Title: Worth the Wait
Series: McKinney/Walker #1
Author: Claudia Connor
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 10, 2017
Blurb
The first in a spin off series of the New York Times Bestselling McKinney Brothers, WORTH THE WAIT takes readers on a journey through young love into adulthood in a heartwrenching, second chance love story.
Nick Walker thought nothing could destroy what he had with Mia. He certainly never thought he would be the one to destroy it.
Now ten years later, Mia James is in Special Agent Nick Walker’s path once again and this time he’s determined to shed the weight of regret and finally claim the future that was always meant to be theirs.
It won’t be easy. Mia’s heart was shattered by Nick and now, just when she’d pieced it back together, it’s been broken again, bringing their past to the surface, including her own secret about that day everything went wrong.
***Every title by Claudia Connor is a Contemporary Romance and a full stand alone novel. No cheating, no love triangle, no cliff hanger.
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Excerpt
~twenty-four years ago
Nick pressed two fingers into the sleep deprived headache pounding in his temple and tried to concentrate on professor Jenkins’s explanation of ideal gas law. He circled a line of notes, ignored the knock on the auditorium door until he heard the familiar cry. Hannah, who he’d left in the university daycare two hours ago.
The high pitched wail wasn’t his two year old sister’s hurt cry. It was her scared cry with a touch of pissed off. In the six months since their parents’ death, he’d learned to tell the difference. He’d learned a lot of things. Like if he didn’t take her to the bathroom, she’d likely wait too long and have an accident. Like green beans made her throw up, but she’d eat them if he told her to. And she would never, ever go to sleep without Mr. Bunny.
He was up, out of his seat, and halfway down the auditorium stairs before his professor laid his pen down.
Nick’s eyes narrowed on the young blonde in an oversized sweatshirt with silk greek letters sewn on the front. She held a sobbing Hannah dressed in the sunny yellow sundress he’d picked out that morning. She hadn’t been crying when he left her. Now her eyes were red and snot mixed with tears dripped into her mouth. Hannah lunged for him. His arms engulfed her small body and his heart squeezed like it always did when she held onto him.
“I stay you,” Hannah said. Each word tumbled out of her with a jerk of her tiny shoulders.
“What happened to her?”
“Nothing happened to her. She hasn’t stopped screaming for the past hour and she bit three people. We can’t keep her like that.”
Several responses came to mind.
She’s just a baby.
She missed her nap.
And the loudest of all, it was my fault for leaving her.
Hannah raised her head to look at him, giant tears hanging from golden lashes. “I bite.”
“Well. At least she’s honest.” Professor Jenkins turned his questioning eyes to Nick. “She yours?”
Nick pressed two fingers into the sleep deprived headache pounding in his temple and tried to concentrate on professor Jenkins’s explanation of ideal gas law. He circled a line of notes, ignored the knock on the auditorium door until he heard the familiar cry. Hannah, who he’d left in the university daycare two hours ago.
The high pitched wail wasn’t his two year old sister’s hurt cry. It was her scared cry with a touch of pissed off. In the six months since their parents’ death, he’d learned to tell the difference. He’d learned a lot of things. Like if he didn’t take her to the bathroom, she’d likely wait too long and have an accident. Like green beans made her throw up, but she’d eat them if he told her to. And she would never, ever go to sleep without Mr. Bunny.
He was up, out of his seat, and halfway down the auditorium stairs before his professor laid his pen down.
Nick’s eyes narrowed on the young blonde in an oversized sweatshirt with silk greek letters sewn on the front. She held a sobbing Hannah dressed in the sunny yellow sundress he’d picked out that morning. She hadn’t been crying when he left her. Now her eyes were red and snot mixed with tears dripped into her mouth. Hannah lunged for him. His arms engulfed her small body and his heart squeezed like it always did when she held onto him.
“I stay you,” Hannah said. Each word tumbled out of her with a jerk of her tiny shoulders.
“What happened to her?”
“Nothing happened to her. She hasn’t stopped screaming for the past hour and she bit three people. We can’t keep her like that.”
Several responses came to mind.
She’s just a baby.
She missed her nap.
And the loudest of all, it was my fault for leaving her.
Hannah raised her head to look at him, giant tears hanging from golden lashes. “I bite.”
“Well. At least she’s honest.” Professor Jenkins turned his questioning eyes to Nick. “She yours?”
He hesitated, but only a second. “My sister. But yes, she’s mine.” And at that moment she became even more his, which seemed to be the case every day. Every day, a little more his.
Review
Worth the Wait is a second chance romance story. Nick and Mia went through quite and ordeal and it divided them in such a way that it left them both broken in ways. Finding themselves in the same area again, brings it all back to the forefront, beyond the hurt and the pain, they both still have deep feelings for the other even if they don't want to admit it.
Nick was the ulitmate good guy, he had the most family loyalty and he took things to heart. Left to take care of and raise his younger siblings when their parents died, he took on a lot more than other college men would do and along the way found THE ONE and as life continued to throw punches at him and his family, he lost her. But Nick doesn't want to give up on his dreams of the future, he doesn't want to let Mia go again once he's found her in his life again. But that means rehashing the past, letting go of traumas, and perhaps a little bit more growing up.
Mia thought she'd found herself a new life, thought she was moving on from her past, from the love of her life, something she didn't think she'd find again but then her new future shatters in front of her and once again Mia was left trying to hold together the pieces of her broken heart. She's leary to let Nick back into her life especially as she's overcoming the most recent hurts.
As Nick is forced to accept that his sister, the one who has only known him as a parent, is an adult fully capable of making her own choices and moving on with her life, he also finds himself struck with the realization that he needs to move on with his own life. I really liked the emotions at play as Nick figured out what he had let go in the past and all that he had let himself lose. Mia is also made to see her part in their split and how things could have been handled differently and maybe they wouldn't have lost so much time.
Worth the Wait delivers a powerful love story, both in the past and present, one that tugs on your heart strings and makes you hurt. But also one that sucks you in and has you rooting for the love to win out, for feelings to be told in such a way that it makes you want to weep to finally see these two figure it out. Mia and Nick went through a lot together, they practically raised a family while still trying to work out what to do with their own lives, they had deep hurts, they suffered gravely, and though it tore them apart, it also brought them back together. Though there were times when I got frustrated over the actions or lack of action from the characters, I also understood why things were happening the way they were and how it was ultimately pulling together.
Claudia Connor wove all the intricate pieces of this story together in a stunning way, giving a story that was more than a second chance at love, more than a family working through their struggles. Each piece of the puzzle brought something more to the story, allowing it all to play out in my mind and pulling me deeper. I love the way each character is used in some manner to enrich the story, and I look forward to seeing more of these characters in future books.
Author Bio
Claudia Connor is the author of the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling series, The McKinney Brothers. Her debut novel, WORTH THE FALL, hit the New York Times Bestsellers list in 2014 and received numerous Best Contemporary Romance of 2014 accolades.
Claudia attended Auburn University, where she received her undergraduate and master’s degrees in early childhood education. After teaching kindergarten and first grade for ten years, she retired to be a full-time mom to her three daughters. Always a lover of books, and always one to have stories playing in her mind, she decided to try her hand at writing. It took seven years to finish her first novel and a new love was born.
Claudia lives near Memphis, Tennessee with her husband, three daughters, two cats, and a singer-songwriter Siberian Husky. She continues to write warm, heartfelt, and emotional romances with a bit of steam, a lot of family and always a happily ever after.
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