theeditorreads's reviews
995 reviews

I have joined Manali Dey, a friend on Bookstagram, for the #MillsandBoonReadathon for which we are reading 18 books, coz it's '18! This is Book 11.

For Devon Carter, Ashley Copeland is nothing more than a means to an end. So, he seduces her with the promise of love and happy ever afters because he wants to merge her Dad's company with his company in order to create the largest and most exclusive line of resorts in the world. But, all this is happening mainly due to terms set by Ashley's father. And she doesn't have an inkling about it. Devon doesn't like it at all, but he needs it for his business.

And then Ashley comes to know about everything, on their wedding night. She is as naive as they come, having grown up in a sheltered environment with too much of TLC.

This book is written from both their POVs. I loved Ashley's sweet nature. And her chatterbox self. Her open affection towards everyone is so contagious. And Dev, for all his deviousness, is attracted to Ash and a great self-critic. Ash confesses her love for him even before they are physically intimate. Their talks are something else, they seem to be totally compatible. The way Dev takes care of her is so sweet! And the Copeland family is charming, however grisly the deal sounded earlier. They are so big and boisterous. It would be lovely to have a family like that. And her quartet of friends is lovely too. Always have each other's backs.

The only thing that rankled me about this book was Ashley thinking,
"If he didn't want/love her, then one option was to become someone he could love." Change myself for a person I love so that he loves me back? Nah, not doing that. Mutually adjusting in marriage is okay, I guess, but complete change? Nope.
And then, "Could she make him fall in love with her?"

There is grovelling at the end, though it could have been more. And for the epilogue part, I think I'd have to wait for the next book. Sigh!

Also, nothing much was mentioned about Devon's background, his family. Knowing that about him would definitely have helped me to understand him better, what makes him tick, what drives him. Only in passing is it mentioned about his parents, his mother, not wanting him.

P.S. Rafael de Luca, Ryan Beardsley, Devon Carter, and Cameron Hollingsworth are business partners. And the books in the series are respectively about them.

I don't read books serial-wise half the time, and then I understand my folly. Bryony gives birth to a daughter (Rafe and Bryony, the couple from the first book.)

This is my second read by [a:Maya Banks|24978|Maya Banks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1490067531p2/24978.jpg]. But, nothing can beat [b:The Tycoon's Pregnant Mistress|4003551|The Tycoon's Pregnant Mistress (Anetakis Tycoons, #1)|Maya Banks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1542721229s/4003551.jpg|4049778]. It is my all-time favourite read in the M&B World, and I'm going to re-read it as a part of this readathon.

I have joined Manali Dey, a friend on Bookstagram, for the #MillsandBoonReadathon for which we are reading 18 books, coz it's '18! This is Book 10.

Re-reading this one.

Is it really the Princess? Or is it the doppelganger?

Book 1 of Royal Bodyguards, it opens with a prologue, where Aaron Timmer with his business partner and friend Whitaker (Whit) Howell fails to save a woman who was under their protection. Their security business ended with bad blood between them. Three years later, they are again working together, without wanting to, as royal bodyguards to the Kingdom of St. Pierre Island's King Rafael. An affluent island near Greece. But, they seem to have failed again as the hotel in Paris where Princess Gabriella and her bodyguard Charlotte Green, former US Marshal, were staying is ripped apart, with bullet holes. There is blood everywhere, though no bodies are found.

The story starts six months later, where a woman is shown in captivity. Securely bound to a bed, she doesn't remember who she is, and is shocked to see herself pregnant. With the baby moving inside her, she has to think of a way to get out of the hospital/prison. On the other hand, only Aaron hadn't lost hope of finding the Princess and her bodyguard, especially Charlotte, unlike the King and Whit. He gets a tip from an old client, media mogul Stanley Jessup, whose daughter he was falling in love with and had lost three years back. Now, he's hopeful of finding them, finding Charlotte with whom he's in love. He comes to know she's possibly in a sanatorium.

There are suspects galore behind her kidnapping. While Aaron doesn't trust Whit, Jane Doe overhears her captor and suspects that her unborn child's so-called father is possibly her kidnapper.

