An ARe Cafe Top Pick!

Lauren Bishop is a junior financial consult who worships her mentor Dylan McGuire until he steals her contract and crushes her dreams of advancement. Jaded and angry, Lauren moves on, following her other dream of running a vineyard. Years later Dylan reappears wanting to mend fences by helping to save her failing vineyard, but Lauren wants nothing to do with him. Dylan is determined to show Lauren he’s nothing like the man she knew. Dylan realizes he’s loved Lauren since the first time he laid eyes on her, but all Lauren sees is deception in his every move.

Lauren’s friend, Dena LaCroix, and Dylan’s best friend, Chet Davis, have been friends-with-benefits for years. At one point, Dena wanted more, but Chet dispelled any notion she had of a happy-ever-after. Suddenly, Chet is having a hard time sticking to his rules as he realizes along the way to discovering Dena’s body, he’s discovered he is hopelessly in love with her. Unfortunately for Chet, Dena insists they stick to the rules he imposed for years. Time has made Dylan and Chet better men, but they’ll need more than time to convince Lauren and Dena to give them a chance.

Love After War by Sienna Mynx grew on me because the more I read, the deeper and richer the plot became. When I first started, it read like a novel that would satisfy my desire for a good, fun read, but then it took on so much more dimension and meaning as the plot developed. This contemporary, interracial romance features two couples and their riveting story as they try to find love and a purpose to their lives. The couples are a myriad of ethnicities. Lauren is Japanese and Black, Dylan is White, Chet is Korean and Black, and Dena is Haitian-American. Each of the main characters has something from their past that explains a lot about the people they’ve become as adults. Lauren’s abusive background is slowly revealed and is quite shocking, to say the least. Dylan came from a broken home with a mother who showed him no love. Chet is also from a broken home with a father who taught him to objectify women, which is exactly what he does most of his life. Dena has had to grow up real fast when at only fifteen years old, she’s the only one capable of caring for her dying aunt. They’ve all had a tough time growing up and, like most people, it shows in the way they live their lives as adults. It is easy to disagree and even dislike the character until more of their past is revealed and suddenly it all makes sense as to why they are flawed.

The characters gradually become more than just characters in the pages of a book, but people I could relate to, and feel their pain and suffering. I know this is a romance novel, but I enjoy a story that deals with real life issues and situations. It is rarely a bed of roses on the journey to love and here we see that both couples go through hell not just to find love and each other, but also to find a meaning and purpose to their lives. The storyline regarding the dog is very poignant. I couldn’t help tearing up and was rooting for the poor dog. It was very heartwarming when Dylan brings home a new pet.

Again, this book is rich and filled with intricate and interesting characters, a well-developed and enjoyable plot, and a great ending. I was thoroughly invested and didn’t want to take a minute to put it down. I have read several Sienna Mynx novels and one thing they have in common is well written plots and well developed, three-dimensional characters. Love After War is another testament that Sienna Mynx is a very gifted author.

~ Susan for AReCafe ( )