The One You Fight For

Roni Loren

Jan 2019 · The Ones Who Got Away Book 3 · Sourcebooks, Inc.

About this ebook

For readers who are all about love: a heart-wrenching romance of loss, lies, redemption, and searching for a happily after all.

Shaw Miller has spent more than a decade dealing with the fallout of his brother's horrific actions. After losing everything—his chance at Olympic gold, his family, almost his sanity—he's changed his name, his look, and he's finally starting a new life where he'll live by only one rule.

Never look back.

Taryn Landry was there that awful night fourteen years ago when Long Acre changed from the name of a town to the title of a national tragedy. Everyone knows she lost her younger sister.

No one knows it was her fault.

Shaw and Taryn weren't meant to meet each other. They weren't meant to fall in love. Now they're left grappling with undeniable feelings, both of them wondering:

When the world defines you by a tragedy, how do you find your own happy ending?

Readers are Raving About about The Ones Who Got Away series:

"Absolutely unputdownable! Roni Loren is a new favorite."—COLLEEN HOOVER, #1 New York Times bestseller for The One You Can't Forget

"Phenomenal. Gets my highest recommendation!"—LORELEI JAMES, New York Times bestselling author

"Richly layered and full of emotion... Unforgettable."—KRISTEN CALLIHAN, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

Ratings and reviews

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher** When I started "The Ones Who Got Away" series, Roni Loren was a new-to-me author and I was so happy to have found her. That feeling has continued through the second book and now into the third. Tragedy struck Long Acre over a decade ago and while Taryn Landry survived when gunmen opened fire during the prom, her sister Nia, and many others did not. Following the shooting, Taryn made the decision to dedicate her life to making sure that things like this never happen again. Taryn became a psychology professor and along with making the decision to follow this passion, she also unknowingly put every other part of her life on hold, including her love life. Shaw Miller was a guy who had everything going for him. He was training for the Olympics in hopes of making the team was the unthinkable happened - his brother opened fire at a high school prom. His brothers actions not only ended his hopes of representing his country, but really his life as he knew it was over. Shaw was in many ways guilty by association. Because they were brothers, people automatically thought Shaw was going to do something as horrible as his brother had. Because of this, Shaw changed his name and his looks and did everything he could to distance himself from who he used to be. When Taryn and Shaw meet at a karaoke bar, it's obvious the attraction is there, but they part ways that night expecting never to see one another again. The universe sees it differently and they are pulled back together again, although neither one has any idea of the part the other played in the Long Acre Shooting. When everything is revealed will these two be able to deal with it and move on together or will it tear them apart? Roni Loren had a very difficult job with the topics in this story and I thought she handled them so carefully and wonderfully. Both Taryn and Shaw harbored a tremendous amount of guilt and they both had very difficult decisions to make when the chips were down. They had both been through so much and the way that Roni Loren went about each of them working through their own issues was so well done. This is one of those books that is going to stay with me for some time. I didn't want to put the book down because I was so anxious to see how it all played out. This was a wonderful addition to this already fantastic series!