What made this story interesting was the amount of suspense put into it. First Charlotte being the doppelganger of Gabriella, then their connection. It all increased with her amnesia. Aaron finds her at the beginning itself (what a meet and greet that is!) and then it is a race against time. The threats are not so light here, as the book starts with all guns blazing. Hits and misses, almost rescue, disappointment, trying again, it kept me on edge. In spite of their one night of togetherness and brief liaison, there is a palpable chemistry. It was endearing to read how they have to trust each other in the dangerous circumstances as some past secrets are gradually revealed. There is high octane action.

P.S. I have read [b:The Princess Predicament|16000911|The Princess Predicament (Royal Bodyguards #2)|Lisa Childs|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356328033s/16000911.jpg|21762349] (starring Princess Gabriella and Whit) and I am yet to read [b:Royal Rescue|16116281|Royal Rescue (Royal Bodyguards #3)|Lisa Childs|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356945530s/16116281.jpg|21933821] (Stanley Jessup's daughter Josie Jessup and the woman Aaron thinks he failed to protect).

These three books are best read in a series to avoid spoilers and for connecting the dots.

[a:Lisa Childs|332359|Lisa Childs|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1355567845p2/332359.jpg]'s romantic suspense is the best! I have read three of her books, and one of her books in the Dare collection.

Elias Santini is a thirty year old locum Accident and Emergency registrar, from Medrindos, working at The Royal Hospital, London. The story starts with the hero's POV, for a change. The Santinis are notorious, their scandalous lives splashed in the tabloids every other day. In between his call time, while taking a nap, he's transported back to that night when he met her. But, he's awakened from his dream because of an emergency. An emergency in the form of Beth, his redhead, who's having a baby right then.

And that's where she comes in...

But that the results of that night had torn her life and her family apart.

Elizabeth Foster, a twenty-three years old events coordinator, is in London for the opening of her top client's restaurant. On her way back, she feels an acute pain in her back, and an odd sensation, which makes her hail a taxi to the nearest hospital, The Royal. She's only twenty-nine weeks along, after all.

It was perfect, the author's description of the medical situations. The constant struggle of just staying alive for a premature baby. The delivery scene has been written so beautifully.

She was so glad that her baby had been delivered with love.

I can't even begin to imagine how parents do not support their child during such trying times. Her father is a minister and his daughter has behaved improperly. While, on the other hand,

Elias said all the wicked things she thought but never voiced.

Though his parents too, royalty and all, they are so detached that it made me cringe.

Flitting between the past and the present, this made for an interesting read, especially with an emotional hero. Yeah! And combine it with a Scottish heroine from a conservative background. When Elias reveals how crazy about Beth he had been since the start is when it starts to feel all mushy. Especially the support he provides for her career-wise is well, it's just wonderful. I loved her name so much, Elias' daughter Eloise and their story times are so adorable. But, the blatant invasion of their privacy by the royal family is disgusting.

The surprise towards the end really caught me off guard. And however off-putting the situations were at present, it's family - the author brings about a lovely closure all around.

This book was a breath of fresh air. With an epilogue, it had something more than an HEA! A dreamy romance.

P.S. I was wondering whether older brother Andros has his own story. And wow...I have read sixteen books by [a:Carol Marinelli|4990|Carol Marinelli|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1356217416p2/4990.jpg] till now. And I have loved almost all of them!

I have joined Manali Dey, a friend on Bookstagram, for the #MillsandBoonReadathon for which we are reading 18 books, coz it's '18! This is Book 6.

This is one genre (romantic suspense) for which I wait with bated breath. And [a:Delores Fossen|240672|Delores Fossen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1471121575p2/240672.jpg] is a favourite since her book [b:Mommy Under Cover|2722375|Mommy Under Cover|Delores Fossen|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1528501561s/2722375.jpg|2747975] which was a five-star read for me.
Thriller is my first love among all the genres, and for me, there exists a very thin line between thriller and suspense. My second love being romance, it couldn't have gotten any better than a romantic suspense. It has become my new favourite!

Set in Fall Creek, Texas, the book opens with Kylie Monroe pointing a gun at an intruder(s) and desperately waiting for the police. A former law enforcement officer herself, she is fearing more for the baby she's carrying. In comes Sheriff Lucas Creed, and she attempts to hide her pregnancy, now in the second trimester. Lucas despises her, and with reason, for something that happened three years ago, something that had made her leave her job as a deputy, Lucas's deputy. She works as a journalist now.

