Beautiful love story about hidden pain and second chances.

This is a second book in The MacDonald Family Trilogy, but can be read as a standalone novel.

Grace Brennan and Ian MacDonald were lovers once, even engaged. Until Grace left, leaving just her ring, but no explanation with it.
10 years ago, she is back in London. After a life as a war zones photographer, she has seen her share of cruel things and then some. Even her young protégé had died before her eyes. Experiencing the turmoil of emotions, she longs for safety and home. But will Ian, the only man she has ever loved, be willing and able to give her a chance to start over again?
Ian is also unsettled. He gave back everything for Grace and then she left. He is in no way broken, but he is playing it safe from then. A good work with nice salary, success, even some dreams fulfilled...but always working on someone else's happiness, but not his own.
So when he and Grace meets, it is like fireworks. Love, hidden in both of their hearts, is back. But Grace has a lot of issues and pain hidden. How can they live in safety - if there is no safety in the world?

Beautiful, emotional love story. I am not always a fan of second chances,but here it is more than justifiable - they just belong together. They complement each other, they challenge each other and they love each other.
But...but. It is not just about love, love is not enough to make any relationship work. It is also about a hard work, recognizing your weaknesses and working on them for the happiness of "us", not "me". It is also about trust.

I like them both. Grace is more complex than Ian (he is the quintessential good guy, she is the bad girl with heart) and I get her completely, even with her running away from the risky safety, punishing herself. It is immature, of course, but oh-so-human. I also get Ian's safety net - he is doing a good work, he is valuable, he is giving something out. He is "just" not living fully.
Grace is fire to his wood and he is haven to her ship.

The fire between them is moving on the edges sometimes with their hot kissing, but never entering the fully physical zone (there is no sex, to speak bluntly). This is not the fully Christian fiction book, mind you, so a conservative reader might be offended sometimes. I was not, as I get that they were living not as Christians - but they value lovo much more than just giving in into temptation and they want to commit to each other in marriage. But they are on their way to recognize the Living God.
So if I was a bit bothered with something, it was not the tension between them per se - it was that the hidden pain/conflicts/the problems to solve got less space than the love story. I think some of their problems (individual or the pair problems) needed more space. Like Grace's issues from seeing too much suffering.

But these are minor issues compared to the beauty and hope which this book oozes. I was "forced" to read slowly, as I didn't want to miss even a word. Uplifting in its realism, this is the book to read when you suffer from hurt no one is seeing or recognizing. And when you need hope.