Only Love Can Hurt Like This: an unforgettable love story from the Sunday Times bestselling author

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This book is a delicious, slow burn love story that hit me in parts of my heart I didn’t even know I had’ Annabel Monaghan Wren meets Anders, who lost his wife four years ago and still struggles to move on. Anders and Wren have an electric connection, but Anders has a secret--keeping him from igniting his feelings towards Wren. They keep crossing paths, Wren is moving toward Anders, certain he feels the same way, but never acting on his connection. From what I can remember, I’ve only ever read one Paige Toon book. I read The One We Fell in Love With a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. While I was expecting a light-hearted romantic read, it had so much more depth than I expected. And, there is NOTHING that I enjoy more than to see two likable people who have experienced great loss and pain, find each other and come out on the other side. This story was definitely a romance with depth. It was thought provoking and utterly heart-breaking in places. It was also quite unpredictable and I didn’t expect some of the twists and turns within the story.

TLDR: plot twist major red flag, moral dilemma. Should not be advertised as a romance book this book is just sad. But when Wren discovers a secret Anders has been hiding, her world is turned upside down. Only Love Can Hurt Like This Book Review: My Opinion Paige Toon’s writing is emotional and riveting. Even while her novel was breaking my heart into tiny pieces, I couldn’t put it down’ Jill Santopolo When Wren meets racing car engineer Anders, a ‘will they, won’t they’ relationship develops but with Anders still grieving over his wife’s accident four years ago, can she break down his barriers to love again? As the smouldering tension increases between them it makes for some steamy reading, until the reality of Anders’ heartache is revealed and then it became emotionally wrenching for them both. The moral dilemma Wren and Anders both face but from different perspectives, makes for a thought-provoking debate for reading groups.

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Even while her novel was breaking my heart into tiny pieces, I couldn’t put it down. Emotional and riveting, this is a story of big secrets, and even bigger love.”—Jill Santopolo, author of The Light We Lost

Wren’s fiance has fallen in love with someone else and breaks up with her mere months before the wedding. Their English village, once quaint and comfortable, is now much too small for the both of them. On her mother’s suggestion, Wren decides to fly out and spend the summer with her father, stepmother, and newly married half sister on their Indiana farm. Things are slightly tense, as Wren has never been completely at ease with her father since he left her and her mother for this new family when she was young, but maybe time together will begin to strengthen a weak connection. She also keeps running into Anders, the younger son of the farm next door, who’s visiting from Indianapolis and still reeling from losing his wife four years earlier. The two are drawn to each other despite both of their hesitations, but a secret Anders is keeping threatens their newfound affection. Toon has constructed a very cozy, lived-in world of Indiana farms that's comforting both for Wren and the reader. The tangled web of relations in Wren’s family and her journey to begin to heal some of the wounds of her childhood are the strongest parts of the novel, messy but real. Wren and Anders’ relationship is a bit rushed; it feels more superficial when juxtaposed against Wren’s complicated, realistic family relationships. Some plot threads go nowhere, and others appear out of thin air. Anders’ big secret doesn’t come into the story until two-thirds of the way through, complicating things but without much time for characters to explore or truly reflect on it. Naur this book made me so angry. I can’t write a review for this book without giving away spoilers so be warned. A tightly-paced blend of angst and joy and hope. Perfect from start to finish. I absolutely adored this book!” —Christina Lauren, author of The Unhoneymooners I liked the fact that all the characters had their own issues. This made them feel real and believable. Many of the characters in this book have suffered loss in their lives in varying degrees, whether it be the loss of a family unit, loss of a relationship, loss of a spouse, etc. I appreciated how the author showed how this affects thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. I thought this was very nicely done. Paige Toon has been an auto-buy romance author for me for years. Year after year, I saved her latest book for my summer holidays and couldn’t wait to dive in. What I love most about her stories are those little snippets she always throws around. Those snippets usually are a puzzle that suddenly shows one or more plot twists when you see the bigger picture. So, when I got her latest book as an ARC, I couldn’t wait to start reading.

I really enjoyed the location. It felt quite idyllic, as long as you don’t mind a few tornados! I could understand why Wren found herself wanting to stay. Paige Toon writes such beautiful, emotional love stories. I adored Only Love Can Hurt Like This—it swept me away to the gorgeous Wetherill Farm and I fell in love with Wren and Anders.” —Beth O’Leary, author of The Flatshare and The Road Trip

The author is known for writing gutwrenching novels, and hits the mark again with this wonderful tale' Sun Toon tells the story from one end of the spectrum to another; heart-wrenching pain from secrets and hurts, then soaring love that fills the reader with joy. It is an addicting read! I also didn’t like any of the side characters. The author made all the characters such shitty people that I’m not sure how we are supposed to feel towards them.I’ve never read a book by Paige Toon before and I will not be reading another. That means I have no comparison to her other works but the writing in this book was horrendous. A delicious, slow burn love story that hit me in parts of my heart I didn’t even know I had. Full of original and complex characters, it left me with the wonderful feeling that love this real can make anything possible.”—Annabel Monaghan, author of Nora Goes Off Script