|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unknown
| 3.58
| 170
| unknown
| Mar 2022
|
Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[Drugged, kidnapping, cheating (MMC lives with son and OW who is son’s mom without the FMC’s knowledge, he has kissed
Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[Drugged, kidnapping, cheating (MMC lives with son and OW who is son’s mom without the FMC’s knowledge, he has kissed OW in public but has reasons, still cheating though), threats, blackmail, violence, misogyny/sexism (MC world tends to have that), murder, shooting, child trafficking, parental abuse, domestic abuse (hide spoiler)] Note: The author who has added the books to Goodreads is not the author who has written these books (the account is not theirs, this has been verified by the author on Wattpad). Out of respect for the author, I won’t post detailed reviews for these books. I’ll add trigger warnings for those who wanna check them out as well as the link to where to read them. I’ll have personal ratings for me but I won’t be posting them. I have already read a lot of their books and might have to copy and paste some portions of this on other "reviews" since I do wanna add these books to my shelves. But their books are freely available on Wattpad, they are kind enough to let their stories be free for us all to read. Unfortunately, many people have plagiarized from this author and tried to add their books to pay-per-chapter apps. Some of those books have even been added to Goodreads. If you can help and report this when you see it, that would help a ton. Link to book: https://www.wattpad.com/story/3047166... Breah is happily dating Gabriel who is the president of an MC club. But she comes to find out that he has a son and an ol’ lady (which is an official way of claiming a woman as yours in an MC Club). Breah is done with Gabriel though he insists he has reasons he can’t explain, but she will not have it. Happy reading folks. I love GroveltoHEA and they have surprised me by making MMCs do TERRIBLE things and have me forgive them with grovel. And y’all know how much I love grovel. There are so many things I’m against but they somehow manage to make it work. And even if I don’t forgive the MMC entirely, the stories are so well-written. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Mar 07, 2024
|
Mar 07, 2024
|
Mar 07, 2024
|
ebook
| |||||||||||||||||
| unknown
| 3.46
| 138
| unknown
| 2022
|
None
|
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Dec 31, 2023
|
Dec 31, 2023
|
Dec 31, 2023
|
ebook
| |||||||||||||||||
| unknown
| 3.78
| 189
| unknown
| Mar 2022
|
Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[ Physical cheating (the MMC kisses OW in front of FMC when she expressed she didn’t like that. He has been physical w
Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[ Physical cheating (the MMC kisses OW in front of FMC when she expressed she didn’t like that. He has been physical with fans and didn’t respect the FMC’s boundaries. Physical as in letting them sit in his lap, touch his abs, kissed their cheeks and they kissed his), foster care with verbally and physically abusive parent, mention of drugs, mutism (hide spoiler)] Note: The author who has added the books to Goodreads is not the author who has written these books (the account is not theirs, this has been verified by the author on Wattpad). Out of respect for the author, I won’t post detailed reviews for these books. I’ll add trigger warnings for those who wanna check them out as well as the link to where to read them. I’ll have personal ratings for me but I won’t be posting them either. I have already read a lot of their books and might have to copy and paste some portions of this on other "reviews" since I do wanna add these books to my shelves. But their books are freely available on Wattpad, they are kind enough to let their stories be free for us all to read. Unfortunately, a lot of people have plagiarized from this author and have tried to add their books to pay-per-chapter apps. If you can help and report this when you see it, that would help a ton. Link to book: https://www.wattpad.com/story/3046245... Elizabeth is in a friends-with-benefits relationship with Rig, who is a famous hockey player. He refuses to label their relationship. He has always had no boundaries with fans. When he is supposed to meet Elizabeth, he comes late with fans all over him. Elizabeth wanted to tell him something important but didn’t end up getting to. She sees him being physical with fans again and tries to confront him. He then kisses a fan in front of her and Elizabeth is done and leaves him. She disappears but 6 months later and he finds out she was pregnant. Happy reading folks. I love GroveltoHEA and they have surprised me by making MMCs do TERRIBLE things and have me forgive them with grovel. And y’all know how much I love grovel. There are so many things I’m against but they somehow manage to make it work. And even if I don’t forgive the MMC entirely, the stories are so well-written. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Dec 28, 2023
|
Dec 28, 2023
|
Dec 28, 2023
|
ebook
| |||||||||||||||||
| 3.71
| 336
| unknown
| Jun 10, 2022
|
Trigger warnings:(view spoiler)[On-page and off-page cheating throughout the whole relationship (MMC works at a motorcycle club and has to “test the t
Trigger warnings:(view spoiler)[On-page and off-page cheating throughout the whole relationship (MMC works at a motorcycle club and has to “test the talent” meaning the women, before they can work in the club as club prostitutes, misogyny (since it’s a motorcycle club the language is pretty misogynistic), sexism, club prostitutes are called club whores (common language in MC books), mention of guns, lil bit of violence (punching) (hide spoiler)] Note: The author who has added the books to Goodreads is not the author who has written these books (the account is not theirs, this has been verified by the author on Wattpad). Out of respect for the author, I won’t be posting detailed reviews for these books. I’ll add trigger warnings for those who wanna check them out as well as the link to where to read them. I’ll have personal ratings for me but I won’t be posting them either. I have already read a lot of their books and might have to copy and paste this portion on other "reviews" since I do wanna add these books to my shelves. But their books are freely available on Wattpad, they are kind enough to let their stories be free for us all to read. Unfortunately, a lot of people have plagiarized from this author and have tried to add their books to pay-per-chapter apps. If you can help and report this when you see it, that would help a ton. Link to book: https://www.wattpad.com/story/3046431... This is about an afterschool coordinator Kinley, who gets with a single-parent dad named Merrick, who happens to be the President of the Uncaged Beasts (a motorcycle club). After Kinley catches Merrick’s attention, he never wants to let her go. He notices how she treats his son Nix and knows she is the one. They get married and love each other but she finds out he’s been cheating for their whole relationship. I was surprised I loved the grovel in this, Merrick did everything possible to get back with Kinley. Realistically I would never get back with a cheater and HATE cheating but I found the grovel to be so good in this. [image] Happy reading folks. I love GroveltoHEA and they have surprised me by making MMCs do TERRIBLE things and have me forgive them with grovel. And y’all know how much I love grovel. There are so many things I’m against but they somehow manage to make it work. And even if I don’t forgive the MMC entirely in the end, the stories are so well-written. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Dec 20, 2023
|
Dec 20, 2023
|
Dec 20, 2023
|
ebook
| ||||||||||||||||||
| B0C7B3DFJZ
| 4.13
| 183,883
| Oct 13, 2023
| Oct 13, 2023
|
it was amazing
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[PTSD, alcoholism, skin grafting/burns, military trauma, drugs, theft, parental abandonment, imprisonment, drunk drivin
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[PTSD, alcoholism, skin grafting/burns, military trauma, drugs, theft, parental abandonment, imprisonment, drunk driving, sexual assault (some guy touched Bailey’s ass without consent), anxiety, attempted robbery by family (hide spoiler)] This is the fifth and final book in the Chestnut Spring series. I recommend reading it in order since you follow the family and the couples show up, the family moments were so funny and sweet. Beau’s book was one I was anticipating and it did not disappoint. I think this is my favourite in the series which is surprising since most people hated it ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Nov 21, 2023
|
Dec 25, 2023
|
Nov 21, 2023
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| B0CFD5NCP9
| 4.24
| 47,138
| Apr 16, 2024
| Apr 16, 2024
|
really liked it
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Death of loved ones, drowning, panic attacks, struggles with dyslexia, PTSD, trauma, parent infidelity, nightmares ins
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Death of loved ones, drowning, panic attacks, struggles with dyslexia, PTSD, trauma, parent infidelity, nightmares insomnia, self-harm, suicide, depression, arson, abusive parents mentioned, addiction, drugs, eating disorder, bullying, rape, grooming student to sexual activities, sexual assault, homophobia, pedophilia, bullying (hide spoiler)] Gibsie belonged to the rest of the world. Gerard belonged just to me. This is the 5th book in the Boys of Tommen series and you have to read the books in this order: Binding 13 Keeping 13 Saving 6 Redeeming 6 This book focuses on our sunshine couple Claire and Gibsie. They have been best friends since they were babies and are each other’s life. Gibsie is battling his demons and Claire is the sunshine that scares them away. But the longer he waits to make things official, the further Claire pulls away. I would never cause harm to Claire Biggs. She was too important to me. She was everything to me. I was skeptical when it was announced that the future couples in the series would only get one book. This book was the shortest in the series, and we only get one book for Clibsie so the pacing was off. I liked the beginning since the transitions of recalling events in Clibsie’s friendship were done well, it wasn’t the typical past and present chapters. But then it felt like I was reading an entirely other book. The ending was abrupt, there was so much more that could have been explored. There was a focus on drama on other characters that took away from the romance between the main couple. It felt like long chapters were summarized into small paragraphs. This didn’t feel like a book for Clibsie, it felt like an epilogue for couples and an intro for other couples. There was repetitiveness of recaps of couples that we know. We know about JohnnyShannon’s and AoifeJoey’s stories. But every time they appear, Claire and Gibsie go into detailed monologues about them. The romance between Clibsie didn’t do them justice, this story was mainly focused on trauma. And I fucking hate the people who posted spoilers before the book was out. I was not able to view things in an unbiased way cuz I knew about one character’s traumatic past and it made me feel more hate for a specific character (starts with an L). These specific stans failed to mention certain spoilers (their fav character being the biggest fucking bully). I adored the family moments (but there wasn’t enough), and the friendships so I am rating this high, but it was disappointing. [image] Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ The prologue had me crying, it was the funeral for Gibsie’s dad Joe and his little sister Bethany who died while drowning, Claire’s dad saved Gibsie. Claire is 5 and holds Gibsie’s hand who is 7. Gibsie hates his mom’s boyfriend Keith and son Mark so he goes to Claire’s place and holds her hand while he sleeps. Fast-forward to the present, they have cuddled and shared a bed since then. They were best friends but they spent more time together over the summer. Gibsie and Claire tell each other they love each other but Claire believes he doesn’t love her the right way. They do everything a couple would do except intimate things and labelling their relationship. Gibsie has nightmares and the only person who knows is Claire, she cuddles him when he sleepwalks to her room. Gibsie’s nightmares got worse and were triggered after Lizzie pushed him into the water in K13. He sees a therapist but Keith lives with them and Gibsie hates him. Mark was abroad since he was accused of raping Lizzie’s sister. Lizzie can’t stand Gibsie cuz of Mark and blames Gibsie for her sister’s death. [image] Hughie and Gibsie crack me up. “See?” Grinning wickedly, Gerard waggled his brows at the same time as flexing his pecs. “I’m not corrupting her.” “Don’t you shake your tits at me,” Hugh warned, waving an accusing finger around. “And don’t even think about cooking up anything fishy in here with my sister, either.” “I don’t cook fish, Hugh, I bake buns,” Gerard shot back with a wink. “In ovens.” Or this “Ignore your cranky uncle, babies,” Gerard called over his shoulder, as he sauntered out of my room. “Daddy will be back tonight.” “Go the fuck home, Gibs!” “Fine. I need to go check on your nephew anyway.” “He’s not my nephew, you freak. He’s a hedgehog in hibernation in your mam’s hot press because you and my sister have issues with taking in strays.” Hughie saw Gibsie as his own brother and looked out for Claire; we see more of his personality in this book, he is a sweet brother even to Gibsie. But he was emotionally cheating on Katie with Lizzie, Gibsie called him out for it. Hughie and Lizzie used to be best friends but she shut him out when her sister died, they dated when they were young but she broke up with him and it broke Hughie until he found Katie. The friend group goes on a camping trip and it was nice seeing the group together, but it is ruined cuz of Lizzie. When Katie sees that Lizzie is eating marmite, she asks Lizzie why, it was harmless. This resulted in Lizzie making a comment about Katie having an eating disorder in front of everyone. “Yeah, because sticks and stones will break my bones and words will make me starve myself to death.” Lizzie narrowed her eyes. “Isn’t that how the saying goes?” Gibsie’s mom treated him well and was best friends with Claire’s mom but she forces Gibsie to accept Keith as a father. She cheated on Joe, Gibsie’s dad, with Keith while Joe worked his ass off. Once Joe died, Keith and Mark moved into their house and Gibsie hated it. Claire helped Gibsie get into a bathtub to help him get over his fear of water. They were parents of kittens and a hedgehog, it was funny seeing them fight over custody whenever they had fights. “You can’t keep my kids from me. I have rights.” “Are you serious?” I shook my head and gaped at him. “Oh my god, Gerard, I’m not going to keep the babies from you.” Gibsie was having breakdowns and kept telling himself he was fine. Dee, the school secretary, was nasty as hell and Gibsie ended things and felt guilty cuz of Claire. He would pleasure Dee but she never touched him. She was a predator who groomed him, they started when he was 15. Lizzie bullies Gibsie, she makes fun of his dyslexia and says he has no right to be happy. Claire and Gibsie stood up for each other, they were fed up with her bullying. It pissed me off that Shannon and Feely were excusing Lizzie because of her trauma. Trauma does not excuse bullying. Lizzie dismisses Gibsie’s trauma about his family drowning. She makes it seem like her sister’s death is more important. It was fucking disgusting, even when Gibsie said he lost his sister too, Lizzie didn’t care. If you were to say anything around her, she would turn it into something negative. Like when Claire told Gibsie she got a job, Lizzie told them not to make a big deal since it was just a job. She instigates a fight with Gibsie and mentions that the wrong sibling was saved the day of the accident. She is so fucked up for saying that and Gibsie believed it. Feely and Shannon were quiet when Gibsie was being bullied by Lizzie. But the second he starts defending himself, they tell them to stop fighting, like what the fuck? Why are y’all not calling her out for starting the fights? Claire and Johnny always had his back. “You’re instigating an argument,” Claire cut in, releasing her hold on me to face her friend. “Stop it.” “You’re always taking his side,” Lizzie snapped, throwing her hands up. “Every goddamn time, Claire.” Lizzie said the most traumatic, triggering things to Gibsie. Lizzie wanted Claire to choose her over Gibsie. Claire didn’t do that since she was close to Gibsie since they were babies. It wasn’t some random boy she was throwing her friendship for. Lizzie was treating everyone like shit and never prioritized others but she expected Claire to prioritize her. I felt bad for her and what she went through. But there is always a limit, people can’t always be punching bags. Shannon and Lizzie started a babysitting business without telling Claire. I love Shannon but she was bullied in the past, seeing her excuse Lizzie’s behaviour because “hurt people hurt people” just pissed me off. Would she say the same thing about Bella if she had trauma to justify her behaviour? Mark moves back into Gibsie’s place which triggers him. Claire tells Lizzie’s mom that Lizzie might be cutting herself again because of the cut she saw on Lizzie’s leg which Lizzie said was from barbed wire (Claire didn’t believe it). Lizzie shows up at Claire’s place to yell at her since her mom has heart problems. Gibsie defends Claire and Hughie is the one to calm Lizzie down. Gibsie stays at Johnny’s place and seeing him spooning Johnny was funny. Johnny and Gibsie’s friendship goes both ways, they are both loyal and needy for one another. [image] “Gibs, for the last time, stop bleeding spooning me!” was the first thing I heard my best friend say on Wednesday morning, swiftly followed by the heel of his foot digging into my shin. “Okay, ow,” I huffed, blinking my eyes open when pain ricocheted up my leg. “That fucking hurt, Cap. You know I bruise like a peach.” Claire got into a fight with Lizzie since she was hurting Gibsie. Instead of apologizing, Lizzie tells Claire that Jamie wants to ask her out. Jamie is a guy Claire went to a dance with as a kid and he tried to touch her so Gibsie saved her. Lizzie insists that Jamie is different but she was wrong. Gibsie heard Jamie talk about wanting to fuck Claire. Lizzie wanted Claire to move on from Gibsie since she believed he was a fuckboy. Hughie did mention that Gibsie fingered someone years ago. Gibsie admits to Claire he made mistakes in the past but Claire is it for him. When Jamie asks Claire out, Lizzie is the one who accepts the date on her behalf. If Claire did the same to Lizzie, Lizzie would have lost it and told her to mind her own business. Claire called her out saying that this was Lizzie’s way of trying to hurt Gibsie. Shannon was the one to notice Claire was uncomfortable and told Jamie to give Claire time. Not only did Lizzie not care that Claire was uncomfortable, it felt like her motive was just to separate Claire and Gibsie, and Jamie was a shitty guy. Aoife and Joey had their baby and Aoife is like their big sister. Joey joined Johnny and Gibsie and helped ruin Jamie’s car. “Okay, this could actually be fun.” Aoife grinned. “The sex talk: Aoife Molloy style.” “Molloy,” Joey warned, returning from his shower just in time to spoil the fun. “Whatever it is you’re thinking about telling them, don’t. They’re only in fifth year.” Claire decides to go on the date with Jamie and Gibsie is jealous. When Jamie kissed her, Claire pushed away and said ew and left. Gibsie asks how the date was and she admitted she hated it but was tired of waiting for him. Gibsie didn’t think he was mentally ready to be in a relationship because of his trauma. Claire continues to push Gibsie and he helps her masturbate in bed. He doesn’t kiss her but she is happy they made progress and he ends up avoiding her. He says he is scared to lose her since she is important to him and he loves her the most. They continue this back and forth for the whole book. Claire is mad at him and walks in the rain, he follows her and they finally kiss. During a party, Gibsie’s mom sends Keith to pick up Gibsie with Mark. There is a big fight and Gibsie runs away. Dee finds him and touches his crotch, he pushes her off and leaves. She was wearing a costume so no one knew it was her. Someone takes a picture and shows Claire who cries, thinking he cheated. Gibsie promises it was nothing but he doesn’t tell her who it was. “Me?” His eyes widened in outrage. “You’re the one in the relationship when you’re already in a relationship.” “I am not in a relationship, Gerard.” “Yes, you are,” he roared back at me. “With me!” “We are not together, Gerard.” “Yes, we are!” “I’m not yours.” “Well, I’m yours,” he came right back with. “I’m yours, Claire.” Gibsie asks Claire to be his girlfriend and Hughie tells Gibsie to never break Claire’s heart. Hughie was sick and I felt like he might have cheated on Katie with Lizzie. There was a shift and Katie became quieter. Lizzie has more breakdowns after she bullies people and Hughie is the one to calm her down. He would hold her to his chest in front of Katie, I can’t imagine how she is feeling. Lizzie continues to