Finding Him
Grief is one of those things where it seems like there's no end in sight. The darkness consumes you, the pain that grips you and refuses to let you go. Some people let it swallow them hole. Others? They may find a outlet like drinking, music or maybe working out. In the end its a long process. With out a doubt Finding Him is the perfect mixture of hope, love , disappointment and with a dose of RvD humor.

In “Finding Him “(Covet #2) by Rachel Van Dyken we are brought into the life of Julian (you will remember him as the twin from “Stealing Her”). He is having a difficult time – between the coma, his mom and losing his fiancée to his brother. Everyone believes time away will help, but when he shows up at the family cabin there is already an occupant. Keaton has had a terrible year and is looking for time away from everything and the cabin she rented seems perfect – that is until Julian shows up. When they get trapped by a snow storm they both must face their pasts in a way they never thought possible.

But can two heartbroken people heal each other enough to move forward to their own next story?

I received an ARC of this book through Net Galley and this is my honest review.

WOW! Rachel, you rocked this duet! I laughed, I cried, I cried some more, and I most importantly, fell in love with these characters. I really didn't want to put this down! 5 amazing stars for this but it truly deserves more!
Meet Julian, trying to move on with his life after his coma, when he meets Keaton, he feels things differently for the first time in his life.
Read along and enjoy their story, I would say more but feel this one is best experienced as you read along!
Thank you Rachel Van Dyken for pouring your heart out in this story and giving them the best life ever!

I read an advanced copy for an honsest review.
Keaton is "America's Sweetheart". She is a social media celebrity, who has lost the "Love of her life" and with the public is still mourning. She has promised to write a book about their story and and has rented a secluded cabin to do it.
Julian has been paid pack from Karma big time. After being in a coma, having his brother impersonate him and then marry his fiance (who he cheated on), his mother has just passed away. He just got to reconnect with her (parents were divorced). He is on breath away from "popping his cork". His brother suggests he go to the old secluded family cabin to regroup.

Keaton and Julian both find themselves at the same cabin! A blizzard comes in and leaves them stuck with eachother. They are literally at eachother's throats until an accident causes them to work together. They let down their walls a bit and let the other person in.

In some ways I thought this book was a triangle. It was Julian, Keeton and the Ghost of her late boyfriend/the fans. It's also a story a bout being brave enough to move forward for both of them.
Keeton has to decide what she truly wants. (Move forward or stay locked in the past) Julian has decide if he is ready to let go of all the anger he has been carrying.

This book has some nice surprises and was a satisfying read. (less)

Rachel! I’m wrecked!! I knew Julian would be a great guy but gah his journey is heartbreaking and Keaton...your depiction of fame and how quickly people turn is spot on. Which is sad for her. I’m so glad she finds her peace:) Bonus—we get two love stories. Noah is a beautiful soul! Wow I have no words...cancer sucks and I’m sure many will find that his story reflects their own journey & maybe they will find strength through his story:)

Four months after Julian Tennyson finally has awoken from his coma, he still struggles with how his world was turned upside down. Now, trying to deal with the aftermath and have a relationship with is twin again he decides to get away to his cabin to regroup. Sadly, renter, Keaton Westbrook, is already there and now they have to try and get along and cohabitate. Can they without killing each other? They are both trying to escape their personal emotional situations. Maybe they can find the healing they need within each other. “When I touch you, I don’t feel so alone.” Ugh, my heart! A beautiful story of two broken people trying to move on. Their banter and chemistry with each other is perfection. I wasn’t a fan of Julian in Catching Him until the end of that book so I’m glad we got to meet the real man and his story. We were introduced to Julian in Catching Him (covet series #1) which is his twin, Bridge’s story, but it is not necessary to read prior as this is a stand-alone. Told in dual POV

“Knowledge of pain is knowledge of life . . . it’s like cutting off your blood circulation, suddenly you feel nothing, you just watch the blood—life itself—leave a part of your body. The pain you feel later, the tiny prick of needles attacking your skin, is the side effect of healing, it must happen for healing to take place. The pain gives life, and one day, the pain . . . it will stop. Today . . . isn’t that day, princess.”

Have you read the first book in this series called Stealing Her? If you haven't you need to go check that one out, not because you need it before you read this one, but because it's a fantastic story. It's so original in a world where a lot of books are versions of every other book. It's not easy to find something so fresh, unique, and captivating.

“For one hour. I just want one hour where—” I stopped myself.

“Where what?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that you’re the eye of my storm? The calmest part of my life when everything around me is chaos?”

I had a little bit of a hard time getting invested and interested in Julian in the first book. I loved Bridge the moment I met him in Stealing Her. With Julian though, it took me getting to know him in this book to adore him as much as I did Bridge. These two brothers had so much healing to do, I'm glad that they did not give up on each other.

