The Pain in Loving You

An Angsty Romance Collection

By: Kandi Steiner

Narrated by: Holly Warren, Lauren Sweet, Marie Mitchell, Hannah Chiclana

Length: 27 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

A longing look across the room. A forbidden touch in the dark. A love that hurts...in the best way.  

From best-selling author Kandi Steiner comes an angsty collection of three gut-wrenching, heart-stopping romances that will have you on the edge of your seat from the first hitched breath until the very last kiss. 

For those who like a little pain with their hearts and flowers.... 

Included in the collection: 

Weightless 

Young Natalie finds self-love and romance with her personal trainer, along with a slew of secrets that tie them together in ways she never thought possible.  

A Love Letter to Whiskey 

An achingly poignant roller-coaster romance between two lovers fighting the curse of bad timing.  

Make Me Hate You 

Jasmine has been avoiding her best friend’s brother for years. But when they’re forced to be in the same house for a wedding, she remembers just how thin the line is between love and hate. 

©2016, 2020 Kandi Steiner (P)2020 Kandi Steiner

Convinced me to give audible books a try

This was one of the first books I read on audible and it convinced me to give them a try because it was good. The narrators did an amazing job making me feel the story. I think having someone read the story to me made me see certain things differently.

5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Pain in Loving You is a collection of three angsty, emotional and soul burning love stories that will leave you feeling raw and emotional! I love Kandi Steiner’s stories and you will love her too. I can’t wait for more stories and longing love from this author!

The Narrators were chosen perfectly and really were great at the deeply emotional parts.

5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An Angsty Romance Collection

Weightless is well-plotted with fleshed out compelling characters, romance, a dab of suspense and a unexpected twist. Natalie and Rhodes lovestory is passionate and beautifully written.
Narrator Marie Mitchell naration is fantastic and brings all the sensations alive.

A Love Letter To Whiskey is suffused with angst. Like Whiskey, with age, it changes, as B and Jamie changed with age. This one was my favourite of the three audios. Smooth flowing just like whiskey everything fit and come together to the end.
Lauren Sweet's performance was perfect and brought the characters and story to reality.

Make Me Hate You, a best friends brother angsty romance. A history, time and future all wrapped up into a heartfelt listen.
Holly Warren performs with enthusiasm and brings the character's personalities out.

All three books are angsty, emotiobal and a romantic journey.

Three angsty titles for one credit!

This boxset is a fantastic deal- 3 books for one credit!

Weightless (narrated by Marie Mitchell): Weightless had been on my TBR forever and I was excited to see it included in this boxset. I found Natalie's journey to get over an ex and improve her fitness such a realistic storyline. Her relationship with trainer Rhodes was intriguing- he was dark and broody and I have to admit I always like a grumpy hero. A little suspense in my romance is always welcome and I have to admit to not seeing a twist coming.

A Love Letter to Whiskey (narrated by Lauren Sweet): Well this book is the true definition of angst! I truly felt for Jamie and B and how timing just seemed to be against them. Such a rollercoaster and that epilogue! Goodness! Narrator Lauren Sweet looks to have a big catalog of work and I will be checking out more of her work.

Make Me Hate You (narrated by Holly Warren): So much angst! Make Me Hate You was so intense- there was so much passion and emotion. "It's you who brings me pain. It's you who is killing me. It's you, and us," I added, motioning between us. "It's this thing that never was, but always is, that never will be and will never not be." Like that quote right there- emotional perfection. I felt Tyler and Jasmine's pain. The story is told only from Jasmine's POV, but it's easy to feel Tyler's anguish and heartache too. Make Me Hate You was real and raw and a story I just couldn't put down. Narrator Holly Warren was new to me, but she did an excellent job. I will definitely be checking out her other performances.

Loved ❤️

I loved this book from start to finish . It hit every emotion for me . I laughed , cried , and felt it to my core . I love all her books but this has been one of my favorites!

It was good ish

I liked a few of Kandi’s books, but these weren’t my favorites. I only got about halfway through the first two books in this set, but I did enjoy the last one a lot.