blame Gibsie for her sister’s death and when everyone reminds her that it was Mark, she says that Gibsie was his step-brother. I don’t understand her logic. If a family member does something, why is another family member blamed? She hates Gibsie more than Mark, I swear. Gibsie sees Mark in his room and we find out that Mark raped Gibsie from when he was 7 to 11 years old. My heart broke for Gibsie, I knew this spoiler because of Lizzie stans, but I didn’t know how young he was. Despite all of his trauma, all Gibsie did was put good into the world, even when Lizzie blamed him when he was the victim. Gibsie tells Mark to leave his house before he tells the cops what he did. Mark had a son and wife so he left. Gibsie works the courage to tell Claire since he has a suicide letter that Lizzie’s sister sent him. He tells Claire about Dee and Claire tells Dee to quit or she will tell the principal. “Gerard.” Her tone was soft, too fucking soft to handle in this moment, and when she covered the hand I had resting on the gearstick, I almost lost it. “It’s okay to not be okay.” Gibsie visits his father and sister’s grave and sees Darren visiting Lizzie’s sister’s grave. Darren is a victim of rape. Gibsie asks him questions about intimacy since he struggles with Claire, Darren sensed something and told Gibsie to contact him if he wanted to talk. I don’t understand why this was here since he never contacted Darren. Claire and Gibsie have sex in their treehouse. Gibsie was a virgin just like most Clibsie stans predicted since he believed Claire was it for him. I still wanted to know the details of him with other girls but it seems like he never let anyone touch him, only Claire. Later the group go to a dance, Gibsie forgets the tickets so Claire goes to his place. Claire accidentally took Lizzie’s sister’s suicide letter since it was with the other stuff. At the dance, Claire reads the letter with Shannon by accident. The friend group is in a room and Claire tells Lizzie to never insult Gibsie again. She ends her friendship with Lizzie and reveals that Gibsie was the real victim. In Lizzie’s sister’s letter, she says that Gibsie told her that Mark touched him inappropriately, she was his babysitter. Lizzie’s sister was dating Mark and thought Gibsie was jealous and shut it down. Months later, she walks in and sees it happen. She left the letter with a statement for the police and hoped that her presence being gone would help Gibsie heal. Lizzie screams she doesn’t believe it while Gibsie is in shock. His trauma was revealed to everyone by Claire without his permission. He had no time to prepare and it honestly was fucked up. I can understand why Claire did it, when you are so worked up to protect the person you love, you blurt shit out, especially since Lizzie was saying vile shit to Gibsie. Claire shouldn’t have done it and it should have been Gibsie’s choice, but I don’t hate her. Claire shows Johnny the suicide note. Johnny breaks down crying, hugged Gibsie and said Gibsie is his, I was crying. “And if you think this is going to chase me off then you’ve another thing coming, fucker, because I’m never leaving you. Do ya hear me? Because you’re my Gibs.” “And you’re my Kav.” Gibsie broke things off with Claire since he thought she couldn’t love him. Johnny didn’t leave Gibsie’s side and his mother separated from Keith. Mark left the country so the cops couldn’t arrest him and Gibsie refused to give a statement on Dee so she was never arrested. Lizzie didn’t believe Gibsie and continued to make things about herself. Johnny told Lizzie he was fed up with her behaviour and wasn’t gonna stand around anymore. “Back off,” Johnny warned, quickly cutting her off. “I get that you’re one of Shannon’s best friends, and I’m trying to respect that relationship, really I am, but don’t walk over a line here, because he’s my best friend, and I won’t hesitate to take his side.” They all cried for Gibsie when they found out the truth. Johnny encouraged Gibsie to meet Claire and they got back together. Claire apologized but she said she would do anything to protect him and wanted the truth to come out eventually, especially since Mark had a son. But Gibsie had to deal with people staring at him differently. The book ended so abruptly, right when they got to school, the friend group wasn’t the same and Gibsie asked Claire to take a walk with him. We never see how he deals with his trauma, how Claire and Gibsie continue their relationship, what Gibsie plans for the future, if Gibsie ever talks to Darren, a conversation between Gibsie and his mom about Keith and Mark, literally nothing. Gibsie has a care bear tattoo that’s brushed over when it’s clearly for Claire. So much could have been explored but it ended so fast. Lizzie’s bullying took up half the book and the trauma was the other half. We didn’t see many family moments between Claire and Hughie’s families. But I am still happy to have seen more Johnny and Gibsie moments. The book kinda left on a cliffhanger since the friend group was broken. I don’t know if we will get another book in the series since the bullies managed to scare the author away but I hope we do, even if I might be disappointed. “Snuggling my Claire-Bear equals a happy Gibsie. Running laps on the treadmill until I puke equals a very unhappy Gibsie.” The feel of his big body pressed to mine set loose what felt like a cage of wild butterflies in my chest. “It’s all about priorities, babe.” “And I’m yours?” I teased. “Always,” he confirmed sleepily, tightening his hold on my waist.” (hide spoiler)] Stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Apr 29, 2024
|
May 09, 2024
|
Aug 11, 2023
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0349437734
| 9780349437736
| B0BVR9PPG7
| 4.38
| 222,423
| Jun 09, 2023
| Jun 09, 2023
|
it was amazing
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Death of parent, parent cheating, parental neglect, groomer, pedophilia, cheater, infertility, miscarriage, panic atta
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Death of parent, parent cheating, parental neglect, groomer, pedophilia, cheater, infertility, miscarriage, panic attack, military accident (hide spoiler)] I started this series specifically for this couple since I heard they were like Nessian AND THEY WERE (iykyk). This is the fourth book in the Chestnut Spring series; the first being Flawless, the second being Heartless, and the third being Powerless. I loved the first two but wasn’t a fan of the third book. I recommend reading the books in order since you can connect with the characters and know their inside jokes. But you can probably read this as a stand-alone. This book was so damn good, Winter and Theo are my favourite couple in this series. There are a few things I didn’t like and the ending was rushed. Theo Silva reminds me of Flynn Rider, he’s just perfect. Winter is a misunderstood ice queen that deserves all the love. [image] Winter is married to a fucked up man and goes to Chestnut Springs to reconnect with Summer, her sister. She meets Theo who is Rhett’s mentee in bull riding, Rhett is Summer’s fiance. For the first time, she makes a reckless decision with Theo and that changes her life forever. “That night we were reckless.” His voice cracks. “But god, I’d be reckless with you over and over again if it means ending up here.” Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ Winter is married for 5 years to a nasty man named Rob who complains about Winter leaving to work at a hospital. Winter used to love him but he groomed her little sister Summer. She calls him out, saying he saved Summer’s life as her doctor and started fucking her secretly once she turned 18. Then he met Winter who was age appropriate and dumped Summer, but he continued to stalk Summer. Heading to Chestnut Springs is Winter’s first step at moving forward. Winter calls Summer and she invites Winter to a family dinner. Winter goes to the gas store and sees a hot guy. Theo notices Winter staring and winks while smirking so she drives off. He’s a bull rider and his dad was as well, but he died. Theo is heading to Rhett’s family's ranch. The car in front of him is slow and he realizes it’s Winter. When they reach the ranch, Winter asks Theo if he’s insane for stalking and driving badly but Theo is amused, calling her “Tink”. Theo teases her about driving slowly while Winter says she doesn’t know the area and it’s snowing. Theo likes her, so Winter says she’s married but Theo says for now. Winter is Summer’s sister and Theo heard horror stories about her. Theo holds his hand out but Winter walks past him so he gives her a wink. Theo said he thinks he’s in love with Winter. [image] Summer hugs Winter and Harvey says she’s family. Theo starts to tease her about fucking so Winter tries to insult him on his skills. Theo apologizes for before and offers to drive her but she says no. Theo says he will drive in front to make sure she doesn’t hit anything. Winter thanks him and asks to buy Theo a drink. Winter tells Theo her mom Marina is a bitch and Summer’s mom was the nanny that their dad cheated with. Winter admitted Theo was easy on the eyes. Theo says he likes her as a person and Winter can’t believe him. Winter asks Theo to fuck and he says he would but she’s too drunk. Winter writes on a coaster that she isn’t too drunk to consent. Winter says it’s only for the night and they will act like it never happened. Theo signs the coaster but will ask for another shot eventually. We don’t see the fucking or them waking up until later. After 3 weeks Winter realizes she's pregnant and is shocked since she struggled with infertility. Winter sneaks into Summer’s gym to find Theo’s contact info. Winter called Theo and left voicemails but he didn’t call back. She thinks he deserves to know and thinks he would be a good dad if he wants but if not it’s okay. She texted him that she was pregnant with his baby and he said thanks for letting him know and leaves it. 18 months later, Winter dealt with the pregnancy alone and gave birth to Vivienne, divorcing Rob. It made no sense for this surprise pregnancy to happen without Theo’s knowledge. Theo has Rhett coaching him and would hear about Winter occasionally before, so how the fuck did he not know Winter had a baby for over a year? I think it would’ve been nice to see Theo and Winter grow together during the pregnancy. Rhett and Theo show up and no one knows that Theo is the dad. Theo’s text messages were the last Winter heard from him. Theo was riding a bull when he fell and it stepped on his shoulder. Winter ran to check on him and he says “Hi Tink”. [image] At the hospital, a doctor calls Winter by her name. Theo corrects him by calling Winter “Doctor Hamilton”. The doctor says Theo needs 3 months to recover and Winter says he is going to ride no matter what so they should have something for athletes. The doctor says she can take care of that after her maternity leave and Theo is shook. After a week, Winter sees Rhett, Theo, and Beau and Theo says he’s her new neighbour. Theo has a dog named Peter and says he won’t be there for long. Winter is in disbelief since he still hasn’t mentioned the baby, telling him to keep his dog quiet so she and Vivi can sleep. Beau was pissing me off, he said he’s surprised someone knocked Winter up when she isn’t nice and Theo defends her while Rhett tells him to stop. Theo asks if Winter is getting help and Rhett says she’s single. Theo asks who the dad is and Rhett says Winter said she was drunk and didn’t know who it was. Theo didn’t know that Winter was pregnant when he left. Theo asked Winter to tell him the truth and Winter was pissed. She said she called him and texted him and he said “Thanks for letting me know”. Theo hates that he missed the pregnancy, the birth, and time with his daughter. Winter lets him see Vivi but he barfs. Geoff who works at Kip’s (Winter’s dad) company, was the one who texted Winter. Theo wanted to disconnect with socials and gave his phone to Geoff, and got a new phone. Theo told Geoff to tell him if anything important comes up, but he didn’t. Theo says he would have been there for the baby. He wants to help and Winter cries while he hugs her. [image] Theo calls his mom to tell her about Vivi. Theo had Winter’s number on his new phone in case he wanted to contact her from the one-night-stand (ONS). I don’t know why he never contacted her in a year and a half. I get that he wanted to sort himself out but how long was he planning on taking? The only reason he talked to her was cuz of the rodeo. If he didn’t get injured, he would’ve been back on tour. Seeing Vivi happily reach for Theo had Winter in tears. Theo tells Winter to take a bath and relax, he’s used to babysitting. Theo is on the couch holding Vivi and Winter says she doesn’t blame Theo for hating her and Theo says he doesn’t and wants this. Winter sees a girl at Theo’s door who hugs him but he steps away, she asks to party like they used to. Theo says he has a good feeling about something so he says no, I love how direct he is. She didn’t realize he was with someone and Theo says he’s not, YET and he looks at Winter. Theo is good at everything with being a dad, he helped bathe, feed, and take care of Vivi. Winter brings up the girl they saw and Theo says he slept with her years ago but it meant nothing. Winter says he doesn’t need to feel obligated to be with her. Theo says he has been thinking about her since their ONS ended. So why didn’t he text/call her once bruh? [image] Willa and Rhett notice Theo sitting with Winter and Vivi. Cordelia still lives with Harvey and it’s been a year, she left her husband. She’s Harvey’s wife’s sister, sorry I hate that. Harvey says it’s obvious Vivi is Theo’s daughter. Harvey says it starts with fighting but then they start breeding, I’m dead, everyone tells him to shut up. Luke says Harvey told him about “fucking like bunnies”. Cade takes Harvey and Luke outside to give em an earful lol. Rhett asks Winter why she kept it from everyone and Theo told him to watch his tone. Winter says they’re like business partners which hurts Theo. Rhett pissed me off, he told Theo he knew Theo didn’t want this, insulting Winter, saying it’ll get in the way of Theo’s career. I loved that Theo cut him off and complimented Winter. But Rhett persisted and said Theo didn’t have to like Winter. Theo told Rhett to find someone else to talk shit to. Winter was surprised Theo defended her. Winter said she was terrible to Summer, she did it so that Marina wouldn’t bother Summer, so Theo told her to tell Summer. Winter told Theo she never had love until she had Vivi. Theo’s chest ached to hear that. Later, Theo hears Vivi cry and Winter apologizes for being loud and Theo takes over. “Baby girl, what is the commotion?” I coo as her tiny arms reach up for me. “You can’t be partying this late. Your poor mama needs some rest.” Theo calms Vivi down and takes Winter to bed. Winter says she doesn’t need his help and he says they’re a team. Winter says they’re business partners and Theo says they aren’t and kisses her. Theo stops their makeout since he doesn’t wanna take advantage of her. Winter woke up and found Theo SLEEPING IN THE CRIB WITH VIVI, OH MY GOD MY HEART. [image] Winter told Summer that she was excited to have a sister but Marina kept them apart. Marina left Summer in her crib when she cried. Winter snuck into the crib and held her when she was 4. Marina had a fight with Kip and took Winter’s dollhouse away. Winter realized that being close to Summer wouldn’t be good for her or Summer and is fine with being the evil sister. Winter said she loves her while Summer cried and said she isn’t evil. Theo and Vivi made her wanna be a better person. At home, Theo dances with Vivi strapped to him and cleans. Rob has been sending bills to Winter to bother her. Winter took nothing when she divorced him but he still bothers her which pisses Theo off. Theo booked Winter a manicure and massage. Theo told her to enjoy herself, this guy is a dream. When she gets back home, Vivi is playing with Theo and he cooked. Winter is gonna work out with a trainer but Theo didn’t want anyone touching her other than him. Winter asks Theo why he’s so nice to her and Theo says he likes her. Winter doubts it so Theo straddles her from behind. “Because your wellbeing has quickly become my number one priority.” “Why?” “Because I fucking adore you. Haven’t you been paying attention?” Theo says he got a new phone and focused on being a better person so he could call Winter someday. I still don’t get why it took so long, how long was he gonna wait? Winter feels wanted for the first time. Theo’s mom Loretta hugs Winter and Theo wonders how many hugs Winter has gotten. Winter stares at her nails and Theo knows she does this when she’s vulnerable. I love how he knows her well even if she doesn’t tell him these things. Theo gave her the coaster that had their contract from the ONS and hugs her. Later he sees her hug Summer and is happy Winter got three hugs. Loretta asked if Winter’s parents came to see Vivi and Winter says her dad cheated and raised Summer while her mom raised her. She tells her about Rob grooming Summer. Winter was pregnant at the time and she was infertile so she was heartbroken. Then she had a miscarriage and the only person who cared was Summer and Winter feels guilty for not treating her well. She wanted to make amends with Summer and had an ONS with Theo and was pregnant. Loretta called her strong and gave her a necklace, saying she’s family and to give it to Vivi someday. She says Theo loves easily but rarely loves hard, but he does with Winter. Theo called his mom the day of the ONS and said he met the woman he’s gonna marry. [image] Theo can’t stop staring at Winter at Summer and Rhett’s wedding. Kip comes for Summer’s wedding, treating her well, and Theo notices Winter is hurt. Beau dances with Winter cuz Harvey told him to apologize since he wasn’t treating Winter well. Winter is confused about Theo’s strong feelings and he says it’s like when she loved Vivi. Theo says he wants time with the ice queen which hurts Winter, he’s the first person to call her that. Winter leaves and Theo follows her into a washroom and she’s crying. Theo says it was a joke and that he’s tired of her not seeing what he sees. Winter admits she’s scared that if things don’t work out, Vivi will be stuck with parents that hate each other. Theo tells her he could never hate her. They end up fucking in the washroom. She asks if he hasn’t been with anyone and he hasn’t and she hasn’t either. Kip asks Theo to explain himself so Theo says Kip doesn’t even refer to Vivi as his grandchild. Theo said Winter isn’t his daughter until he makes amends, and threatens him to stop disrespecting Vivi. He says to get out of the way so he can spend time with his girls. Winter asks Theo to live with them and wants him for him, not just cuz he’s Vivi’s dad. Theo feels like he’s intruding so Winter lets him sleep with Vivi and her, telling him that he is not an intruder. [image] Theo confronted Geoff about his messages to Winter. Geoff thought he was cleaning his image but Theo told him he missed 9 months of his daughter’s life. Kip is shocked Theo didn’t know. Theo says Winter didn’t tell anyone since everyone treats her like shit and punches the table, he’s a badass. Theo called Kip out for not looking out for Winter. Theo fires Kip and Geoff and Kip says he’s gonna make things right, and fires Geoff. When Theo gets home, Rob is parked outside. Rob says he’s here to see his wife. Theo says no one married lives there but if he wants to harass Winter with bills, he can give them to Theo. Rob throws the bills and says to enjoy his leftovers. But Theo says they fucked before Winter divorced him and she isn’t leftovers. Theo threw an empty cup at Rob who drives off. Winter hasn’t reported Rob since it’ll drag Summer back to those memories. Winter admits she missed Theo and gave him a hug. Later, Winter looks for Theo at Summer’s gym where he works and sees him training some hot girl and gets jealous. Theo notices her and calls her his girl and kisses her in front of everyone. “That’s everyone, Tink. You’ve ruined me. Don’t you get it? I only see you. You’ve got all my attention. Every last bit of it.” They live together for weeks and Theo has bull riding. Winter didn’t want Theo to give up his dreams for them. Winter knew Theo wouldn’t stop bull riding, saying she will fix him herself if he gets hurt. Winter said they’ll be fine, saying they’re a family. Theo tells Vivi “Te vivo” which means “I live you,” and the last words his dad said to him. When Theo heads to the airport, he tells Winter “Te vivo” and she says it back. While he was gone, Winter gets roses from Rob with a paternity test, I fucking hate him. Winter calls Theo and tells him that Rob wanted the paternity test. Theo says he’s coming home but Winter says she doesn’t need saving. Theo says they’re doing this together and asks if Vivi was his daughter. Winter is stunned and says they’ll find out and she hangs up. Theo regrets it but has a nagging voice thinking Vivi might not be his even if she looks like him. He wants Vivi and Winter regardless of the results. Theo’s love language is acts of service and it hurts him that Winter doesn’t want that from him. Theo wants time for himself and sleeps, turning off his phone. Luckily Winter understood Theo, she was relieved he lashed out since he’s been so patient this whole time. Summer says she wants to report Rob to the medical board. Winter calls Theo but it goes to voicemail. Winter wakes up and still can’t get a hold of Theo and booked flight tickets. Theo wakes up when Winter knocks on his door. Winter says she called all night but he didn’t answer and she couldn’t sleep. Theo said he had a weak moment and she said he shut his phone down once and it didn’t end well and Theo apologized. Winter says she loves him so much that he isn’t allowed to shut her out. Theo hugs her and says he loves her too. [image] Theo wins the match and tells everyone he has a family and a future wife. Kip texted Winter that he has a family lawyer to deal with Rob. He’s gonna get a divorce from Marina. When Theo said he didn’t want to go to court, Winter begged him to come and he was so sweet. “I will go wherever you want. I will wear whatever you want. I will never turn my phone off again. I will always, always be there for you. For Vivi. You don’t need to beg, and you don’t need to say please. For as long as I live, for as long as you need me, you’ll have me. Okay? Never doubt that.” Winter changed their daughter’s name to Vivienne Loretta Silva and she is Theo’s. Winter takes Rob’s nasty flowers back to him that were mouldy. She gives him an envelope with him being reported to the hospital, and said he went too far to come for her family. She hasn’t fucked him since she found out he was a predator. Winter tells Harvey she knows he’s with Cordelia and he says he is but isn’t ready to tell the family. Kip had Winter’s old dollhouse that he found in an alley. Kip says he hasn’t been there for Winter and Theo gave him a wake-up call so if Winter is willing, to reconnect. Kip’s reunion with Winter was too rushed. Theo carries Winter to the place where he first met her and proposed. He said he knew he loved her from the start and was glad they were reckless that night. We end with Winter being a tour doctor for the bull riders. Theo is in another match and Winter tells him she is pregnant again and we’re done. I don’t know if Beau will top them but I do wanna see Beau happy after what he went through. [image] (hide spoiler)] Stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jul 29, 2023
