A welcome follow up to Caleb and Theo's story in the first book of this series. Matt and Rhys have a whirlwind romance but struggle with marriage when Rhys prepares for his first solo tour as a musician. Matt has a whole slew of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) that set him up for feelings of abandonment and being unlovable while Rhys is out of town. The book is a raw narrative of generalized anxiety disorder, and how challenging early married life is in the communication department.

A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Just wow. Roan outdid herself with this one. Matt and Rhys are an amazing couple and my heart pounded when Matt was going through his troubles. We meet Rhys in Riven, which is another amazing book. Rhys was sort of involved with Caleb, but then Caleb and Theo get together and Rhys is their friend. I loved Rhys. His character was just beautifully written. He is a big man and he takes such care with Matt, which Matt can't help but love. When Matt forgets his wallet and can't pay for groceries, Rhys loves that and of course uses his card. And Matt on one hand doesn't like himself when he forgets, but he LOVES it when Rhys takes care of him and, well, babies him, but in a good way. The whole time I am reading this Matt comes across as a man just waiting to be made into a submissive, kneeling and begging and serving. That doesn't happen, but when Rhys is away on tour, Matt felt so lost and alone, and he didn't have Rhys around telling him what to do, or reminding him to eat or go shopping for food. It would have been 100% genuine if their relationship had morphed into that. Shame it doesn't, although still in a way they are because Matt is built that way and demands Rhys own him and hold him never let go.

This book isn't just about Matt and Rhys's relationship. There is a surprising supernatural element to this too. (view spoiler)

Matt's emotions are all over the place and my heart ached for him. I think he needs professional help, and I don't know how they plan to handle Rhys going on tour in the future. What really got me was that I wasn't being force fed his emotions. They grew naturally and I never once felt like it wasn't genuine. It's hard to explain, and I don't want to give away too much of the story anyway, but know that Matt couldn't help himself when it came to loving Rhys and he still struggles with believing that Rhys loves him and really wants to be with him. This is part of what is driving Matt so crazy with Rhys being gone. His absence, regardless of the fact that he is coming back, makes Matt feel like he has been abandoned like when his mom left. Poor Matt. He needs Rhys just like Rhys needs Matt. These two wouldn't survive without the other.

I whole heartedly recommend this book and the series and I see there is a 3rd book on the horizon. Can't wait to see what it's about! Squee! 5 stars

Did not like quite as much as Riven, this one seemed like more sex than story and I do kind of like to read the romance more than the naked, sweaty times. But I enjoyed all parts where the MCs from Riven joined the story a lot. They had all the best lines.

I really liked this one, I haven't read many books from Roan Parrish but so far whatever I read was so good! This story was sad, emotional and intense.Matt and Rhys went together through a lot of stuff to make sure their happily ever after continues and it was heartbreaking .You need to be in mood to read this one.

"Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review."

Loved this book very much. It had just enough sweet, sexy romance and the storyline was great! I highly recommend!

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
3.5 stars

The second book in this series isn’t as much a sequel as it is a companion novel to Riven. Rend is the story of Caleb’s ex-boyfriend, Rhys, and his husband, Matt. The story moves back and forth in time, exploring Matt’s life and the effects of Matt’s traumatic childhood experiences on his adult life and his marriage to Rhys. This book doesn’t standalone and readers will need to start with Riven to fully engage with this second book.

This is a dark story. Matt is a private, secretive character who is unable to love himself and unable to trust anyone else. When Rhys goes on tour for a couple of months, Matt falls apart. This book was hard work for me. Matt isn’t a particularly likeable character and he is an emotional mess. At the end, the writer talks about working elements of Gothic fiction into the book and all I could think about was how close the writing style came to proper Gothic melodrama. Matt spends much of the story remembering and working through past traumas and current emotions. There were times the intensity of his emotions was overwhelming for me as a reader. As a foster carer, I appreciate how the writer approaches childhood trauma and attachment disorders. As a romance reader who uses fiction to escape from my kids’ trauma issues, the book is a bit too heavy and a bit too close to real life for me.

