Rating: 5 🌈
Ryker Madsen and Jacob Bentsen have been through a lot in their years together but actually making it to their wedding day might be the most trying times they’ve faced yet.
If you’ve been reading this series and the Arizona Raptors one concurrently, as I have, then you’ve watched this couple undergo incredible growth separately and as a couple as they graduated college and moved to Arizona when Ryker was drafted by the Raptors.
Not a smooth transition, emotionally, especially for Jacob who missed his snow, family, and the farm that was lost financially. He had to adapt to a new environment and potentially new goals while Ryker fought to gain footing in what was initially a hostile team.
Scott puts both young men through an education on relationships and balance over the course of both series to arrive here… weeks before their wedding. And a somewhat shaky feeling emanating from both of them.
Reading the previous stories are a must otherwise you will be lost as to what the conflicts are between Ryker and Jacob at the start of the story.
And considering the gravity and huge emotional impact this element will have on them , their relationship, and the entire circle of people around them, knowing what’s behind this turmoil is essential .
While I’m surprised it’s not worked in earlier in the book, I’m also not sure how the author could have recapped such a large storyline with so with to tell with this story too.
Anyway, this brings into Valentine’s Hearts such an emotionally heartbreaking and shattering new stage to this couple and their relationship as they face together the unthinkable.
Without any spoilers, Scott’s in her element here with this section of their story. The treatment is responsible, we feel , so painfully so, that we have a window into the traumatic impact and ongoing nightmare that Jacob’s life becomes.
And the love, support, and therapy that gets him through it.
I love the simplicity and paired down ending. After everything they’ve been through, it seemed perfect.
Plus we have the finale to look forward to and it’s out now.
While it’s hard to say goodbye to this series, we still have the Raptors so really it’s not a forever goodbye.
I’m definitely recommending this and the previous stories.
Just make sure you have a bunch of tissues at hand.
Owatonna U Hockey Series: 6 books
Ryker #1
Scott #2
Benoit #3
Christmas Lights #4
Valentine’s Hearts #5
Desert Dreams – #6 series finale out now
Synopsis:
Will broken hearts replace the wedding they dreamed of?
Ryker’s heart has space for three things—his family, hockey, and Jacob. As their wedding grows closer, it seems that nothing can stand in the way of an idyllic celebration, surrounded by friends and loved ones. But things appear to be changing; Jacob is forging a future that might take him away from Ryker, and Ryker alternates between pride and fear when a new man comes into his fiancé’s life. A hockey season from hell has him doubting his life choices, but worse, he’s driving Jacob into another man’s arms. How has their perfect life suddenly gone so wrong?
Life has certainly thrown many twists and turns in Jacob’s path. Most of the goals he’d set for himself as a teenager had to change, but one has remained constant: finding his heart’s desire and marrying him. That aspiration was reached when Ryker said, “I do”. Planning their wedding was meant to be the best time of their lives, but Jacob unwittingly puts his trust in the wrong man and finds himself in danger. Is their love strong enough to survive the fallout?
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 