|
Aug 03, 2023
|
Jul 29, 2023
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1477823859
| 9781477823859
| 1477823859
| 3.69
| 6,688
| Jun 17, 2014
| Jun 17, 2014
|
liked it
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Civil War, journalists kidnapped, parental abandonment, parental death (pulmonary embolism), hemophobia (hide spoiler)
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Civil War, journalists kidnapped, parental abandonment, parental death (pulmonary embolism), hemophobia (hide spoiler)] I saw Natasha Anders was gonna release a new book soon. Since I’ve read The Unwanted Wife so many times, I wanted to try something new. I read Husband’s Regret and DNFed it which I RARELY do but I hated it so much because of the MMC. I went into this hoping I might like it a lil. A bonus to this book is we see more of Theresa and Sandro from The Unwanted Wife since Theresa is the FMC Bobbi’s friend. Gabe was immature and stupid, this book lacked angst and grovel for me. It did have grovel but I didn’t find it sincere and it didn’t move me like I wanted it to. The MMC Gabe didn’t like how Bobbi dressed or looked and his demands were unreasonable, he was acting like a child so I couldn’t really like him. And Bobbi was a doormat, she stood up for herself every now and then and did make Gabe work at some point, but I didn’t care for her much. This book was addicting and it did pass the time but I wouldn’t say I loved it. [image] Bobbi had a crush on her childhood friend Gabe for years. Gabe doesn’t see Bobbi as a woman he wants to be with. After getting drunk and kissing him, they decide to have a friends-with-benefits relationship. Bobbi loves Gabe but he thinks of her as his dirty little secret. [image] Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ Bobbi is taken to Sandro’s party by her best friend Gabe who she is in love with. Once they’re there, he ignores her and flirts with Sandro’s sister Rosalie. Theresa, her friend and Sandro’s wife threw a surprise party for Sandro. Gabe was attracted to Rosalie but she was off-limits since she was Sandro’s sister. Bobbi is his opposite, he considers her messy when he’s neat and tidy. She’s been his close friend forever and he can’t imagine his life without her. Bobbi is pissed since she was Gabe’s date at the party but left her, when she’s drunk she asks him to dance with her. Bobbi started to unbutton his shirt and he stops her. He holds her face asking who hurt her since she was crying. She surprised him by kissing her and he kissed her back. Gabe told Bobbi to wait but Sandro got Theresa to put Bobbi into a guest room. Apparently, Sandro can’t stand to be at parties without Theresa so Gabe takes over looking after Bobbi. Gabe broke up with his ex months ago and was celibate, he thinks that’s why he kissed Bobbi and planned on finding someone to fuck. [image] Bobbi woke up hungover and Gabe wanted to get away because seeing her turned him on. He was changing when Bobbi sees him and starts touching him. He intentionally called her “Runt” and tells her to stop and she leaves, upset. Gabe was with Rosalie outside, he was wearing sunglasses and talking to Rosalie but he was watching Bobbi the entire time. Bobbi was hurt he was with Rosalie so she left. Gabe tried to confront Bobbi about the kiss and touching but she played it off as being drunk. Gabe invited Bobbi over for a movie and Bobbi said she doesn’t think it’s a good idea and they have a moment where he holds her hand. Bobbi owned a mechanic store and had guys working for her. When everyone put Bobbi down for starting an auto shop, Gabe always encouraged her. Gabe showed up, she had grease on her and he wiped it and showed her with disgust. Gabe went to the store thinking that seeing Bobbi working with grease will get rid of his attraction for her, which is fucked up. But it didn’t work and they leave for lunch. Bobbi told Gabe he should change things up, he always dates blondes (the typical shit we see in romance books) and orders the same food. He tells her she needs to learn to be more responsible with her company. How people rely on her, to stop being childish. He had the audacity to tell her to wear different clothes. He said her shorts are too short and that she should wear a bra. Gabe doesn’t wanna be with Bobbi since she isn’t the woman he envisioned being with. Bobbi says she isn’t gonna change the way she dresses for him. Their friend brings a guy named Kyle over. Kyle flirts with Bobbi and Gabe is so pissed when Kyle offers Bobbi a ride. Kyle asks Bobbi out and she still had feelings for Gabe. Gabe tried calling some women but didn’t have the energy to go on the dates. Gabe goes over to Bobbi’s place and hangs with her stepdad Mike. Gabe asked if Bobbi went out with Kyle but Mike didn’t know who that was. Gabe asks if it was okay for Bobbi to be out this late, she’s an adult and it felt like he was snitching. Mike told Gabe that Bobbi’s personal life is hers but has security at the shop. [image] Bobbi was at her friend’s place but Gabe keeps calling her phone. He asks where she is since it’s late. She says it’s none of his business and hangs up. So he texts Bronwyn’s husband to find out when she’s coming home. Bobbi goes home annoyed and he’s at her place. He said he was concerned about her when she asked why he was there. He touches her saying he knows she wants him and he wants her. They make out and he says that they are friends and he doesn’t wanna lose that friendship over meaningless sex. He thinks they can get it outta their systems and go back to normal without telling anyone. Bobbi asked what it was like with his “blondes” and he normally took them out to dinner and then went home to fuck. But he doesn’t wanna do that with Bobbi because he was ashamed of her, fuck him. Bobbi said okay to the arrangement while being cold and Gabe asked what she wanted. Bobbi knew she was gonna get hurt but wanted whatever she can get from Gabe. Gabe took Bobbi to his place and they fucked and fell asleep cuddling. Once Bobbi woke up and tried to leave since she didn’t wanna show she was hurt. Gabe asked her to stay but she said if they wanted to keep this from everyone she had to leave. Bobbi’s stepdad Mike was handing his company to Gabe. Gabe was panicking since he didn’t want Mike to know he was with Bobbi. Even though Gabe wanted meaningless sex, he felt things when they fucked. He called Bobbi and she didn’t answer so he cancelled all his appointments and went to Bobbi’s shop, I liked that he was the needy one. [image] The way this man had to use a handkerchief to wipe the seat before sitting, lord. Gabe asks her out for lunch and Bobbi says she’s working. Normally Gabe never takes her to brunch so she asked why he was changing things when he wanted them to be normal friends. Meanwhile, he’s confused at why she’s cagey, like bro you asked for meaningless sex and that’s what she’s giving you. Chase, his twin brother, asked if Gabe can pick him up at the airport. It’s funny Gabe was so shocked that Bobbi easily acted like he was her friend when he had a hard time doing the same. Gabe picked up Chase and they watch a movie when Bobbi rang their doorbell. He kisses her and Bobbi asks if she can talk to Chase and stay. Chase hugged Bobbi and even kissed her on the mouth which was weird, they were super affectionate. I was surprised Bobbi seemed closer to Chase and didn’t fall for him when he’s Gabe’s twin, so he’s just as handsome and sweeter. Chase tells her to sit next to him, has his arm around her and has her cheek on his chest which pisses off Gabe. Gabe admits he hates seeing Chase’s hands all over her and Bobbi said Chase is like a brother to her. Gabe asks why she doesn’t want Chase who looks exactly like him and Bobbi said she just wants him. [image] Chase asks when Bobbi left and realizes they’re fucking. I fucking loved Chase for standing up for Bobbi. He said if Gabe didn’t plan on being serious with her he would kick his ass. Gabe said they’re working it outta their systems and it’s a perfectly normal adult relationship. Chase called him out for hiding the relationship which is something he didn’t do with his exes. Chase said he’s treating Bobbi like she’s only good for fucking. Gabe thinks that Bobbi dresses ugly and doesn’t have the look he wants in a woman he wants to be seen with. It’s such a fucked up thing to think. Gabe hasn’t seriously dated women for more than a month and once they break up, he cuts them out of his life. He can’t do that with Bobbi since she’s his close friend. Bobbi admits Gabe makes her feel great when they’re together but when he sends her away she feels unworthy and pathetic and Chase is pissed. Gabe says he loves Bobbi’s smile, sense of humour, and eyes and Chase knows he likes her. [image] When Bobbi went to the football game meetup, Chase met up with her first. But she sees Gabe with his hands around Rosalie and is hurt, they’re close and acting like a couple. Gabe was pushing Rosalie’s hair off her forehead. This Rosalie shit was never resolved in the end, Gabe was a hypocrite with Bobbi. Bobbi was gonna play football and Bobbi called Gabe out for being with Rosalie. He said Rosalie is just a friend and Bobbi was being childish. When she’s hit in the face with a ball, Gabe tries to touch her and she moves away. Seeing Rosalie with Gabe pissed me off so I was glad Kyle showed up. Gabe was sad some guy will be with Bobbi in the future, this guy is so stupid. Gabe sees Kyle and Bobbi together and he’s pissed at Bobbi for allowing it. When minutes ago he had his hands around Rosalie, what a load of bullshit and double standards. Bobbi was hurt again and on her back and Gabe got into a fight with the guy who accidentally fell on her. Bobbi was bleeding and Gabe carried her away. He fought with the guy that injured her so Bobbi went to stop the fight. Gabe sees Bobbi bruised and asked how he could even consider a real relationship with her. How she never styles her hair, doesn’t know how to dress, and has grease under her fingernails. It’s such a fucked up thing to say, telling her he can’t have her in his life, how she doesn’t even wear makeup, the fuck? Bobbi says she’s been in love with him for years and never felt good enough. She knows she deserves better and leaves while crying. Kyle was sweet enough to follow her and walk her home. Gabe feels betrayed that Bobbi kept her feelings from him for years thinking he doesn’t even know her. The way he constantly victimizes himself pisses me off. Gabe was gonna follow but Chase told him to give her space and if she’s still hurt. [image] For two weeks Gabe didn’t contact Bobbi. She gets a call to her office and it’s Gabe, he asked how she was and surprised Bobbi by asking her to the ball his company was throwing. Bobbi says no and he said that he wants to do it right this time but she says she doesn’t care what he wants. He leaves voicemails on her work phone every day. She made her coworker monitor calls so Gabe wouldn’t be able to get through. She ignored Gabe’s phone calls on her cell where he left voicemails begging her to call back. He called her home phone, he called each of her friends with messages to ask Bobbi to call. But then she comes home to her dad saying Gabe sent a buncha white roses. He left a cheesy poem on the back saying he missed her and though Bobbi was amused, she called Chase and told him to tell Gabe to stop. One thing I love seeing is more confrontation and angst. But when a girl avoids the guy, it prevents us from seeing that but I loved Bobbi’s backbone. Gabe was happy to have gotten a reaction from her since he knew this would piss her off. Gabe sent flowers to Bobbi’s auto shop and had a poem where he said his life is blue without Bobbi. Bobbi needs time to get over him. When she goes to sleep she wakes up to Gabe in her room, Mike let him in and told him where Bobbi was. Gabe asked who she was going to the ball with and she wouldn’t answer. Gabe said he would be honoured if she was with him but she asked if she dressed with a tank top and shorts if he would be okay. She quoted his words about her not dressing well. Instead of saying it was a fucked up thing to say, he said he was sorry it hurt her but she doesn’t dress to fit his lifestyle. I’m sorry but does this guy ever learn? The fucking audacity. [image] I loved that Bobbi said she isn’t going to change who she is for him. Then Gabe says it isn’t fair for him to make changes. I’m sorry but what changes does he have to make? The fucker said he has to change the woman he will be seen with outside. I fucking hate Gabe, I’m sorry but Chase is so much better and they’re identical so go for him bro. Bobbi asked what would he be sacrificing. Having a less attractive person by his side, the fuck? And she knew that once he was over her he will move on while she would be publicly humiliated because she wasn’t good enough. He says that’s not true and she asks if he loves her and he says yes but she asked if he is in love with her. He said it isn’t fair to ask that since her confession threw him off. She asked him to leave since she isn’t willing to change anything and he said it wouldn’t kill her to go to a hairdresser and get her nails done because she is a woman. This guy is so unbearable, the way he’s openly admitting he doesn’t find her good enough to be beside him in public unless she fixes herself, the fuck? Does he hear himself? And the way he says it’s cuz she’s a woman? As if that’s all she’s good for? Luckily Bobbi didn’t give in and insisted he leaves so he did. [image] Gabe sent a tool bouquet with a note that said he found her attractive even if she has grease stains. The tools were everything Bobbi needed. Her store has been busy and Gabe came to visit. A worker went to shake Gabe’s hand and had grease and Gabe took it thinking about hand sanitizer in his car. He wanted to avoid being squeamish because it’ll piss Bobbi off. Bobbi sees Gabe and tells him she doesn’t want the tools but he said he won’t take them back. He lied about his Lamborghini needing a fix because he knew Bobbi has always wanted to take it apart and he just wanted to win her over. She says she can have her coworker look at it and he said he only trusted her with it. She said he should’ve months ago and Gabe is annoyed. He throws a tantrum saying she’s punishing him for not loving her and keeping the relationship a secret. How he cares and respects her but that’s not enough, bro calm the fuck down, he constantly bothers her at work. The way he told Bobbi to grow up and to understand that not all relationships have love right away is so stupid. She knows it will be temporary and is protecting herself. But he’s pissed she won’t give in. He says they can have a relationship and fuck and if they last they do but if they don’t, they don’t. He is honestly so disgusting, he expects everything to work his way. I don’t know what Bobbi sees in him. But Bobbi said they can go to the ball but she won’t change her appearance for him. He apologized for making her feel that way saying that she was beautiful. He then said he hopes she wears a bra though. He kissed her in front of everyone and Bobbi was happy. [image] Bobbi’s brother Billy threatened Gabe for hurting Bobbi and to be careful. Gabe admits to Billy that they are dating. Gabe was with Mike tryna explain that Bobbi was going on a date with him. Mike asks how long it’s been going on and Gabe says a month. Mike realizes the flowers were sent as an apology and told Gabe to treat Bobbi with respect since she’s been miserable. They went on a date and the way Gabe hates her clothes but “looked past it” because she’s beautiful was so stupid. His inner commentary was kinda like “Despite her shitty clothes and rat hair, she’s hot.” Gabe drives Bobbi home and she asks if she should come over but he said he didn’t wanna do things and rush everything. Some posh customer was at Bobbi’s store when Gabe visited. The woman was flirting with Gabe and tried to insult Bobbi so Gabe pulled Bobbi to him and kissed her. Gabe wanted people to know he was with Bobbi and when they went to the restaurant they normally go to, he was openly affectionate. Gabe started to change the way he acted by ordering stuff he never would order and stopping himself from arranging the table. Gabe found it hard to believe Bobbi thought he would like the customer who was a bitch. Bobbi said she wore makeup and a dress like Gabe liked and he called himself an idiot for telling Bobbi that. They made plans to meet during the game and at the game, Bobbi told her friends she was scared her relationship will end because of how she dresses at events. Theresa said how it wouldn’t kill her to wear a dress to some formal events Gabe has to go to. She asked if he was ashamed of being seen with her in her regular clothes at the restaurant and Bobbi said no. So Theresa said she should be willing to be a little formal at these events. It get it, it’s just the way he worded shit, expecting her to wear makeup, get a hairstylist, calling her fingernails nasty, that pissed me off. [image] The girls help Bobbi go shopping to find something she will like. Bobbi and Gabe went home and fucked, Gabe didn’t want Bobbi sneaking out. She said I love you but Gabe never said it back. Bobbi accidentally injured herself while working. Gabe immediately realized he wanted Bobbi for the rest of his life. Bobbi was close to being seriously injured but is safe. Gabe understood he loved her. Everyone came to visit Bobbi but Gabe and she was worried. He finally came with flowers and gives her a bouquet with a cheesy poem that says he loves her. He wrapped the thorns on a rose and it had an engagement ring, saying he wanted to marry and have kids with her. That was quick but whateva. She had a dress that suited her that she actually liked, she had it for the ball and Gabe loved it. In the future Bobbi is pregnant with twins and they were married for a year. It was a cute ending to their story even if it wasn’t as angsty or with amazing grovel as I would’ve liked, nice way to pass time though. [image] (hide spoiler)] Stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
May 11, 2023
|
May 16, 2023
|
May 11, 2023
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1778133037
| 9781778133039
| B0B6PRL9H5
| 4.23
| 80,683
| Oct 04, 2022
| Oct 04, 2022
|
it was amazing
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Death of parent, cancer, loss of loved one, car accident, eating disorder, toxic diet comments, alcoholic parent, sexu
