Love Always

De: Riley Hart

Narrado por: Michael Dean

Nathaniel Montgomery can't escape the pressure to be perfect, to be smart, to be successful. To live the life chosen for him - one that doesn't include being gay.

Wren Cunningham lives on the streets and does what it takes to survive. No one has ever given a damn about him, so he works with the cards he's been dealt and pushes his dreams aside.

Fate steps in when Nate and Wren meet when they are 18. They have one week to live how they want and to pretend everything they hope for is within reach. What they don't expect is to find exactly what they need in each other...or to fall in love.

But sometimes, love isn't enough, and goodbyes are inevitable.

No matter how much time passes, Nate and Wren never forget. They always find their way back to each other, and that helps them make it through. It's never been a question of if they want each other. Their love is constant and never fades. Love Always.

They've spent their whole lives dreaming about their future together. To have a fighting chance, they'll need to find a different kind of strength - learning to love themselves first.

If not, their next goodbye will be their last.

©2019 Riley Hart (P)2019 Riley Hart

Right Love, Wrong Time

“We had the right love athe wrong time
Guess I always knew inside
I wouldn't have you for a long time
Those dreams of yours are shining on distant shores
And if they're calling you away I have no right to make you stay

But somewhere down the road
Our roads are gonna cross again
It doesn't really matter when
But somewhere down the road
I know that heart of yours
Will come to see
That you belong with me”

Barry Manilow’s song was playing in my head the entire time I was listening to this book. It’s so poignant. So true. So real.

Two young souls who found each other and fell in love after less than a week together. It was sustainable though, they both had a lot of growing up to do.

Life took them to different places. Their own highs and lows. 15 years later, they found each other again. Only to find out they can’t be together again, not just yet.

Until finally, they got their happily ever after.

While all of this is sweet and romantic, I also cannot help but think of all the time they’ve wasted. 15 years? More after that?

Life is too short to put the love of your life on pause. So as realistic as this was tried to be, I just couldn’t connect with the years of hurting unnecessarily. But it is, what it is.

Not my favorite Riley Hart book. But it’s still a beautiful story, just not 5 star for me.

Michael Dean, you’re amazing.

One of the best stories i have read in a long time.

Wren and Nate's story is heart wrenching! The downs were hard to listen to, but the ups brought so much joy. Well written. Beautiful characters and character development. And DANG IT RILEY! You made me cry again!

Rips Your Heart Out

This is an extremely deep book. While it is beautiful and complex, it is also a whirlwind of emotion. Beautifully narrated. Grab the tissues for this one and listen to it somewhere you can ugly cry. Highly recommend.

Good the second time around

I forgot how beautiful and wonderful. this story is; the characters journey through their demons through life and were able to overcome them to be together beautiful, emotional, and deeply relevant.

Love across time

This isn’t a classic love story in the traditional sense and I love that. The standard boy meets boy, boy falls in love with boy, something drives them apart, and then they get their happily ever after. Wait, this book follows that structure but it takes a much longer time. As the synopsis says, “sometimes love isn’t enough, and goodbyes are inevitable.”

Nathaniel Montgomery is an unhappy young man heading off to Harvard. He’s had everything he’s ever wanted because his parents are rich. Or at least materially he’s had everything. The acceptance of his love of music? Nope. The love of a parent or acceptance that he’s gay? Yeah, not so much. Wren Cunningham has had a rough go of it. He’s living on the streets of L.A. and doing what it takes to get by. Encountering Nathaniel, he sees another entitled kid, but there’s more. He sees the loneliness and naiveté. He sees the young man who longs for acceptance but who is resigned to a life without love – from anyone.

They have one week together. One week to enjoy themselves – both, in a real way, for the first time in their lives. They do all the touristy things and also just hang together, talking and laughing. Finding what they have in common and where their lives are so desperately disparate. In essence, they fall in love. But love at eighteen can be a tricky thing. You want to believe it will last. You want to believe it will enable you to conquer the world. But it can’t, in this case, and the two young men head off into the world in very different directions and off to very different lives. The whole time they were together, I kept thinking, this is leading somewhere, right? They’re going to find a way to make it work, even though the realist in me knew it wasn’t going to happen.

And it didn’t. They parted ways and I knew it would be a long hard road for each to travel but I knew they would come back together. Did I properly anticipate how long? Or how the years would have affected each man so profoundly? Or how it might not be the right time? That you can love someone with every fiber of your being and it’s still not enough?

Man, the heartbreak.

But this is a Riley Hart romance so I knew I’d get my happy ending. And maybe a little angst in the middle.

I loved this story. I loved that it was realistic – the boys could have tried to make a go of it at eighteen but there was no way for them to succeed together, and isn’t that a tough realization. I loved that the realism continued into adulthood and that things weren’t wrapped up with a pretty bow. Life’s like that sometimes. Sometimes what we want isn’t what we need. Or what would be good for us. And I loved that, in the end, the men were meant to be together. I loved that they were eventually able to blend their lives, bringing their friends together and making a tight circle. The family we choose and all that.

As Wren says to Nathaniel:

“My love is like a wildfire…Fierce and all-consuming. Wild. Unpredictable. Beautiful. And nothing can stand in our way.”
“You know it gets me hard when you talk like that,” Nate teased and I laughed.
“You started it.”
“You’re better at it.”

Both men are good with words but in different ways. The love shines through so clearly and they always end with Love Always. So this may not be the standard love story and there may be many obstacles, but I loved it nonetheless. I’ve said that, right? That I loved it.?

Michael Pauley narrated this book and did his standard amazing job. He differentiates the voices well and adds layers to the men when they’re older. Again, another stellar performance.

love this author everything she does is beautiful

I am in love with this author and everything she writes are beautiful stories.

Thank you, Riley and Michael

♥️ Thank you, Riley, for creating a story resembling a real life story-in-the-making that is near and dear to me. (Hopefully they will end up with a similar HEA as Nate’s and Wren’s) :-)
And thanks, Michael, for bringing this story to life in such an amazing way; and allowing us to enjoy it when reading a book is becomes difficult to do. (I still love listening at 1.2 speed, but that’s just me ;-)
Yes, the years that pass for Nate and Wren may be difficult to think about. But sometimes life has a way of ignoring time, forcing us to become stronger for ourselves before we are allowed to be strong together.

Awesome

This was an Amazing story!!!!
I loved Wren and Nate
I laughed and cried.
Thank you Riley for writing their story.

This book is full of hoPe and all love.

First: Riley Hart this book absolutely wrecked me! thank you, and to the narrator outstanding job. This is probably her best book in my opinion that she has written absolutely tore me up. I loved it and I’m sure who else listens. Will love it as well.

Thank you

I love you your books have changed my life. thank you for writing them.