“Brynne was my life. The last piece of my puzzle that had finally completed me. I just need a way to tell her somehow. I wanted her to know how happy I was because I had been blessed with the rare and precious gift of loving her.”
Aaah, so lovely to get reacquainted with one of my favorite book couples, Ethan and Brynne. Though at first, I just didn’t see why they needed another book. Eyes Wide Open ended in a really good place. But Rare and Precious Things by Raine Miller takes you beyond the epilogue, and shows the intense love and longing the couple has for each other. It shows them growing, both as individuals, as a couple, and as parents.
Rare and Precious Things is NOT a stand alone, but if you haven’t read The Blackstone series, you must! Please see the series order at the end of this post, or here.
Told again in alternating points of view, I felt that Ethan’s voice was much stronger and more prominent. Maybe because his personality and his all-encompassing need for Brynne is just so big, it outshines everything else.
“I need you like I need air to breathe. You are my air.”
Don’t get me wrong, Brynne feels the same.
“Ethan barely had to touch me and still I was reduced to a wanton creature desperate for his touch.”
As always, this couple shows their feelings very physically. There is a LOT of sex in this book, and dirty talking, dominant, desperate-to-possess-her Ethan is here in a big way. But after all of these books, Ethan and Brynne have really only been together 4 months, and both still have a lot of demons from their past that threaten to catch up with them in this final installment.
The first half of the book seemed to be them both basically explaining how much they love each other and how perfectly they fit, and how they wanted to be physically connected.
“I didn’t care what he took first. Didn’t matter. It never mattered. Anything we did was what I wanted. What I needed in that moment.”
“Ethan loved for me to undress him. Loved to watch me suck his cock. Loved to watch his cock penetrate me. Anywhere.” ~Brynne“I wanted my cum in her. Like that way I could stay inside her even when I wasn’t.” ~Ethan
Honestly, as much as I loved to read about Ethan and Brynne, the beginning got a little too schmaltzy for me, and not enough happened, it was just Ethan and Brynne making love, going over what they love each other, and flashing back to when they met. It was like a way-too-long happy epilogue.
But then the past started creeping back into both of their lives, forcing them both to relive past traumas. Ethan is still plagued by nightmares of his POW time, and a reappearance has them getting worse. Brynne also has her past reappear in a big way, bringing back her shame being drugged and raped on tape. But they are expecting a baby, and know it’s time to focus on that.
The second half of the book moved much faster and had a lot more going on, but still the trademark possessive, alpha, protective-to-the-max Ethan made my heart swoon the whole time.
“I knew more happiness and love than I’d ever experienced in my life, and now understood how precious it was to have that love.” ~Brynne
Likes:
- I love visiting with my favorite dirty-talking Brit!
- Tons of character growth.
- A nice look back at their meeting from Ethan’s POV.
- Enough flashbacks to catch you up to speed if you, like me, forgot a lot of details.
- The overwhelming, all-encompassing love that the couple has for each other.
- Ethan becomes a daddy, and an awesome one (of course).
- Fan’s of Raine’s historicals will love the big tie-ins!
Dislikes:
- The first ⅓ was very slow for me, it was too much about how much they loved each other and not much else.
- Some of the love was just a little bit to schmaltzy and overdone.
- I had trouble knowing whose POV I was reading and had to go back and re-read a few times.
- I wish there was more of them as parents!
Rating: 4 Stars, 5 Heat
Raine really ended this series better with this book than I expected, I thought it would ruin Eyes Wide Open, but that isn’t the case at all. So much was resolved and so much healing happened in Rare and Precious Things. Demons were conquered and Brynne and Ethan’s love was even stronger than ever. I think it could have been told in a few less pages, the beginning felt like there was a bit too much padding, but that’s OK. This couple is a true treat to read about, and I hope we catch a glimpse of them in future books from Raine.
“In the hours of the darkest kind, Brynne has ever been my light. My lover who saw inside my battered soul and freed me.”
“What are we doing on the beach?” I asked, as he led me along the cool sand under my bare feet.
“Having our date. Trust me, baby. This is something I have all planned out for us.”
“I bet you do. I am well aware that when you say date you really mean sex—”
My words were lost as we rounded a turn in the beach path and came out onto the shore. The waves lapped at the sand with the soothing sounds of water moving against earth. A sliver of moon glowed up over the water, but the real beauty was the many glass jars lit up with tea lights set out on the soft sand of the beach. What seemed like hundreds of them flickering away around a pallet of blankets and pillows. Off to one side, sat a bucket of iced drinks and what appeared to be little dessert cakes on a tray with some fresh fruit.
“It’s beautiful, Ethan.” I could hardly speak as I realized what he’d done. “How did you do…all of this?”
He led us onto the blankets and drew me down to sit beside him. “It was my idea,” he began, “but I needed some help to pull it off. Franco got it organized while we were at the party.”
I looked around behind us, imaging if the caretaker for our villa was lurking in the dark hoping for a glimpse.
“I know what you’re thinking, but you don’t have to worry, baby, Franco is not in the bushes watching, trust me.”
I laughed nervously. “Well, if Franco is in the bushes somewhere, I am predicting he’s gonna get one hell of a show.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear. My girl accepting the idea of a hot beach shag,” he whispered teasingly against my ear, his tongue flicking out for a lick along the shell. “You like my surprise.”
My body came instantly alive, needing him so badly. Ethan could get me hot with just the simplest look or touch. He reached up and worked on the messy knot holding up my hair and unpinned it. He was getting good at figuring out my hair. It made me smile to watch him as he found the pins and pulled them, knowing how he’d be fisting my hair in handfuls and using it to dominate when we were deep into the sex.
“You’re smiling,” he murmured as he worked over my hair.
“I just love to watch you doing simple things.”
My hair fell free. “This is not a simple thing to me,” he whispered, fingering through the tangled length with both hands. His gaze grew smoky as he focused on my lips. “It’s everything.”
AMAZON US
AMAZON UK | AMAZON CA | AMAZON AU
Lisa says
Only 30% in but totally living it. I seriously think I read the last ones slower because I don’t want it to end.
Ana's Attic says
I love Raine.
Bookworm Brandee says
*sigh* I really loved watching them grow as individuals, a couple and as parents, too, Ana! Great review!
Ana's Attic says
Thank you!