Rend, in its way, is even better than Riven, which was so good. But it's not a fair comparison. They are very different romances. Riven is meet-cute, getting to know one another, struggles and division and eventually such a great HEA.

Rend is a story of after. After a quick marriage, before Matt and Rhys know each other as well as they think they do. It's told from Matt's point of view, and Matt had a rough childhood. Parrish eases the reader in. ...By the time I reached the middle, more or less, the point at which Matt's Big Bad Past really hits him hard, I KNEW why he did what he did and hid what he hid. I knew what his silence was for. I just about used up an entire box of tissues from there to the end, despite some laughs. I adored how Theo and Caleb played such important parts.

But it's more than that. In a very real sense, this novel illustrates what privilege looks like from the outside. From underneath, looking up. It's heartbreaking. Reaching their real HEA is not simple, not easy, but it is all heart. ( )

I know it's rated a four star book but it had some major flaws. I was on edge this entire book reading about the characters. I think this book suffers because the topics (mental illness, foster care, poverty, abuse) are too serious to be used in a romance book format. So the book takes these topics and forces them into a romance formula and it doesn't work for me at all.

The big blow-up "miscommunication" fight in the middle of the book just destroyed any care I had for Rhys. He's a brat (non-fun) and continuously acts like it, he's supposed to be a sort of well-adjusted happy character but he was throwing up red flags everywhere he walked. If one of my friends had gotten into a whirlwind marriage romance with him I'd have suspected abuse. And the story rides that edge. It's never actually abusive, but the power structure is MASSIVELY unbalanced. For me the tension came from never being sure if the story was going to follow the romance HEA or veer off to where it was going naturally, which was a much darker story.

I also felt like BOTH characters needed mental health intervention but only one is deemed the "problem" and a dose of therapy is all that happens for him. ( )

After the absolutely beautiful love story that was Riven, I thought I knew what I was getting into with Rend but wow was I wrong. This book put me through an emotional wringer and I have truly forgotten how much I cried. This is not the story of two people falling in love, but about how two married people deeply in love have to fight for their relationship when there are unresolved issues.

The story is through the single POV of Matt, who we realize from the get go has lot of issues to work through. Being a product of the foster care system, he has serious abandonment issues – first by his mother, then his aunt and then by the other foster parents before he ended up in a group home. He has really never learned how to want for anything, because he would never get it. He gets overwhelmed by even having to make the simplest of choices, can’t believe why Rhys chose him and never trusts that their happiness will last. It’s a very melancholic narration and being in his head is very sad and exhausting but it did make me feel satisfied when he decides to work on his issues.

Rhys is almost the exact opposite of Matt. He has a very larger than life personality, always lively and active and and only wants Matt to be happy. But being from a very happy family and having led an almost privileged life, he doesn’t always understand what Matt is going through or why he wants to keep his past a secret. He is also possessive by nature and wants to fix everything by himself. However, the second half of the book revolves around both of them deciding to try to be more honest and more open with each other. It was wonderful to see that despite Matt almost falling apart and Rhys hurting due to it, they never leave each other and their unconditional love is never in question. They really are each other’s partners and support systems and even though, sometimes it felt like they were too dependent on each other, I think it worked for them and also made me believe that it would only get better.

The writing in this book is truly magical. It made me sad, cry, laugh and fall in love with their love and adoration for each other. It shows us that marriage is not the end but the beginning, and I thought the author explored the highs and lows of the couple very well. The setting of their home in Sleepy Hollow, their late night walks to the cemetery and Matt’s pensive sadness or even his nightmares made for quite an eerie ambiance and I don’t think I could have chosen a more atmospheric book for the month of Halloween. It was also nice to see a little more of Theo and Caleb and they played important roles in helping our main characters – Theo’s wanting to be friends with Matt and Caleb trying his best to help Rhys keep his sanity were definitely turning points in the story.

If you want to read a love story like Riven, then this is not that book. But if you want something that explores the deep issues of a man who has seen so much unfairness in his life but still wants to do good and hopefully, live a life of peace with the man he loves – then you will love this one. Its emotional, you’ll end up crying buckets, but it’ll ultimately make you happy because theirs is a love for the ages.

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Read this book as part of the 2019 Members' Choice Awards Challenge.
Categories: Best Performance/Visual Arts (Musicians/Dancers/Actors/Artist - any medium including tattoo artist/photographer/graphic designer) ( )

The second book in the Riven series works through several different aspects of trauma and looks at how one’s past can shape their future. I read more than 300 books a year on a regular basis. Some make me think about things I wouldn’t normally think about…some make me laugh…Some make me mark places to reread for one reason or another…but I have read very few authors that have the ability to make me cry. Roan Parrish did. Her pages describing Matt roaming the streets and trying to escape his memories of his terrible childhood and his lost, empty felling while his husband, Rhys, was on tour while at the same time trying so hard to keep Rhy’s from knowing how utterly undone he was without him…completely wrecked me. You just have to love these two guys and you want so much happiness for them. Matt is “severely damaged” from his years in foster care but it is such an incredible experience watching him learn to trust as he loses more and more of his doubts and fears with Rhys and finally trusts him enough to tell him of his terrible childhood. Theo and Caleb from the first book make several appearances as just good close and supportive friends. Overall, I really enjoyed the book although I did wish we would have stayed longer with Rhys and Matt. I have never felt the things that I felt while reading this story. I don't know if in this day and age I have to say it but I don't want anyone to be offended...so...be aware that the characters are same sex and some scenes are explicit. ( )