I have mixed feelings about the unconventional structure of this romance. My geeky academic side likes the concept of playing with the classic structure of a romance by starting with marriage and working backwards and forwards from the traditional romance end point. The romantic in me feels that the unconventional structure made it difficult to fully understand or properly invest in the relationship between Rhys and Matt.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆
3.5 stars

This is the second book in the series, and whilst it can be read as a standalone, I think it is better for understanding Theo and Caleb and the reason that they are important to this relationship.

Overall, I enjoyed the outcome of this book, but it was told in a way which I found highly frustrating. There are times where moving backwards during a story to explain things works, here I was not entirely sure. I also found too much inner voice, and mostly insecure inner voice. Fundamentally I think I found the whole story rather odd. Matt was so clearly in need of therapy, from the very beginning. I felt his story was well explained, and even though he had not told Rhys everything, he was still obviously a man suffering from significant issues due to his mother abandoning him as a young child. Rhys was amazingly supportive, but never seemed to understand just how damaged and in need of security his man was – his only solution was to take him to bed to show him how much he loved him. It was a tactic he repeated, and Matt asked for many times. Even if they were enjoying themselves, Matt used it too often to forget, which made it slightly uncomfortable.

By the end I did feel that their future was much more likely to be good, but for most of the book, I wanted to point out the obvious!


Erica – ☆☆☆
Rend is the sequel to Riven, but can easily be read as a standalone. However, I do recommend reading Riven first, as the characters are introduced in that novel.

During Riven, we learned Rhys and Matt are a married couple, as Caleb and Theo are put through the paces. Rhys and Caleb are best friends and past lovers, their connection runs deep, with their partners joining the circle.

The whole of Rend is simply working the kinks out of a new marriage, when obviously Matt was not ready to marry in the first place. As our narrator, Matt suffers during the entirety, finding his footing as a husband, where he fits into Rhys' life, and what he wants in the future.

Matt counsels young adults who aged-out of the foster care system, which should have fit him perfectly. Other than the fact that he wasn't stable enough to hand out advice he himself did not take. He needed a therapist. ASAP. But no one thought to suggest this, not even his adviser at work.

Matt was abandoned by his father, then his mother, then by the woman he called aunt, ageing out of the foster care system. To say the man has baggage is an understatement. Upon meeting Rhys, Matt pretends this baggage doesn't exist, only moving forward from that day forth, but the past shapes the future, infected with insecurities, lack of confidence, and a weak self-worth.

In a nutshell, Matt never felt he was good enough, gauging his worst against everyone else's best.

Told in a stream of consciousness, not in linear timelines. There were pages where events mentioned took place in the far past, the distant past, the now, and even the next day. I would be reading along in what I thought was the present, then would be thrust in something that happened the next day at work, only to have the story shift back to what I assumed was the present (the day before the work day) and this chaotic writing style continued throughout the novel.

90% TOLD, hardly anything shown happening in the now other than sex scenes. Stream of consciousness. No linear timeline. Befuddling back and forth on the same page with nothing denoting the shift in time.

I wanted to become emotionally invested in this gritty, overemotional novel, but the writing style, the way the pacing didn't organically unfold, made it difficult to connect for me. Added to the fact that I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, since they were so in love from the start to finish, but it never fell (let that be a comfort to those reading reviews prior to purchasing).

The entirety of the plot is Matt working through his baggage with Rhys nonstop reassuring him, intermixed with redundant sex scenes. Character-driven, yet the character repeats the same things on every page for 300 pages, no matter what era in time was told, where I don't see an evolution of change over time, but the change occurring with a finger-snap.

I wanted to love the novel, empathizing with Matt, while some of his pain resonated deeply within me, but the execution of the novel itself took away from the experience. While I enjoyed the beyond insta-love beginning, there was little to no plot to support 300+ pages of what felt like the reader being thrust into a therapy session not hosted by a therapist.

