Great Second Chance Romance Handled Sensitively

It's never been casual to write fiction touched by gun violence and school shootings, but given the current state of affairs in the United States, it's particularly tense. In the Ones Who Got Away, Roni Loren manages to do it with sensitivity, focusing on the survivors and their lives 12 years after a prom night shooting. That said, if you have personal experience with gun violence you may need to skip this book.

As a second chance romance, it's a pretty satisfying read. The chemistry re-sparks between Olivia and Finn and you’re pretty much rooting for them from the beginning. I will say, Olivia is more forgiving than I am, and willing to write off certain things to being stupid teenagers.

Being dubbed The Ones Who Got Away isn’t just a framing device and over the course of the book, both Olivia and Finn are continually working through issues and on themselves as they re-evaluate their lives and their motivations 12 years on.

This was my first Roni Loren read and I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series, The One You Can’t Forget.