Carrie Ann Ryan left me hanging at the end of One Quick Obsession. Oh man! She had me chomping at the bit for Pretend It’s Forever. After all that anticipation, I was hoping Sophia Cage and Carson Woods would give me a story worth waiting for, and they did not disappoint.
Title: Pretend it's Forever
Author(s): Carrie Ann Ryan
Series: The Cage Family #5
Also in this series: The Forever Rule, An Unexpected Everything, If You Were Mine , One Quick Obsession
Published by Self Published on September 7, 2026
Pages: 264
Genre(s): Contemporary Romance
Source: Author
Format: eArc
Purchase: Amazon|Audible
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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.
Pretend it’s Forever is a single mom, who hurt you, opposites attract, contemporary suspense featuring Carson and Sophia in the Cage Family series. Each book can be read as a complete standalone. An HEA is guaranteed!
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
In the previous books, Sophia appeared to have it all. She was happy in her career and marriage, or at least that’s what everyone thought. But by the end of book four, we discovered that the picture-perfect life was nothing more than a facade. Behind closed doors, her husband had broken her mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially. It was heartbreaking to see just how much she had endured while trying to keep everything together.
In Pretend It’s Forever, Sophia is trying to navigate her new normal. She is rebuilding her life, finding herself again, and adjusting to being a single mother to her beautiful twin girls. I felt for Sophia because she has been through so much, yet she is determined to keep moving forward. I enjoyed watching her slowly find her strength again, which allowed me to appreciate her story.
And then there’s Carson Woods.
Carson witnessed Sophia at her absolute worst on the night he rescued her, and from that moment, protecting her became important to him. He wants to keep her safe, but his feelings go much deeper than that. He wants to be more than her protector. The problem? Carson doesn’t believe he is worthy of her.
Oh, Carson! I really liked this man. His desire to protect Sophia never felt like he was trying to take control of her life. Instead, he wanted to be there for her while she found her way back to herself. And while I understood his insecurities, there were definitely moments when I wanted to tell him to stop selling himself short and see himself the way Sophia did.
I loved watching these two find their way toward each other. Sophia needed someone who would give her space to heal while reminding her that she was worthy of love, and Carson needed to realize that he was worthy of being loved too. Their relationship wasn’t just about attraction. There was an emotional connection that grew as they learned to trust each other.
Of course, this is a Cage family story, so the family makes its presence known. I enjoyed those moments because they added the warmth, support, and occasional chaos that I’ve come to expect from this series.
A few things prevented me from giving this five stars, but overall, I really enjoyed Sophia and Carson’s story. It was emotional, romantic, and, at times, had me wanting to reach through the pages and give both of them a little push.
Another enjoyable addition to the Cage Family series, and now, of course, I’m left wondering about the couple that will be featured in the next installment. Because apparently, I’m not ready to let go of the Cage family just yet!
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About Carrie Ann Ryan
Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, paranormal, and young adult romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Wilder Brothers, Promise Me, and Elements of Five series, which have sold millions of books worldwide. She’s the winner of a RT Book of the Year and a Prism Award in her genres. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over one hundred novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not losing herself in her emotional and action-packed worlds, she’s reading as much as she can while wrangling her clowder of cats who have more followers than she does.