THE ONE YOU FIGHT FOR is the third instalment in Roni Loren’s contemporary, adult THE ONES WHO GOT AWAY erotic, romance series focusing on the survivors of a mass shooting the night of their senior prom-Finn Dorsey, Olivia Arias, Rebecca Lindt, Taryn Landry and Kincaid Breslin. This is thirty-one year old psychology professor Dr. Taryn Landry, and trainer Shaw Miller’s story line. THE ONE YOU FIGHT FOR can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading the series in order, or at the very least book one, for backstory and cohesion as the details about what happened are revealed in THE ONES WHO GOT AWAY. Told from dual third person perspectives (Taryn and Shaw) THE ONE YOU FIGHT FOR follows the building relationship between thirty-one year old psychology professor Taryn Landry, and personal trainer Shaw Miller. Fourteen years earlier Shaw’s brother destroyed the town of Long Acre when he and a friend killed a number of students at the senior prom. Fast forward to present day wherein Shaw, now known as Lucas, returns to Long Acre to help a friend open a new gym, a return that comes with too many memories of the past. Enter Taryn Landry, a woman he doesn’t recognize but the woman that calls to his heart. What ensues is the building relationship between Taryn and Shaw, and the potential fall-out as the media take aim, and Taryn’s family is unable to forgive or forget. Taryn Landry is a survivor. Not only did she survive the shooting at her senior prom but our heroine struggles with survivors remorse in the aftermath of what happened, and her sister’s murder on the very same day. Meeting personal trainer ‘Lucas Shaw’ gave Taryn a hope for the future, a hope that would be destroyed when the truth was revealed. Shaw Miller never wanted to return to his hometown of Long Acre, a town that would never forgive him for sins of the past. As the brother to a mass shooter, Shaw would always be connected to the destruction of so many lives. The relationship between Taryn and Shaw is one of immediate attraction but our couple lied to one another from the start; neither one revealed their true identity, and in the ensuing aftermath Taryn and Shaw kept secret the truth from the people they loved. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. All of the series leading characters return as secondary and supporting characters including Liv and Finn (The Ones Who Got Away #1), Rebecca and Wes (the One you Cant Forget #2 ) and Kincaid Breslin. We re introduced Taryn’s parents, and Shaw’s best friend and business partner Rivers. The world building continues to look at the impact of a mass shooting on a small town in rural America. As the rest of the country (and world) continue on with their lives, the survivors and families struggle in the wake of unbearable grief and moving forward. As our heroine pushes for changes, the bureaucracy continues to bury its’ proverbial head in the sand, while the family members of those who kill are vilified and destroyed at the hands of everyone else. THE ONE YOU FIGHT FOR is an emotional and heart breaking story of love and hate, forgiveness and acceptance, mental illness and the ongoing struggle for those left behind to deal with the loss and grief The premise is sensitive and thought-provoking ; the characters are spirited, sassy and real; the romance is seductive and breathtaking. THE ONE YOU FIGHT FOR is a captivating and encouraging story of survival and loss.

This is such a compelling series, I love the bond between Liv, Rebecca, Taryn & Kincaid, survivors of the Long Acre School tragedy, who are like sisters since they reconnected while filming for the documentary about the shooting. Taryn's sister, Nia, was killed in the shooting and ever since she has dedicated her life to getting a program into schools to prevent this happening again, whilst trying to keep her parents happy too. Her Mother especially has been completely paranoid about something happening to Taryn since her sister's death, wanting to know where she is all the time and make sure she is 'safe'. Both Taryn and her Father are always trying to keep her calm, but it was very, very smothering for poor Taryn, I really felt for her, her whole life revolved around this program and she had hardly any social life with all the pressure put on her. Then with a couple of chance meetings Taryn met Lucas/Shaw, who turned out to be opening an extreme gym nearby with his best friend River. Sparks flew between them and they started to get closer. But then Lucas/Shaw suddenly realised who Taryn was and their relationship changed again after he admitted who he actually was to her. This was a big deal to him as he had kept his true identify a secret for a long time. They knew their relationship had no chance... didn't it? But decided to enjoy it while they could, until Lucas/Shaw was outed by the press and decisions had to be made. Although this book is about a school shooting the story doesn't dwell on the details, so it's not as harrowing as it may have been. It's more about the lives that are affected by the original act, not just the victims families, but also the shooters families who had no idea what their sons were capable of, yet blamed themselves for their acts their whole life, as Lucas/Shaw had done. I'm really enjoying this series and can't wait to read Kincaid's story in the next book. Highly recommended.

About the author

Roni wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills haven’t improved, but she likes to think her storytelling ability has. She holds a master’s degree in social work and spent years as a mental health counselor, but now she writes full time from her cozy office in Dallas, Texas where she puts her characters on the therapy couch instead. She is a two-time RITA Award winner and a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.