Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Rend
SERIES: Riven #2
AUTHOR: Roan Parrish
PUBLISHER: Loveswept
LENGTH: 303 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 27, 2018
BLURB:
After a whirlwind romance, a man with a painful past learns to trust the musician who makes him believe in happy endings.
Matt Argento knows what it feels like to be alone. After a childhood of abandonment, he never imagined someone might love him—much less someone like Rhys Nyland, who has the voice of an angel, the looks of a god, and the worship of his fans.
Matt and Rhys come from different worlds, but when they meet, their chemistry is incendiary. Their romance is unexpected, intense, and forever—at least, that’s what their vows promise. Suddenly, Matt finds himself living a life he never thought possible: safe and secure in the arms of a man who feels like home. But when Rhys leaves to go on tour for his new album, Matt finds himself haunted by the ghosts of his past.
When Rhys returns, he finds Matt twisted by doubt. But Rhys loves Matt fiercely, and he’ll go to hell and back to triumph over Matt’s fears. After secrets are revealed and desires are confessed, Rhys and Matt must learn to trust each other if they’re going to make it. That means they have to fall in love all over again—and this time, it really will be forever.
Roan Parrish’s pitch-perfect Riven novels can be read together or separately:
RIVEN | REND
REVIEW:
I was really looking forward to this book. Theo and Caleb really hooked me in the first book and I had to know more about Rhys, Caleb’s best friend, and his husband Matt.
Matt has had a life of abandonment. But not the rich life of wild abandonment however. Matt has experienced the pain of being abandoned by those that he trusted and loved. First by his father and then by his worthless excuse of a mother. Finally he was abandoned by his best friend Grin, but he was responsible for that mess, or so he believed. So, when he met Rhys at a bar he had no expectations but was he wrong because Rhys recognized something special in the younger man. But can a young man who has always been abandoned learn to trust and lean of the person who could be his “happily ever after”?
I am going to start out that this story is very, very different than Theo and Caleb’s. Yes, both Theo and Matt had been abandoned by their mom’s. But, even though Theo had been stuck with his grandparents and they sucked at the loving and supportive part, at least he lived in a home where he was safe and cared for. Matt just got dumped on someone who wasn’t even a blood relative. But I did like that the author drew Matt and Theo together as friends. They were both young and had faced being left. Caleb and Rhys had been best friends, and at one point, lovers, for years. Having the ability to talk with someone who understood those dynamics was essential. They had each other to bounce those wayward thoughts with.
The biggest difference was how dark the struggles were that Matt lived with daily. Caleb’s addiction was visible in a way. But Matt’s struggles with depression and abandonment were easier to hide. Matt’s struggle to trust was even harder but, until he finally shared his true past, Rhys had no idea it was so deeply rooted and it was killing their chance at a lasting relationship.
The part that threw me was all the ghost talk and hooves clomping. I guess that the author wanted a bit of paranormal in this book but I had just figured it was more of Matt’s weirdness. It went on too much and didn’t really work for me.
I will warn you, this book is pretty dark and deals with what happens to a lot of our foster care kids. I did love that Matt worked for a nonprofit working with kids when they age out. The fact that these places are out their for these struggling kids is paramount to them having any kind of support and success when the system drops them. But most of this book is very depressing and difficult to read. Matt’s struggles can overwhelm you and they are a large portion of the book so please be prepared for that.
I’m glad that I got to read about Matt and Rhys but Theo and Caleb still hold my heart. Can’t wait for the next book in this series!
RATING: 
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