Review: Untaken Twin by Samantha Christy

There’s only one thing worse than your fiancé dying…

Having to look at his face every single day. Or should I say the face of his twin.

So I left.

I never knew promises were made. Then broken.
And I surely never expected those promises to be about me.

When I return to my hometown and see his face, the heartache I’ve been running from is front and center.

But it becomes harder and harder to keep hating the man who looks exactly like the man I loved.

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Ren’s life imploded the day her fiancé died on a mountain. She couldn’t face the loss that invaded every aspect of her life so she ran across the country and then some, all the way to Alaska and never looked back. The pain doesn’t go away but at least she doesn’t have to face it head-on every day in the town where everything is a reminder of Chaz and the future they lost. She reluctantly agrees to come home temporarily when her father needs help, never suspecting he’s using his health as a way to set her up.

She’s not happy to be back but loves her dad and wants to keep Donovan’s running smoothly while he recuperates. Until she sees the face that haunts her every waking moment. Cooper Calloway is the haunting reminder of his twin and the last person Ren ever wanted to see again. He’s the one person who may be more broken than Ren by Chaz’s death, having watched his twin die on that mountain. He’s spent every day since that moment wishing he was the one who had died and Ren’s loathing of him is a constant cruel reminder that he lost both of his best friends that day.

Ren’s grief was palpable throughout the early pages but the way she treated Cooper was heartbreaking. It was a relief when she finally realized that she was punishing the one person who was suffering more from losing Chaz than even she. Although tragedy tore the former best friends apart, they cautiously find their way back to one another when Cooper’s life gets complicated and Ren steps up to help. But will their tentative bond shatter when old secrets come to light?

There’s a great twist in this story I didn’t see coming but it was perfect for these two. I loved the characters and the way they came together even as life continued to lob cruel curveballs. This was my first book by the author but won’t be the last because I loved everything about Ren and Cooper’s story and highly recommend this book. I received an ARC from Grey’s Promotions in exchange for an honest review.