This is the first of two reviews in the next week or so for books titled Ryker … not sure how that happened 🙂  But both of them are absolutely fantastic reads and I highly recommend them.

So, for today, let’s meet Ryker Steele – a dedicated husband, father and business man, but with a bad boy past and sexy tattoos.  VERRRRY swoon-worthy!

*****

Ryker

Steele Brothers #1

by Cheryl Douglas

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Published: September 10, 2015

 

Blurb:

Mackenzie Steele assumed she’d be with her husband forever. He’s still her best friend and the father of her children. But when weeks turn into months without intimacy, she realizes she’s too young to feel so old. She wants to feel desirable again, to find the woman Ryker fell in love with twenty years ago. And there’s only one way to do that… by asking him to move out.

Ryker’s blindsided when his wife tells him she wants to separate. He knew they’d hit a rough patch, but he’d never allowed himself to imagine his life without her. Now he has no choice. She seems happy without him, living life on her own terms, and he knows if he doesn’t find a place for himself in her new life, it will be too late to save his marriage.

Goodreads Link:   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26168946-ryker

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1igv7on

Amazon CA: http://tiny.cc/16j62x

Amazon UK: http://tiny.cc/b7j62x

Amazon AU: http://tiny.cc/87j62x

Barnes & Noble: http://tiny.cc/50j62x

Smashwords: http://tiny.cc/s1j62x

iTunes: http://tiny.cc/12j62x

Kobo: http://tiny.cc/i3j62x

*****

What Others Are Saying:

“This story sucked me in and didn’t let go. I was hooked from the first heartbreaking scene and after real life intervened, I was anxious to get back to this story. I had to see what happened. I needed to see Ryker and Mackenzie and their boys happy.” ~ A is for Alpha B is for Books

“This was so far up my street I could have been neighbours!!! Holy Moly what an absolute stonker… loved it!

It took me just one chapter to fall head over heels for this book and one day to finish what is one of the most realistically pitched stories that I have engaged with for a while.” ~ Books Laid Bare

“Wow! What a way to start a book off —the moment I read that sentence, geez the prologue, I was hooked! Hooked in the sense that I finished this book in one day. I couldn’t put it down.” ~ Smut- Brarians

*****

Review:

I love how real this book is – it’s the story of two people who love each other but just lost touch with one another.  Mac and Ryker have been together for 20 years, built up a multi-million dollar business and raised two kids.  However, they somehow have lost the passion and connection that they thought would be there forever.  This is a problem that so many people experience and I dig how well Douglas brings it to life.  There is no big drama, no infidelity, nothing but two people who just have to decide if they can fall in love with each other again or if it is best to go their separate ways.

Ryker is fantastic.  He’s pulled himself up from nothing to an amazingly successful businessman.  He loves his wife and sons, loves being a family man, and is proud that he’s the father and husband that his own father never was.  He’s supportive of everyone, including his brothers and his mother-in-law.  The only thing that he’s not that good at is confronting the growing distance between him and Mac – he’s afraid that he’s not going to like her answer.  When she finally asks him to leave, he’s devastated but convinced he’s going to do whatever it takes to win her back.

After being a wife and mother, supporting her husband as he followed his dreams and raising two sons, Mac has lost her sense of self.  She’s reached a point where things have to change and it starts with asking Ryker to leave.  She’s spent the following 6 months focusing on herself, but now she’s at the point that she needs to try to get to know her husband again or let him go.

It’s so great to see Mac take control and do what she has to do for herself.  It is so easy to just let things go so it’s refreshing to see someone realize that something is wrong and take the steps to fix it.  Together, Ryker and Mac try to learn from their mistakes and work on going forward – hopefully together.  Unfortunately since we get both of their perspectives, you know when things are going to go bad … which makes you cringe because you love both of them so much, but it is that kind of connection that has you frantically turning pages to find out what happens.

Ryker is an amazingly realistic look at a couple who have been together for so long that they’ve fallen into a rut and stopped actively trying to connect.  And it’s caused me to look at my own life and make changes to ensure this doesn’t happen in my house.

*****

Author Info:

When one door closes, another one opens. I closed the door to my business for the last time in 2011, which left me with a decision. What now? Find another location and move my nutrition business, go to work for someone else, or take a chance on my dream? I chose the latter and I’ve never looked back!

I’ve always loved reading and writing, but it wasn’t until I jumped in with both feet and decided writing would be my career, instead of just a hobby, that my muse woke up from her deep slumber.

It was like someone flipped a switch inside my head and stories just came pouring out. At the end of the day, I would often look at the keyboard and wonder, ‘Who the heck wrote that? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me!’

I don’t write books. I tell stories, or rather, I allow my characters to tell their stories through me. I’m not a plotter, never have been, never will be. Why? Because I have no idea how the story will evolve and it’s not my place to manipulate it. My job is to get to know these characters, figure out what makes them tick, then follow their journey wherever it takes me.

When I’m not writing, I’m daydreaming. Thankfully, I have an understanding husband and son who know I’ll re-join the land of the living just as soon as my muse decides it’s quitting time. I don’t work for myself. I work for her. She’s the boss. And I’m okay with that.

Social Media Links:

Website: http://cheryldouglasbooks.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/cheryldouglasbooks

Twitter – https://twitter.com/CherylDouglasNN

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5761770.Cheryl_Douglas

Newsletter: http://cheryldouglasbooks.com/newsletter/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Douglas/e/B007ISZOMQ

*****