Review & Giveaway: Always Loving You by Sydney Landon

Always Loving You (Danvers #6)  by Sydney Landon

Publication Date: February 3rd 2015 by Signet

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the book:

Ava Stone has spent her entire life looking over her shoulder—waiting for the past to catch up with her....

After surviving a horrific attack as a teenager, Ava has never been able to truly overcome her fears. The incident was covered up by her family so she wouldn’t have to deal with it publicly—yet only one person understands what she had to endure in private: her brother’s best friend, MacKinley Powers, who found her the night of the attack. But even he doesn’t know everything—and she’s afraid to open up to him.

Mac has loved Ava for most of his life—and being in close contact with her every day as head of security for Danvers International isn’t helping. In fact, it makes him realize the painful truth: He has to walk away to keep his sanity. But when Ava is forced to rely on the only man who has never let her down, can Mac break through the protective walls she’s needed for so long?

My Thoughts:

Always Loving You was a beautiful, poignant romance with parts that gave my heart a good squeeze from the pain of longing in one breath, and then made me giggle, snort and laugh out loud in the next.

Ava has been in love with Mac, her brothers’ best friend, since she was a teenager.  He was her rock after a tragedy pulled the rug out from under Ava’s life, and stripped her confidence. She still bears the emotional scars.  Mac’s always been there for her, well, until recently.  It seems he can no longer wait for Ava, and has decided to move on, date with the goal of marrying and starting a family.  Ava feels her heart pang in protest. 

Mac was, without a doubt, drool-worthy. He was the kind of man that women turned to stare after as he walked by. And…now he belonged to Gwen.

Oh, there’s the knife to my heart!

Ava decides to go all out to win Mac back; she even has a plan of action, but can she gather enough courage to go through with it and fight for the man she loves?  Well, she’s got plenty of friends in her corner to root for her and help her along.   

Mac has loved Ava for years, but he’s realized that he can’t go on waiting forever for Ava to return those feelings.  Mac wants the dream: a wife and kids, but he’s resigned to the fact it may not ever be with Ava.  When he’s finally moved on, Ava turns into a dare-devil, coming out of her shell, and her stunts are scaring the hell out of him! Mac is also shocked to find out that the past is not as it has seemed, and he must ask himself if it’s possible to have the love and life he’s always yearned for with Ava afterall. 

My heart hurt for Ava, everything she went through and all the effort she put into appearing normal.  It was almost a good thing that Mac “moved” on with Gwen, because it forced her to confront her demons.  While I felt bad for Gwen in a way, Mac and Ava’s love was something that was epic and meant to be, and everyone around knew it.  If you’re worried about this being a painful cheating book, I wouldn’t.  Gwen is not in the book much, and there’s not any angsty, back and forth drama. 

I was supremely ticked at Mac in the beginning for moving on, but then I got his side of things and felt awful for him, as well. He, too, bore emotional scars and guilt from the tragedy Ava endured.  A bearing-of-souls, and hashing things out between Ava and Mac was long overdue, even if it did cause additional hurt.

I have to say, their romance was fiery HOT once things got sorted!  There was so much pent up emotion and longing making their physical connection utterly passionate and so heartfelt!  It made my heart burst with happiness for them.  

While parts of the story were heart-wrenching, a good portion of the story is laced with scenes that had me snorting with laughter! The scenes with Ava’s girlfriends were hilarious! The “labor and delivery: bitch edition” scene was beyond funny, and as Suzy said they needed an “exorcism stat” for poor Ella!

“What’re you laughing at?” Ella snapped. “You think it’s funny that your dickhead brother did this to me and then didn’t have the balls to show up? I hate your whole family, you…”

“Wait for it….,” Suzy muttered.

“Skinny, skanky skank!”

Labor pains are no laughing matter…Well, maybe not most of the time.

The girls definitely had Ava’s back, supporting her, making her laugh and giving great advice.  I love it when a story has positive female friendships instead of the usual mean girl stuff, and back biting.

Always Loving You was a compelling romance that will tug on your heartstrings, make you laugh, and leave you with a big goofy smile by the end.  After reading (and loving!) the excerpt of Watch Over Me I think we get a happy ending for Gwen in the next book, which is set to come out in September.  Can’t wait!

4.5 Suns

Connect with Sydney Landon:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

The publisher generously provided a Paperback Copy of Always Loving You by Sydney Landon to one Waves of Fiction follower. Open to US Residents only. Just fill out the rafflecopter below for a chance to win.

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