Last updated on 08/20/2026
He sentenced himself to a life alone.
Evander Cole came to Montana to disappear. Tucked away in the mountains outside Solace, he keeps his distance from everyone—including the men at Valor Ridge who would have been his brothers if he’d stayed at the ranch. But after eight years alone, numbness feels safer than letting anyone close. His Cane Corso, Tilly, is the only company he allows himself.
Then she walks into a roadside bar with a guitar on her back and danger at her heels.
Indie singer-songwriter Rainey Beckett knows better than to trust dangerous men. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped her from ending up on the wrong side of the Sons of Sin motorcycle club. And when danger catches up to her before she can find her brother, there’s nowhere left to run…
Except straight into the path of the quiet stranger at the end of the bar—a man with cigarette burns on his hands that mirror the scars on her wrists, and a dog at his side that looks ready to kill on command.
One violent night changes everything.
Now the president of the Sons of Sin is dead, the club wants revenge, the law is hunting Evander for murder, and the media is convinced he kidnapped a rising music star. Forced deeper into the wilderness together, Evander and Rainey discover hiding from the world starts to feel less like survival…and more like freedom.
But falling for Rainey means abandoning the exile Evander built for himself.
And for the first time, he’s starting to wonder if just surviving alone is enough—or if he wants more.
Breaking His Exile is a steamy small-town romantic suspense featuring fugitives on the run, forced proximity, hurt/comfort, found family, and a love powerful enough to bring a broken man back from the edge.
Review:
Ohmygoodness, Evander’s story!
He’s been on the outskirts of most (all?) of the other Valor Ridge books, coming in to help them when he was needed, but then returning to his self-imposed exile as soon as possible after. At the end of her book ( Bearing His Sins ), Greta–his only real (kind of mostly) friend–encouraged him to get out among people, which put him in the right place, right time to meet Rainey…
…and their story takes off from there! And barely lets anyone take a breath from that point on.
(OK, so there *is* a week when they’re chilling in Evander’s cabin. But it’s with the threat of discovery hanging over them the whole time, so it’s not really very relaxing. Plus, they’re not at the point where they really trust each other yet, so…)
But seriously, this book really put me through it. Finding out Evander’s justification for why he needed to be exiled was absolutely heartbreaking–and watching him continue to use similar reasoning for a lot of the book was rough. And frustrating. And might have made me yell at him a time or two. Learning Rainey and River’s history? Also tough. The push and pull of Rainey and Evander’s relationship? I just wanted the two of them to find a way to be happy, and he kept throwing up roadblocks thanks to his issues. The last third or so of the book, when the danger really ramps up? So unbelievably stressful! And don’t get me started on all the scenes that made me cry…Rainey’s song? {sob!]
All in all, I legitimately had a hard time putting this one down.
Fortunately, this is a Tonya Burrows book–complete with dogs and horses and kids and a tyrannical rooster–so we had a few legitamately funny scenes in there to break things up from time to time. Oh, and a wedding <3 And the found family here–one which Evander FINALLY lets himsellf be a part of by the end (spoiler? Though it’s heavily implied in the title) is top notch. It’s truly one of my favorite things about this series.
The epilogue lets us know whick Valor Ridge guy is getting his own book next–X! Yesssssss! I’ve wanted to see something happen between him and Mariah for pretty much forever, so I’ll be counting the days until its release. As soon as I know what the release date is, anyway 😉
No pressure, Ms Burrows 🙂
Rating: 5 stars / A+
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
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