5 Angsty Stars

If you love Kandi, you gotta have this set!!!!!!!! Three!!!!! I repeat, THREE of her greatest books all in one place!!!! Holy crap!!!!!! Grab it quickly!!!!!! All three of these books are freaking amazing. I just cannot believe that she put them all together!!! I am shook y’all!!!!

Three Great Novels For the Price of One!

Weightless

This is the second book in a row that I have read (listened) of Kandi’s. I’m beginning to really love her romance books. They are steamy without going overboard with it. I love these books but sometimes less is more. It just flows better with the story, especially this one.

I think it’s everyone’s fantasy when there is a break up that the heartbroken person improves themselves in order to make the other person jealous for breaking up with them. I loved that Natalie was able to do this by improving herself not only outwardly, but inwardly as well. Rhodes was a complicated character. He was moody as all get out and probably would have driven me crazy, but at the same time he had a sweetness about him. I am glad he was able to overcome his demons and be the person he needed to be for Natalie and himself.

Natalie was easy to root for and I loved it when she had the confidence to stand up to the bullies. That was one of the best scenes in the book. I feel like I’m a lot like Natalie, with the exception of being rich. 🤣

I did listen to this as an audiobook and I really enjoyed the narrator. The only thing is I think there was something wrong with the recording because in between chapters you could hear a big buzzing sound that was distracting at times. Still, it was worth the credit.

A love Letter to Whiskey

This book!!!! It was so painfully beautiful and hard to read at times. One minute, I was falling in love with Jaime and the next I was wanting to throw the book out the window. It was filled with so much emotional pain because Jaime and B could not be totally truthful with each other. “Timing” was the real villain in this story and I hated her.

I felt the couple’s passion and pain. I have never loved someone who I felt my soul was linked to like Jaime’s and B’s, but somehow I felt I was living B’s life reading this book. I couldn’t go to sleep an hour after I finish this book because my heart, soul, and brain were exhausted when I finally finished this book at 2:00 in the morning.

Saying all that, I still loved the journey so much. It goes to show that not all love stories work out the way they are portrayed in fairytales. Sometimes, the girl doesn’t get the guy, but this is written so beautifully. It will affect you long after you’re finished.

Also, the narration was perfection. She brought every character to life so amazingly. She was very easy to listen to.

Make Me Hate You

This is another great story written by Kandi Steiner. I always love the friends to lovers romance, especially when they fall in love as a child or teenager. Of course, with many of Kandi’s books, the love story is never easy and there are other factors involved whether it be the wrong timing, dating somebody else, or long distance. It makes the angst stronger.

I did like the narrator in this audiobook. She was able to bring the characters to life and kept your attention throughout the audiobook. I like how we get Tyler’s POV in the epilogue.

Beautiful Stories!

This boxed set includes three full length stories: Weightless, A Love Letter to Whiskey, and Make Me Have You. Each story is emotional, and filled with angst and twists and turns. The narrators did a good job with the narration.

1 Weightless: Natalie and Rhodes's story is emotional and beautiful. Natalie is lovely and my heart broke for her. Rhodes is a wonderful character, caring and supportive. I loved to follow them in their journey to love. The story has angst, intrigue, suspense, and romance. This is my favorite story in this collection.

2 A Love Letter to Whiskey: B and Jamie's friends to lovers, and slow burn romance, is an emotional roller-coaster. Their journey is complex, and they share a push and pull relationship.

3 Make Me Hate You: Jasmine and Taylor story Brother’s best friend romance is intense and beautiful. They share an undeniable chemistry. The story is filled with twists and turns.

27 hours of beautiful angst

This is a beautiful collection of this authors most angst ridden books
Weightless (5*) It's a love story. It's a story about family. It's a story about one girl's self-discovery of how beautiful she really is--on the inside as well as her outside appearance.