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Death of parent, cancer, loss of loved one, car accident, eating disorder, toxic diet comments, alcoholic parent, sexual assault (no consent kiss), distribution of sex tape without consent, pressure to drink, pressured for sex, dub-con, drunk and vulnerable when virginity was taken and videotaped without consent with people walking in, child neglect, panic attack (hide spoiler)] This is the second book in Playing for Keeps. I highly recommend the first book Consider Me. I loved Carter and Liv, they will forever be my favourites but Garrett and Jennie were so cute. You see more of Carter as an older brother and it made me love him more. I went in with low expectations and ended up really loving this. I highly recommend it after Consider Me, but this is cliche. Seeing the core group and the family was everything, I laughed and cried while reading this. [image] This follows Carter’s little sister Jennie and one of Carter’s best friends and hockey team members Garrett. Carter doesn’t want anyone near his sister Jennie, it was a rule to his teammates. But when Jennie moves into Garrett’s building, the two have undeniable chemistry. Once they cross the line, there was no going back. [image] “Thank you, Garrett.” “For what?” “For talking to me. Listening to me. Helping me. But most of all, for trapping me in a closet and forcing me to play with you.” Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ At Carter and Liv’s wedding and Carter accidentally told everyone Liv was pregnant. Jennie is Carter’s sister and Garrett is attracted to her. Garrett and Jennie have a moment but Adam tells Garrett to find someone else. It’s Jennie’s birthday and Carter gives Jennie an apartment as a gift and Garrett lives in the same building. They run into Garrett who is freshly fucked by Emily, his neighbour, I hate seeing guys fuck around before they get with the girl. Jennie visits Hank, he is her grandpa figure and stopped Carter from drunk driving home when he was grieving years ago, their dad died cuz of a drunk driver. Jennie calls Carter crying since she can’t find the stuffed animal her dad got her so Carter asks Garrett to check on her. Garrett hugs her while she cries and helps her look for her toy. He finds a box labelled toys and it’s fulla her vibrators, he wouldn’t let go of the box. Jennie pulls at it and they all fall to the ground, and Garrett runs out. Jennie’s teacher offers her a position in Toronto. Simon, Jennie’s dance partner attempted to kiss Jennie despite her saying no so she knees him in the balls, she tripped, and got an ankle injury. Garrett is injured from hockey so Jennie drives him home. Garrett plans on going for a swim and invites Jennie. Jennie’s bikini top somehow falls off, she trips and Garrett catches her. She screams so he screams, he had his boner and she had her boobs out. “Tuck it away!” I shriek at him. “You tuck those away!” he shrieks back. “Stop looking!” “You stop looking!” “Garrett!” “Jennie!” He gives Jennie her bikini top and walks her home. When she eyes Emily’s door, he says he won’t sleep with her again. He calls her “Sunshine” and they watch the hockey game together, Jennie loves Disney like Carter. They play fight and he kisses her, so Jennie tells him to leave. Garrett finds her using a vibrator while saying his name. He says he could help her and they make out, once Jennie comes she tells him to leave. Jennie avoids Garrett for a week, so Garrett waits outside her door. She acts as if nothing happened. Someone tries to hit on Carter at the bad so he shuts em down, I love him. “Excuse me. I’m Arianna.” Carter doesn’t look up from his menu. “I’m married.” Arianna opens her mouth, and Carter cuts her off before she can use it. “Happily.” He looks up with a grin and shows her Olivia’s smiling face on his phone screen. “Isn’t she beautiful?” He flips through his photos. “Here she is on our wedding day. Fucking gorgeous, right? And here’s the baby she’s growing right now. That’s my baby. What do you think? Girl or boy? We’re not finding out. We want to be surprised. I’m trying to convince myself I see a penis, though, ’cause girls are scary.” There’s a new guy on their hockey team named Jaxon. Jennie isn’t into Jaxon but when she sees Garrett watching, she tries to get him jealous. Carter says Jaxon is too old for her, only by 2 years. Jennie runs into a closet and Garrett pushes her into the wall and gets her worked up. Once they’re home, they set rules; no sleepovers and no sex, since it’s been a while for Jennie and exclusivity. Jennie’s coach Mikhail wants her to act like lovers with Simon, he wants them to finish off with a kiss but she says no. Jennie tells the family about the job offer in Toronto, and both her mom and Liv cry, they don’t want her to leave. Carter gives Jennie a new car, he’s the best brother. Garrett cuddles Jennie and she opens up about her job offer, they always hang out and he gives her rides. She wants to open her own studio and teach kids. Garrett asks Jennie to help him decorate his Christmas tree when he sees Jennie crying. She hasn’t done it since her dad died. Garrett’s little sister calls, he has three; Gabby, Alexa, and Stephie. Garrett notices Jennie being sad and plays music and dances with her to make her feel better. [image] Garrett asks Jennie why she hasn’t had sex in years and Jennie shuts down. He apologizes and cuddles her. Garrett is with his family in Nova Scotia, it was wholesome seeing his sisters snuggle against him and watch Jennie perform her recital online. Jennie used to do a handshake with her dad and wants to do it again. Garrett’s parents had him in high school so his dad drank. When he was 11 his dad took him to a bar and passed out so Garrett drove them home despite being 11. Since then his dad worked on it and got better. Garrett calls Jennie on Christmas, he has a gift under his tree for her. He got her Just Dance, clothes, and a back scratcher since she likes her back to be tickled. Garrett has one more gift and it’s the handshake Jennie does with her dad. They go to Carter’s place for a New Year's Eve party. Carter and Liv play beer pong, they try to distract each other and Liv even fakes breaking her water so Carter loses. Garrett and Jennie sneak away and make out. Cara and Adam catch them and Cara thinks it’s a one-time thing. Carter was checking himself out in the mirror and the guys took turns posing and talking about their hockey butts. Carter shoves me out of the way with his hip. “My name is Carter Beckett,” he murmurs, husky and low. He swings his head over his shoulder, eyes hooded as his hip juts, sliding one hand over his right butt cheek. “And I have a hockey butt.” “My name is Garrett Andersen…” I bounce into my squat, hand moving in a circle over my butt cheek, and pump my brows. “And I have a hockey butt.” A girl named Susie is checking Garrett out and Carter tells them to go out. Carter tells everyone Garrett has a date which hurts Jennie. Jennie asks if Garrett is gonna call Susie but he deleted her number. I crawl toward her. “You know, you’re turning out to be a huge snuggle bear. Who woulda thought?” “Am not.” “Admit it, Jennie.” I knock her down to her back, straddling her hips as I loom above her. “You’re a cuddler. You like cuddling with me.” “Nope.” “C’mon, Jennie.” I nudge her jaw with my nose. “Admit it.” “Never.” Jennie is in class and Krissy, a mean girl, knows Jennie got the job offer and says it doesn’t take talent since she’s Carter’s sister. Krissy’s words got to Jennie and she leaves and cries. Jennie’s car slides on ice and she gets into an accident. Carter is hounding Garrett to go on the date and he says he’s seeing someone. Garrett runs out once Jennie tells him she hit a stop sign. Jennie asks him if she’s good at dancing or if it’s cuz Carter is her brother, asking why no one wants to be her friend. Garrett asks Carter if it’s okay to take Jennie out since she had a shit day. Carter checks on Jennie, it’s so sweet how he calls her right away. Garrett takes Jennie to the movies but Jennie sees her ex, Kevin. Garrett says Kevin is making Jennie uncomfortable. Kevin holds her chin, asking if he is, saying he loves her mouth, the fucktard. Garrett tells him not to touch her while shoving him back. He takes Jennie away and once they’re home, Jennie says she wants to have sex. Garrett says today wasn’t the night since she is vulnerable. She falls asleep and Garrett finds it cute and records it. She was angry, told him to delete it, and leaves saying she was better off alone. The next day she comes back apologizing and Garrett hugs her. [image] Kevin was Jennie’s boyfriend in high school when her dad died. He kept pressuring Jennie for sex when she was emotionally vulnerable. At a party, everyone pressured her to drink and once she did, Kevin took her up and Jennie said she wanted to have sex. Jennie said the sex started to feel good so she made noises. He flipped her over and told her to scream for the others while he fucked her. The football team walked in with cameras and took videos of Kevin fucking Jennie, what the actual fuck. Kevin ignored her calls and was with her best friend the next day. The video was everywhere and her body wasn’t visible but the sounds she made were and it spread on the media. She lost her virginity and never had sex again. Carter flew home, hurt Kevin, and took Jennie away. Garrett says he’s proud of who she is and thanks her for trusting him. Jennie had practice with Simon and Carter comes to pick her up, acting like a dad-bro. “Jennie,” Carter calls rather loudly, arms waving. “Jennie! I’m right here!” His legs eat the distance between us as he scowls at Simon. “Jennie,” he scolds, tucking me beneath his arm. “What have I told you about hanging out with douchebags?” “Don’t?” “That’s fucking right.” He opens my door and gives Simon a dazzling smile. “Bye, Steve!” Emily is locked outta her apartment and asks to hang out with Jennie. They run into Kevin and Emily stood up for Jennie while Kevin said she should get over the sex tape. When Emily punched him, I loved her, despite her sleeping with Garrett, she isn’t a bad person like a typical OW. Garrett’s sisters call crying since their parents got into a fight and beg him to come home but he can’t since he is on a hockey contract. His dad fought with his mom and left with whiskey. Garrett calls Jennie needing to talk to her but she is at practice. Krissy asks if Jennie wants to hang out. Jennie says she doesn’t wanna be friends with her after Krissy discredited her hard work. Garrett comes to pick up Jennie and Simon asks if she’s dating him. She says no while Simon is extra touchy. Garrett told Jennie to tell Simon to stop touching her, he understands they are dance partners but outside of that, he hates the touching. Garrett opens up to Jennie about his family and says he needed her but she wasn’t there and she apologized. Garrett asks for space and Jennie is upset people always leave her. Garrett‘s sister calls so he kisses Jennie goodbye and leaves. [image] Garrett finds his dad at a bar, his dad didn’t drink. His dad was laid off and doesn’t know how to support his family. Garrett wants to support them and bring them to Vancouver but they won’t listen. Garrett brings his dad home and seeing him cuddled up with his sisters was sweet. Garrett went to Jennie’s recital and I loved how Adam called Garrett out for making Jennie open up to him but he didn’t do the same with her. Jennie looked for Garrrett in the crowd and smiled at him. I FUCKING KNEW that Simon was gonna kiss her anyway. Jennie slaps Simon and tells Mikhail she is done dancing with Simon. Garrett takes care of Jennie while they’re out, they have this cute pinky thing they do. Garrett tells Jennie he is tired of acting like he isn’t in love with her. Garrett apologizes for lashing out and shutting her down, telling her what happened. They got each other gifts, she got him a bear keychain and some funny shit. He got her a flower necklace with a picture of her dad on the inside and it says you are my sunshine. He even found her old stuffed animal, he found it in the bushes. He says he didn’t say everything to fuck but they fuck. [image] They are at Carter’s place and he notices Garrett’s hickey, only Emmett and Carter don’t know about Jennie and Garrett. But Carter is distracted by Liv, talking to her baby bump. No, he’s got his face pressed to Olivia’s belly, his hands cupped around his mouth as he makes these weird, deep, staticky breathing noises. “What the fuck are you doing, dude?” Jaxon finally asks. “Luke,” Carter speaks into Olivia’s stomach. Two more raspy noises. “I am your father.” “Holy fuck.” I scrub my tired eyes. “Not Darth Vader.” Garrett sees Simon running after Jennie when he picks her up. Simon starts to insult Jennie so Garrett punches him twice. Garrett asks what no means and Simon says no means no. There are these drunk guys that are about to drive and Carter yells at them. Carter fights them and Liv screams while Jennie has a panic attack. Luckily they were all safe at the hospital, Carter beat one of them and scared the other two off. Garrett runs to Jennie and kisses her in front of everyone except Carter and Liv. Carter asks Garrett to drop Jennie home and they spend the night together. They’re heading to bed when they see Carter, he let himself in worried about Jennie. Carter feels betrayed, and Jennie says sorry but Carter said fuck this and leaves. [image] Carter stopped answering his phone and it’s been 6 days. Carter was in the coach’s office and they want Garrett to play in the second line, normally Garrett plays with Carter and Emmett. Garrett plays worse since he’s not used to his new position. I didn’t like that Carter used his position against Garrett like that and it was stupid the coach went along with it. Garrett’s dad said they are moving to Vancouver. Garrett woke up to Jennie crying, she says she misses Carter and her dad. Jennie thinks she should go to Toronto for the job since she doesn’t want to be Carter’s shadow. Garrett gets angry, he says she stays in Vancouver since she loves her family and friends. Jennie leaves and in Toronto, she has a list of pros and cons, mainly cons of Garrett not being there. Garrett texts her before the interview saying whatever she decides, he is proud of her and she will always be his best friend. The staff thinks she will fit right in but when she’s ordering food they judge her. Hank calls Jennie and made Jennie understand she is valued and Jennie chooses to live in Vancouver. The coach says they need Garrett back with Carter and Emmett. Garrett tells Carter to grow up and Carter yells at him for fucking Jennie. They both start wrestling and Garrett yells that he loves Jennie. Carter says Garrett will hurt Jennie and Garrett says he’s the one hurting Jennie. Even Liv was pissed with Carter. “I do want her to be happy,” he whispers, finally climbing off me, sprawling out on the ice beside me. “Jennie deserves the world.” “And I want to give her it.” His head flops so he can stare at me.“Ollie said I wasn’t being fair. Made me sleep on the couch.” “You have, like, three spare bedrooms.” “Four. She said I didn’t deserve a bed.” Carter and Liv had a girl, they tell Hank to hold the baby first. I cried when Carter named the baby after Hank’s wife Ireland. Jennie texts Garrett and tells him the pros and cons of Toronto. The cons were a list of all the things she loves about Garrett. Seeing Carter hold Ireland while Liv is in awe was just so cute. Carter didn’t wanna share his baby and was overprotective. I loved how Carter was telling Jennie to be careful with all these tips before giving her Ireland. [image] Carter says he missed Jennie and she tells him they should communicate, she thinks she isn’t enough. Carter apologizes and says she is enough. Carter says he knows Garrett loves her and she says he punched Simon for him, he’s so petty for tryna one up Garrett. He says he’s scared Jennie will stop needing him and she cries and says she always will and they hug. “He punched Simon for me.” “His eyes light. “He did?” “Twice.” His chest puffs. “I woulda done it three times.” “It’s not a competition,” I remind him gently. Jennie let Garrett’s family stay at her condo while she stays with Garrett. It’s Jennie’s last day in the dance studio and she takes his sisters there, they run into Simon. Simon asks if she’s dating Garrett and she says yes. Simon asks if she’s just gonna walk away after 5 years of friendship and Jennie said he had many chances. Jennie told the girls not to let anyone put them down. Whenever the boys are on the road Cara and Jennie stay with Liv and the baby. Garrett will purposefully leave hickeys on Jennie to piss Carter off and they fight. Garrett bought Jennie a dance studio and they live in a house. I loved seeing Carter and Garrett’s petty fights. “Is your daddy driving you nuts?” I twist out of Carter’s reach as we bounce around my kitchen. “Do you wanna have a sleepover with Auntie Jennie and Uncle Gare to get away from him?” Carter scoffs. “Please. She’s obsessed with me.” He reaches toward us, making grabby hands. “Lemme take her.” “No. She likes me.” I loved seeing the guys fight for Ireland, she’s gonna be so loved. The guys see Jennie’s toy box, and Garrett covers it, saying it’s nothing. Carter is terrified when he realizes what it is, I can’t stop laughing at the way he ran out the door. Garrett took Carter and his mom to help him find a ring for Jennie. Jennie caught him with the ring and they tease each other. Carter runs into Garrett holding Jennie on a wall and panics and calls for Liv. I can’t wait to read more with this crew, I love all of them. Carter and Liv will always be my favs but I loved Garrett and Jennie. [image] (hide spoiler)] Stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Apr 10, 2023
|
Apr 16, 2023
|
Apr 10, 2023
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 0983212546
| 9780983212546
| 0983212546
| 4.02
| 114,658
| Apr 29, 2011
| Apr 29, 2011
|
it was amazing
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Fat-shaming, classism, cheating ex, family neglect and abandonment, lowkey dub-con (hide spoiler)] My lovely friend Shi Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Fat-shaming, classism, cheating ex, family neglect and abandonment, lowkey dub-con (hide spoiler)] My lovely friend Shilpa recommended this book. This was such a cute and fun read, I was surprised at how funny this book was, I was smiling and laughing the whole time. Jason is kinda like Carter from Consider Me. He loves food and snuggling, and he’s smitten with Haley. I do wish that the ending was a bit different, there’s some really cute grovelling but then the miscommunication gets annoying. [image] Haley and Jason have been neighbours for 5 years and Haley can’t stand Jason. That is until the day they are forced into close proximity after he tried to ruin her flowerbed. Realizing she misunderstood Jason, she slowly becomes friends with him. Jason doesn’t do relationships (the typical shit) and they don’t see each other as anything more than friends, but a certain arrangement makes them blur the lines of their relationship. [image] Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ Haley and Jason have been neighbours for 5 years. Jason was crazy, the guy pissed on his lawn and had loud parties. They both work at the same private school and he would come over to borrow her things without her permission. Haley was so pissed she tried to sell her place but Jason kept scaring the buyers away, he even broke her windows with golf balls last year. When Jason moved in, his realtor didn’t tell him where the keys were for his place and he had to take a piss, so he did it in his yard and Haley saw. Ever since she has avoided him and Jason wanted to apologize but she ran away when she saw him. Haley uses a hose fulla cold water and gets Jason wet when he messes with her flowerbed. Jason says it’s his property, their rooms are directly in front of each other so they feel they have no privacy. When Haley didn’t move her tulips, Jason started ripping them while she begged him not to, spraying him with water. She tripped him and crawled to save her tulips, so Jason grabbed her. He was snuggled up against her and used that to distract her to continue pulling out her flowers and when she asked him why he was doing it, it was cuz they had a bees nest nearby that they disturbed. The bees started coming after them so he dragged her into her place. [image] They’re stuck at her place since the bees are swarming outside and call an exterminator. Haley was a Yankees fan so they watched the game together while she made pizza, and they finally became friends. Jason noticed a guy go over to Haley’s place with a condom. He scared the guy off by not saying anything, just acting nervous and telling him to be careful around Haley. He went over to Haley’s and invited her to his party. Haley went with brownies and Jason saw the brownies and took em away. Jason’s party was laid back and Haley fit right in. Haley has been hanging out with Jason ever since. Haley was on a date with a manchild and he was tryna follow her into her place while Haley was panicking. Jason somehow tied himself to her bed and scared the guy away by offering to let him join them. [image] They comfortably went to each other’s places and played pranks on one another. Haley went to a family barbeque. Her family can’t stand her because they don’t like her lifestyle since they’re filthy rich, so they treat her like shit. Her mom barely raised her, she was raised by her grandparents. Her dad didn’t know how old she was, while her mom shames her body. Her grandma was so pissed she was getting her cane ready. Haley and her grandmother left for her place instead. Jason invites himself over to Haley’s and her grandma asks if Jason is her boyfriend. Jason says he’s Haley’s neighbour from hell. Jason charmed Haley’s grandma and her grandma surprised her with Yankees tickets. Jason tried to run away with the tickets so she tackled him. They’re at the game, and Brad and Mitch joined them, Jason’s friends. Mitch has a crush on Haley, he can’t take a hint. Jason held her in his lap so she wouldn’t run to fangirl. When Haley goes to the washroom, Jason tells Mitch to back off since he isn’t good enough for Haley. How he sleeps around and doesn’t treat women well. Mitch calls Jason out for doing the same thing but Jason says he isn’t interested