Category: new release

Overall Grade: A

Tropes: family friends; Scottish MMC; reformed “mean girl” FMC; found family; standalone in an interconnected series

Virginia Woolf, one of my favorite authors, said it best: “books are the mirrors of the soul.” The emotion evoked by a beautifully told story often comes from the reflection of a character’s traits or the similarity of the story. At least, this is the case for me. And what I’ve found in that reflection, what wrings the emotion from me, is encompassed by the microtrope of redemption and self-awareness, which leads to change. More specifically, when characters, formerly defined by poor behaviors, choose to be better versions of themselves, and their love interest “sees” them in both the past and the present, loving them anyway, it creates in me a torrent of emotion that connects me to the romance. When a writer, such as Kristen Ashley, employs this microtrope, it showcases her ability to develop characters who resonate with her readers, even when they’re wealthy and upper-crust.

In Kristen Ashley’s newest romance, Finding the One, she has written a story that highlights this microtrope through the lens of a former mean girl turned compassionate and caring sister to Alex, from Taking the Leap, the third book in her River Rain series. I didn’t know what to expect from Blake. In Taking the Leap, Blake embodies the spirit of a mean girl, neglecting her sister while also meting out a fair amount of sibling abuse. As the story progresses, however, Blake makes a powerful choice that marks the beginning of her journey of redemption. In this book, Kristen Ashley reveals the motivation and influence on her former and present self, and it’s never as simple. Much of Blake’s characterization reminds me of Cecilia’s journey in Laurelin Paige’s Slay series. What draws us to villain-like characters is often their motivation. Ashley skillfully reveals Blake’s complexity by showing us how her parents shaped her—one abusive, the other complicit in their silence. The journey that we are gifted through Blake’s characterization is a special one. For this reader, it tied Finding the One as my favorite book in the River Rain series, alongside Fighting the Pull. Why? Two women, Blake and Elsa, are wildly mischaracterized by a larger swatch of people. In creating relationships with people who embody family, they are humanized, and their influences are revealed, showing them to be caring and compassionate towards those they love. It is Blake’s story in Finding the One that tore at my heartstrings and made me fall hard for this book.

To add dimension to her book, Kristen Ashley has made Dair more humorous and intentional in his love for Blake. Dair serves as the light-hearted foil to Blake’s more serious depiction. He has to be the light to her dark. For much of the story, he sees beyond the hard outer shell of Blake’s inner self, and he challenges her to love herself. Their banter, natural chemistry, and past acts as a bind to their relationship. Even when it’s threatened, that bond is cemented through two additions to the River Rain family, his mother and sister. Kristen Ashley balances the seriousness of Blake’s journey with Dair’s light-hearted portrayal. While Blake’s depiction made me cry, Dair’s characterization added the humor.

One of the best parts of Kristen Ashley’s storytelling is her ability to create whole worlds of characters and their journeys. It is the idea of a found family that draws many of her readers into these worlds. This is particularly true of Finding the One. It’s imperative in this story, though, because part of Blake’s journey is forgiving herself of her past. It’s the realization that she is loved by a larger group of people that helps her make that critical step. It’s the best part of Kristen Ashley’s romances. She recognizes that, in all of us, we want to belong, and her books show us how people become family, while inviting us, her readers, into those same families. So that when we read her books, we find ourselves there, experiencing the love that she weaves throughout her pages.

In love and romance,

Professor A