Honestly, if the book had been written in a linear timeline, where all those flashbacks into the beginning of their marriage fell in line with the beginning where they met, my rating would have been higher. It starts off where they met. Then they are married. The reader misses the most important parts – the journey where they fell in love. They were in love and married and we just had to believe the author because we were told, not shown. The in-between bits are shown randomly when Matt thinks of them, mixed in with actual flashbacks to his past in foster care with his foster brother. The timeline/format/release of information killed the book for me.

Recommended to fans of the author and the series. I am curious to see where else the series is headed.

**ARC provided courtesy of publisher through Netgalley in exchange for a review**

I do love Parrish's writing, she manages to pack a lot of feeling in all of her books. She also manages to play with romance tropes in ways that make me think about my perceptions and preconceived notions, which I love. I always find myself learning or realizing something new when I read her books, and I appreciate that.

I love how protective Rhys is of Matt. This is a pretty common theme in romance, but I like how it is shown that Rhys's background, and his understanding of life, makes him unable to completely understand what Matt has been through. The assumptions he makes hurt the both of them, even though they come from the best of places and intentions. I appreciate that he finally sees that the luck that he had being born into a family where love matters most, and money was never a problem, is making him unable to be what Matt needs. I love his growth and the fact that he is able to finally acknowledge that he may not always have all the answers, or even need to have them.

Matt broke my heart. I never thought about the fact that kids that grew up in the system might not have the same coping mechanisms that people that grew up in a stable home environment pick up by osmosis if not by direct teaching. The level of pain he endured because of the amount of abandonment he endured as a child was certain to leave a lasting mark on his ability to connect to other people. I loved that that was recognized because so often in the hurt/comfort trope it isn't. Many books just go with "love conquers all" and fail to recognize that isn't reality. While I love my romance books to have happy endings, seeing actual healing take place is so much more satisfying than just that story line.

I loved that they were already married for most of the story, but that we got to see them grow within that marriage. When they got married it was all about the joy of love, but that isn't the only reality of marriage in the long-term. Marriage is work for everyone, and for people that fit so well, but still had rough edges that were deeply carved it is more work than it is for some.

I could continue, but I don't want to give anything away and if I go into anymore detail I feel like I will do so. Rend is not an easy read, it is very painful in parts, but it is also amazingly heartfelt, and deeply satisfying. I will reread it many times. And I will be counting on Matt and Rhys to continue their love story, in my heart, for time unending.

I haven't read Riven yet, rock stars aren't necessarily my thing, but after reading Rend, I bought Riven immediately, and I will be following this series as it continues.

This book wasn’t easy to read in the least but I ultimately enjoyed it. Why? It was real.

It provided a sense of reality that I believe us Romance readers need once in a while: HEAs are hard work.

Yes, whirlwind romances are all well and good but the fact remains: the couple really doesn’t KNOW each other. These gaps in knowledge will definitely pop up and might cause tension or worse. I believe the key is to fight like hell for the union like Matt and Rhys did in this book or your HEA will be a fluke.

Matt had a ton load of trauma and abuse from his childhood and naively believed that the power of his love for Rhys would automatically make him okay but as we all know, the real world doesn’t work that way. He was triggered when Rhys left and couldn’t put his “brave face” back on for Rhys after it’d been shattered.

What followed was what made up the majority of this book; which was Matt recognising that he might not have been as “cured” of his demons as he thought and Rhys realising that his optimism and sheer “goodness” could not transform the one he loved the most.

As I said earlier, it wasn’t an easy book to read as everything was solely in Matt’s POV and it sometimes got very depressing and sad to read about. However, in his POV, you could see how deeply he loved Rhys and how much, despite all the negativity, he didn’t want to lose him. I’ll be honest though, I believe Rhys’ POV would’ve rounded up the story much better.

Caleb and Theo made good showings in this and helped out when they could which moved the story forward and also gave important updates on how they were doing after their book.

Ultimately, as I said, I enjoyed this book. I hope Huey’s book is next as I am very interested in his backstory and would love to see him happy. But pleeease Roan, make it lighter than this! :D

I got an ARC of this book.