in Haley like that, he calls her his little grasshopper. Haley shared her hot dog with Jason while he shared her drink with her, they were literally a couple. Haley managed to catch the ball and Jason twirled her around and kissed her cheek. Haley had a hotel room but since Mitch, Brad, and Jason went to a club, their room was taken. Mitch left to find someone to sleep with and Brad and Jason went to Haley. Haley had two beds so she slept on one. Jason refused to share a bed with Brad and slept with Haley. He said she wouldn’t wanna sleep with Brad since he’s married so Haley gave in. They ended up accidentally cuddling and when Brad told them to get up, they told him to leave since they had the best night sleeping. I love cuddling so much, this was so warm and fuzzy. [image] Haley couldn’t sleep and neither could Jason after that night so he snuck into her house through the window and told her to move so they can cuddle. “Look woman, I don’t know what you did, but I haven’t been able to sleep since we got back from New York. I’m tired and bitchy and all I want is some sleep so cuddle your ass up with me or so help me I will kill you,” Jason snapped. “Wow, you are bitchy,” she mumbled. “It’s your fault.” “Whatever.” “Let’s go,” he said, holding out his arms expectantly. When she hesitated he wiggled his fingers. “You know you want to.” They silently made arrangements to sleep together and cuddle. Jason slept on her, using her as a body pillow while she played with his hair. Haley’s grandma invited Jason to a family dinner but Haley didn’t wanna go, Jason had to force her to. Haley saw Robert, her childhood boyfriend who constantly cheated on her. He is so determined to fuck her and cheats on whoever he’s with to pursue her even though she says no. Haley was embarrassed to have Jason at her family dinner. Jason noticed how cold Haley’s family was. They belittled her and didn’t know her well. Her family dismissed Jason and started tryna play matchmaker, inviting Robert to their table. Haley begged them not to but they said she couldn’t do better than him and to give him another chance. Jason took Haley away to dance. She told Jason Robert wanted to sleep with her and when they saw him approaching them, Jason took her away. [image] Jason and Haley continued their sleeping arrangements and had their personal stuff at each other’s places. They never kissed and it was bothering Jason since he really liked Haley. Jason was throwing a fit in class and Haley dropped by, inviting his class to hers. Haley was testing the kids and if they got the answers right, she would give them chocolate. Jason was tryna grab some but she said he can once 5 of his students answered right. The way Jason helped his kids cheat because he wanted chocolate was so funny. Haley wants more but Jason says he doesn’t want a girlfriend, she tells her bestie Mary about it. Mary’s ex-fiance was there with someone else and Haley was so pissed. He cheated on Mary, asked to marry, and got Mary pregnant before leaving her for a stripper. When he pushed Mary, Haley went off and punched the guy. Jason saw Haley hitting a guy and the guy shoved her to the ground. Jason was so angry he punched the guy in the face and threatened to kill him. Jason took her away, throwing her over his shoulder. They were sharing a bed when Haley throws a fit about her kicking the guy’s ass. Jason couldn’t stop laughing so Haley pinned him to the bed and he pinned her. He told her to kick his ass and she tried to push him but couldn’t and ended up kissing him. He was gonna put distance between them but Haley kissed him again and he didn’t kiss her back. Haley felt embarrassed and walked out. He followed her to her place and said he wasn’t good enough for her. But he couldn’t stop touching her or kissing her neck, and they make out. Haley only wants to fuck the man she ends up with for the rest of her life, she was afraid Jason would get bored and move on. The next day Jason said she had syrup on her lip and kissed her, saying he knows he isn’t good enough but he wants to be with her. Haley says they can’t fuck but they can do other things and he says okay. [image] Haley and Jason go to his family’s place and seeing Jason and his dad fight over Haley’s cupcakes was funny. Haley was the first girlfriend Jason brought home. Everyone found it hard to believe Jason and Haley were together. Mitch is honestly such a slimy friend, he said Haley wasn’t even that beautiful, begging to go to a strip club and Jason whooped his ass, saying Haley is his world and he needs to stop. Haley had a surprise ready for Jason, a cabin her grandma helped rent out. Haley was having a girls’ night but they were all judgy so when she saw Jason with the guys she joined them. One of the girls from the group was surprised Haley had Jason’s attention despite them not fucking. The bitch gets touchy with Jason when Haley went to the washroom, saying Haley was using him. Jason didn’t believe her so the girl asked why Haley and Jason hadn’t fucked yet. The girl said Haley didn’t fuck Jason because she didn’t love him and this hurt Jason since he loves her. Haley comes back not noticing Jason’s mood while the girl group was laughing, making Jason suspicious. Jason asks Haley to go on a swim and they make out. Jason asks if Haley wants him, and she says yes so he fucks her. She’s in pain but he just continues, not knowing she’s a virgin but Haley found it romantic. That is until he says he knew the girls were full of shit for saying she wouldn’t fuck him. Haley was pissed Jason fucked her to prove a point since he thought she wouldn’t. Jason was confused saying they were bound to fuck at some point but Haley admitted she wasn’t sure she was gonna fuck him. Jason was pissed her friends were right and asked if she was playing him since she didn’t plan on fucking him. He thought he was some sort of game to Haley and Haley is crying. She yells at him for saying all that when he took her virginity. Haley said she was saving herself for the man she would spend the rest of her life with. Jason said he would’ve done things differently if he knew, saying he loved her. But Haley said she loved him but she didn’t want him to touch her, saying she wasn’t even on birth control and he didn’t wear a condom. She left for her place and cried and Jason told her he was waiting at his place for her, thinking it wouldn’t be a good idea to go to her room. [image] Haley thought Jason would come that night but he didn’t. Jason regretted not going to her and waited on her porch for her to come out, ready to grovel for her. Haley said she was leaving for a week and he asked her to talk but she said she can’t. Jason wanted to get on with the grovel but said he will give her space for a week and they can talk, but Haley said it’s better to end things. I LOVED how Jason snuck into her car and was just lying on the ground and once she got the food he started stealing it from her. Haley freaked out and Jason said they needed to finish their fight. Haley said they were done but Jason said they weren’t. “We were done, Jason. I'm sorry, but it's over," she said, trying to remain calm. "No, we didn't." "Yes, we did." "I don't think so," he said calmly, finishing off the rest of the pastry as if he didn't have a care in the world. "For god sake, Jason, I dumped you!" she snapped, feeling the last thread of patience snap. She looked up in the rearview mirror when he didn't say anything for a minute only to find him frowning. Finally he shook his head. "No, I think I would have remembered that.” Ignorance is bliss y’all lmao Jason said he fucked up but they aren’t over, he said they can get over this fight and have makeup sex while wiggling his eyebrows. They went grocery shopping and he stole her keys in case she decided to ditch him. Jason noticed she didn’t buy enough food and thought the breakup affected her, even buying condoms. But when Haley called him out, he put the condoms away saying nothing should come between them when making love lmao. At first, he panicked at the idea that Haley would’ve been pregnant but after, he started fantasizing and didn’t mind having a family with her. When Haley said they wouldn’t fuck, Jason was like puhleeze it’s happening. He drove her car and when he tried to hold her hand she pulled away, so he kept grabbing her hand until she gave up. Haley said she wasn’t cooking for Jason and he said she was on vacation for a week and won’t lift a finger while kissing her hand. I LOVE THIS GROVEL, the way he’s pushing himself on her in an adorable way, bulldozing. [image] Haley told Jason he wasn’t staying at the cottage with her. She told him to get a guy to pick him up or stay in a hotel but he ignored her. When she said she paid for it, he put a check on the table and said he was paying. Haley felt betrayed since so many men hurt her and Jason hurt her the most. She wanted to end things and Jason prepared a bubble bath with a towel and her favourite shirt. Jason called his dad over since he was freaking out. Jason’s dad called him out for being stupid. His dad told him to stop apologizing and be there for Haley since he was afraid they will break up. Haley couldn’t sleep and Jason found it funny since she needed him. Haley hid in the washroom while telling Jason to leave or she will. Jason knew if she left she would leave him for good. So Jason took all of Haley’s money, phone, and car keys and hid them. [image] Haley was pissed and asked for her stuff but Jason said she wasn’t leaving so she yelled he was kidnapping him. It has been 5 days and Haley is pissed she can’t sleep since she needs Jason. Jason always sat outside on the chairs rather than join Haley in bed. Haley said she was gonna use Jason for sleep but he said only if she spends the rest of the days with him. Jason was willing to go without sleep if Haley didn’t spend time with him so she agreed. She said he couldn’t touch or kiss her. When he woke up with Haley in his arms he jumped out of bed since he didn’t wanna break her rules. They were back to being friends, but there was still tension. They went out and a waitress was hitting on Jason. He went to the washroom and Haley set him up, saying he’s single and Jason is hurt and takes her home. They finally argue, he said he fucked up but didn’t deserve to be used. How she just wanted him for a good time but never told him why he didn’t wanna have sex. He loved her and was willing to take whatever she gave. She told him he messed up and he says he knew he did but she was looking for an excuse to break up, how she’s cold like her family and a bitch looking for a good time. She slaps him and says she hates him and his lip was bleeding, but he had enough and kissed her. I kinda wish we just spent time in the cottage for the rest of the book and had Jason grovelling because it was adorable but also so satisfying. But instead, we got a time jump after 5 days of them separately staying there and then making up but not seeing their 4 days together. [image] Jason fucked her at her place, saying he wanted to fuck her the first day on the flowerbed and how it was fitting to end it the way they started. Once he was done, he left while Haley thought they could begin again. Jason shut Haley out, it’s been a week and she can’t get into contact with him. The guy is even selling his house, at this point I was annoyed. When the realtor brought people over to Jason’s place, Haley did the same thing he did to her when she was selling her place. She put on a bikini top and barged into his place scaring the people away. Jason wanted Haley but thought he wasn’t good enough and when Haley confronted him at school, he kept walking away. She told him she knew he was selling his house but it’s funny he had no offers and Jason was confused. She said he won’t be selling his house until she got what she wanted and Jason thought that was friendship, at this point, they clearly need to talk. He misunderstood that Haley thought of him as a friend since she tried to set him up and didn’t wanna be near her since he loved her. It was Haley’s turn to grovel. [image] Haley snuck into Jason’s place and cuffed him. Jason was yelling to untie him but Haley starts touching him and asking if he missed her. He says no and she admits she missed him and he said they can’t be friends. When Haley said she wanted more, Jason said he didn’t wanna be fuck buddies, and Haley said she didn’t want that either. He asked what she wanted while she undressed him. She said she was gonna touch his dick but Jason yelled at her to stop, thinking she deserved to be with someone who she loved. Jason said it’s best they go their separate ways and he’s moving out. Haley starts to strip-tease him, she asked if he cared if someone else touched her and he said no. Finally seducing him with food, she finally released him and they makeup, he tells her that they’re marrying. 10 years later they have 3 kids. Mitch had a kid with Mary, Haley’s best friend, and Mitch isn’t a manwhore now. Haley’s family couldn’t accept their relationship so they aren’t close. Her dad even offered Jason money to leave Haley but Jason didn’t take it. Haley’s grandma moved in with them. This book was cute, I love how needy Jason is even after years, wanting to hear her say I love you back, this was an adorable read. [image] (hide spoiler)] Stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Mar 14, 2023
|
Mar 18, 2023
|
Mar 14, 2023
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| B07QLK5LG8
| 4.04
| 46,000
| May 05, 2019
| May 05, 2019
|
it was amazing
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Cheating ex, parental abandonment, verbal and emotional abuse (hide spoiler)] This was a buddy read with lovely Tee. I Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Cheating ex, parental abandonment, verbal and emotional abuse (hide spoiler)] This was a buddy read with lovely Tee. I LOVED Hadley and Elijah, and Lucy was a sweetheart. Elijah was fucking hilarious and Hadley did so much on her own it was nice to see her happy. This book was everything I didn’t know I needed and I’m so glad I gave it a shot, Elijah and Lucy’s bickering was hilarious. [image] Hadley is a single mom of her 3-year-old Lucy, and is heavily pregnant. Her neighbour is a tattoo artist named Elijah who stole her daughter’s chips at the grocery store. The more they run into each other, the more pissed Hadley gets, but one day, she has no one to rely on and is forced to rely on Elijah. The man her daughter calls the demon worshipper. [image] Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ The prologue made me so angry, Hadley has been with her piece-of-shit high school boyfriend Scott for years and had an accidental baby with him. She makes the living for them, their daughter Lucy is 3. Hadley’s parents hate Scott, he doesn’t have a proper job and constantly changes career paths. He leeches off Hadley and her dad has been looking out for her the whole time. Thank god he told her not to share her personal account details with Scott, the piece of shit even used her money to buy a PS4. He only babysits Lucy when he doesn’t have plans or classes. Everyone around Hadley warns her but nah, she works, barely gets sleep, and is a student. Seeing her say they were trying for another baby and she finally got pregnant had me holding my head. Turns out, Scott the fucktard has been cheating on Hadley the whole time and Lucy was left outside, saying she hated when the OW came over. FUCK YOU SCOTT. [image] Elijah was hooking up with someone but when they tried to make him jealous, he ended things and moved to his town where his mom wanted him. He went to the grocery store and was looking for his chips when Lucy got them. He told her to give it to him but she wouldn’t and seeing him argue with a kid for chips was too funny. She commented on his tattoos and he hissed to scare her so she ran to Hadley, dropping the chips. Elijah took the chips and Lucy said the demon worshipper took her chips and I was laughing. Elijah’s commentary thinking that Hadley took advantage of the government and then thinking she lived off a man pissed me off. Hadley was pissed with Elijah’s commentary of Lucy and left, turns out they’re neighbours but she lives in an apartment. Hadley kicked out Scott, he cheated with her fucking cousin. Scott used to see Lucy every day but then it was once a month, he blames Hadley for their breakup fuck him. Elijah loved his job as a tattoo artist. Scott was supposed to come and didn’t so Hadley took Lucy to her parent’s place. Elijah always stares at Lucy and Hadley when they leave and Lucy keeps calling him a demon worshipper. Hadley tells her to stop and Elijah tells Hadley to control Lucy and Hadley called him out for staring. She asks if he really stole Lucy’s chips and I couldn’t stop laughing at how embarrassed Elijah was. He felt bad seeing Hadley clearly tired and doing things on her own. He told his coworkers at the tattoo shop what happened and said he felt bad, they all called him an asshole. One of the clients recommended he buy a chip bag for the kid to make up for it. [image] Elijah went to give Hadley the chips and she said she didn’t want them, she said he might’ve done something to them to Lucy. Elijah insists they take it since he feels guilty but Hadley starts to feel pain. She says not do it to another child and tries to leave but her water breaks. Elijah is concerned and when Hadley refuses to take his help, he carries her outta the driver’s seat and drives her to the hospital. Seeing Hadley cry while feeling so alone and self-conscious that Elijah was there made me feel for her. Scott wanted to be in the delivery room but Hadley refused. Elijah got her a wheelchair, he freaks out and yells that Hadley’s water broke. Hadley was gonna be the mother of two at 21, bruh I can’t even imagine being a mom. Elijah is 29 but the guy is so immature with Lucy it’s funny. [image] Scott tried to kiss Lucy when she gave birth to Eli, fuck him. Elijah hasn’t seen Hadley in 4 weeks since she gave birth and was worried. Hadley was going to her parent’s place and Elijah saw them and openly checked out Hadley, her boobs are bigger cuz of the pregnancy and the man zeroed in on them LMAO. Hadley called him out and he apologized and asked how she was. Asking if “It” was okay, this guy really freaks out about kids. Lucy said she already ate the chips, Elijah left them in the car. Hadley thanked him for helping and he left, even saying bye to Lucy. Scott’s family was always shitty to Hadley, they’re telling her to forgive Scott and get back together. Hadley is leaving with Eli and Lucy when Elijah shows up with more chips for Lucy. Hadley is breastfeeding and they have an awkward back and forth, Elijah is so confused about how breastfeeding works LMAO. Lucy bargains with Elijah to bring her chips for 5 weeks and Elijah agrees, she tells him to call her by her name and he says he will when she stops calling him demon worshipper. Elijah’s father abandoned his mom when she got pregnant and got someone else pregnant and chose them. Elijah gives Lucy her chips again and Hadley tells Lucy it’s the last time but Lucy asks Elijah to be friends. She tells him she likes chips and skittles and Elijah is ready to get whatever Lucy wants. Hadley tries to ignore him but he wants to be their friend. [image] Hadley has a job with better hours and pay and left her old job. She had a birthday party planned for Lucy and asshole Scott said he couldn’t afford to make one for her. His asshole family came and criticized Hadley while telling her they’ll take the kids so she and Scott can make up like the fuck? So Hadley had to cut the party short. I love Hadley’s dad for always looking out for Hadley, he’s the grump that you love. Hadley sees Elijah shirtless with his tattoos mowing the lawn. Lucy tells him it’s her birthday and it’s Elijah’s too. Lucy invites him for cake and Elijah says okay if Hadley is good with it. He helps her carry stuff upstairs and Hadley wants to be friends but is intimidated. Elijah said he used to paint small cars as a kid and Lucy asked him to buy her one with pink paint and he said he would. Hadley offered to get him food and he came to help her. He tells Hadley he owns two tattoo shops and Hadley wants to get one someday, her dad hates them. Hadley told Elijah about Scott cheating once he called. Elijah’s mom and Hank, her husband, teased Elijah about Hadley. Elijah is terrified of Eli and plans on speaking to him when he’s older like Lucy, which means the guy wants to stick around. Since Hadley has her new job, she’s paid better and seeing her stress free made me happy for her. Some man was following them at Walmart and Elijah was there, and immediately took over, telling Lucy to help him push the cart. He walked them to their car and asked for Hadley’s phone so that she can call him if she was shopping late. [image] Lucy and Elijah build cars, while Hadley cooked. Lucy fell asleep so Elijah asks if they can be friends, and asked what her last name was, saying it bugged him not knowing. He said to call or text anytime and that he was worried if they shopped late. Slimy Scott bailed on the kids again and Hadley doesn’t want her kids to get attached to him to be abandoned. The way Scott even asked to sleep together, he’s fucking disgusting. Elijah came over and painted with Lucy until she got bored. Hadley tells Elijah if he wants to sleep with her, not to use her daughter since she will get attached and Elijah is upset. He says he gravitates toward her family and just wants