and clingy fearfulness ever since the shooting, all of which leaves her little time for a social life. And though Taryn dreamed of a life of world travel, she has spent her whole life in Long Acre, hampered by panic attacks, unable to make the big leap and move away.  After a terrible date arranged by her best friend, she wanders into a downtown bar during open mic night; an acoustic performance of 4 Non Blondes’ What’s Up leads to a panic attack when she remembers Nia’s love of her singing.  But little does she know destiny is calling her name.

Shaw Miller experienced a different trauma related to the Long Acre High shooting – his brother Joseph committed the crime.  Shaw had once been an Olympic hopeful in gymnastics, had a happy family and dreams for the future – and all were lost in Long Acre, his brother shot dead, his family traumatized by press attention, his father lost to addiction and the scandal killing his dreams. He has PTSD and became an alcoholic; buried in years of shame, guilt and trauma, he’s tried to lie low and move on with his life, getting sober and changing his first name to Lucas.  When a friend asks him to move back to Long Acre to help him run a struggling gym, he accepts, albeit a little reluctantly. When a series of events connect him to Taryn, he wonders if he’s really deserving of such a miracle – but his only plan is to get the gym in the black and flee town before the press figures out who he really is.

After their chance meeting during Taryn’s panic attack at the open mic night, she and Shaw are instantly attracted to each other but drift, thinking they’ll never see each other again.  Fate brings them back together at a Halloween-themed run for victims of violent crime, where she collapses, breathless, during the run from another panic attack. She accepts Shaw’s offer to help her train as part of her stress-management techniques, and soon, the pair figure out that they’re the wellspring of each other’s pain – but don’t expect to be the wellspring of each other’s passion.  The more they train together, the closer they get and the hotter the flame between them glows, but Taryn and Shaw have a lot to overcome to make a fresh start together, to reach the dreams they’ve both been hiding and to claim a future untainted by the shadow of the past.

The One You Fight For is heavy, and I mean that in the absolute best way possible.  This is a midnight-dark subject to write a romance about, and there are occasional bobbles along the way, but Roni Loren gets the entire trauma of the grieving process – from panic to grief to acceptance and growth – perfectly right. Add on a swoonworthy romance and you start out the year with one excellent contemporary.

I really loved Taryn. Her love of James Spader movies, her wish for a normal life, her strong connection to music and her strength of conviction make her an engaging heroine. Shaw is just as memorable, his drive more strongly athletic and devotional in nature, his sense of humor slightly sharper and edgier.

As a couple, they support and challenge each other, nudging the envelope.  There is a note of forbidden romance here, for the truth could destroy Taryn’s mother and ruin Shaw’s new business; some might find this idea slightly hinky, but it works.  What doesn’t work, however, is a late-book plot complication that blooms into an annoying cliché.  There were quite a few more interesting plot threats to work with, and when the book focuses on Taryn’s inability to balance her mother’s illness with her relationship with Shaw, or meditates on gun violence and nature versus nurture predators, it was easy enough to stop moaning and grinding my teeth about that one narrative choice.

Of the supporting characters, Taryn’s friend Kinkaid is hilarious – a pushy and forward busybody who just wants Taryn to be happy.  The two of them licking their wounds after a downbeat moment cheering for/giggling at a biker’s spot-on Michael Jackson impression is one example of their wonderful ridiculousness. Taryn’s other friends Rebecca and Liv - heroines of the series’ two previous books – appear in this one but aren’t central to the story.  Shaw’s friend Rivers’ motivation shifts mid-book; at first he wants to use Shaw’s fame to boost the gym’s profile, then he wants to keep his presence under wraps.  I found this to be pretty confusing, and it’s partly why I detracted a few points from the final grade; I did the same for Taryn’s parents’ attempt at pushing her around  (I know their traumas run deep, but when your child’s heading toward forty I think you’re beyond the point of demanding they break up with their significant other.)

For some readers this may be an extremely upsetting and traumatic subject for a romance, and I can understand why they might never read it.  But I found it to be a beautiful and spellbinding to experience.  The One You Fight For is in the early running for romance of the year.

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I really enjoyed this book. I have never read this author before. This is part of a series; I felt slightly out of the loop but not enough so that I wasn’t able to figure it out. Shaw- sigh. He was hot hot hot. And taryn was a smart, fierce heroine. Spoiler: this does have references to a school shooting. But the love story was great and now I want to go read the rest of the series.

I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
I have read the earlier books in this series and The One You Fight For was already sitting on my tbr list when this galley popped up. I clicked instantly. For a series about such a relevant, political, topical subject, Roni Loren does all sides justice. Whilst I have enjoyed the previous books, I think this one was by far my favourite to date, and this is because of Taryn and her love interest.
I absolutely loved the characterisation behind Taryn and how both her history with Long Acre and her education made her such a special character when the going got tough in this book. I loved how we saw her growth as she realised how of much of her present was dominated by her past. The way she speaks to Lucas when he tells her is worst fears is very powerful. It's hard to imagine a person in Taryn's situation could say it, but her character is written so well, you believe her.
Lucas.... Oh, Lucas. What a position to be in, what a burden to bear for so many years. My heart broke many times for his history. What I truly liked about his character was his honesty with Taryn as soon as he discovered the truth. Any kind of deception would have been a disservice to this story. How he tried to take everything on alone,feeling it was his cross to bear was so difficult. It was so lovely to see him understand that he had a place and person to share that with.
I'd like to take a moment to applaud the author was not making this book overly political. Of the three, this would have been the easiest to do that with. The message - as with the other books - was very clear. We all know the damage these events have brought. I thought it was particularly poignant to take a look at the side of those we don't always consider in the aftermath.

*ARC from NetGalley for Honest Review*
I Give this Book a 3.5 but listing at 3/5 Star Rating.
Heat Level: 3.5/5 (Not a Bad Thing, but nothing even close to the Hot Scenes in her Loving on the Edge Series, much much more mellow)

I’m Happy to say I’m Satisfied with this book, than I was with the previous two books.
*Im scratching my head as I write this cause I don’t want to full out tell you what happens in the book like a play by play like I’d want to.

The previous books to me felt lacking, this one seemed to actually go somewhere.
I finished this book within a few hours, I was drawn in by the first sentence and hooked, kept reading till I hit the end.
I found it not ‘fast’ paced, it flowed a heck of a lot better too. It was pretty clear halfway in how the story was going to go, but didn’t mind it :)
Taryn & Shaw, both very likable and understandable characters in their own way just not necessarily together, Taryn had said some very nasty things to Shaw that I was a little unnerved by, even though I understood the reason behind it, I don’t have to be happy about it.
Shaw was a Character I just wanted to hug and hold tight and not let go.
*Despite these two working out pretty decently, I feel that they deserved two separate books that way animosity wasn’t to apparently upfront in situations.
The ending/epilogue was good but it was really like it came to a stand still and your like...what?.
I’m a sucker for a True HEA.
(I wish I could just say the ending so you’d understand but I don’t want to spoil)
It just needed to be.... MORE, more happy maybe a bonus epilogue of a year later? Something like that would be great.

So I would have to classify this as a Stamped HEA.

I enjoyed this third installment in this series. I really felt for Shaw and I liked that Taryn stood up for herself towards the end. While this wasn't my favorite so far in the series, I still liked Taryn and Shaw and that Shaw came clean about his identity early on in the novel.

Another winner in the Ones Who Got Away series about survivors of a school shooting years earlier. Taryn lost her sister in the shooting and her whole life is based on educating people to make sure it doesn't happen again. She struggles with relationships and her parents constant fear for her safety. One night she meets Shaw who is going by the name Lucas because he doesn't want anyone to know that his brother was the shooter. Shaw's feelings of guilt for not seeing the pain his brother was in and stopping it somehow have kept him running from reporters who hound him. When Taryn meets Shaw the attraction is instant but when they find out how they're connected it's devastating. Great love story of second chances and trust.

The Ones Who Got Away series by Roni Loren is amazing, but this book in particular struck me in a profound way. I found myself laughing out loud in one chapter and tearing up (okay, maybe even more than tearing up) in the next. This is a series about survivors of a school shooting, but the shooting itself is a small part of the story.

The One You Fight For is about learning to let go. Let go of the guilt, let go of the shame, and let go of working endlessly to atone for what you couldn't control.

It is a vividly woven story that draws you into the souls of these characters and takes you on their journey to find the happily ever after they don't think they deserve. .

I fully recommend it (as well as the other books in the series) and can't wait for the next one!

Are the sins of our family inherited? If one brother is bad, does it stand to reason the other is, too? And what makes kids go bad, so bad, that they shoot up a school?
In what I call the Longacre series, Roni Loren gives us the third book, THE ONE YOU FIGHT FOR, and tries to answer those questions.