And one of her articles, the one on illegal and unethical surrogacy activities, exposing some very famous, but very bad people, may just have put a target on her back. Kylie already knows that Lucas hates her, but if he knew that the baby she carried was his, he would definitely hate her more. But, she had made a promise to his dying wife, to Marissa, her best friend and she had to keep it.

Told from both Kylie and Lucas's POV in the third form of narration, Lucas just has to look at her to think about the unfairness of the situation. That the woman responsible for his wife and unborn child's death was having a baby. Though he had a small consolation, that an anonymous surrogate was going to give birth to his baby in four and a half months. But when Kylie is attacked, she has to move in with him to his ranch, until the people behind it are caught. (A Texan cowboy for a hero, hell yeah!)

The author infuses humour in such a dire situation and I love her books more for it. There is so much action that it kept me on my toes. The romance, the subtle hints of attraction, is there from the beginning itself. There is so much hate between them which is sure to change into love, with time. Some morality and promises made on the deathbed can really suck. And aaah... Kylie's honesty was quite amusing to read, especially in the face of Lucas's discomfort. Kylie has this one habit when she gets nervous, and that was such a sweet addition to her character graph. It's a small place, and the way they knew each other from childhood, at least from when they were teenagers; it made the read more intimate. The story had a perfect ending.

Reading a dark erotica after a long time.

Depredation: An act of attacking or plundering.

Before the book starts, the author forewarns that this is not a romance, that the characters don't have any redeeming qualities, and that it is not a love story (and that it includes extreme violence). And still this Mills and Boon romance reader is giving in to her crazy side and gonna read it anyway.

Harper Roseanne Lane is with her therapist, whom she is visiting for the past seven months on her parents' insistence, and she just states that she is a fucked up person. After reading all that she has to say, I'd say I agree with her!

I spent two years of my life as a fuck toy to a sadistic psychopath who had just as much fun torturing me psychologically as he did physically.

She was kidnapped by J, who now thinks she is dead. And then starts Part One with a flashback. The book is written in the first person, alternating between the POV of Harper and the mystery man J (I would applaud the author here for the twist that is his name!). It gives complete Dexter-esque feels.

Harper works at a gas station. It is a late night, snowing heavily, and a customer comes in, covered from top to toe, with only his silvery eyes visible. From the first meet itself, Harper has an uneasy feeling about him. And that is confirmed when he comes back to kidnap her.

All my girls went through the same thing. They had to be broken in and initiated.

In Harper's words, he is a deranged psychopath. And I couldn't agree more. He is the most depraved anyone can ever be. Having a wife on the side, Minnie, who knows about it all, is just gross. After I started this one, I was so disgusted with J (who wouldn't) but kept on reading just to know the ending. As disgusting as the scenes are, thankfully the author didn't drag them. And when it's revealed how he became what he became, it was nothing less than shocking!

It improved a bit when I got to this:

He deserved to reap everything he’d sowed.

At last, all I would say is: It was totally cringeworthy. But what a bloody revenge story! Full of blood and gore. Aaargh!

This is my first Natalie Bennett, and I think it'll be my last, I simply can't stomach this depraved shit.

She has a penchant for writing about villainous immoral men and crazed anti-heroines and tends to deviate from traditional HEAs.

P.S. There is a playlist at the end of the book, mostly consisting of hard rock/heavy metal songs. Now I definitely know that this book was not for me. I'm more of a Fifty Shades/Takeover kind of reader.

I have joined Manali Dey, a friend on Bookstagram, for the #MillsandBoonReadathon for which we are reading 18 books, coz it's '18! This is Book 5.

Marina Grandison of Basslea was roaming around her remote district on the north-west coast of England, with her dog Ruffy, when a fascinating stranger appears in front of her. A stranger who seems strangely familiar, and with a protective streak. The stranger turns out to be a certain businessman on holiday, Gideon Firth. But, what was it about this stranger that he even had Ruffy's approval and her grandfather's disapproval? She overhears the two of them talking and decides something is very fishy.

Marina has lived with her now seventy-one-year-old Grandie her entire life. Grandie, a famous pianist who had to retire due to his deteriorating rheumatism. But, he did teach all he knew to Marina. I barked out a laugh when a tourist called Gideon, Marina's father. Age-gap, huh! Twice the age gap. Bah!

