Wow, what an amazing read!

<b>Rhys</b> is Caleb's best friend from the first novel, and remember how he was married? Well this is his and Matt's story. Rhys grew up in a rare truly happy home. He grew up with parents who loved him and supported him and never left him, and a good sister too.

<b>Matt</b>, of course, had the opposite life. His dad left when he five, and his mother left him two years later, so he mainly grew up in the system. He broke my heart when he told the story of how he'd wait for his mom to come home on that stoop like he'd done when she still there, everyday for years.

And Matt's problems in this book really stem from that abandonment, and like who he is isn't good enough for the people in his life.

Rhys and Matt were such opposites, but they were so good for each other in that way. Rhys was light and good and happiness and he brought that into Matt's life, and Matt was someone who wouldn't leave Rhys and was as committed to him as Rhys was to him. That's all Rhys wanted, a life with someone filled with love and happiness and commitment.

But it isn't smooth sailed, it so very rarely, if ever, is.

When Rhys goes on tour for two months, Matt slowly starts to get worse and worse, as the doubts start to creep in, as old fears make themselves known. Matt pushed them all down to the back of his mind when he married Rhys because Rhys made him happy. But that wasn't dealing with already existing problems, that was just ignoring them and leaving them to fester.

Matt made mistakes, Rhys made mistakes. They got married to0 early - only after two and half months! - and while they did marry each other for love, they didn't quite think it all the way through, that it takes more than love to sustain a marriage.

But the thing is, they try. Even when Matt is so scared to, even when Rhys maybe gets a little too intense with how hard he's trying, they don't give up. Rhys doesn't let them, and when Caleb - who, if you guys remember, had his own shit to work through in the first book - says some pretty damn insightful things, Matt agrees to go see a therapist.

It takes time, and will be a lifelong thing, but Matt gets to a much better place by the end of all this, all because Rhys wouldn't give up.

Rhys' upbringing make him be a little short sighted, a little rose-colored glasses like, a little blind to the reality of things, but it also is, I think, what saved their marriage. Because Rhys believed in love, in happiness, in building a life together and having a partner. He didn't want to give up and he determined not to give up.

Not that Matt didn't love Rhys - he loved Rhys about as much as Rhys loved him (which is a lot. These two adored each other to the moon and back) - but he had such a self hatred, a fear that he was worthless and he ruined Rhys' life.

I loved how this author didn't go the usual route with that. And I mean Rhys giving in to Matt's fears for drama's sake and "letting him go" and then breaking up and going through more pain all for the ~drama of it all. This book didn't do that.

It had it's drama, for sure, but it came from a real place, and I loved that. It wasn't manufactured, and these two didn't break up, they didn't end at all, they worked through it, together, which so many pieces of writing with romance so rarely do. It's refreshing to have read it, and these sort of established relationship stories are the ones I want. The couple working THROUGH it instead of crashing and burning and then getting back together some time down the line.

Honestly, time apart wouldn't have done these two good, imo. Rhys would have just been miserable and heartbroken, and Matt would have been too, but he also would go on living thing it was best, that he stay our of Rhys' life and not "ruin it" and he would probably just get worse, with the added heart break on top, and would never get the help he needs.

These two staying together was the best thing for them, and I love <spoiler>in the end how they choose to renew their vows and have another wedding! With friends and family this time :D</spoiler>.

I definitely recommend this, especially if you loved the first book. Now I hope the next book in this series is abbout Huey (and hopefully Grin? Or maybe they both can have separate books? :D).

I loved this, everything about this book. It didn't shy away from the angst at all, but it didn't run into the same pitfalls many other books do (and I'm remembering how Riven did that too. There was still a break up, but it happened super early in the book instead of in the last 20 or so percent like books usually do). It just made this book that much better.

Definite thumbs up from me! <3

Is it normal to cry while reading the prologue? Asking for a friend......

There has yet to be a book that Roan has written that I have no adored, and I am here to tell you...Rend blew me away. The writing, the story, the characters. I simply couldn't get enough of this book. And It wrecked me. The emotions poured out of the pages and down my cheeks. Ugh. My heart, my mind....this one put me through the ringer.

But I loved it. So very much!

This was a very well written hurt/comfort romance. After about a year of dating, Rhys, an up and coming musician, married Matt, a former foster child working at a nonprofit organization dedicated to foster children. Rhys ends up going on tour, leaving an insecure Matt behind. Matt has a very hard time without Rhys due to his abandonment issues, but doesn’t want to upset Rhys or cause him to leave his tour to come home, and so he doesn’t mention his problems to him. The problems eventually come up, and Matt and Rhys have to work together to become better communicators in their marriage. I loved both characters - Rhys takes such good care of Matt, and poor Matt does his best in a married relationship despite his issues. I loved how they both loved each other so much and wanted to make their relationship work. I thought that the portrayal of Matt’s anxiety was well done. I really enjoyed this book because it was so well written and well developed.

This book was refreshing in that it's not about a couple getting together. It's about how you bring your whole past to a new relationship, and how being partners and staying partnered is hard work. Unfortunately, it devolves into a loop of the same issues over and over again.

I enjoyed Rend as much as I did the first book in this series. I absolutely loved the characters in this story and was glad that this story included the characters from the previous one. Theo and Caleb were my favorites, but in this story I absolutely enjoyed Rhys and Matt. Rhys was funny, sweet, charming and Matt was the complete opposite of Rhys but they fit together perfectly. They were two characters that both needed to feel wanted by each other and had two very different backgrounds/upbringings. I loved the love Rhys had for Matt. Matt was definitely an easy person to love but he had his own demons to fight and it definitely tested their relationship. This story was completely different from the first story and I appreciated that a lot. There were times I wanted to grab Matt and either shake him or hug him because he frustrated me at times, but no matter what I couldn't hate him because when it came to certain things he looked at it differently. This is a story worth reading and all I would say is to go at this story with an open mind because even though it is a romance story it has a little twist to it that seems a little odd but fits the story perfectly when you get to the end. Would I recommend this story? Yes, it was a great M/M read with characters readers will enjoy and a storyline that will have you wanting more from the very beginning.