Originally Published: 05-03-2018
Book Summary
Phantom Waltz is the 2nd book in the Kendrick Coulter Harrigan Series by Catherine Anderson.
This book is also called a Kendrick Coulter Family Novel, or even A Coulter Family Novel because a Kendrick marries a Coulter.
Ryan Kendrick takes one look at Bethany Coulter and knows that she’s it for him.
Ryan is brothers to Rafe Kendrick, book 1, Baby Love. These two books are closely tied together but Phantom Waltz happens a couple of years later as Rafe has another child with Maggie.
Bethany is the youngest of the Coulter family. She has five older brothers. Their books are book 3, book 4, book 5, book 6 and book 7.
Just like Rafe, Ryan takes one look at Bethany and knows that he must get to know her. That she’s TheOne for him.
So the majority of the story is about Bethany and Ryan getting to know each other in different situations. And they both have obstacles to overcome.
Bethany was in a racing accident with her horse Wink, and was paralized from the waist down when she was in her teens. So for the majority of her young life, she has been fighting for independance while being in a wheelchair.
Bethany feels that her being in a wheelchair is too big for Ryan to deal with. And Ryan is determined to show her that she can live a full life despite the fact that she’s in a wheelchair.
Ryan then campaigns to be her friend. All the while, he is attempting to seduce her into falling in love with him. As he’s fallen in love with her.
Jake, Bethany’s older brother (he stars in book 3), plays a big bro role in this story. So you get to know him a bit.
But what the majority of the story is about is the relationship between Ryan and Bethany. Ryan makes it his personal mission to win her over in any way that he can.
He renovates his entire home and the outbuildings with wheelchair access ramps and bars on all the necessary places. He even buys Wink back from the person that bought him after the accident.
Due to her injuries and the age that she had the accident, Bethany is a virgin.
As in any spinal cord accident, the sexual abilities of the person are a concern. Because of the circumstances, Bethany didn’t have any interest in men until Ryan came along.
So a chunk of the storyline is them learning what she can feel and what she can’t. What’s nice is that they blunder along the way. Their sex life is not perfect. It causes some tears and some concern. Even some discussion with others that cause some interesting scenes.
The details for the sex scenes are pretty open at first. Then as they start to figure things out, the details in the actual story get fewer and fewer. It’s more of discussions between the two main characters. They have to come to some solutions to their problems and they have to talk about it.
Catherine Anderson does a tasteful job of making these parts of the story be real and truthful. She doesn’t use crude words in her descriptions nor does she use really descriptive language.
So Ryan does everything he can to make Bethany’s life full and rich. Enabling her to be able to do just about everything she could before. With the fact that he is very rich, he has all sorts of equipment installed to help her have as much independance as she can.
And they even plan their wedding. And it’s going to be on horseback up in the hills. In order to prepare for it, they go riding just before. And that is when they encounter a bear.
The bear mauls Ryan and leaves him for dead. Bethany is left to literally sit beside him unable to do anything. This causes her to have a huge emotional battle within herself and she leaves Ryan, for his own safety.
So things are all hunky dory until right till the end when this scene happens. Then they are not. Then they are again because Ryan gets a glimps into what she might be feeling. And it ends happily ever after.
It does feel a bit 1-dimensional. There is so much more that Bethany could have done to make the situation different even despite her physical limitations.
But all in all, it’s a really good story. I enjoyed reading it again.
Don’t forget to check out Jake’s story in book 3.
Here’s the original book cover for this book.
Check out the other books in the Kendrick Coulter Harrigan Series:
