Review: If You Were Mine by Carrie Ann Ryan (The Cage Family #3)
Note: An advance reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author.
We're back in Cage Lake, Colorado for the third novel in Carrie Ann Ryan's Cage Family series. If You Were Mine is Dorian Cage's book, and it's a falling-for-your-best-friend's-sibling romance, with Harper Wellesley as his female counterpart. When the plane being piloted by his best friend, Joshua Wellesley, unexpectedly encounters problems and crashes, Dorian is left with numerous life-threatening injuries but lives, while Joshua...does not. The thirty-one-year-old owner of four high-end clubs in Denver has spent the past year recovering, but his life has changed a great deal since Joshua died. He swore he'd keep an eye on Joshua's younger sister, but he's barely been able to do that, adding on to the guilt that he's already living with. But the twenty-three-year-old bakery owner is no longer a girl needing protection. Harper misses her brother immeasurably while also regretting that her friendship with Dorian has been stuck in neutral ever since they lost Joshua. He's been keeping a secret from her, as well as other secrets from his siblings. But maybe if he could call her his, he would then realize that the truth will set him free.
This third Cage Family book brought tears to my eyes. I know all too well what it's like to lose your only brother without any warning, so I could easily--unfortunately enough--empathize with Harper. I love that she had such a strong support system around her, but I also knew that sometimes, the grief can be so overwhelming that even with all of that love she felt, she also felt alone. Which is why I could finally sigh with relief when Dorian started to get his act together. Yes, he had more than his fair share of healing to do physically, but I honestly think that he needed Harper--his Wellesley--and not just because of their shared grief. The journey these two took in order to heal and to live out their happily-ever-after would have made Joshua proud. I say that because he truly loved his sister and his best friend, and there was no way that he wouldn't have wanted them to be happy and to know that they had each other going forward. If You Were Mine was truly a book that hurts and heals, which is why it so easily receives five of five stars.
Release Date: 27 October 2025
Date Read: 19 October 2025
Learn more about Carrie Ann Ryan.
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