I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.
Pretend it's Forever by Carrie Ann Ryan Series: The Cage Family #5
Published by Carrie Ann Ryan on September 7, 2026
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
Sophia Cage doesn’t need a protector—she needs a night to pretend her world didn’t splinter. After her world burned, she found herself a single mom, a struggling dance studio owner, and unable to do the one thing that had brought her out of the darkness.
Dance.
When Carson walks into her life, all she can see is the broken person she’d been when they’d first met. She’s stronger than the ghosts of her past, at least that’s what she tells herself. Yet with each accidental encounter with the mysterious and dangerous man who’s inserted himself into the Cage family orbit, she’s finding it harder to walk away.
Carson Woods doesn’t trust people. He’s spent his life protecting his sister from their family and the world all while making sure his businesses are the best in their fields.
Then he meets her.
One wrong move with the shattered yet pieced together Sophia could not only fracture his working relationship with the only friends he has but harm the woman he tells himself he cannot crave.
Carson had me from hello! The next book in The Cage Family series is highly emotional as Sophia picks up the pieces of her life and builds anew. When Carson walks into her life again after that tainted day she first saw his face, she doesn’t know what to make of the different things he makes her feel. In all honesty, I wanted more angst and emotion from her. I wanted to feel the pain of her devastation and not feel like it was glossed over a smidge and then moved on from. I wanted her to rip my heart out with her pain and then let Carson piece me back together along with her. It didn’t happen that way, but I loved him, her girls and her family as a whole so much that it still worked for me. The series is great, the family is just the best and the happily ever afters always work no matter how we get there. Always looking forward to more to come in the series!