I hesitated then asked, “Why a kiss?”

His lips pressed into a smile. “Because it’s the only thing that exists in this universe that tells you everything without saying a word.”

Julian and Keaton were perfect for each other. I don't think anyone else could have understood the other more than they did. One of my favorite things was how vulnerable Julian was, and having Rachel show us that from his POV. I think that helped us understand him so much more.

"And I would be sure to win that war. I just had to help her. And do something that I’d never been able to do in all of my years on this planet—make her fall in love with me.

And not fuck it up.

Make her fall in love with me.

And stay."

Rachel delivers another book that had my full attention the moment I started it. These books are flat-out amazing. I hope you pick them up and fall in love with these brothers like I did.

"The power of the word depends on the presence of other words in the sentence, but nothing will ever be as powerful as a word. Nothing lasts forever and reveals more of itself over time as you mature—the written word does. These are Keaton Westbrook’s words. Some will hold power, some will take it away, but every single one will bleed with love. Because just like words—love lasts forever."

I really liked reading about Julian. You get to see what he was thinking and everything that went on in his head as being the favorite brother. In finding him, he does just that. He finds himself and realizes he has become a better man. Keaton is just what he needed.

4.5 stars
After reading Stealing Her (spoilers for that book are coming so abort now if you have not read it!), I was so excited to get Julian Tennyson's story! Julian awoke from a coma to find that his fiancee' was now in love with his twin brother. And his twin also had been running the family company. And after one final loss, Julian is in a dark place and is encouraged to get away.

Keaton Westbrook is offspring to Hollywood elite and a social media influencer. But she had the ultimate love story that ended in tragedy. So she is sad, lonely, and grief-stricken. She is also overwhelmed by a deadline for the book she is supposed to be writing about it, so she needs peace and quiet.

When they both end up at the same cabin in a storm, sparks and barbs fly. The ruthless, moody, bad boy meets the goodie two shoes. But they are both broken and mourning in their own ways. And somehow find an unexpected way to connect. Neither of them usually let themselves be vulnerable and hide under their public images, but somehow they can see below the masks.

But their real lives are public and full of scrutiny. He is trying hard to be a new man, but he has a made mistakes and has a reputation. She is stuck in limbo and the public does not want her to move on, even if she might be capable. They find it hard to break their connection. But being seen together could cause a media firestorm.

Can he only be a dirty little secret or will he ever be enough? Are they strong enough to let go of their pasts and face a new beginning together?

This is Julian's story of forgiveness, growth, self-awareness, and redemption. I honestly really liked him in this one. We see more of his hidden heart and pain that he used to keep buried and it makes him a much more relatable character. I actually sympathized with him often. I enjoyed more with his brother, Bridge, and Izzy and their ongoing reconciliation. And Keaton was a media star and was pressured to follow standards and expectations. The situation was complicated, and they both had challenges to their healing. But I was rooting for Julian to win this one and find his little bit of happiness.

Finding Him by Rachel Van Dyken is the second book in the Covet duet. Julian Tennyson's life has been one nightmare after another since waking up from a coma to his brother taking his place at the company and his fiance. The passing of his mother has put him over the edge and under the strong recommendation of Tennyson's Financial's board he is taking a mental health vacation. The last thing he expects when getting to his family's cabin in the Vermont woods is another person saying she rented it out. Keaton Westbrook just needs some peace and quiet to write the book she promised to her dead boyfriend. What she gets instead is an angry Julian Tennyson trying to buy his way to peace and quiet by kicking her out. When the weather refuses to allow anyone to leave the cabin for many days the pain of loss and mourning unites these two unlikely people. But when the real world comes calling are they able to keep the solace they've found in each other when the rest of the world is watching.

Julian Tennyson is portrayed in the first book to be a selfish and manipulative man. Although so much of it was smoke and mirrors it's hard to separate that initial opinion of him until you read this book. He broke my heart into a million pieces. He just wanted to be loved and understood for all he did for his family and rather than being able to show that he just lost everyone who mattered. Not to say all the sins of the past are forgiven but for a character to so blatantly accept that he was not a good guy but wanted to change made my heart hurt. He opens his heart to Keaton and all you want is for him to be happy because that's all he tries to do for her.

Keaton Westbrook has lived her life in the public's eye forever. Being a social media personality brought her to her first love Noah in the hospital and trying to tell his story brings her to Julian. Her complicated feelings about moving on felt so real because how could you not hesitate after loving someone the way she loved Noah and then lost him. It hurts me just to think about. But when she finally lets herself be with Julian it's so sweet yet snarky keeping him in his place like no one else ever dared.

