TIEBREAKER (It Takes Two Book #2) by P DANGELICO

‘Sometimes, to save the one you love, you have to break their heart.’

This is our first book by P Dangelico and we really enjoyed it. We do love our second chance romances and this one was a great example of a character driven story which slowly exorcised the demons of the characters past. To err is human, to forgive divine.

‘Most people spend a lifetime searching for that one person who’s meant for them, their one true mate and all that junk, and never find him or her. I found mine when I was ten and a day doesn’t go by that I wish I hadn’t. Because it’s not a gift. It’s not even romantic. It’s a curse – – one I’ll never be rid of.’

We loved how this story began. There’s something about experiencing the first memorable childhood crush that turns into that heart churning love that never vacates your very soul and being. We loved experiencing this growing love when our characters were young.

‘No one had ever looked at me that way before, and no one has ever looked at me that way since.’

Maren, our heroine is a global tennis star and adored by many. Whilst she’s always surrounded by people you get the clear feeling that she’s lonely and that her heart still solely belongs to her past. Returning home from London when her grandad dies brings memories, heartache and personal discoveries. Maren has so many inner issues to resolve with the people she loves, she needs to bring the fierceness she displays on centre court into her personal life and when she takes a good crack at it, she roars. From an early age Maren knew who and what she wanted but sometimes the path isn’t an easy one to get what we truly want and need.

‘The thing is, that pain is pain. There’s no lesser or greater. There are no comparisons to be made, no rankings – no weight class. Having been shut out, cast aside, for so long got to be so painful…’

Noah is a bit of an enigma. A boy who reluctantly fell in love with his annoying younger stalker. A boy who grew up and realised where his heart belonged. A boy who faced tragedy and whose course of life came to a sudden end with a broken dream as a result. Then a young man who never forgot where his heart belonged yet in his selflessness realised what he had to do.

“I don’t think you can move forward unless you let go of the past. Bad feelings, grudges – they’ll keep you there, trapped in a place you don’t want to be.”

When Noah and Maren are thrown together through consequences at the hands of a dead man they must learn of the others pain and heartbreak and figure out a way to survive ten years of absence. They must find that kernel of friendship from which love grew. They must learn forgiveness.

‘….kissing Noah is like waking up from a long, dark empty dream.’

Told in dual pov’s jumping from past to present, it was so important to hear both voices in order to connect and understand how things came to be no matter how heart-breaking. The angst, drama and emotional turmoil was very much centred around Maren and Noah as we spent every step of the way from young love to tragedy and devastation then onwards to acceptance and reconciliation. Slowly building, the last third of this story was so emotionally revealing. We can’t wait for the next book as a certain cop seriously intrigued us with his grumpy demeanour!

‘Maren was my heart. And I wasn’t about to give her up. Not for them, not for anybody.’