to be friends. Elijah brings the car for Eli and is all nervous so Hadley invites him in, Lucy is excited to see him, and asked to watch a movie. He texts Hadley, inviting them over to watch movies but Hadley says Scott might come. Scott ended up coming so Hadley shows up at Elijah’s tattoo parlour with a friend after he told her not to feel guilty about going out. Elijah is well known and he has to do a clit piercing and she’s curious about it. Elijah says he doesn’t care about any of that and it makes no difference than her being a nurse, how he only cares about something like that with a person he likes. Elijah is glad he stole chips from Lucy just so he is closer to them now. Lucy called Elijah to come over with chicken and chips to watch a movie. Eli started to grab onto Elijah and he was terrified but Hadley told him he should get used to him. Lucy couldn’t find a seat and sat on Elijah’s lap, I can’t with the cuteness. A teen hits Hadley’s car and Elijah is already out there, caught the guy, saying he will take care of it. Hadley had no car seats or car so Elijah offered to go get them with her. When Elijah was confused about the hospital parking and Hadley told him to leave if he was annoyed and he sends a sad face emoji, I smiled. [image] Elijah gives Hadley rides to work, he saw them outside and Lucy ran into his arms, asking to watch a movie, but stupid Scott was coming. Scott was already jealous of Elijah, trying to manipulate Lucy into asking to stay over the night since it was Hadley’s birthday. He asks to talk to Hadley separately after hearing Elijah would watch movies with them. Scott didn’t end up taking Lucy so Hadley asked Elijah if he was free to watch the movie. Seeing Hadley and Lucy cry cuz the fucker told them they can’t be near Elijah while insulting Hadley pissed me off. Apparently, he takes Lucy to his parent’s place, talks shit about Hadley, and leaves Lucy there. Hadley told Lucy she can talk to whoever since Lucy was hesitant to talk to Elijah and Elijah hugs her and says he will always be her friend. He takes them to get ice cream and watched a movie with them. Elijah finally held Eli and was scared he broke Eli when he cried LMAO. Elijah loved being snuggled and he just fell asleep on the couch with them. Hadley’s birthday was the next day and they take the kids to bed and talked, Elijah said Scott is trash and Hadley said not to talk like that in front of the kids but agrees. Elijah says she deserved better and Hadley cries, Elijah holds her in his lap and comforts her and Hadley says how Scott used his anger on Lucy since he knows Hadley won’t listen to him. She noticed Lucy is reluctant to spend time with him and Elijah told her that Lucy only cares about what she wants. Elijah took a picture of Lucy sleeping and showed his mom and was talking about the kids like they were his. Elijah got her a cake and a gift card for his tattoo parlour, telling her he wants to tattoo her when she was ready. He made Lucy a painting and gave it to her and Lucy introduced him to Hadley’s parents. [image] Olivia encourages Hadley to meet Elijah while she babysits. Hadley asked Elijah if he was free and he instantly came to pick her up for a tattoo. I loved how Elijah made her know he will treat her like any client. She got an infinite sign with Lucy and Eli’s names and she can add more once she has more kids if she wants. Elijah admitting that it hurts if he didn’t know Lucy, Hadley, and Eli was adorable. He tattooed her back and she was nervous she had to take her shirt off but he made her comfortable and was professional. Elijah had to go to his other tattoo place, Hadley asked why he was so sweet and he said it was only for her and her kids, I can’t with these two. The second Lucy wanted to talk to Elijah, he called Hadley’s phone and talked to her. Lucy was starting preschool so Hadley let Lucy talk to Scott who immediately wanted to talk to Hadley, warning her to stay away from Elijah. I hated how manipulative he was, he’s such a fucking scumbag. Elijah’s mom invites Hadley and Lucy to Elijah’s place. She tells Hadley she should have another kid, I can’t with his mom. Elijah is back and Hadley wears a dress, he openly flirts with her. When Eli needs breastfeeding, Elijah pulls the straps down and helps. He tells her to stay the night with the kids so they can sleep together but also asked if he was scaring her and if she wanted him to stop. They ended up leaving but Hadley invites him up. They fuck but Eli wakes up and Elijah was sweet but bruh he was stroking the kid with his coochie fingers yikes. [image] Hadley was worried Elijah’s friendship would be ruined with Lucy if their relationship doesn’t work out and tries to shut him out but he tells her he wants them all. Hadley tried to shut him out but once her kids were asleep she invited him up again I loved how Elijah didn’t wanna just fuck and told her he wants to be together with the kids. It’s Lucy’s first day in preschool and Elijah takes them. Lucy wanted Elijah and Hadley to come in and drop her off, he was relieved to be included and gave Lucy a hug, the way this giant bends down to hug Lucy. Elijah suggested putting her under his insurance she called him crazy, she wasn’t used to someone taking care of her. They visited Elijah at the shop and he stopped right away to give Lucy his attention and ask about school. Hadley asked if Lucy cared if Elijah was her boyfriend and she didn’t. When Elijah was listening to Lucy vent about a guy and called him an asshole to Lucy, I was dying. The way Elijah was thinking of selling his house if Hadley wanted to move and even have a room for Lucy was everything. Hadley woke up to Elijah awake and gave him Eli and he panicked, but Hadley didn’t leave and snuggled with him asking him to come to bed. Stupid Scott and his mom harass Hadley while she’s at work asking for the kids, he always bailed but when he wanted them, he wanted them right away. She let the kids go with him to only hear Lucy and Eli crying on the phone while Scott and his mom yelled at them. Hadley left work to pick them up and Scott yelled at her for keeping the kids away from him. Elijah knew something was up and cheered them all up, giving them all hugs. He took them to his mom’s place, Lucy hates going to Scott’s place because he talks shit about Hadley. Hank grabbed Eli while Elijah’s mom told Hadley she should have more kids. This made her freak out, but Elijah calmed her down and told her they will take baby steps. Seeing Elijah’s parents play with Hadley’s kids was wholesome, especially Hank. Hadley broke down, Elijah took her outside and hugged her. Hadley told him what happened and he told her this shit won’t fly with him and he hopes Lucy and Eli will come to rely on him as they do on Hadley since he loves all her pieces. [image] Lucy was mad Elijah wanted kids and they had a cute moment Elijah said he wanted to be her family and she was important to him. Hadley was in love with Elijah, he loved her family and did so much, filling her gas and buying her groceries. He babysat the kids and he texted Hadley through it all, it was so fucking wholesome. He already talked about the future and knew Hadley didn’t wanna move far from her parents so if they didn’t want his house, he said he will sell it and they can look together. They went to Walmart and Hadley was in awe seeing Elijah hold Eli, he said he wants more kids with Hadley. Seeing Elijah tease Lucy about picking her nose had me dying, they were play-fighting for chips but stupid Scott’s mom saw them. Stupid Lilly, Scott’s mom, yelled at Hadley for being around Elijah saying he’s a bad influence. She lied that Scott contacted her to get Eli and Lucy and said she would take it to court. Elijah had enough and stood up for them, even calling Lilly out for raising her manchild. But Hadley was pissed since she didn’t want anyone badmouthing Scott in front of her kids. Lilly even tried to use Lucy to make Hadley and Scott get back together, the bitch. Hadley is pissed with Elijah for talking shit to Lilly but he tells her he will never stand by when people insult her. Scott starts calling and messaging Hadley since he was pissed Elijah yelled at his mom, fuck him. Hadley went to her apartment and left Elijah, Scott harassed Hadley and she was crying. Lucy kept asking for Elijah and they eventually went to his place, I loved how Hadley apologized but Elijah was on his way up regardless since he couldn’t sleep alone anymore. [image] Elijah fell asleep with the kids on his side after the movie they watched. They put the kids to bed and Hadley told Elijah she didn’t want her kids to know how shitty Scott was. He asked if that was how they normally treated Hadley and he hated it, saying she was the best mom, telling her everything she needed to hear. She called Scott the next day and told him his behaviour was unacceptable and even cussed, Hadley has never cussed and Elijah is proud. She said if they wanna take her to court then they can cuz she knows Scott is lazy. He starts to panic, the manchild can’t pay child support cuz he has no job. Elijah couldn’t stop laughing at Hadley saying “ass”. 4 years later Elijah and Hadley are married and she’s pregnant with Jackson. It feels like their beginning, Elijah is freaking out and Hadley is tryna keep calm. I loved seeing Lucy and Elijah argue, seeing Elijah cry when their baby was born was everything. Scott calls once or twice a year but his mom and him don’t visit. The manchild was unemployed and not in school, Eli and Lucy don’t care about him. Hadley had an arm half fulla tattoos, love that for her. Hadley was so happy and so were Elijah and the kids, this lil family is too cute, I loved this book. [image] (hide spoiler)] Stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Feb 06, 2023
|
Feb 07, 2023
|
Feb 06, 2023
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 4.14
| 3,854,571
| Aug 02, 2016
| Aug 02, 2016
|
it was amazing
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Attempted rape, parental abandonment, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence, suicide mentioned, alcohol, death of
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Attempted rape, parental abandonment, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence, suicide mentioned, alcohol, death of parent, homelessness, cancer, weed, parent negligence, boy accidentally shot brother because gun was lying around and had no idea, relationship between boy who is 18 and girl who is 15 (they kiss and makeout) and they sleep together when she turns 16 so sex with minor (hide spoiler)] Pinky: May 17, 2017 - 5⭐ Pinky Reread: October 19, 2022 - 5⭐ I wanted to reread this book to prepare for It Starts with Us. I loved this book when I originally read it ages ago and wanted to refresh my memory. Please go into this book knowing the triggers if you have things that will trigger you because this book is dark and heavy. [image] This follows Lily who meets a guy named Ryle. Their relationship is fun until it isn’t and she is forced to deal with something she never thought she would experience. This is the darker side to relationships. Lily is in a rough spot trying to find out how to move forward when the man she loves acts like a completely different person, hurting her in ways she never saw coming. [image] Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ Lily was at her father’s funeral and Ryle had a terrible time at his job, so they’re both on a rooftop. In their first meeting, Ryle is frustrated so he kicks a chair aggressively and smokes. Rereading this made me notice the red flags Ryle had. Ryle is a neurosurgeon. Their conversation is super open, they’re honest when they’re strangers (typical for CoHo). Lily says she had sex with a homeless guy named Atlas, and he lived at her place in secret. She had a father who abused her mother. She was told to say good things about him so she just stood there. Ryle admits he wants to fuck Lily. Of course, he says he doesn’t do relationships cuz he doesn’t have time and doesn’t want kids. Even though Lily said she wasn’t into one-night stands, he starts touching her and asking if he was going too far. Lily was into it but his phone rings and he leaves, but he takes a picture of her before he leaves. [image] Lily’s past is told through her journal which has letter entries to Ellen, super cringey. It focuses on her past with Atlas. Lily was a 15-year-old and Atlas was 18. I wasn’t a fan of the age gap at all, I do not remember this. He lived in an abandoned house next door to Lily’s. She started to leave food for Atlas who thanked her, then she let him shower at her place when her parents weren’t home and gave him her dad’s clothes. Atlas brought Lily gardening tools, she sat with him on the bus whenever she could and watched Ellen with him on the tv. He seemed sad that she was 15 which is honestly nasty. Lily’s dad beat her mom and sometimes she would go out to prevent it cuz he wouldn’t do it in front of her but she was pissed her mom was sticking around instead of leaving. [image] 6 months after she met Ryle, Lily bought a store to make a florist shop. Lily meets a girl named Allysa who is beyond rich and offered to work for Lily for free. Lily ends up spraining her leg and talks to Allysa’s brother, who happens to be Ryle. They’re still attracted to each other, he helps her with her leg and tells her he still wants to fuck her which freaks out Allysa. Ryle avoided Lily after that since it wouldn’t be best if they acted on their feelings. [image] What was so cringe and pathetic was that Ryle ran around Lily’s building trying to figure out which door was hers so that he can beg her to have sex with him. Lily called him pathetic, he even begged her on his knees and hugged her like ew stop. But Lily gives in and tells him to wait while showering but he passes out. When he wakes up he promises not to bother her again and he doesn’t for over a month. Ryle was Lily’s first customer and he sent flowers back to her shop with the note “Make it Stop,” admitting he hasn’t stopped thinking about her. Lily goes to Allysa’s party and sees Ryle had the picture of her from the rooftop all blurred. She calls him out on the rooftop for wanting her and not wanting her and he tells her he hates that he wants her. When she’s about to leave, he carries her into his room and they make out. He says he does want her cuz he has never felt anything for anyone before so he asks how he can prove that and Lily tells him not to have sex with her. So he strips her and himself and they sleep. [image] Lily reads the journal, and what I hated was that Atlas was 18 and Lily was 15, it’s so wrong knowing they’ll have sex at some point, bruh she’s a minor. Lily’s dad was pissed with her mom so he choked her, Lily attacked him and he threw her off and she needed stitches. Her mom told her not to tell the doctors and say she fell. Atlas showed cigarette scars on his arms when Lily lied about her head and said he fell too. He never met his real dad and his stepfather was abusive and kicked him out. His mother didn’t care and wouldn’t let him come back, he lived with his friend but once they moved, he had nowhere to go. Lily noticed how he lived in the cold and let him sleep on the floor in her bedroom. He planned to go into the military in 6 months. [image] Ryle shows up at Lily’s place and she massages his arms and they end up fucking. Poor Allysa has been tryna get pregnant but hasn’t been able to for two years so she wants to distract herself. Ryle wants to meet her mom,they go to the restaurant. But Lily’s waiter is Atlas, and they haven’t seen each other in 9 years. She runs to check if it’s him and they hug. Atlas watched Ryle and Lily make out and asked who he was once he left and Lily said she met him a year ago despite only recently getting with him. Atlas says he has a girlfriend named Cassie who he met a year ago too but wishes he saw Lily a year ago. In the past, Atlas got sick and Lily took care of him. He kissed her neck and that’s why she has a tattoo there. What’s nasty is when he sleeps in the same bed, he asks when she will turn 16. Like bruh he’s two and a half years older, an adult, and she’s a minor, he turns 19 in October. Despite knowing she’s 15, he makes out with her after asking if she’s kissed before. Like bruh I don’t remember the age thing so this really bothered me. She helped this guy out and she’s like this naive teenager, a fucking minor and he’s 18. [image] Atlas says that his uncle said he can stay with him in Boston. Ever since the day he made out with Lily, they do it everyday and he feels her up too. She’s like uwu Ellen he touched my boobs. Atlas kissed her in public on the school bus and one of the girls made fun of them so Lily openly kissed his cheek and held him and she gave them the finger. Lily was chilling in her room with Atlas when her dad walked in with her mom, arguing about her flirting. Lily walks out to help her mom while Atlas told her not to and she sees her dad trying to rape her mom. She grabbed a knife but Atlas carried her away and said they should call the cops. But her mom walked in and said she’s fine. She didn’t even question Atlas being there. Atlas leaves for Boston and it’s sad. [image] The first time Ryle hits Lily is when they have a date night, it’s going great and he tells her about how important his hands are. He has an important surgery for conjoined twins and then he accidentally burns his hand while taking stuff outta the oven. The first thing he does is push Lily since she’s drunk and laughing, she hits her had on a cabinet handle and falls on glass. First he told her she shouldn’t be laughing since she knows how important his hands are. He apologizes and promises it won’t happen again. He then thinks it’ll be best to fuck her. She made it clear that if he does it again, she will leave him and how it takes 15 seconds to change things. She makes excuses for him like her mom did, saying his hand is important but it’s no fucking excuse. They tend each other’s wounds and he apologizes. [image] Lily and Ryle are at the restaurant with Marshall and Alyssa. Ryle lied and said Lily fell and got the bruise. Atlas is the chef/owner of the restaurant. He sees Lily’s bruise and Rylee’s hand and tells her to leave Ryle. Ryle sees them and I loved how Atlas and Ryle fought but Atlas won and yelled at him to not touch Lily again. Ryle realizes that this is Atlas since he remembers everything Lily tells him and screams is this the homeless guy you pity-fucked. After Atlas kicks Ryle out, Lily and Ryle leave. Ryle asks Lily about the bathroom incident, he’s more hurt than angry. He says he never wanted this stress and Lily told him to leave and he said he didn’t want to. Lily told him everything and he asked if she wanted to be with him cuz it hurt to see her with someone else. Lily says she loves him and she wants him and they make up. [image] Atlas shows up to Lily’s shop and asks to speak with Lily. He gives her his number and puts it in the case of her phone. He had a gift for her from three years ago and it was a signed book from Ellen and it said “Atlas says to keep swimming.” In her journal, Atlas left for Boston but came back for Lily’s 16th birthday. He was going to the military but wanted to give her a gift and tell her thank you for saving his life. He planned on killing himself but he saw her across the lawn through her bedroom window and felt something. He gave her a Boston magnet that she has on her fridge til this day. It’s still wrong she 16 when she had sex with Atlas. Her father found them, beat Atlas up and he was taken away by the cops while Lily was taken away by an ambulance. [image] Lily wants to get married and Ryle overhears it and immediately they get married in Vegas. They moved so quickly and discussed important things on a plane. Their marriage is good for 6 weeks but Ryle finds Atlas’s number in Lily’s phone case after he dropped it. He loses it, doesn’t give her a chance to explain and leaves. Lily follows him to the stairs and he fucking pushes her down. When she wakes up, he’s tending her wounds and lying that she fell. He’s all distant and makes sure she’s okay and leaves again after calling her a fucking liar. Then he’s back and apologizing and begging Lily to tell him it’s nothing. So Lily tells him she has Atlas’s number cuz he thought Ryle was unsafe and HE IS. Lily kicks him out and has a breakdown. [image] Ryle slept outside the door and begs Lily to forgive him. Alyssa sees Lily and is so upset but tells Ryle to talk to Lily. Ryle tells Lily that in his past, he was 6 and accidentally killed his brother with a gun. His parents are so fucked up for having a gun lying around. Lily cannot believe she is in the same boat as her mother. She believes that Ryle is a good person that did bad things and told him if he feels angry to just walk away. Ryle admits he gets episodes where he’s angry and blacks out, he wanted to get away from Lily and wasn’t thinking when he pushed her away. They got into a small fight since Ryle wanted to do a program in London for three months but that wasn’t a problem. He wanted to move to another state afterwards to work at a clinic, and Lily was angry he didn’t bring this up before the marriage, her business is in Boston. He got mad and knocked over a vase of flowers but he left and said he needed time. He came back and said Lily was important and they can stay in Boston. He bought them an apartment and surprised Lily. Alyssa and Marshall name their kid after Ryle. Ryle got into the