From New York Times Bestselling author Corinne Michaels comes a heartbreakingly beautiful standalone story about letting love in.
You Loved Me Once is live!
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Blurb
I’m losing myself trying to save everyone else…
As a doctor, I walk a dangerously delicate balance of being compassionate but not overly invested. The same is true in my personal life–love is a luxury I can’t afford.
It isn’t until Dr. Westin Grant breaks down all my walls and offers me a future, I find myself wondering if I’m brave enough to risk my heart.
When who I was and who I’ve tried to become collide during my clinical trial, the fate of one patient changes everything.
In a single moment, everything I’ve worked for is jeopardized. My integrity, my career, and even my relationship with Westin.
He loved me once, I just hope he can love me always …
Review
5 heartwrenching, beautiful stars!
OMG this book! An angsty, heartwrenching, heartbreaking, but absolutely beautiful story with a romance that stole my heart. This book had me feeling all the feels, and I loved it.
This book is marketed as ‘Women’s Fiction’, I’m thinking that probably means that there’s less sex than a usual romance novel, but it’s still a passionate, romantic book, with all of the emotion and intensity that I expect from a Corinne Michaels novel.
Serenity is a talented and highly regarded surgeon whose work is her life. After experiencing a traumatic heartbreak in her 20s, she’s kept her life free of complications, and has no time for a relationship, and no place for love in her life. But she does have a friend with benefits – fellow surgeon, Westin, who is a stellar lover, and a companion who understands the pressures of her work, and though she suspects he wants more, he’s never pushed her for more than she is ready for.
He’s really perfect. There are times when I hate myself, and right now is one. I wish I were a bright-eyed girl who believed that love could save your soul.
Serenity gives all of herself to her patients, and the hospital where she works, and she’s about to embark on the highlight of her career – a clinical trial for a treatment that she has designed which will change the course of treatment for her patients, and will hopefully save lives. Her life is ordered, her career is fulfilling, and she’s at no risk of having her heart shattered again, and that’s the way she likes it. And then her past comes crashing into her present, sending her defences tumbling. It feels like her life is rocked completely off its axis, and she’s forced to face all of the emotion she’s been hiding from for so many years.
I’d rather never feel those emotions again. I’d rather heal people, make things better and erase the damage life can cause instead of inviting it in.
At the same time, after years of slowly breaking through Serenity’s walls, Westin wants more, and oh, my heart, the man is pure perfection! He’s patient, gentle and understanding (and sexy as all hell), and he knows just how much to push, I had full-on heart eyes over him, and I freaking love him!
“I’m doing what I should’ve done a long time ago,” he says, watching my reaction … “I want more and I’m tired of waiting for you to be ready.”
I gasp as the fire burns in his gaze. “What if I’m not ready now?”
His lips turn into a sinful smile. “Then I guess I’ll have to make you ready.”
“It’s been two years, and I’ve been a patient man. You’ve got issues with love, and I get that, but I’m not him, Serenity. I’m not the guy that fucked your head up. I’ve been the guy who held you when you cried, supported you, and if you don’t see that we’re more than fuck buddies…I don’t know what else to say.”
There are moments of such sweetness between these two, that I read with a huge smile on my face, my heart full and excited to see things so effortlessly changing between them. But at the same time, Serenity is spiralling as she tries to keep on top of her emotions. And through it all, Westin is by her side.
“If I fall, are you going to catch me?”
His eyes close, and when he opens them again, there’s not a trace of doubt. “Always.”
But one devastating moment will change everything – risking everything that Serenity holds dear, professionally and personally. It wasn’t a huge surprise where the story was going, but there are definitely shocks along the way that I wasn’t expecting, and there were moments where I had no clue what was going to happen. It’s all so well written, I could absolutely understand where Serenity was at, and my stomach churned with anxiety for her, and I couldn’t put this book down until I finished it, desperate to know how it was all going to end.
I felt so much reading this book. I ached for these characters, and there were scenes that had me sobbing at the gutwrenching pain of it all. But the hurt puts you right into the heart of Serenity’s life as our brave heroine faces her past, her present, and her fears, and fights for her future. Her growth as a character is really satisfying to watch.
The side characters are also fantastic – from Westin to Serenity’s family, friends and patients, I came to deeply care for these characters, and again, I felt so much for them.
Through all of the drama, the love story is a key focus, and is beautifully woven into the story, and the different plotlines blend seamlessly to create an intense and emotional read that owned my heart in all the ways.
Even with all of the drama, there is blessedly a happy ending, and I finished this book with a healed heart. It’s an intense read, and so beautifully written. I loved it.
5 stars
P.S. This book is absolutely a standalone, but I would love to see a follow-up book. There is a character just screaming to have their story told, and I’d love to see them get their HEA.
An Advanced Reader Copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Meet Corinne
New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Corinne Michaels is the author of nine romance novels. She’s an emotional, witty, sarcastic, and fun loving mom of two beautiful children. Corinne is happily married to the man of her dreams and is a former Navy wife.
After spending months away from her husband while he was deployed, reading and writing was her escape from the loneliness. She enjoys putting her characters through intense heartbreak and finding a way to heal them through their struggles. Her stories are chock full of emotion, humor, and unrelenting love.
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