Meant for Her by Natasha Madison

Meant for Her is the second book in Natasha Madison’s ‘Meant For’ series. I’m gonna say it right at the start- I enjoyed this book so much, and if you’re like me and weren’t ‘wow-d’ by Meant for Stone, this book will make up for it. It’s such a good slow-burn story, and the development of the Koda and Christopher’s relationship is amazing.

**I received a free, advanced copy of this book for reviewing purposes. Thank you to the author, Natasha Madison, and to Wildfire Marketing Solutions for including me in this release!**

The Story

Going in to this book, we knew it was going to involve a widow, now single-mom. Dakota’s (Koda) husband Benji, an NHL player, suffers an overdose at the start of the book. Koda finds him unresponsive on their couch, the morning after their daughter’s 4th birthday party. While I did not find that part to be shocking, it may be upsetting to some people (there is not a ton of description but there is some. it is definitely something that would be easily to skim or skip over if you are concerned about it).

Christopher, one of Benji’s teammates is on vacation when he gets the news of his best friend’s death. Thinking of his friend’s wife and two young girls, he rushes home. But, he doesn’t get a warm welcome from Koda. As Benji’s teammate, Koda wanted to know how he could let Benji’s addiction take over his life. How had no team member noticed or tried to take action to save Benji before it was too late? She was already worn out from the stress of two young kids, and having to put on a brave face while her husband openly cheated on her. And just when she had gathered the strength to leave her husband, she finds him dead.

The character development in the book wasn’t what I’ll call the ‘usual’ character development. We didn’t have a heroine who had to learn to move on from her bad breakup or get the courage to try again with a former flame. Instead we have a heroine who had to come to terms with her husband’s death. She was constantly discovering things that made her hate him even more, and she had to learn that there was nothing she could have done to prevent Benji’s death. Not to mention the growing feelings she is having towards the best man from their wedding.

My Verdict on Meant for Her

As much as this book is a romance, it is also a book about grief. Both Koda and Christopher struggle to reconcile the man they though they knew, with the man that Benji had become. When Christopher learns of just how bad things were in Koda and Benji’s marriage, he struggles with wanting to punch his best friend in the face and mourning his loss. Koda has to learn to forgive the people in Benji’s life that ‘allowed’ Benji to spin out of control. We see her going to meetings, seeing a therapist, and learning how to help her girls remember their father in a positive light, even though all she wants to do is scream.

The way the grief and coping processes are written is so well done. There isn’t a hint of spice between the characters until more than halfway through the book. But I didn’t even notice this until I paused my reading for a moment and saw how much more was left in the book. The story pulls you in immediately, and it’s impossible to stop reading. The lack of spice in the beginning didn’t make me want to skip to the spicy parts, and it didn’t make the start of the story any less important.

Overall, I give Meant for Her a solid 4/5 stars. I love the characters, and the angst and slow burn was delicious. I loved that the story itself was different from other books dealing with loss in some way. A widow/widower or single-parent trope is not uncommon. But because we experience the character’s death along with the FMC, the story is about the grieving process just as much as the romance.

Read my review of the first book in the series, Meant for Stone, below!