I read this book in a day. I sneaked pages in when I should have been working. As soon as I could reasonably hide away in my bed and read, I did. I read until it was done and then I was drained. So emotionally drained. I feel personally attacked by this book. You could put my face on this book and it would read pretty darn close to what it read as. It was horrifying and amazing and so much more. 

Do you like broken boys? Do you like hurt/comfort? Do you like D/s? This book might just be for you. I was so into it. I wanted more. The emotions took a little while to get going for me. I was starting to read it more as an erotica, but then BAM FEELING EXPLOSION. I was so into it. Not that I had any issues with this being an erotica because 100% yes on these sex scenes. The emotions just took some time to build, because they were being hidden away by the characters. So they needed time to come out. It was wonderfully paced, I was just being impatient since Riven seemed to move much faster. 

The sex. OH MY GOD the sex. When was the last time I didn't complain about a sex scene? I'll wait. Exactly. I always complain about the sex. ALWAYS. This book hit so many of my buttons, one of them being consistent use of condoms. The characters used condoms before they were married. After they were married, there were no condoms and it was clearly a kink thing too. WONDERFUL! They talked about their kinks and the things they wanted. There was even mentions of discussions about kink. I WAS ALL FOR IT. It doesn't hurt that the kinks were perfectly what I wanted to read and fit so well with all of the emotions. 100% yes on these sex scenes. 

I lived for these characters. Theo and Caleb (and more) make reappearances. Saving dogs from a shelter makes an appearance. There is just so much to love in this book. I am all for Theo and Matt. I would totally ship them, if I didn't already ship the main couples so hard. They would be so goofy and broken and wonderful. I highly recommend this series.

*** 3 Stars***

I’m thinking that this book gave me a case of the “it’s not you, it’s me” syndrome because while I really liked the premise, I just couldn’t become fully invested in the story and found that it dragged for me. I loved Rhys, which didn’t surprise me since I loved him in Riven (Book #1), but Matt...it’s not that I didn’t like him, it’s more that while I could empathize with the man, I just couldn’t connect with him and his insecurities/anxieties ~ especially considering the kind of man Rhys was and how long they’d been together. I did like that all that he was going through was addressed and that they both got on board with working through it all, but it couldn’t hold my interest.

I wish I had liked this book more than I did and that I had connected deeper than I did with Rhys and Matt, but it just wasn’t in the cards. But I will say that I loved catching up with Caleb and Theo and seeing where they were at in their relationship.

~ Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley & voluntarily reviewed ~

What an emotional, heartbreaking story! I didn't know how this was going to turn out, as it started with a couple in such a happy place. I don't read a lot of books where they are developed, committed relationships throughout. It adds a unique layer to the whole thing. Matt is the main focus, he has so much to work through. That becomes more and more obvious. The poor guy. It doesn't mean that Rhys has it easy. He's also insecure and in need of working through a few things. It's like they both jumped into things, and yes, it is absolutely the truth that working on a marriage is a constant and deep thing. I loved the story, and the connection to characters from book one. This had my heart. I just wanted to hug these boys.

When a book has no outside forces or circumstances keeping the two main characters apart, I tend to get frustrated. JUST SAY WHAT YOU MEAN! or STOP BEING SO STUPID! It takes a lot of subtlety and finesse to convince me there are legitimate reasons for the misunderstandings that are keeping them apart.

Well, this author definitely nailed both subtlety and finesse on all counts. Although Matt's mental health issues stemming from his childhood form the backbone of the problems Matt and Rhys face, I loved that the way Rhys reacts to problems was also acknowledged as an issue. All too often, the person with the obvious difficulties are labeled the "problem" in a relationship, but this story was so masterfully done that it was clear that although Rhys looks put-together on the surface, his ingrained patterns affect all his relationships, not just his relationship with Matt.

I was excited to see Theo and Caleb again and watching Theo and Matt become friends was very sweet. I laughed at times, cried more than once, and ended the book wanting more.

