Summary
Relationships are off his menu…until one woman brings his guilty heart back to life.
JT can’t forgive himself for bringing the wrong date to a wedding—one that nearly killed his sister. While things turned out fine and Maggie is blissfully happy with her new husband, JT’s guilt is eating him alive. Certain his “crazy” detector is broken, he’s sworn off dating, and his friends and family are worried that he’ll never let himself live, or love, again.
Sofia Benevides, Common Grounds Café’s sunny, raven-haired manager, has worked with owners JT and Maggie for years, and their partnership runs like a well-oiled machine. She loves her job, but her conservative, very traditional family is constantly on her back about her lack of matrimonial prospects. No one knows that she has secretly carried a torch for her hunky, normally happy-go-lucky boss since she started there as a waitress five years ago.
Acutely aware of his family’s worry, and with Sophia’s family putting her under ever increasing pressure to find a man and settle down, JT comes up with the perfect solution: fake dating. But his win-win scenario takes a hit when they realize their feelings are anything but fake—and way more complicated than they anticipated…
Note: Redeemed is book 3 in the Gladewater series but can be read as a standalone.
Review
“I thought I knew almost everything about you, but you keep surprising me.”
The Gladewater crew is back again! I love the dynamics between everyone; JT, Sofia, Maggie, Zane, Dani, and Levi. Once you finish one book in the Gladewater series, don’t think the story is over yet. You can see them popping up in the other books. It’s great because you can see what happens after their stories end.
Redeemed takes place after the events of Unbroken. In a blink of an eye, everything can change. It doesn’t take much. JT isn’t who he was before. Everyone is worried about him, and they want the old JT back. However, they aren’t sure how to make it happen. Guilt is a powerful thing. It doesn’t matter whether or not it’s rational. If you feel even a bit of guilt, it’ll follow you and try to eat you up until it consumes you.
Don’t you hate when you are a mess, and people constantly tell you to get it together as if you didn’t already know that? Knowing and doing are entirely different; doing is more complicated than knowing. The hardest step is to start. But, once you begin, everything gets easier.
Family expectations are a complex situation. In many cultures, there’s a certain age one should be married. If a female is past the age of being expected to be married, people talk and are worried. They would think that the female would be destined to be alone. Sofia’s family is concerned about her and tries to set her up with people hoping she will settle down and marry someone soon. The solution to that? JT and Sofia decide to fake date so that people will get off their backs and no longer worry about them. The thing about fake dating is that it can get messy. The relationship with the person you previously have with the other person can change if something happens. There could be one-sided feelings. And there are times when it’s as if you’re walking on eggshells, unsure how to act because you’re afraid you’ll upset the other person.
Sometimes, it’s easy not to see what’s in front of you. It could be right in front of you, but you wouldn’t even be able to pick it out, even if it slapped you in the face. Likewise, you can see everything else around you that doesn’t involve you, but anything that does, it’s as if it’s in your blind spot, and you wouldn’t be able to catch it.
There was a moment when it got very emotional for me. I didn’t cry, but I was on the verge of doing so. It felt realistic as if I was there, and it was happening to me.
While reading, I highlighted more than needed and wrote notes because I started late and did not want to forget anything. If I had started at a decent time, I’m pretty sure I would’ve finished it in one day. For some reason, I couldn’t seem to be able to put Redeemed down! It wasn’t easy to stop reading for me to sleep. After waking up, I continued. With so much to do, I ignored it and read instead. Every time I told myself I had to stop so that I could do something else, I kept telling myself I’ll finish one more chapter first.
Maggie reading Collide was cute. I love it when authors leave little easter eggs and a nod to things in the real world.
The only thing I had a problem with was the miscommunication between Sofia and JT. It caused so much drama. But then again, I believe there wouldn’t be a story without miscommunication. Their relationship would’ve been perfect, and there’s no such thing as a perfect relationship. There’s always a problem, however big or small, or it wouldn’t have been realistic. Other than that, I enjoyed Redeemed and can’t wait to read more from Dallas Ryan.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5)
