Review: A Missing Heart by Shari J. Ryan

I’ve made mistakes. Some of those mistakes have ruined lives, including my own.

Because of this, my past is something I have kept to myself, so when I found a woman who also wanted her past to remain hidden, it felt like the universe was pushing us together.

It turns out the universe had nothing to do with that.

If a person’s past doesn’t exist, the present may not unravel the way it should.

I found out the hard way, when I learned that my wife is not who I thought she was…living with a past I should know about. Her continuous self-destructive behaviors let me know she clearly has a plan—possibly one I never should have been a part of. I keep trying to save her, but she’s making it hard.

Now, both of our pasts have simultaneously rolled into the spotlight—colliding head-on, and causing the present to come crashing down on top of us.

I learned that since our pasts are part of who we are, they will always be the foundation of our present and our future.

The question I have is, will either of us walk away in one piece?

4.5 stars
Review by Jen Skewes

The first book that I read by Ms. Ryan was A Heart of Time, which I loved.  But it wasn’t until I started to actually read A Missing Heart that I realized that this was AJ’s story.   If you read A Heart of Time this is Hunter’s brother who I loved.  So when I realized who this story was about I couldn’t have been more excited.  Ms. Ryan delivered another emotional story that completely pulled at my heart strings.  She did not disappoint with this one.

When AJ met Tori they both agreed to keep their pasts in the past where they belonged.  They are both very broken people who do not want to share what they have been through and felt it was best to move on and not discuss it.    But when they find out that Tori is pregnant things between them begin to change and after their son is born, AJ sees that maybe his wife is not the person he thought she was.  And maybe hiding their pasts wasn’t the best idea, because somehow those pasts will always come back to haunt you and in ways completely destroy the present. However I do think that in AJ and Tori’s situation, their pasts coming back brought them both to a place where they were meant to be.

As a teenager AJ had a love that was like no other.  It was one of those loves that no matter how young you are you know it will last forever.  But circumstances beyond their control tore him and Cammy apart.  It is now 13 years later, when he comes face to face with his first love and all the pain, hurt and most of all the love that goes with it.  With his current marriage falling apart, a wife who he has no idea who she really is and his one true love back in his life, how will AJ handle it all?  Will him and Cammy get their second chance at love?

I loved this book so much and loved the emotions that it brought out in me.  For one AJ is an amazing man.  He is so clearly broken but yet he is so strong.  He is the type of man that will do everything to make the situation right, he will do what it take to make others happy and what is best for them.  But I think in a way that caused him to lose himself a little.  He wasn’t happy but trying to do what was right in a way came first for him.  I admired it but at the same time just wanted this man to find true happiness.  He has been through so much that he deserved to find true love and be happy again.  For me the only person who really brought out the best in him and the one person that he was truly himself with was Cammy. 

AJ went through so many emotions and one in particular was guilt.   And what I loved about this story is that I felt the emotions with him.  I wanted nothing more than for him to find happiness with Cammy again.  I saw how much these two loved each other and even after 13 years apart their connection was just as strong as it was when they were 17.  It was as if they had spent no time apart.  But then there was Tori and what this woman was going through.  And at some point I felt guilty for wanting him to just walk away.  But at the same time I was so mad at Tori for everything she put him thorough, even knowing her past and her reasons for it. 

Cammy was just an amazing person who I loved so much, even though I didn’t agree with her decisions or the way she handled them. But I still loved her and felt the love that this woman had. 

A Missing Heart is an emotional story about love, guilt, second chances and so much more.  It deals with some heavy topics but the author did an amazing job with the way she handled it all.  I loved that we got to see AJ’s past so we could truly understand and feel where all of his pain has come from.  I love a book where you can feel with the characters, where you connect with them and feel like you are going through it all with them.  And this book did just that.  Another fantastic hob by Ms. Ryan.