This is the second installment in the Riven MM series, which is set in the world of rock music. The characters in the book have complicated emotions and the author did a great job allowing the reader to understand what the character was feeling. The pace of the story was excellent, I had a hard time putting it down. The story has the ups and down that go with romance, and at times you wonder if they will get their happy ending. It was a great read, and can be read as a stand-alone book.

WOW, I was not expecting this to be so wonderful. Rend is the story of an optimistic singer Rhys (think Thor look alike) that had the perfect life growing up and Matt is his polar opposite. Matt suffered from abandonment and has had nothing to call his own. They are attracted and fall in love. Matt wishes to protect Rhys from his past but it always catches up with you. It was a believable and touching romance where the two men learn to support each other and truly understand what the meaning of a real marriage means. I loved Rhys family and friends and how they became part of Matt's life. Oh yeah , can't forget Max (you will have to read book to find out about him). I can't wait to read Ms. Parrish's other novel Riven. Fingers crossed for more from this series. Maybe Grin will get a chance at a forever love.

I really loved this. From the first instance the characters felt like full people who I'd known forever. Actually at first I thought this was a direct continuation from the first book (it's a different couple, but we met them in the first book I guess) with the same couple. That's how well formed they felt right away. How invested I was in their story from the start. It's not a happy fluffy book, Matt and Rhys deal with some pretty heavy trauma, mostly all Matt's. But I think Rhys has his own issues, and just when I started to get frustrated with him someone would call him out on it. I'm really happy that it was saved from being one-sided by that. One thing I really appreciate is the author wasn't afraid to let the characters get "ugly". They went deep and their "fights" felt real and true. No one crossed the line into unforgivable territory, just human territory. Neither are perfect, they both jumped fast and then got smacked with reality and had to figure out and make hard choices on how to deal with it. Couldn't recommend this more. You don't even need to have read Riven.

Disclaimer: I’m not sure how to write a coherent review for this book. I was twisted up in feelings from beginning to end.

I went into Rend by Roan Parrish expecting a similar book to Riven, but the fact is they’re entirely different. I think I had a lump in my throat through most of the book. It’s told through Rhy’s POV, and due to his childhood, he’s afraid of being too happy because he’s always in fear of the rug being swepped from under him. Matt was solid throughout and was ever so patient with Rhys’ feeling- he’s a caretaker.

Rend had me from their first meeting to the very end. Roan Parrish can fucken write.

If you’re in the mood for a story that is:

-Full of feels
-Melancholic
-Excellent character development
-Outstanding relationship growth
-Flawless writing
-Hot and emotionally charged sex scenes
-And everlasting love

Then, read this book. I highlighted the hell out of this book. My favorite passage:

This was a love letter. A fucking love letter from a man I’d only met five times. A love letter saying things I’d never imagined anyone would say, seeing me in a way I’d never seen myself. As I read it again a room opened inside me, turning emptiness to possibility, solitude to potential. A room opened inside me, and I wanted to fill it with Rhys. I wanted to choose. I wanted, for the first time in my grungy fucking life, to choose someone and make them mine. And it terrified me. “Oh fuck,” I said to no one. “Oh fuck, fuck, fuck me.”

HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.

Prepare to read Rend more than once!

Matt Argento went through the foster care system and feels that everyone has abandoned him. One night while walking around New York he met singer Rhys Nyland at a bar. Matt and Rhys start a relationship and eventually get married and move out of the city. Matt still hasn’t dealt with his abandoned issues and refuses to tell Rhys about them. Rhys finally releases an album and goes on tour, leading Rhys to think that everything was fine with Matt. Matt couldn’t sleep causing even more problems.

Rend has romance and a lot of internal feelings of Matt making the reader understand a lot more than Rhys , Theo and Caleb (Riven) because they have never actually been abandoned by the people that should love them.

Rend actually made me cry reading about Matt and it really put the reader in Matt’s mind understanding him more than the average book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Of the 300 books I’ll have read in 2018, Roan Parrish’s “Rend” will be in my top 5! “Rend” (defined as “to tear apart”) left me in a hundred pieces, feeling its protagonist disintegrate. And still, Parrish is a miracle-worker of possibility, showing one person’s pain and perseverance illuminate the path for many others.

