Finding the One by Kristen Ashley

River Rain Series Book 7, but can stand alone.

I was gifted an early copy for review. This post contains affiliate links.

The River Rain Series by Kristen Ashley has had its ups and downs for me, with two that I absolutely loved and a few that were not my favorites. Finding the One lands firmly in the “LOVE” column. One of my issues with the series has been the sheer number of characters and their many connections. In fact, in my review of the last book, I said I wished there was a family tree. Kristen delivered one in this book, and it helped SO MUCH.

Recommendation: If you ever listen to audio, I think this would be amazing that way. The male main character has a thick Irish accent, and Kristen writes it all out (Shite, Dinnae, Hen, Ye, Aye, Lass, Ken, and more). It might be annoying for some people to read (I loved it), but I bet it’s incredible to hear. Narration is performed by Alexander Dunham-Wood and Tillie Hooper.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. But when you laugh, I see a wee bit of that little girl I knew, except she isn’t unhappy like she was always unhappy.”

Kristen did a great job making Finding the One work as a standalone. I vaguely remembered Alex’s sister being a bitch in Taking the Leap, but for the most part, these could have been new characters for me, and I really liked that. My memory is terrible, and keeping Kristen’s big casts straight is always a struggle for me.

Because I didn’t really remember Blake until certain things jogged my memory, I didn’t have any leftover dislike for the former mean girl. That made it easy to root for her from the start, even though she’s still a bit of a rich snob (another reason this series has been harder for me is that they’re all ridiculously wealthy). Finding the One is Blake’s redemption story.

The book opens with Blake meticulously running her sister Alex’s rehearsal dinner when some uninvited family friends show up. Among them are her mother’s longtime affair partner and his son, Dair, a Scottish Rugby player who bullied Blake as a kid. Their spark is instant, and Blake and Dair are together (after a little push and pull) fairly early in the book. Not a lot of huge events happen—no kidnappings or big mysteries—but there’s plenty of family drama and personal growth.

“You made me believe.”
“In what?”
It felt like a building collapsed on Dair as he watched the tear fall from her eye and she whispered, “In me.”

Blake and Dair are both in their mid-thirties and have been burned by love and life. They’re skittish about getting involved with someone who might hurt them the same way they’ve been hurt before, so much of this story focuses on their internal struggles as they navigate the relationship. The rest of the story revolves around family drama and revisiting family members (both found and blood) from previous books.

There was a good amount of spice in Finding the One, but it worked perfectly with the story, and I love how Kristen doesn’t feel the need to make every sex scene super explicit.

His voice was rough when he asked, “Do ye want me to feed you or fuck you, darling? Because if you’re hungry, and ye pick fucking, you’re going to have quite a wait.”

Likes:

It was a beautiful redemption arc.
The way she wrote Dair’s Scottish accent—I need to listen to this now!
It was quiet in action but big on internal growth.
The family dynamics between both families and all of the rest of the River Rain characters.
Dair was just such a good guy—but good guys do stupid things sometimes.
The included family tree.
It wasn’t overly dependent on previous books, and I think it can be read as a standalone (though it’s better if you at least read Taking the Leap first).
The conflict was perfect, and the resolution was fabulous.
I loved Dair’s mom. She needs a story!
Playful banter mixed with passionate chemistry.
Great side characters, and with the help of studying the family trees, I was able to keep them all straight (though I think I prefer her new lists of characters; the tree was hard to read).
I always love how she does first person for the women and third for the men.

Dislikes:

I can’t think of one.

The Down & Dirty:

Finding the One is just another reinforcement of why I love Kristen Ashley. While the River Rain Series has had ups and downs for me, this one is up there with my favorites (alongside Taking the Leap and Fighting the Pull). It’s a quieter story with less external drama and more personal growth, but it was never boring. Kristen made it easy to catch up without needing to remember every detail from the earlier books, which I really appreciated.

Finding the One is proof that Kristen Ashley can take a redemption arc, mix in family drama, great banter, and real emotional growth, and deliver a romance that sticks with you long after the last page. She’s been at the top of my favorites list for 13 years, and this book shows exactly why.