A Love Letter To Whiskey (5*) Man this book was a rollercoaster. B and Jamie's relationship was SUPER TOXIC . But they just couldn't seem to quit each other. Time, distance and other people couldn't make them quit each other. Kandi Steiner took me on the journey and I was hooked from chapter 1

Make Me Hate You (4*)This gave me such a throwback to this authors other book which I loved A Love Letter To Whiskey. While it didn't quite hit that level in the angst department it was darn close. It's a best friend's brother romance which I'm always a sucker for. I felt so much for Jasmine and Taylor - timing was never on their side. Their relationship was so intense and I felt it. While I didn't cry as much as in Whiskey this book broke me in so many ways, but the raw passion, need, and chemistry between the two main characters got me in all my feels.

I greatly enjoyed every book in this collection and the audio is beyond top tier. I volunteered to listen and review a complimentary copy of this. All opinions are my own.

All the yummy angst

Weightless
Loved the angst and their relationship but that plot twist at the end of the book didn’t really work for me and lowered my rating from 4-4.5 to 3.5 stars. Terrible sound production though with a horrible noice in between some chapters, how is it even possible no one noticed and fixed it?

*

A love letter to whiskey
5 stars. An emotional roller coaster. So. Much. Angst. Epic love and even if my heart was broken most of the time I loved it.

*
Make me hate you
4.5-5 stars. Lovely and angsty. Gotta love a siblings best friend, forbidden romance.

Great selection of books

I loved each book in this series, the first 2 (weightless and whiskey) were much better than the last book was enjoyable but a little less dramatic than the first 2 , but then I LOVE the drama , all the narrators in each book did an absolutely amazing job and I was hooked throughout, highly recommend this collection, my first from this author but definitely not my last

Woah... mind blown!!

This trio was off the charts amazing! I'm so thankful that it ended with a lighter book because this was an emotional one two. I'll do a quick review of one book but let me just say that you are missing out if you don't grab this trio. Plus, I mean you get three books for the price of one! You can't go wrong!!

This is one of Kandi Steiner’s best novels. A Love Letter to Whiskey was emotional and complex. Steiner gives us a roller coaster of emotions. I found myself angry and riddled with angst. Steiner did a superb job of playing with my emotions. Keep tissues handy… keep your reading and/or listening device into a padded case as well. Heed my warning there, in case you feel the urge to toss things like I did.

So, A Love Letter to Whiskey is an emotionally charged novel that plays on the emotions heavily. I’m not sold on the narrator Lauren Sweet. She didn’t hit on the emotions like I felt like was necessary. She has a pleasant enough voice and I have no doubt that she could pull off audios that aren’t quite high emotion. I could see her excelling at RomComs in particular.

Get your heart ready!

Three books, one credit, Kandi Steiner, angsty, emotional journeys that tug at your heart and fill you with hope. Each of the three books has it's own story sure to give you all the feels.

Weightless is the first and this is my favorite of the three. This is Natalie's time to learn about herself. After a tough time in high school and being dumped by her boyfriend, she goes to the gym as suggested by her mother to help herself get into shape. It's amazing how what people see of her truly effects her psyche, but with the help of her new trainer, Rhodes, she is on her way. Little does she realize the effect how his relationship with her will help her learn and grow. Nor does he realize what she will bring to him. This is a coming of age, finding your new norm and loving yourself story and is fantastic.

A Letter to Whiskey is next, and this one I had mixed feelings with as I listened. Jamie and B met in high school, best friends and a kiss changes it all. Over the years, their relationship changes, but never sticks. For me at times it was unrealistic. The waiting, the jealousy, and the rebirth of their feelings was a little over the top for me, but when it concluded, I understood. Like Whiskey, with age, it changes, as did Jamie and B.

Make me Hate You finishes out the trilogy and was angsty, yet it won my heart. Tyler and Jasmine were great friends. Growing up Tyler's sister was Jaz's best friend and they were like family. Until a fateful night when they got together and Jaz's life changes forever. Now 7 years later, they are brought back together for a wedding. They both have love lives, but the embers are still burning. Is it enough? I love couples with a history and these two have it. At times it's sad, but rooting for the couple was not too hard!

Pick this up! You will enjoy it. Each narration is fantastic, bringing all the emotions alive. Their performances will tear your heart up and put it back together! I enjoyed each story and you will too!