*SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU’VE BEEN WARNED! LOOK UP TRIGGER WARNINGS!

With any Mia Sheridan book, I would say going in blindly is the best way to get the full experience when reading her stories, and with, “Dane’s Storm”, it just another perfect story to read. The way the story began had me wondering, “what happened and what lead to this?” Sudden it then cut to Audra and her floral bouquet business. I assumed that based off of the prologue that eventually that would be explained in the story. Anyways, with Audra’s business expanding and growing, it seemed like her dreams were coming true, until a blast from her past comes into her life, and she found herself with the possibility of losing her business. Suddenly Audra was not only coming into contact with people from her past, but more importantly she came face to face with Dane Townsend, also known as, her ex-husband.

The story was told through past and present chapters which is something I love reading about, seeing the difference in time. In the past chapters, we got to see how Audra met Dane, and how it inevitably set the stage for their young romance when they were seventeen (Audra) and eighteen (Dane). Seeing Audra and Dane when they were younger was sweet, endearing, and just gave off that nostalgia of your first love, everything feeling heightened, and of course feeling like you’re on top of the world. For Dane, meeting Audra was like a breathe of fresh air. Audra wasn’t like anyone Dane had ever met, and from the way she was so intrigued by what he had to say, and the way she viewed the world, as well as admired her artistic ability to capture the exact essence of a person, or anything captivated Dane’s attention. In the past, Audra was young, inexperienced, and figuring out her way in life, but meeting Dane felt like he brought color into world. I genuinely liked the past chapters since there were some sweet moments shared between Dane and Audra. The present chapters focused more on how Audra, now twenty-seven was constantly busy with her business. In addition, the present chapters were a bit less happy go lucky and more of a mix between stress and contentment. 

One of the first questions I had while reading was, what led to Audra and Dane getting a divorce? Based off of the past chapters, it seemed like Audra and Dane were happy and in love, but something drastically changed all that. *SPOILER ALERT* Later on, it was revealed by Audra that part of the reason why she and Dane got divorced/ didn’t work out was due to Audra being pregnant and unfortunately losing the baby. The loss of her unborn child not only devastated both Audra and Dane, but somewhere along the way weren’t able to recuperate their marriage. I cannot even begin to imagine what that kind of loss brings to a couple, but it was shocking to find that out with Audra. 

Having the story told through dual point of views really enhanced Audra and Dane’s story. At first, I thought the story was only going to be told through Audra’s perspective, but once Dane reappeared in the present chapters, I was glad to hear his side of the story. From Audra’s point of view, it was clear that she hadn’t anticipated being back with her former husband, and even Dane was caught off guard being face to face with Audra. For both, it was not only the reminder of the relationship they once had, but also all that they had lost. Despite the many years apart, it was clear that Audra and Dane still felt a deep connection to each other. From Audra unable to notice how handsome and gorgeous Dane became as a man, and the years being kind to him, to Dane looking at Audra with a heat that seared throughout his whole body remembering the feel of her body, but also seeing just how beautiful she had always been, if not more. 

Now I had a feeling this was going to be an emotional rollercoaster filled with sadness and heartache, but I also kept feeling like something worse was going to happen. Now I knew there was going to be a plan crash since that’s literally mentioned in the synopsis, but even knowing that it didn’t take any from that feeling of anticipation and anxiety. The moment finally came when Dane’s plane crashed and suddenly Dane and Audra were in the middle of a dangerous and scary situation. Audra and Dane were pushed to their limits, trying to survive, and do the best that they could while being stuck in the middle of nowhere. Despite the severity of the situation, Audra and Dane had each other to rely on as support, and in a twisted way, found their way back to each other. 

With the severity of the situation, Dane and Audra had to survive, and in some ways provided them the opportunity to not only get back together, but also give them a chance to work through their issues such as, the loss of Theo (their son). Grief was one of the main topics in the story as it played a role in the inevitable divorce between Audra and Dane. For the longest time, Audra couldn’t move past her grief of losing Theo and Dane had always assumed that giving Audra space was the right thing to do when they were married. Seeing the moment when Audra finally expressed to Dane how she truly felt about losing Theo, how she pushed Dane away, and all the culminated to the end of their marriage was like a weight was lifted, and it allowed Audra to really air out everything that she had kept bottled up for so long. Dane as well revealed more of his own grief of losing Theo, but also realizing that he was partly to blame for their marriage ending. Both Dane and Audra were flawed characters, but through their communication they were able to move past long held feelings and that they both had their fair share of blame to their marriage/ relationship ending. A pivotal moment for Audra and Dane for them was talking everything out, and it made me happy to see regain some peace despite still being stuck in the mountains.

This was such a harrowing, emotional, sad yet also heartbreaking and beautiful story. Audra and Dane had seemingly found love with each other as teenagers, and experienced grief and loss at a young age. Despite losing their way and one another, years later that lead to such an unexpected and harrowing experience of trying to survive led to Audra and Dane finding their way back together. The love behind Audra and Dane was beautiful and heartfelt. I was at the edge of my seat throughout the story, and was anxious the whole time to see how Audra and Dane would survive out in the mountains. I was very happy with the ending of the story as well as the heartwarming epilogue that showed Audra and Dane with their new bundle of joy, Noah. Like majority of Mia Sheridan’s books, she always knows how to tug on my heartstrings, make me emotional, and of course keep me captivated from page to page. Definitely would recommend reading this book.