As soon as Gideon Firth's hands moved on the piano, everything came crashing back. Everything Marina had forgotten about. All the painful memories. About one-third into the book, and the flashbacks start, though it lasts only a chapter long. Their first meeting, he a world-famous pianist, she a Royal College of Music student. He who was having an affair with a famous singer, Diana Grenoby (the other woman), while she is only a naive young girl. Told entirely from Marina's perspective, I could feel her joy, her pain, her anguish, at what her life was going through. Gideon, a prodigy since the age of seven, had had to grow up fast. Their short-lived affair, at least short in the eyes of Grandie, resulted in pregnancy. They married, but as a result of it all, Marina's career takes a backseat. And then she loses her baby, in an accident, resulting from the betrayal she witnessed. It was heart-wrenching to read that one, alive - yet everything in her life ending in that one moment. That accident resulted in an amnesia, a year long. She is shocked to hear that, of course. Usually, I don't like romances with a huge age-gap between the protagonist, but, in this one, it was quite amusing to read. Especially about his insecurities and her needling of the same. Gideon is very persistent in his grovelling, though the things he exposed about himself are less than tasteful.

I loved how Marina was portrayed though. From a wallflower to a fighter. She doesn't let Gideon slip past her defences that easily a second time!

The author's writing is such that more than romance, it seems like a fantasy read. Especially the place's description. Maybe it's the place, or the idyll in the first part of the story, which made it a dreamy read. Even though the book is five pages less than the standard M&B issue (which really matters in short books), it packs a rich experience. Just like without putting one's soul, music doesn't sound good; it seems the author has put her soul into the writing. This is a really old-school romance. Sigh! I enjoyed reading it so much. A fitting end, the way they discover each other again. (Still, an epilogue would have been nice!)

I have read only [b:Guilty Love|1622782|Guilty Love|Charlotte Lamb|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398441782s/1622782.jpg|1616760] by [a:Charlotte Lamb|66942|Charlotte Lamb|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1342692554p2/66942.jpg] before this one. It was also an emotional read.

I am just in love with her writing! The camaraderie between the H/h is to die for, their slinging matches so funny, in fact, this is the first book among a long list of Harlequin’s which is as emotional as it is a fun read! Looking forward to lapping up all the books [a:Sarah Morgan|45898|Sarah Morgan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1485947728p2/45898.jpg]’s ever written!

Updated Review (after re-read):
I have joined Manali Dey, a friend on Bookstagram, for the #MillsandBoonReadathon for which we are reading 18 books, coz it's '18! This is Book 9.

Anyone who knows me knows that she's my favourite author. And this book, which I'm going to re-read, is my favourite book of hers.

Book 1 of the International Billionaires Series, the introduction by the author had me in splits. Shhh... No reason at all. (I haven't read the other books of the series.)

Waitress Holly Phillips is miserable after her boyfriend Eddie dumps her (practically accusing her of her virgin status), but she has to keep her chin up since she has to work. No time to mope around, as their team is serving the royalty at the Six Nations Championship (England vs. doesn't matter).

Unnerved by Prince Caspar's romantic exploits, the palace had asked for an unattractive server to approach him, so as not to tempt him. And according to Holly's boss, she's the perfect fit with her red hair and freckles, since he prefers blondes.

Prince Casper of Santallia comes in front of her just when she is about to cry, and with a close-up view of him, she is smitten. After expert seduction by the Prince boosts Holly's morale, as far as her body image issues are concerned, they give in to their mutual desire. But, he dismisses her cruelly, due to a misunderstanding on his part and naivety on hers, following an incident. That same incident leads to Holly losing her job, two weeks later she finds that she is pregnant, and with the media hounding her she can't even go back to her flat. He has strong reasons to believe the child she is carrying is not his.

I loved Holly's sunny nature and chatty demeanour. She was a delight to read. She may have been naive but certainly doesn't take anything lying down.

You will have realised how wrong you are about me and give me a big, fat apology.

You are so selfish! You just come to bed and do your whole, virile, macho-stud thing, and then you swan off, leaving me.

Morgan nails the humour in her books, and this was no different. Sending a charming Prince and his Princess to a rugby date, that's entirely something else!

But, there is so much hurt here. And it's almost towards the end when they reveal their pasts to each other. I loved Emilio's character, Casper's head of security. He is so defensive where Holly is concerned. There was a mention of the palace cats, I'd have loved to see some in action. And the way she dismisses Casper, ha! It literally had a happy ending, but still, I missed an epilogue. There's an eight-page guide at the end though, about rugby. And Twickenham Stadium where Casper and Holly met. And the places to visit nearby.