Matt’s mother, aunt, and the foster system discarded him. He survived with the help of his best friend (who also left) and Matt now works at an agency helping other foster kids transition into adulthood. Parrish’s descriptions give skin and bones to a dilemma few of us know, “A different brand of cereal at every house, different shampoo. Don’t get attached to anything, don’t ask for anything. Keep the door closed, your bag packed and don’t expect anything from anyone.”
In a whirlwind romance, Matt falls in love with Rhys, a gifted musician from a happy family. In prior relationships Rhys was labelled “prudish,” because he wanted true connection, not casual flings. Matt’s need to be loved forever dovetails with Rhys’ view of how relationships “should” progress. Everything about Matt and Rhys is intense, yet rings clear.

Now, years into their marriage Matt thinks, “Sometimes you couldn’t notice how bad things were until something good showed you the difference.” When Rhys goes on tour, all of Matt’s misgivings re-emerge. Though Matt is in his own home, he ruminates, “I was standing in someone’s kitchen, washing someone’s dishes, and their house was full of their things. I got to use them. I got to be here. I was welcome to be here whenever I wanted. Wasn’t that nice?”

Then an old friend dies, and Matt’s ghosts reach a peak while Rhys is still away. “The emptiness in the house rang out like a hollow bell. The deafening buzz of a housefly in the corner. The prickling feeling of perpetual nothing stretching out in four dimensions.” We live Matt’s demons. Regardless of the couple’s obvious love, readers wonder if there is any way for these men from two different backgrounds to accept each other without preconceived notions.

Told from Matt’s point of view, Rhys’ responses are showcased by his best friends, Theo and Caleb from “Riven,” the first novel in the Riven series. While Rend reads complete as a standalone, Parrish is too excellent a writer to neglect “Riven.”

If you’re feeling shattered, and want to recall how to pull together, this novel is for you – or for anyone, actually. “Rend”has it all: a smooth plot, personalities whose flaws insist upon growth, strong side characters, exquisitely rendered scenery, simple but vibrant dialogue, some of the most intimate love scenes I’ve encountered, and a thoroughly believable ending.

Wow! Rend, by Roan Parrish, is an absolute page turner. This story is romantic, powerful and absolutely amazing, as well as extremely complex.

What Matt expects to be just a hook-up with Rhys, ends up being a magical night of really getting to know one another.

Matt and Rhys fall in love quickly, leading to what is essentially an all encompassing love story between a married couple, as they navigate Rhys' success, traveling, and family issues.

From the start, Rhys is one of the most wonderful book boyfriends ever. He's loving, deep, gentle and extremely caring. He's simply calm and confident. He is everything Matt needs.

Matt, meanwhile, is full of self-doubts and can't understand what Rhys even sees in him. Having been abandoned by his mother, Matt assumes he's unworthy of love. He expects everyone to leave him.

After a whirlwind marriage, the two are now struggling with Matt's abandonment issues. Their connection is strong and absolutely beautiful, but Matt is still left drowning in his insecurities and loneliness while Rhys is on the road. There are many emotional moments that will leave you sobbing.

I found one of the most intense moments to be when Matt uses Rhys's weight on top of him to ground him. The fact that Matt needs Rhys' physical weight to remind him that Rhys is there, shows just how wounded Matt is.

Overall, Rend is a story full of true love and yet so full of despair. It's a tremendous tale of a broken man who feels unworthy of love trying to survive. As with Riven, the writing style is strong and captivating, and I can't recommend these books enough!

Rend is a fantastic M/M contemporary romance that is steamy and heartwarming. I truly enjoyed the overall story although some parts felt a bit drawn out. The story is told from Matt's POV and deals with his abandonment issues and fears of being left again. Rhys is the light to Matt's dark and exactly the man Matt needs in his life if he will just let himself believe. Rhys loves hard and knows what he wants. He's determined to make Matt understand and feel all he has to give.

A great love story and a book I found very enjoyable. I definitely recommend it.