Things We Left Behind: the heart-pounding new book from the bestselling author of Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout Series)

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Sloane Walton is a spitfire determined to carry on her father’s quest for justice. She’ll do that just as soon as she figures out exactly what the man she hates did to—or for—her family.

We were all older. More things hurt getting out of bed in the morning. But I’d never felt better in my life. Being part of this circus of a family had healed so many scars I didn’t even know I carried. I’d stopped tattooing over the physical ones after watching my wife wear hers like a badge of honor. I think the aspect that really kept me from rating it higher is the ultimate reason for Sloane and Lucian to be at odds with one another for OVER TWENTY YEARS. I mean, these are smart individuals with self-awareness, and yes, the incident that happened was very important but they couldn’t have a conversation about it or work it through in twenty years?

I love long books when the writing and story are stellar but by 50% when Sloane and Lucian were still trading barbs I felt like it was long past time to move things along.

We’d kept my place in the city, but it had taken buying a monstrous place in the Outer Banks to get Sloane to truly slow down. Every year, we wrangled the entire extended brood into a two-week beach vacation. The kind I’d always dreamed of as a kid. With bonfires and fireworks and lazy days spent getting too much sun. Lucian is your everyday bad boy who suffered a cruel childhood and turned his energy into money. He is a well established businessman with millions of dollars in his bank account and a suit to match any occasion. He is a protector and he is a giver. He doesn’t want a family. He doesn’t want kids and until recently he didn’t want anything to do with Sloane Walton. As my beautiful wife pointed out, if we’d done our job right, Caden would be a well-adjusted, productive adult who knew what he wanted. So far, her prediction appeared to be accurate. Even Emry, who was in the family room with his wife, Sacha, wearing a Hanukkah sweater and explaining the dreidel to Nash’s twins, assured me that they seemed like a happy, healthy couple.At the Men of Letters bunker, Dean is watching The Three Stooges on a laptop laughing very hard, obviously faking it. Sam comes and joins in, giving Dean a grilled cheese sandwich, with Dean enjoying it a little too much. Sam looks over at the Mark of Cain and it looks like it's only gotten worse, but Dean continues to enjoy the video despite this. Similar to how he's dealt with pain before, he tries very hard to hide it from his little brother. You’re wired to want a man who’s going to live up to every one of those heroes you read about. The ones who fight for their woman, who drag her off into dark corners because they can’t stand not touching her a moment longer. The ones who would do anything for her. That’s what you want.” Let’s go see who it is,” I told Amara. We arrived in time to see my mother-in-law, Karen, stroll through the door with my mother, their boyfriends, and their suitcases. I was still withholding judgment on both men. Even though the barrel-chested Max, who charmed Karen through salsa dancing, and the Purple Heart recipient veteran José looked at my mother as if she’d given birth to the sun, the moon, and everything in between, I wasn’t ready to trust either of them any further than I could throw them. I laughed. I cried. I giggled. I swooned. I sideeyed. I facepalmed. I frowned. I rolled my eyes. I smiled. And I melted. Christmas Eve was always chaos in our house. It was tradition that our family gathered here every year for an over-the-top holiday/anniversary dinner. Over the years, our family had grown considerably.

The story follows Sloane, a woman whose father recently passed away. His death has reminded Sloane that she is approaching forty without fulfilling her dreams of a family, and there aren't any prospects on the horizon. Though there are plenty of nice guys in town, the only one who makes her blood heat is Lucian, the bane of Sloane's existence. Now that their friends are coupled up, they've been spending more time together - and it's a constant reminder of the things that tore them apart. Sloane and Lucian have been guarding the secrets of their past for the last two decades, and now that's finally catching up with them. They can't stand to be in the same room together, but they can't seem to stay away from each other either, no matter how much they'd like to. Unfortunately, the death of Sloane's father has brought a few things to light... and Sloane will never be able to look at Lucian the same way again. I can’t wait to meet the woman who got Chloe to stop talking long enough to fall in love,” Karen said with a grin.I loved seeing some of our favourite characters from previous stories and some of my favourite scenes were the boys - Lucian, Knox & Nash and the girls - Sloane, Naomi & Lina. Found family is a common theme in many of Lucy Score’s books and you get more of this in Things We Left Behind.

Knox growled theatrically from the living room and lunged on hands and knees. Two kids screamed and streaked down the hallway, three dogs yapping at their heels. Knox laughed, until he had to get to his feet.Score creates the perfect level of suspense and intrigue to heighten the overall emotions of the story. She includes several of my favorite tropes, including friends to enemies to lovers, second chance romance, and touch-her-&-become-unalive* vibes. The humor is off the charts, but so is the heart, and they are so perfectly blended and seamlessly integrated, I was ugly crying one moment and snort-laughing the next. The story is stunning in its depth. Quite simply, it is intensely hilarious and gutterally emotional. And the steam. Holy cow! I knew Suit Daddy was gonna be off the chain steamy, but woah! Sloane, my friend, you are one seriously fortunate lady! I could use words like chemistry, connection, etc, but they're not even remotely adequate to describe the intricate levels of storytelling and relationships woven into TWLB. The episode starts out with Dean on his knees in a room covered in blood and dirt with a bloody knife in his hand. He looks around the room, surrounded by people he has killed. The look on his face shows he's upset and surprised at what he's done. Then Dean jolts awake, realizing it was just a dream. However, the Mark of Cain is clearly still affecting him, and hurting his arm. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I absolutely floved TWLB. And everything about it. It will be a perpetual re-read. I will experience it again through the audiobook. I will recommend it to every reader friend I know. And even non-reader friends, because everyone needs to experience this book, this series, and this author. Our oldest son, Caden was twenty-five. We’d finalized his and his sister Caitlin’s adoption from foster care when Sloane was pregnant with our first baby, a boy we named Simon. In the course of four months, we’d gone from zero children to three. And we’d added a fourth, Juliana, just one year later.