Stronger Than Longing (Chesapeake Days Book 3)

Off the top, I do want to say that I got this book as an Early Reviewer on Library Thing. I always get a little guarded when it's a sequel that I hadn't read the first (or other) parts of the series. I can pleasantly say while I feel some of the details of the relationships outside the one being focused on in this book might be missing, you can jump in on this Silas and Taran (do we have a cute couple name for them?) story without missing a beat. it felt very "Bridgerton" in the focus shifting from couple to couple while staying in the same frame, if that helps. It was a great story, and as someone from Maryland, I was super stoked for Eastern Shore references. I believed the world as it was being built, even if it was a little predictable. I hope we can touch back to this couple as we move on to Link or the brother or the roommate even to give the resolution we all are hoping for -- the app takes off and they live, "happily ever after." (And just a shout, I would totally read books 1 and 2 in the series if they accidently ended up coming my way!)

I’ve enjoyed Katherine McIntyre’s Chesapeake Days series and Stronger than Longing is an emotional finish. It’s a classic bad boy/good boy romance, with the bad boy, Silas, ripe to be redeemed by the good boy, Taran. I don’t usually like books with babies/children as important characters, but this book made me change my mind. As always, it was good to see characters from the previous books make an appearance in Stronger than Longing. Who knew life in a small town could be so entertaining and diverse? And the diversity is treated as normal, not an add-on. If I wasn’t already in love with the book, all it took was a line from Taran who says in regards to his new program: Not like I’m curing MS. That hit home for me, since I am now in a wheelchair thanks to my MS. It’s nice to be seen, if only peripherally. It was a real pleasure to read that the author intends a spinoff series, which I will eagerly await. I received a free copy of this book from LibraryThing and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

This is the third book in this series that I have been fortunate enough to be able to read and review for Early Reviewers on LibraryThing. I loved this series from book #1 Stronger Than Hope. One of the things that I especially liked about it, other than the hot guys, is that the characters reappear in all the books. This one featured Silas and Taran's story...and what a sweet perfect story it was. All the characters had attended high school together. Silas wasn't a popular guy then and he grew up a loner. Taran knew him from school, but he ran with a different crowd. After Taran had unceremoniously been dumped by his boyfriend, he met Silas in the bar where he was either drowning his sorrows or celebrating the good luck after the breakup from the creep, Kevin. Taran and Silas hit it off from the start. Now Silas knew he had reasons to celebrate. Here was a man that loved him warts and all. Silas got another surprise when a onetime encounter presented him with a sweet baby daughter, Fiona. Silas fought to keep his daughter when her mother ran away and left her. After a brief walk-out by Taran when he learned that Silas was going to let his baby girl go to her grandparents to raise because he didn't think he was good enough for her...they gave it another chance and came together to form, perhaps not a perfect family, but a family that had love to spare and friends that supported them. This was something that was new to Silas as his mother was his only support for most of show more his life. Stonger Than Longing was just as beautiful and heartfelt as the other two books were. I'm going to be sorry to see this series end, but I know that Katherine McIntyre will give us more, sweet, loving, hot guys in future series. Thank you, Ms. McIntyre and Hot Tree Publishing, for giving me the opportunity to visit with the guys of Chesapeake Days. show less

This romance novel got me feeling warm towards the protagonists and their lives almost immediately, and I enjoyed following their relationship from the tentative beginning onwards. But I felt some of the drama from the outside came very late and rather suddenly, which jarred.

Stronger than Longing, the third series in the Chesapeake Days series by Katherine McIntyre, is the third course of the same meal. If you enjoyed the first two books, you will likely enjoy this one as well. The plot follows a now-familiar pattern, and the characters' interactions are similar, but just different enough to make them feel like different people. McIntyre has a strong voice as a writer, which comes through quite clearly in this volume as well. While some of the inner monologues can get a little repetitive, they are not so long or dull as to be a problem. Overall very similar fare to the first two books in the series, so if you are looking for more of the same, you have found it.

Stronger Than Longing is the third book in the Chesapeake Days series by Katherine McIntyre. It is a standalone but the characters are interconnected with the other books, which I love reading about characters that I have met before in previous books, but you, fortunately, do not have to read the previous books to fully appreciate this book. You meet Taran, who is the typical good guy, oftentimes called boring in Stronger Than Passion; you meet the bad boy, Silas, also in Stronger Than Passion, so you get to see a glimpse of these two prior to Stronger Than Longing but only briefly.

Taran had just been broken up with again because he was too boring when Silas comes into the bar where Taran is currently drinking his breakup blues away at. The attraction between the two is instant, but Silas isn't trying to start a relationship, since he just came back to town to meet his 3-month-old daughter. The chemistry between these two is hot and they can't seem to stay away from each other, even though many things try to come between them. Can they overcome these obstacles and get what they both want?

I really enjoyed reading the third installment of this wonderful series. I can't wait to read more great stories from Katherine McIntrye.

Stronger Than Longing is the third book in the Chesapeake Days Series, and it was my first M/M novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The main characters are very likeable, and the plot was fascinating and kept my attention.
I highly recommend it, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from Katherine McIntyre.