This story is about living life after losing those most important to you. It's about finding a way to continue on knowing that mourning is fluid and will always be a part your life. Julian losing his mother hurt because she knew the real him when no one else truly did, until Keaton. Him allowing Keaton in through all the sins of his past was powerful in way that can only be appreciated if you read the story. Keaton telling Julian Noah's story also hurt but because it was needed for them to ever truly understand each other. This is a hard fought for HEA.

4 stars for Finding Him, a story filled with tears, smiles and swoons.

Very emotional story between Keaton and Julian. Keaton's recent past was so heartbreaking and I loved how Julian helped her through it all. In helping Keaton, Julian had to be vulnerable and open his heart.. He was able to forgive his brother and absolutely redeem himself.

I enjoyed this book much more than the first in this series! I loved the chemistry between Julian and Keaton right from the get go. Julian completely redeemed himself. This was quite the emotional journey, but it was still light and sweet. Loved the epilogue!

After reading Stealing Her, I wasn't sure what to expect from Julian. Finding Him is a beautiful ode to the unpredictable journey that is grief as it is of love. You don't always know until after you lose someone the impact that the person had on the trajectory of your life. Keaton and Julian suffered before they met and together the grew and started to heal. I have yet to be dissapointed by a book that Rachel Van Dyken has written.

*** 3.5 STARS ***

I have to say, I wasn't the biggest fan of Julian in Stealing Her and thus I was a bit reluctant to start this book even though I wanted to find out who he really is / how the accident changed him.

It took me a while to get into Finding Him but I ultimately really enjoyed it and read the final 60% of it in a single sitting. I really loved the female main character Keaton and I also liked Julian a lot more than I did in book one (which is what I was hoping for and why I picked up this book in the first place). When it comes to Izzy and Bridge however, I have to say that I'm still not their biggest fan even though I'd hoped that seeing them as an established couple in book two would help with that. Another aspect I really disliked in this novel was that Rachel Van Dyken used one of my least favorite tropes towards the end of Finding Him and the excuse the characters used to try to justify it just definitely didn't make it okay for me. But I'm also pretty sensitive when it comes to that trope because I just hate it so much and I don't want to spoiler it now but it might be something that wouldn't even bother most people.

All in all however, this was a quick and fun read and even though there were a few things that bothered me, I still definitely enjoyed reading Finding Him and I'm glad I picked it up.

WOW!!! This was my first book ever by this author and it most definitely will not be my last! I kind of feel like I got a two for one with this one because we were able to see glimpses of the love story between Keaton and her first love as well as Keaton and her forever love! This book sucked me right in and I was not able to put it down until I finished. I read this book and one day because I just couldn’t put it down. The writing was excellent and I quickly felt invested in both of the main characters. I can’t wait to read more books by this author!

I really enjoyed reading about Julian. This is the follow up to Stealing Her and to really appreciate this one, you do need to read the first book. In the first book we get a little about Julian and let’s face it, most of it was bad! This book we get to know him and realise what a good man he is post the coma and maybe not so bad before. Keaton is going through grief and her previous love story had been lived in public. She is America’s sweetheart, Julian is definitely not! They are well suited when they get to know each other, she is reticent about being seen in public with him - what would the fans say? You feel Julian’s hurt about this as he fights to be good enough for her - when he is already good enough, thankfully there is a HEA and a rather satisfying epilogue.

Thanks NetGalley for the copy for an honest review.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I love a good romance novel, especially a YA one where I don't have to deal with the smut. I enjoyed this book and this series way more than I had anticipated. It is cheesy and predictable but sometimes you need books just like that!

I love Julien. I just love Julien. I really can't wait for the next book.

I was waiting for the second book in this series because I needed to know Julian’s story from the moment we met him in the first book.
Many times, life gives you opportunities to change and he had a big change coming his way in the first book. Forced closed proximity is a favourite plot and the author has done a great job in showing another face of these characters and how their lives changes in that unfortunate encounters.
A story about a second chance at life and love that really matters.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley. I have absolutely adored every book by Rachel I have read. She is a fabulous storyteller, but this book just wasn’t for me. I don’t know what it was but I just couldn’t connect with either character. I think the set up for the story was great. Maybe it was that I just don’t get into super sad stories? I don’t know but I found myself dragging and struggling to finish. I will still continue to read everything she writes though, because even though this story was not for me, all of the others were.

I was looking forward to Julian’s story and I hate to say that I was very disappointed in it. It was just so depressing to me. I was like is this guy ever going to find his happy? Then you pair him with Keaton and her situation and I just had to stop and take a breather. It was just all too sad and emotionally draining. By the time they did find their happy, I was over it.
Arc provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.