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.
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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Review
4 OVERPROTECTIVE STARS
☆☆☆☆
Worth The Wait
McKinney/Walker #1
by
Claudia Connor
This story took me completely by surprise. Claudia Connor is a new-to-me author and I was intrigued by the many amazing reviews I saw about the McKinney Brothers. When Worth The Wait popped up on Netgalley I couldn't resist. I took a chance and the rest is history.
Nick has to leave his teen years fast behind when his parents die in a car accident. Yesterday he was a carefree young adult, the next day he has to take care of his three brothers and his baby sister Hannah, who is all of two years old. At no point he even considers passing her on to a relative. He loves his family so much and wants them all to stay together.
When Mia meets Nick and his little sister on campus she realizes that this boy is one of a kind. They fall in love and fast and over the course of a couple of years they live a happy, albeit stressful life.
“I love you. I love you, Mia. You’re everything. Everything.” He didn’t hold back now, as if being inside her broke down any barriers he might have had, and the words flowed. He whispered them as he moved. She was all. His life. His heart.
One day their love is put to the test and it doesn't survive. Or does it?
When they meet again ten years later there are so many obstacles between them that you wonder how they will ever overcome them. Mia has had her share of tragedies and the way she carries herself even after them is nothing but admirable. She is a quiet person, nothing is flashy about her, there is no snark, only empathy and understanding. Mia is always there for the Walker siblings, no questions asked. Sometimes she comes across a little bit too understanding which might readers see as a bit of a pushover...but that isn't my perception of her. She just has this quiet strength she shows on the outside. On the inside she crumbles sometimes and the tragedies she has to deal with are really tough to swallow.
He'd tried his best to protect her from himself and broken both of their hearts in the process.
Nick is an amazing brother. The way he is with his baby sister is simply wonderful. He protects her, loves her and gives her everything Hannah needs. When he sees Mia again his mind is his prison and he is trapped in there so tightly that it's hard to imagine that he can free himself of the guilt he feels for everything that has happened. And his own feeling of guilt sometimes leads him to be cruel to the only person who has stood by him through everything. I struggled a bit to come to terms with him. He wasn't unlikable by no means, not at all. He was actually pretty amazing but his demons just were too strong at times and my heart ached for Mia because of the hurt he had caused her.
He was still looking for an answer, a reason, when there was no logical answer, no reason. There was nothing to do but move forward and help Hannah move forward. But he was still in the past, still looking for someone to blame and as long as he did there was no future for them.
This epic love story had emotions galore. I loved the characters, main and side, especially Hannah who actually stole the show from Mia and Nick in the beginning. She was so utterly adorable, I wanted to cuddle her silly. Nick's brothers all have their own struggles and I am looking forward to reading their stories. If this book is anything to go by we are in for lots of more emotional reads. The men don't seem to be alpha-holes but good and solid people. I'll definitely read this author's back list.
I love Claudia Connor's writing style, it's very fluid and pleasant to read. If you are a fan of emotional stories with a generous dash of angst like I am you will love this. It's about first love and love that is destined to be.
“I lost myself, and I’m sorry. I heard you, but I didn’t answer. I locked you out, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
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