Once upon a time, my whole life stretched out ahead of me, and it was perfect.
Then, tragedy struck.
Two years later, nothing about my life looks the way I thought it would, and I don’t even know what home is anymore.
Until I cross paths with Jo Evans late one night, staring up at the stars.
With her signature pink sneakers and smile that could power the world, Jo is sunshine personified. When she ends up in my city for a few months, she insists that we are going to be summer friends and no amount of my grumpy resistance deters her.
I never expected to find love after such an enormous loss, but with one crazy summer adventure at a time, Jo helps me learn how to live. And slowly, I find myself wanting things I never thought would be mine again.
My grief runs deep, and I have scars that aren’t so easily healed. But Jo sees me. She makes me feel like my battered heart may just be safe and that I can find the courage to think about forever.
As long as forever is with her.
What in the world was this book? I picked it up expecting to find another book boyfriend and instead found a book girlfriend in Jo Evans and a story that had me feeling every emotion imaginable. Samantha Brinn took a love-after-loss storyline, handled it with incredible care, and delivered a romance that felt hopeful, healing, and deeply human.
Jordan Wyles has spent the last two years simply existing after the tragic loss of his fiancée. He moved away from the people who love him, buried himself in a job he doesn’t even enjoy, and settled into a routine that feels more like survival than living. Then one night he meets Jo Evans, his best friend’s sister-in-law and the human embodiment of sunshine, chaos, and bright pink Converse.
And thank goodness he does.
“Hurricane, I think you are the most fascinating person I’ve ever met.”
Jo Evans is hands down one of my favorite heroines I’ve ever read. Jordan’s nickname for her, Hurricane, couldn’t be more fitting. She’s quirky, loud, endlessly optimistic, and completely unapologetic about who she is. She inserts fun into everything she touches, whether it’s scavenger hunts, movie nights, road trips, food truck adventures, or dressing a plastic dinosaur named Dippy in a seemingly endless collection of scarves. She may be a little too much for some people, but for Jordan, she was exactly what he needed. There’s something so special about a character who refuses to let the world dim her light, and I genuinely found myself wishing I could be her friend by the end of the book.
“You bring the happy, Jo. Wherever you go.”
What I loved most about Jo, though, was her heart. She never tried to fix Jordan or rush his healing. She simply showed up. She listened. She gave him space to talk about his grief when everyone else seemed afraid to even say Allie’s name. She understood that loving Jordan meant respecting the woman he lost, and some of the most emotional moments in the entire book came from the way she continued to include Allie in their story. Her visits to the cemetery, the conversations she had with her, and the way she referred to Jordan as “our man” absolutely shattered me.
Love-after-loss stories can be incredibly difficult to write because there is such a delicate balance between honoring the past and embracing the future. Samantha Brinn absolutely nailed it. Allie’s presence is felt throughout the story, not as an obstacle to Jordan’s happiness, but as an important part of who he is. I loved that the book never treated moving forward as forgetting. Instead, it showed that it’s possible to carry one great love with you while still opening your heart to another. Jordan’s journey wasn’t about replacing Allie. It was about learning that he was allowed to live and love again.
“Even when it’s hard and even when it’s scary. I hope you know you can talk to me. You can tell me all the hard and scary, if you want to. I’ll keep it all safe for you.”
Watching Jordan slowly come back to life was one of my favorite parts of the book. At the beginning, he’s a shell of the man he once was, just going through the motions day after day. But little by little, Jo’s friendship starts bringing color back into his world. Through J’s Summer of Fun, late-night conversations, countless laughs, and simple everyday moments, you can actually feel the weight lifting from his shoulders. His healing felt gradual, realistic, and incredibly rewarding to witness.
After wading through grief and the endless complexity of rebuilding my life on top of the wreckage of the one I lost, Jo’s smiles feel like seeing the sun for the very first time after years of darkness.
And then there’s the romance.
This is a true slow burn, and every moment of friendship building the foundation made the payoff even sweeter. Jordan and Jo understood each other so effortlessly. She needed someone who would love every quirky, chaotic, larger-than-life piece of her without asking her to be less. Jordan needed someone who could sit beside his grief without trying to erase it. Together, they created a relationship built on trust, acceptance, friendship, and genuine understanding.
“You brought me back to life, Jo Jo. It’s like I’m happy to live in the world again because I get to live in it with you.”
Once they finally gave in to their feelings, though? Whew.
Jordan Wyles may be a surgeon, but the man also has a filthy mouth and absolutely no intention of hiding how obsessed he becomes with Jo. The chemistry between them was incredible, and I loved that their first intimate moments felt both emotional and passionate. After spending so much time watching them fall in love, seeing that tension finally snap was more than worth the wait.
“Let me take care of you tonight, Jo Jo. Let me show you what it’s like to have every inch of you well and truly worshipped. Let me strip you naked and learn how you taste and what sounds you make when you come. How you feel when I sink inside you, bury my cock in your tight pussy, fuck you until you’re crying out my name.”
The supporting cast was equally fantastic. The Wyles brothers completely stole every scene they were in, and their group chats had me laughing out loud. Elliot, Noah, and Cooper each brought something different to the family dynamic, but the love they have for one another was evident in every interaction. Jo’s relationships with Hallie and Hannah were equally wonderful and felt so authentic. By the end, I wasn’t just invested in Jordan and Jo, I was invested in everyone.
And can we please take a moment to appreciate Dippy? Because that dinosaur and his endless scarf collection deserve recognition.
Yours to Lose is a story about grief, healing, friendship, family, and finding joy again when you think you’ve lost it forever. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It will make you want to call the people you love. Most of all, it reminds us that moving forward doesn’t mean leaving someone behind.
Jordan finding happiness again with Jo felt earned, beautiful, and completely unforgettable.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️