Review: The Hero in Her Story by Kelsey Kingsley

Rating: 4.5/5   PoP: 63%/71%  

Tarryn King has a life that looks envious from the outside but inside she is feeling lonely and unloved. She has a great best friend but Lennon is getting married and life is moving on without her. Lennon’s big brother, Connor has always stared in Tarryn’s fantasies of the future. What she does not know is that the same has been true for him for nearly 20 years. 

What I loved about this book is that the female lead is a celebrity that seems to have everything available to her while the male character is living a rather normal life. In fact, he has a job that most people would probably find undesirable. There is a lot of back-and-forth struggle between these two as they learn about each other beyond their long-time infatuation. Tarryn has a lot of past emotional damage that makes it difficult for her to commit or believe in commitment. I think that is something we see a lot in romance but her reasoning is just a bit different to make it uniquely hers. What I did not see coming in this book was how swoony Connor is. We first met him in The Girl in the Front Row as Lennon’s brother and they have a very genuine sibling dynamic. So, seeing him stand up and love someone that could give herself any material thing is powerful. 

I also need to mention, Sammy, Connor’s 13-year-old daughter. She was very age appropriate and is never forgotten in this story. In fact, she is a big part of the conflict in this story but again, not in a typical way. Also, the epilogue was icing on the cake in the sense that it shows how not everything goes perfectly after finding one’s HEA but that love makes life worth living. Kelsey’s writing always hits me in the feels and this was a great balance of funny and serious.