program in London and Lily is happy for him while Lily got on the Boston newspaper. [image] Ryle is waiting and asks her where she got the magnet from. Lily thinks he wants to fuck and is excited when he kisses her but he continues to ask where she got it from. He’s tugging her hair hard but he stops and tells her to take her clothes off and read the newspaper to him. Atlas dedicated the restaurant to Lily and it’s after the magnet he gave her. Ryle then assaults Lily, bites her tattoo since he even read her journal. He knows everything. Ryle attempts to rape Lily while she fights for him and it was devastating, she tried to scream but he headbutted her. It isn’t clear if he raped her but Lily says he didn’t, but this scene was so fucking traumatic. Fuck him I didn’t remember he did this. [image] He apologizes and holds her against him while he sleeps but Lily quietly escapes. She calls Atlas who got to her right away and took her away. Lily doesn’t want Ryle’s colleagues to know even though what he did was so fucked up. Lily continues to protect her abuser which is so real it hurts since she loves him. Atlas takes her to the doctor and Lily confirms she wasn’t raped since he head butted her and when they asked if she wanted to check she said no. They thought it was Atlas and I felt so bad. Lily finds out she’s pregnant and the worst possible time but Atlas takes her home and gives her a change of clothes. Poor Lily cries her eyes out. [image] Atlas has a house and makes Lily breakfast. It was realistic seeing Lily’s reactions, how she kept blaming herself and making excuses. How she felt bad for thinking it was easy to leave an abusive partner when it isn’t. Lily heads to work for the first time and Ryle comes and gives her the keys to their apartment. He says he’s leaving for London for three months and promises he won’t be home. He didn’t apologize or explain himself since he knows nothing will change it. He leaves and Lily tells him before he leaves that all he could’ve done was asked her, but he instead went crazy on her. [image] Lily meets Atlas’s friends Brad, Jimmy, and Darin who come over for poker night. They all work for Atlas and Lily tells them openly about the domestic abuse she’s faced. Turns out Atlas lied about the girlfriend to Lily to make her jealous. Lily asked Atlas why he didn’t come back for her and he did after 4 years in the marines. But Lily was dating a guy and he saw them kiss and left for the marines again. Then he saw Ryle and Lily together and admits he might’ve been jealous and he lied. Lily goes home, Atlas makes sure the apartment is empty. She admits she doesn’t want him in her life since it’ll be hard and he says he can’t do casual but to call in an emergency. They say goodbye and when Atlas hugged her and said she’s still his fav person and if she were to ever fall in love, to fall for him. [image] Lily told Alyssa everything including Atlas. Alyssa said as a sister she would say forgive him but as a best friend, she will never speak to Lily again if she gave Ryle another chance. I fucking love Alyssa. Ryle shows up earlier and he has Marshall there if Lily feels unsafe. Lily goes off at him and says he had no right to treat her like that even if she did actually cheat, there is no excuse for him to touch her. Ryle is speechless since Lily is pregnant, he was planning on telling her he would take the job in the other state since he knew there was no coming back from what he did and she would leave him. But after he finds out she’s pregnant, he hugs her stomach after asking for permission and tries to makeout with her. But Lily freezes, remembering all the times he’s hit her. And he knew she would never come back to him. Lily tells him she wished the baby wasn’t his and she felt bad but fuck him. [image] When Lily told her mom she was pregnant and everything with Ryle, her reaction made me cry. Her mother said she always had a limit that would move further every time she was abused. She would be grateful with just a slap or that it’s been so long she can continue. She thanked her for standing up for her during his funeral. Ryle helps Lily with the nursery, you see his regret and his sadness for knowing he won’t have a family, how he won’t be able to experience this pregnancy and baby like normal. Lily is so damn strong for dealing with this on her own. Lily told Ryle she can’t trust him especially with her kid. He says he would never hurt their kid but Lily says he never should’ve hurt her and he did. She begs him not to kiss her or beg her to get back together when the baby comes. Ryle promises and Lily and him hug. [image] Ryle stays over and sleeps on the couch while Lily sleeps in the guest room and he takes care of her. She’s in labour and he takes her and they have a girl, Lily names her after Ryle’s dead brother. Lily immediately says she wants a divorce and I lost it when she asked Ryle what he would do if their daughter came up to him and told him someone did the things he did to Lily to her. Ryle was crying and said he would beg his daughter to leave him. So they finally end it, Lily and Ryle take turns with the baby but I was wondering how Lily could trust him with her kid when he’s abusive. I’m hoping it’ll be covered in the next book. She sees Atlas, she asks him a buncha questions and Atlas says he’s ready for her and they get together. I never thought It Starts With Us was gonna come out and now that it has, I’m so excited to start it. I’m a mess right now but I still adored this beautiful book. [image] (hide spoiler)] That is all, stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Oct 17, 2022
|
Nov 08, 2022
|
Oct 17, 2022
|
Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||||
| B0735H49SC
| 3.83
| 2,851
| Sep 18, 2017
| Sep 18, 2017
|
really liked it
|
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[ Brawls/fighting, alcohol problems, death of parents and grandparents, orphan, cheating (FMC is married to MMC but th
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[ Brawls/fighting, alcohol problems, death of parents and grandparents, orphan, cheating (FMC is married to MMC but they’re separated. She has a boyfriend that doesn’t know she’s married), parent got stroke, miscarriage, death of brother, suicide ideation (hide spoiler)] The prologue for this book gripped me, I felt so much for both characters and I didn’t even know them. This book is about Maggie, who has been taking care of her husband Canaan for too long. Canaan comes home late at night after he fights, drunk outta his mind, and passes out on the couch. Maggie would wake up every day, terrified that her husband would be dead, constantly taking care of his wounds from his new fights. And she’s had enough, she loves him but she can’t do it anymore so she decides to leave. 5 years later, she is back with divorce papers, but Canaan is not willing to sign them until he gets a chance to prove himself. [image] I was in the mood for something angsty and decided to give this a go and it did not disappoint. This book did have too much inner monologue, some parts were a bit slow. I did like it, but I just felt like Maggie was a bit selfish and a big hypocrite. She mainly thought about herself, she tends to run away from her problems and I do too but some of the things she did really irritated me. I don’t understand how she easily ran away and erased her thoughts about her husband, Canaan for 5 years, it’s insane to me. She grew up with him and knew his circumstances but still left. She claims to love people but she seems to only care about herself. She's a very shitty friend and won’t tell you shit but expects you to be transparent with her. I loved Canaan, he won my heart, and I even cried for him. Canaan deserved better than Maggie bruh. This book was entertaining but the drama near the end made me hate Maggie. But whateva this book had grovelling but I didn’t like the FMC so I wasn’t as engrossed. Especially cuz it felt the MMC was grovelling so much when he deserved an apology too, and this is coming from a girl that LOVES GROVEL BRO. Also…the couple claims to have hot sex and shit but I don’t think they know what foreplay is ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jul 07, 2022
|
Jul 09, 2022
|
Jul 07, 2022
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| B00SJ7LQ9K
| 3.64
| 1,989
| Jan 20, 2015
| Jan 20, 2015
|
really liked it
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[ Body-shaming, verbal abuse from parent, neglect from parent, death of loved one (hide spoiler)] I started this because Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[ Body-shaming, verbal abuse from parent, neglect from parent, death of loved one (hide spoiler)] I started this because I listened to Sarah MacLean’s grovel podcast episode thanks to Thushara. I heard this had a good grovel and decided to check it out. Honestly the grovel wasn’t that great, it wasn’t even groveling, more of a grand gesture and it wasn’t even that grand. What the MMC, Joe, did, in the end, was fucked up, he spent the whole book tryna help the FMC, Verna, feel better about herself to only crush all that progress in the end. He does feel guilt and remorse though. Verna was really relatable but she doesn’t really have much of a backbone, she does but she’s on the nicer side, she avoids but if the person comes up to her she won’t ignore them. She’s more of the type to distance herself from people who hurt her and avoid them rather than tell them off, which I relate to in some ways. I wish this book was longer since some conflict wasn’t resolved. But I did enjoy it though I’m disappointed with the grovel. [image] This follows Joe and Verna who are both neighbours that can’t stand each other. Verna does anything she can to irk Joe since it makes her day to annoy him and Joe actually looks forward to doing the same. After some playful banter, Joe slowly starts to realize that Verna is a hard worker who deals with so much on her own. He slowly helps her outta impulse and they grow closer and closer. [image] Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ Verna is Joe’s neighbour and Joe has worked for the military for most of his life and is chilling at home. Verna does not take a hint and loves to bother the shit outta him, barging into his home and doing small things to irk him. She’s so fascinated by the fact that he hasn’t lost it yet with her even though he clenches his fists and tightens his jaw. Joe hates how Verna, is always in his space and he was willing to even buy her home so she wouldn’t be his neighbour. But his friend, Quinn, who owned the place disagreed. So Verna knocks on the door and wouldn’t stop and barges in, she asks him to move her shit and he wants to get rid of her so he does. Joe described Verna as an overweight waitress which was fucked up bruh. Verna works at her family’s restaurant. [image] Verna made clothes in her free time and sold them at a boutique and a customer actually asked her to make customizable designs. When she went home, Joe surprisingly started the convo and even knew about her hobby of sewing. Verna purposefully leaning on his truck and enjoying his reactions was hilarious. She would say his name wrong and they would diss each other, they both hated each other but knew more about each other than others. [image] Joe kept thinking about Verna and felt bad since one of his disses actually hurt her and it bothered him. And it was cute that he was secretly proud of her since she’s a hard worker and deserves success. It was so cute how Joe looked forward to Verna’s disses and was disappointed when someone else came to deliver his order. He sees Verna working her ass off and finds her attractive when he sees her hair down. He feels bad and helps her out and doesn’t hesitate to give her a ride. He even feels sad that she doesn’t have enough energy to diss him which is adorable, so he disses himself for her. Verna is so thankful it is cute and when she tried to stay up and sew, Joe immediately called her and told her to go to sleep since he saw her bedroom light on through his window, it’s adorable (hide spoiler)] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jul 06, 2022
|
Jul 06, 2022
|
Jul 06, 2022
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| B00756IKLI
| 4.29
| 46,107
| Jan 01, 2012
| Feb 04, 2012
|
it was amazing
|
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[Drugs, neglectful parent, parental abandonment, alcohol problem, burglary, underage drugs and drinking, juvie, pedoph
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[Drugs, neglectful parent, parental abandonment, alcohol problem, burglary, underage drugs and drinking, juvie, pedophilia, sexual assault, kidnapping, death of parent, 15-year-old dating 21-year-old (hide spoiler)] ANOTHER BUDDY READ WITH LOVELY JULIA ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jun 21, 2022
|
Jun 28, 2022
|
Jun 21, 2022
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 1668001225
| 9781668001226
| 1668001225
| 3.86
| 1,731,181
| Oct 18, 2022
| Oct 18, 2022
|
liked it
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Attempted rape, parental abandonment, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence, suicide mentioned, alcohol, death of
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Attempted rape, parental abandonment, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence, suicide mentioned, alcohol, death of parent, homelessness, cancer, weed, parent negligence, boy accidentally shot brother because gun was lying around and had no idea, relationship between boy who is 18 and girl who is 15 (they kiss and makeout) and they sleep together when she turns 16 so sex with minor, child abuse, cheating mentioned side character (hide spoiler)] I cannot believe this book came out, but when it was announced, I was excited but scared. I had some questions when it came to the ending of It Ends With Us. Those questions were answered but this book was pretty boring, and it lowkey put me in a reading slump. I can’t lie, this book was not really needed and some of the ways things were handled were kinda disappointing. I guess it was realistic in some ways and everyone handles situations differently but some of the things that happened really annoyed me. [image] If you haven’t read the first book, you need to in order to read this. It is very heavy and please read the triggers before reading it but I highly recommend it. In the second book, it shows Lily moving forward and living her life, she is finally with her lover and is trying to find a balance between being a parent and dating. She runs into many obstacles but continues to remain strong. I’m tryna be vague to avoid spoiling this for you. [image] Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ This starts off right where we left off, told in both Atlas and Lily’s pov. Atlas had a break-in at his restaurant and they wrote “Ass Whole” on his door. He didn’t wanna report it since he broke in and stole food from a restaurant when he was homeless. He saw Lily after a year and a half and they finally promised to get together. Lily is worried if she gets involved with Atlas, Ryle will be pissed and ruin their flow in co-parenting. She doesn’t want her daughter near him, but when she was working on her divorce and custody, the lawyer said if the dad is well paid and willing to see his daughter, any domestic abuse case will still result in joint custody. She’s worried since Ryle still believes Lily will forgive him, he’s on his best behaviour but Lily has no intentions of taking him back. Lily even admits Ryle gaslights and manipulates her sometimes but she sucks it up for her daughter Emmy. It’s so cringey how she had to write a letter to Ellen to vent, like bruh just write in your journal, these Ellen letters are stupid. It felt very forced to have that, it kinda took me outta the reading experience cuz it felt like I was actually reading a book, yaknow what I mean? Like uwu throwback to the OG fans kinda thing. [image] Do you know what’s fucking stupid? Ryle still had the key to Lily’s apartment. Apparently, he even had it during Lily’s pregnancy and she hasn’t asked for it back. And lately, he’s become more comfortable coming home and he’ll bring Lily food and shit. And Lily would think about setting boundaries or asking for her key back but then she would be like oh I’m too tired to ask or say anything. Bruh what the fuck? So he just comes over whenever he wants since he has the key. What was the point of the divorce if you don’t get your own private space? But luckily Lily gets it back afterwards. [image] When her phone rings, Ryle suspects Lily is seeing someone and he is pissed, he asks her and Lily doesn’t tell him about Atlas. He was ready to talk about what they should do if either of them date. But Lily tells Ryle she needs her keys back and the man really tried to manipulate her by saying he wants to put his daughter to bed. He really had the audacity to threaten her and say he can go back to court to ask for more custody rights. Lily is so angry, she could have reported the domestic violence she faced and she didn’t. She not only saved his career but she saved him from being humiliated. And he feels bad and asks when he can have Emmy, at night. Lily said when Emmy talks, Emmy can tell her if something went wrong. I was like but what if Emmy lied? Ryle can have Emmy unsupervised when we already saw how violent he could be. Even if he promises not to hurt her, he did the same with Lily. Ryle doesn’t say anything and leaves. Lily has a note with all the things he did to her to convince herself not to give in. [image] Another break-in happens at Atlas’s restaurant and he checks the security footage and it’s a teenager. They wrote “Fuck U Atlass” on the door and slept at the doorstep. Atlas’s mom calls him and Atlas is shook and he asks her if she needs money and when she said yes he hung up and blocked her number. Atlas comes over with pasta and asked her why she’s avoiding him. But Ryle shows up and Alyssa tells Lily to hide Atlas. Atlas isn’t mad and asks her if he can call her. He’s so patient and sweet with her but Lily tells Alyssa that Ryle wouldn’t be happy if she was dating Atlas. Alyssa knows that Ryle wouldn’t like Lily dating at all and it’s just sad. [image] Atlas goes to Theo for advice, who is 12 years old. Seeing Theo constantly diss Atlas was so funny. Theo is Brad’s son (Atlas’s friend and coworker) and he wants to be a therapist so Atlas let him test it out on him but now it actually helps him. Atlas noticed Theo might like someone and turns out it was a guy. I love their little friendship, Atlas tells him how things went with Lily and Theo tells Atlas he has a crush on someone in his class. I loved how Theo made fun of his pickup lines. Atlas FaceTimes Lily and they plan a date. Atlas asks her to read a journal entry and it was too cheesy. Atlas has another break in and he’s talking to Theo about Lily. Lily calls Atlas and turns out Atlas never had an uncle in Boston, he just came because there were more resources for homeless people there. Theo and Brad’s relationship is too funny, him pretending to sweep so his son cleans up by himself lmao. Theo said he was too clean to clean but he showered the day before. Theo pestering Atlas for a picture of Lily lmao I can’t. [image] Alyssa babysat Emmy for Lily while she went on her date. Lily gives Atlas the journal she wrote and she’s so tired, she asks him if he had a serious relationship. He had one but they broke up after a year since he doesn’t like clubbing. Lily falls asleep so Atlas cancels the reservation and reads her journal, I just read It Ends With Us so all this shit was repetitive since it was the exact same journal entries. Atlas writes a letter to Lily and Lily feels so bad when she wakes up. He let Lily read the letter on his phone about his past. He had an abusive mother who didn’t care for him and once his stepdad was in the picture, he moved in and got angry at Atlas for anything. He stayed with his friends but once they left he asked his mom to live with her again and she said no. Atlas’s stepfather doesn’t even have a job and gambles with her money but she didn’t even care. Atlas felt unwanted and unloved when he was kicked out and Lily helped him and he said that’s why she was his favourite person. [image] When Lily gets back to Alyssa’s, Ryle is pissed with their daughter. They were watching Finding Nemo and Emmy’s middle name is Dory, he’s pissed since he knows this movie is important to Atlas and Lily. He tells Lily to meet him on the rooftop which I thought was a stupid move since they’ll be alone upstairs. He yells at her for naming their daughter in relation to Atlas. Lily said the first name is after his brother and the movie means a lot to her so she named their daughter Dory. He was aggressively shouting and when Lily tried to leave he blocked the door. Luckily when Lily called him out, he moved away but he had the audacity to gaslight her and tell her she was overreacting. When he fucking abused her in the past. Then he cornered her and asked what they were doing and asked what if he changed. But Lily left, saying that she didn’t wanna test the theory out. She cried her eyes out and I fucking love Marshall. He sees Lily and was gonna go after Ryle thinking he hit her. He tells Lily Alyssa cheated on him a long time ago since they were doing long-distance in college. And how even if he wanted to do so many things for revenge, he never would have raised a hand on her and how she made the right