I have read a total of six books by her till now.

I have joined Manali Dey, a friend on Bookstagram, for the #MillsandBoonReadathon for which we are reading 18 books, coz it's '18! This is Book 3.

Set in Georgetown, Texas; this book is about Kate Bennet who is around fourteen-weeks pregnant. She is a surrogate for her sister Beth and her husband Stewart. The same Beth who herself is eighteen-weeks along and didn't even tell Kate till then. Now, the sperm donor in Kate's case is not Beth's husband, Stewart, but his best friend, Jake, since it was highly improbable that Stewart and Beth could ever have a baby. And just like that, it is up to Jake and Kate now to decide what to do with the baby Kate is now carrying.

Jake Morgan is a firefighter turned arson investigator, while Kate is an associate district judge. She believes she doesn't have a maternal bone in her body and that Jake and her will not be good parents. Jake still offers to help her out, which she vehemently denies. To achieve his political ambitions, Judge Hatcher, Kate's boss, is using the morality card. And an unmarried mother-to-be is at the top of that list. Fearing for her job, she asks Jake to marry her, after which he moves in with her.

The text is laced with humour, and dripping with sarcasm. This book is as close to real life as it could get. And with such diverse professions, the author has taken care of keeping the story as relevant to Jake and Kate's professions as possible. While Jake reveals the truth about his parents, Kate decides to hide it; in order to make their wedding seem as real as possible. She and Beth are sisters and in spite of being the younger one, Kate is more distrustful, and stronger, of the two.

Jake fancied Kate from a long time. While he annoys the hell out of her, he also makes the most delicious of food! Not that Kate gets used to it. She avoids him like the plague. And he, for the life of him, couldn't figure out how to let him help her. The foster care system has rankled Kate, and her mother not knowing who her father exactly is has further disillusioned Kate to life in general. As happens when two strangers live together, they do tend to grow on each other. Their late night tete-a-tete is something. And when she learns to let herself go, learns to trust him, it's so sweet, especially the efforts he goes to to gain her trust. It just lacked an epilogue, and a strong conflict as to what really bugged Kate about her childhood.

P.S. I am wondering how did this become 'Vintage Desire'. It was published in 2006 only.
The cover is just perfect, conveys the relationship of Jake and Kate.
Before this, I have read [a:Emily McKay|876105|Emily McKay|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1333563307p2/876105.jpg]'s Messina Brothers Duet ([b:Baby on the Billionaire's Doorstep|2887655|Baby on the Billionaire's Doorstep (Messina Brothers, #1)|Emily McKay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471618190s/2887655.jpg|2913903] and [b:Baby Benefits|5301008|Baby Benefits (Messina Brothers, #2)|Emily McKay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1306674250s/5301008.jpg|5368445]) and [b:The Tycoon's Temporary Baby|11535516|The Tycoon's Temporary Baby|Emily McKay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327988126s/11535516.jpg|16321934] which I loved the best. This was an okay read for me.

I have joined Manali Dey, a friend on Bookstagram, for the #MillsandBoonReadathon for which we are reading 18 books, coz it's '18! This is Book 4.

Prince Maksim Rostov helps Grace Cannon after she falls down due to his car splashing her. Grace is the secretary of Alan Barrington, a sworn enemy/rival of Maksim (in the gas/oil industry) for having stolen both his fiancee and his merger. What Grace didn't know was that Maksim had designs on this twenty-five-year-old virgin. He planned to use her to get his revenge from Alan. Maksim is in full seduction mode, and Grace can't help it in spite of the warning bells ringing in her head. From the first page itself, this book is hotness.

Since the day Grace's father died, she's worked hard to make ends meet for her family. With three younger brothers and a mother to care for, she's had her work cut out. Maksim was no different, he also had worked hard for his fortune, which his father and grandfather had ran to dust.

An interesting start to this book is that Grace is in love with Alan, or she thinks she is in love with him. Alan, in spite of being rich, doesn't increase her pay nor gives her a bonus while working her to the ground. That's really cheap of him. Ugh... Moreover, he thinks that he can use her against Maksim, too. Poor Grace, she doesn't have a clue about how she is becoming a pawn in these rich people's games. And then she commits the sin of blurting out Alan and his new fiancee's truth in front of Maksim, which he plans to use to his advantage. Whereas she ends up pregnant, knowing that Maksim only used her to get to Alan. She is fired from her job, tossed out of the house Alan rented to her, and that too on Christmas Eve! Not only that, she sees Maksim and Francesca (the other woman) getting all cosy. Betrayed from all sides, she leaves for her home in California, and her mother's comforting arms.