PH.D and Psychology Professor, Taryn Landry was one of the survivors of the Longacre school shooting 14 years, in which she lost her sister, Nia, to Joseph Miller’s bullet. Taryn has devoted her life to trying to find what makes a kid act out in such a way so we as a society can predict and prevent it from happening again.

Shaw Miller’s brother was the shooter and just as many other lives were destroyed in the shooting, so too, was his. A promising Olympic hopeful, Shaw had to drop out of society due to the guilt over what his brother had done. A name change and the desire to keep his real identity a secret are the only way he can move forward in his life.

When these two meet, neither knowing who the other is, an attraction that staggers both of them hits hard and they begin a relationship based on that attraction. It’s inevitable that the truth will somehow come out and destroy the love they’ve developed.

This book is the third in the series and it’s my favorite one yet. Themes of forgiveness, unconditional love, and putting the past behind you are all explored with Loren’s usual fast paced style. The love scenes are hot, the protagonists, hotter!

I want to thank Netgalley and Sourcebooks for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 5 well deserved stars for an excellent and timely-themed book.

The tragedy of Long Acre mirrors so much of the contemporary violence in schools but I’ve never read a romance series that details the lives of those who actually live on in the aftermath of it—and how a single, catastrophic event drastically alters everything they’ve done or believed in.

In ‘The One You Fight For’, Taryn Landry and Shaw Miller—victims in their own right as siblings of the victim and the perpetrator of the shooting—still find themselves reeling from the events more than a decade ago, still paying in their own ways for what they perceive as their penance for playing a part for what went down and upturned their lives. For all of Loren’s focus on the victims and the fallout of the shooting in her previous books, I hadn’t considered at all, how close relatives would have dealt with this and Loren finally forces this into the limelight with Shaw/Taryn taking centre stage in this instalment.

Shaw and Taryn meet in a series of serendipitous events that took a number of twists and turns getting there: from an anonymous song at a bar, to a run where Taryn collapses and eventually signs up at a ninja-warrior-type gym where Shaw and his friend are setting up.

Loren’s brilliance at portraying brokenness and the ‘relatability’ of characters however, is as heartbreaking as it is compelling to read about: each of her protagonists, guilty for the small things they thought they’d done to contribute to the tragedy, each trying to make up for their perceived culpability in their own ways.

What moved me the most however, was the utterly downtrodden Shaw, who couldn’t see beyond the need to punish himself for something he didn’t commit for his entire life: for being related to the shooter is by proxy meant that he was guilty as charged, for how he’d never been able to shrug away the stigma, at the abuse he’d received from so many (the sharp, acid tongue from Taryn notwithstanding when she said some cruel things), for the yearning to only be ‘normal’.

I had a sort of inkling how this would go down from start to end. Taryn and Shaw aren’t hostile rivals to begin with, but what binds them is something more devastating and perhaps even notoriously taboo in the place where they live.

Conflict after conflict seem to await them up to a point where their loyalties are stretched and pulled in different directions, to the extent where the climax is a predictable one from the lead-ins and hints that have been given, as is their bittersweet resolution. Taryn/Shaw’s rather abrupt epilogue is hard-won nonetheless, though I did somehow wish for a more-iron-clad one that’s more inferred than given past the last page.

This book has a lot going on. There's tragedy, friendship, gulit, redemption, and romance. Steamy romance. But at the core of the story is two people who long to live a life of their own choosing, instead of the one forced upon them through no fault of their own. They find in each other the unconditional acceptance all of us long for, the courage love can give you to make the chances you want for yourself, and the strength to stand for what you believe. Taryn and Shaw find themselves blindsided by passion for the one person they shouldn't want but do, practically throwing lighter fuel on an already explosive situation. And learn that sometimes love is not be enough, but love and courage may just be the key. 

A lot of great storytelling, just the right amount of steam and a great happily-ever-after that all of us book junkies need.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebook/Casablanca for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. I believe this is part of a series. This is a moving story, I laughed and cried. It talks about a survivor of the Long Acre HS shooting, their trauma, and guilt, and trying to move on. Gary is a strong woman, who has built of her own, she has fantastic friends who support her! Shaw on the other hand is built ridden with not so much emotional support. I was impressed with the sensitivity the author used on this very emotional subject. I rate this book a 4.5. I think most romance readers will enjoy this book.

Roni Loren's The Ones Who Got Away series tells the story about the survivors of the Long Acre High School shootings. Years later the characters are still dealing with guilt, PTSD and all the media attention. The books are focused primarily on the romance, but also how to live and love after a catastrophic event,