This was an emotional and angsty read. Did Maksim really betray her? I'm not gonna give any spoilers here. But as soon as he comes to know about her pregnancy, which is right after she comes to know about it, he orders her to marry him. They move to Moscow. A book published in 2009, I loved the glimpses it gave of Moscow, Russia. I can't even imagine how harrowing it must be to constantly fear for your life, travelling in armoured vehicles, indeed! I loved Elena, Maksim's elderly housekeeper in Moscow, more than Maksim at a certain point in the book. Humph... But he does let her stew in her misconceptions. Maksim has his heart in the right place, he just realises things very late. It would have got a five-star rating from me if not for the hollow feeling towards the end. There were too few scenes of them together, it seems. They were mostly alone, with their thoughts. At last, Maksim's house count stood at a measly six. Haha! Though it had a cuddly ending, again it was with only Grace and no Maksim in the picture, which made it a bit lonely. He's there, but not actually there.

P.S. I have read eleven of [a:Jennie Lucas|771847|Jennie Lucas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1269297790p2/771847.jpg]' books, including this one, and I'm in awe of her stories. I have three of her paperbacks, and except two, have loved all her works!

This book had a passing mention of Maksim's friend, Greek tycoon Nikos Stavrakis, of The Greek Billionaire's Baby Revenge. It was also a four-star read for me.

I learned a bit of Russian too...solnishka mayo...meaning exactly - my dear sunlight? I'm still not sure.

I have joined Manali Dey, a friend on Bookstagram, for the #MillsandBoonReadathon for which we are reading 18 books, coz it's '18! This is Book 2.

It is three weeks till Christmas, and Dante Russo is at a charity ball, where he finally decides to dump his current "mistress". He is remembering Taylor Sommers, who left him three years ago (another mistress?). He, who grew up in poverty, but now at thirty two, almost ruled the world. How dare Taylor leave him like that and make a fool of him? So, he decides to take revenge, after he finds her, of course. And when the P.I. he hired comes up with the details about her new life, he is furious! She is living with one Sam Gardner, and Dante thinks that she left him for Samuel?

Taylor Sommers (Tally) is broke. The interior decorating business she started isn't working as well as she wanted it to. Three years ago, she had fled from Dante as she had had a secret, a secret which Dante would surely have felt burdened with. She gave birth to their baby, Sam, all alone.

Quite a thing Dante pulled off to rope in Taylor. He bought the bank where she had applied for a loan to help her ailing business, a loan she had taken against her house. But, their fist confrontation after all these years ends in Taylor saying to Dante that she was never his concern, which Dante conceded as the truth. And when a blizzard coops them up in her home, Dante is faced with his daughter, Samantha Gardner Sommers, not that he knows about it, yet. And when Tally tries to tell him, instead of listening to her/believing her, he assumes that the baby isn't his but someone else's! And to make matters worse, Tally agrees with him in order to 'protect' herself and Sam. The story seemed illogical after that.

I felt sad for the childhood Dante had had to live through, and Tally too. But the writing felt emotionally detached. And, blackmailing Tally into moving in with him, along with their daughter; always blaming her for sleeping with someone else; all that left a bad taste in my mouth. And that too in spite of him agreeing to this fact:

That was why he’d decided to end their affair three years ago. He hadn’t been bored. Who could be bored by a woman who could discuss the stock market and football statistics without missing a beat?

All this is followed by an 'almost rape' scene after which Dante says that he could never hurt her! Cringeworthy... And double cringeworthy when they have sex immediately after that! She says yes to living in with him, and tells him about Sam being his, and Dante tries get sole custody, and it's an abrupt The End with them marrying. Ugh...

Also, there were too many repetitions like this:

All that mattered was this. This... This.

Which made it reading a bit childish.

The only redeeming thing about this book were the little scenes of Dante and Sam, together, towards the end.

P.S. I have read three other books by [a:Sandra Marton|145593|Sandra Marton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442457368p2/145593.jpg], which I loved. But, this just didn't sit well with me.