choice to leave Ryle, Lily needed to hear that. I love Marshall so much. [image] Atlas’s mom was pregnant with the stepdad’s kid when Atlas left. The stepdad left her and her kid Josh ran away. Atlas is certain Josh is vandalizing his restaurants and is upset since Josh thinks he was abandoned when Atlas had no idea he existed. Lily calls and Atlas can see she cried, offered to hug her and drove all the way to her place. Atlas waits for Josh to break in, he’s only 12. He doesn’t believe Atlas didn’t know about him but Atlas was so protective, immediately giving him food and taking him back to his place. Atlas’s mom lied and said Atlas ran away because of Josh. Atlas wants to get custody of Josh since he knows his mom is terrible. [image] Atlas tries to get to know Josh, Josh reads manga yall, lessago. He wants to find his dad which isn’t a good idea. Josh has been staying in Atlas’s office for two weeks but started to get angry and vandalized the store. He apologized and Atlas was understanding. Atlas gave him a credit card for basic necessities and had no choice but to drop Josh off at his mom’s place. But the second Josh got there, his mom slapped him. Atlas threw his mom on the bed and got Josh outta there. [image] Alyssa asks questions about Atlas and doesn’t seem to understand why Ryle hates him so much, saying Lily should just tell him. But she doesn’t understand how crazy Ryle can get. Atlas brought them both lunch and Alyssa invited Atlas to be Lily’s date to a wedding. Josh knows Theo from school, and hearing Josh react to the fact that Theo was Atlas’s therapist was too funny. Atlas and Lily are gonna go to the wedding and Atlas sees her tattoo and is upset when he finds out it was for him, mainly because he realized Ryle bit that tattoo. Lily openly told him about Ryle’s abuse and how if she tried to make excuses for him, she would think about Atlas and know that it isn’t a normal reaction. Atlas and Lily kiss and it’s wholesome. [image] What’s fucked up is Ryle shows up and realizes Lily was on a date and he’s pissed. He tries to manipulate her by saying how Lily sent their daughter to her mom when she wants to get fucked. Lily gave him the perfect response, saying they’re divorced and he has no right. When he’s about to leave, he holds her by the neck at the door, the guy hasn’t changed at all. Lily knew at that moment she made the right decision and it just scares me how this guy has Lily’s kid alone at times. And it’s clear he hasn’t changed but she still meets with him alone. Lily wanted to avoid home since Ryle would be there so she took Emmy to Atlas’s place. Lily tells him what Ryle did and her struggle with the custody battles, it’s sad that she can’t use past abuse now to change custody. Ryle is never late on child support, has a good career and shit. I loved how Josh and Emmy played around and Emmy slept on Atlas’s lap. But they had to leave since Lily was worried about Ryle. Ryle avoids her for four days and then spams Lily with stupid texts. [image] Ryle comes to the store and Lily openly asks her coworker Lucy to stay. I loved how Lucy came in the middle when she heard Ryle raise his voice. Ryle apologized but Lily was done since it’s a cycle. Ryle was more worried that Lily told Alyssa about his texts and Lily threatens him and says she showed her lawyer. Ryle is angry and says everything was fine for a year before Atlas showed up and tried to blame Atlas, but Lily called him out for blaming others for his mistakes. Ryle says Lily should remember he has a successful career while she works in a flower shop and how he pays for her apartment. Fuck him bro, I hate him. [image] Ryle shows up at Atlas’s restaurant and punches him. Rather than fighting, Atlas is straightforward with him. Ryle blames Atlas for everything when it’s his own fault that Lily left him, and he hasn’t changed, I mean he fucking punched Atlas, and held Lily against the door. And honestly, if Atlas punched him, he wouldn’t recover cuz bruh, Atlas was in the Marines. Atlas told Ryle they have to work as a team so that everyone can be happy but Ryle doesn’t wanna be happy for Atlas and Lily. And no matter how many times people tell him the truth, he doesn’t realize that his abuse drove Lily away. He doesn’t even know Lily well, he thinks the marriage didn’t work because Lily couldn’t stick it out and how she runs to men for help. He tries to justify his actions with his past, but I love how Atlas said there’s no excuse to touch a woman. Ryle said it’s hard to keep Lily happy and Atlas said it was the easiest thing ever. Ryle really said that he won’t be there for Lily when Atlas and Lily break up, it’s so funny how stupid he is. Atlas would never lay a hand on Lily and they’re pretty solid, but the man can keep dreaming. [image] At Emmy’s party, Ryle tries to confront Lily and Lily thought she could never talk to him privately again. Alyssa offered to look after Emmy so Lily went to see Atlas at work. Lily spends the night at Atlas’s place and he asks her when she’s comfortable with moving in and marrying. Lily plans to talk to Ryle with Alyssa about what happened and what to do next. Atlas’s mom shows up to ruin the moment, asking for Josh but he’s with Theo. She threatens Atlas and when Josh shows up, he doesn’t wanna go with his mom. He wants Atlas to find his dad and he wants to live with him. He doesn’t know that his dad abandoned him and is worse than his mom. She finally leaves after she hears Josh scream he wants to choose who to live with and Atlas is heartbroken that he wants to live with the dad. [image] It was cute seeing Lily cook for them and how she bonded with Josh, asking him what he wants to be and cheering up Atlas. She even made sure to tell Josh that Atlas had a hard life and to go easy on him. Atlas said he would take Josh to their dad. I was dying when Atlas saw Josh looking at boobs in the manga he was reading and asking if it was appropriate. When Josh saw his stepdad and his pathetic ass, I loved how Atlas was patient with him. Atlas told Josh that his father also left him and he gets where Josh is coming from but their parents don’t deserve them if they didn’t put in an effort to find them. I loved how Josh asked to flip him off and said asshole wrong and Atlas corrected him and then told him to stop cussing LMAO. [image] Lily talked to Ryle with Alyssa and Marshall present and I fucking loved how Marshall had her back. What had me shook was that Ryle didn’t even take anger management classes, like therapy clearly hasn’t worked for him all these years but he hasn’t taken anger management classes? The fuck? Lily told him she wants him to go to anger management, he can’t see their kids (including Alyssa’s kid) unless it’s at their apartment supervised until they feel comfortable. And if he threatens her one more time, she will meet him in court. Ryle is pissed but he leaves and I loved how Alyssa said she loves Ryle but will help Lily in court. [image] Atlas handled the situation with his mom perfectly. He made her a meal that was part of their good memories and thanked her for being his mom. But he was honest and said he wanted custody over Josh and they could do it in court and waste money or do it this way. And he was willing to have dinner with his mom and Josh every week to make up for it. He told her to fake being interested during the dinners to help Josh and then finally got custody. [image] Months later, Ryle is taking anger management and isn’t giving Lily too much trouble and if he does, she knows how to fight back. Atlas wrote a letter to Lily, he said when he was sick he realized he loved Lily for taking care of him. He kissed the spot on her shoulder or neck whenever he wanted to say he loves her. He reminded her to never think of anything else when she sees the tattoo cuz it still has Ryle’s bite scars on them. He asked Lily to move in with him. When Lily moves in, I loved how Marshall thanks Atlas for helping Lily since she means a lot to Alyssa. Seeing Emmy with Atlas was so cute, Ryle didn’t get out of his car but he let the move happen smoothly. Seeing Lily with Theo and Josh watching Finding Nemo was so sweet, and Theo tryna figure out why Atlas said “Keep swimming” was too funny. [image] Seeing Lily happy was satisfying since she’s been through enough. Atlas set up the place hoping Lily would come, his garden is for her, he has extra stuff for her, and now they moved in together. Atlas and Lily get married and his letter with his vows were so sweet but too cheesy to be real. This book was a bit boring at times but it was nice to get a satisfying ending for them. [image] (hide spoiler)] KEEP SWIMMING Y’ALL ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Nov 08, 2022
|
Nov 18, 2022
|
Mar 29, 2022
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1542091241
| 9781542091244
| B07KXMVBR6
| 3.76
| 3,732
| Jun 11, 2019
| Jun 11, 2019
|
really liked it
|
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[Body-Shaming, panic attacks, anxiety, death of baby after teenage pregnancy, drugged drink and had sex while intoxica
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[Body-Shaming, panic attacks, anxiety, death of baby after teenage pregnancy, drugged drink and had sex while intoxicated (hide spoiler)] If you don’t know already, I am obsessed with the book The Unwanted Wife by Natasha Anders, I haven’t gotten over it despite it being so long. I heard the next book in this duet has a grovelling MMC who fucks up. And I think it can be read as a stand-alone but I still wanted to give this a shot. At first I was a lil bored since I was more interested in Libby and Greyson, the FMC and MMC in the next book. I was tempted to just skip this and go to their book. But then the FMC Tina and the MMC Harris got my attention. The first chapter starts off with a major fuckup. I really appreciated that Tina was a plus-size FMC since we don’t see that enough in romance books but she does deal with a lot of body shaming. It can be triggering to some, check out Val’s review. The way people treated her was so fucked up but Harris never commented or shamed her which I loved, he treated her normally because she IS normal. There was just a lot of push on Tina’s end and a lotta one-sided pull on Harris’s end and it was getting repetitive and annoying. But once I got used to that, I was over it. [image] Tina has a HUGE crush on one of the Chapman twins named Harris. When Harris and his twin brother throw a party, Tina is so excited to go and win Harris over. And she does, she makes out with him and they end up sleeping together. But once she comes out of that room, her life is forever changed. The one boy that she thought she loved, ended up sleeping with her because of a bet. After punching him in the nose, she avoided any possible encounters with him. 10 years later, she is forced to deal with Harris along with her traumatic memories from the past. [image] I am really excited for Libby and Greyson’s book since Greyson really fucked up. He accused Harrison of getting Libby pregnant and was super ignorant with Libby, neglecting her once she got pregnant. He sounds really stupid, he doesn’t think and hurt his wife in the worst possible way. But I did not expect for their story to play a major role in this book when we’re gonna get the details of their story in the next book. And I heard in the next book, Tina and Harris’s drama is gonna show up since the timeline matches this book. I’m not sure why it’s done this way and I hope I don’t have to deal with repetitiveness in the next book but I’m excited regardless. I really loved Harris, he’s different from other MMCs I’ve read about so far by Natasha Anders. The two books I’ve read by her so far are MMCs like Greyson, assholes that are dumb but end up grovelling and redeeming themselves kinda. Well I didn’t like the MMC in A Ruthless Proposition but yea. In this, Harris is a cute, sweet guy that wants nothing more than to win Tina over. What I did hate is that during their separation, Tina is celibate while Harris slept around and it’s so annoying how common this is. Why does the girl have to remain celibate while the guy gets to have all the action like come on why? I liked that Tina had a backbone, I mean the girl punched Harris in the nose after she found out he cheated and he even has a crooked nose because of it. Tina does push a lil too much and I felt like Harris kinda grovelled from the start and did feel bad for what he did. But sometimes the grovelling was too much and that is coming from someone who LOVES GROVEL. Despite all of this, I adored the story and just wished some of the things were done differently. Also all of the characters in the Alpha Men trilogy by Natasha Anders show up here and they’re all amazing characters. I haven’t even read the trilogy but I checked it out cuz I saw all these names and had a feeling they were from her other books. I am glad I decided to read this since this book made me wanna give other books of hers a shot. [image] Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ The book starts off with Libby and Tina, they’re best friends and Tina is getting ready for the Harris’s party. I found it interesting since I didn’t know the duet was about two twins and two best friends who fall for them. Libby fell for Greyson and Tina fell for Harris. Libby is apparently Greyson’s cook’s daughter which is super interesting, I can’t wait to read her story with Greyson even if he’s a major asshole. Harris sees Tina and they immediately make out and have sex after dancing and all is good until Tina leaves the room. She finds Harris drunk or high outta his mind and his friends are talking shit about Tina and how she is overweight, they said some fucked up shit. Harris never joins in, he just kept saying “Soft” so it kinda did lessen the blow but when his friend gives him money and he’s just smoking and sitting there I’m like the fuck my guy? He did look confused and was out of it but I loved how Tina went in and punched him in the face, I’m sorry, it just felt good to see her go off rather than be a doormat. After this moment, she always avoids Harris despite him tryna apologize and meet up with her for ANYTHING. Tina’s family treats her like shit, her mother constantly makes comments about Tina’s weight and her brothers put her down because of her struggling to be successful at anything. It was just sad to see, but it was interesting. When Tina got the call that Libby was gonna have the baby and left, I was kinda frustrated we didn’t follow Libby’s story since it seemed a lot more interesting. [image] Greyson didn’t show up to any of Libby’s pregnancy appointments. He believed the baby wasn’t his and was Harris’s which is so fucking stupid, I felt so bad for Libby but she was so strong. Tina sees Harris and freaks out. I found it interesting since Tina’s brother is also best friends with Harris. I was so surprised that Harris would continue to follow Tina and ask her out to coffee or to go out somewhere. When Libby decided to move to another town, I thought it was smart because Greyson was so shitty. I loved how Tina went as well and how they ran a business together. When Harris would send pictures of the baby to Greyson, I just loved him for it. Harris is such a good friend. I’m guessing Greyson got jealous when he saw the picture of Libby and another guy and finally decided to go and get her. But I love how Libby was like homeboy, you really think it’s that easy? But you notice what I’m noticing? There’s a lotta Libby and Greyson moments that take the spotlight and make Tina and Harris’s story boring since you wanna know what happens to Libby and Greyson. Tina is gonna fix some baby stuff and Harris asks her to help and it was cute how he couldn’t do it as well as Tina, and I loved how he constantly tried to tag along and help Tina with things. [image] Seeing Harris do small things to win Tina over was so cute but it was so annoying how she just wouldn’t tell him what bothered her. He constantly apologized for the night of the bet, he regrets it and hates that it happened. When he moved next door, you just knew that he did it because he wanted to be near Tina. When he held Clara, Libby’s daughter, he was so gentle and sweet. He was such a good friend to Libby and good brother to Greyson despite Greyson accusing him of sleeping with Libby. Greyson’s reasoning was bullshit too, he was jealous of Harris’s friendship with Libby, like the fuck? Whenever Tina would defend Libby it was nice to see but she had a problem being near babies. She had nightmares at night and it was sweet seeing Harris help her. But then it got sexual and I’m like damn, she’s gonna regret this. So I went in knowing spoilers about Tina getting pregnant but I assumed she had a miscarriage. But turns out she had the baby, moved away and her baby died, which is fucking devastating. Harris had no idea because Tina never told him because she thought he did this whole thing because of a bet. But apparently someone drugged Harris’s drink and talked him into doing the bet when he wasn’t even fully there? The whole situation was weird to be honest, but it’s messed up because even Harris was a victim in that situation. It’s honestly bizarre how his friend drugged his drink when he might’ve slept with Tina anyway. And I liked how Tina mentioned she was naive into assuming that birth control works after a coupla hours and honestly, like Libby said, Harris shoulda still used a condom. But again he was intoxicated so he wasn’t even thinking clearly. It also doesn’t make sense how he was able to have sex with Tina when he was so out of it but he mentions this in his POV too so everything is lowkey addressed. It was a weird situation but I liked how Greyson told Harris that he’s also a victim since he was intoxicated and didn’t know what was happening and Tina had no idea either. I also like how consent was mentioned and Harris said he knew he wanted to but he just didn’t know what was going on cuz of the drugs but reassured Tina and stuff so it clears up the consent even if he technically couldn’t consent while intoxicated. When he went to his friend 10 years later, it was funny cuz his friend didn’t have any idea but he’s still a nasty scumbag so I liked how Harris went off. [image] Harris would sit on the porch and it was so cute how he tried to talk to Tina constantly. Even when Tina was rude, he didn’t give up. Tina slowly started opening up to him, when they went on the cheese date and kissed, it was so adorable. Harris being ticklish, him constantly mentioning that they can talk about other things rather than Libby and Greyson. Harris being super patient with Tina. Greyson was the typical rich asshole but Harris actually cooked and cleaned, I loved how easily annoyed he got with Greyson since he’s used to having workers around. And when Greyson would go over to Libby’s house to fix things, I just knew it was some sorta grovel. Tina’s business isn’t doing well and Harris was willing to do anything behind the scenes to help her. He even talked to her brother about him being a jerk to Tina and never helping her, and this pushed her brother to help her out more. He never expected a reward when he helped Tina, he just did it because he loved her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her when she was in the room and always tried to spend time with her. Harris and Tina drinking coffee together, he would be ready to break a door down just to see if she’s okay with her nightmares. The fact that he kept her earring as a necklace and wore it for all 10 years is insane. I mean this guy slept around but he had so much regret for the Tina situation that he wore her earring. It was annoying that Tina didn’t have sex during the 10 years though. And honestly, Tina wasn’t being honest with him. She blamed him for her whole life crashing down, and yes he is kinda at fault but she should’ve told him why she was pissed rather than avoiding it. I liked how Harris admitted he was wrong to do what he did that night, even if he was intoxicated, but he was like why the hell does she blame me for everything else? And I liked how he said it wasn’t fair and shit, it was actually nice to see his POV on things. Tina would even push Libby away because she couldn’t stand being near Clara because of her past trauma so it was nice to see her finally open up. But Libby being all pissy and rude to Harris was annoying cuz THE GUY HAS NO IDEA. Tell him and then get pissed like what the hell, I get that she didn’t want him to know but my god, the story was dragging on. [image] Greyson is slowly losing it, he’s wearing Harris’s clothes and he looks miserable, as he should. Libby lets him around Clara but keeps her walls up which is nice. Seeing Greyson struggle with Clara after being so confident was hilarious, him begging for Harris to help him was so funny. Libby isn’t that open about everything that happens between her and Greyson. When Greyson said they’re going on a date and was all excited, I was like wait, are we gonna see them be together by the end of the book? But nah, Greyson got divorce papers, yikes. Meanwhile Tina finally told Harris about Fletcher and it was devastating. She had a panic attack while taking care of Clara and Harris dealt with it all like champ and he hated himself for everything. She also tells us she had to deal with the police investigations which is devastating, now Harris knows why she blamed him for everything. He also asked questions I wanted to ask, if she got help, if she went to a therapist. Tina did everything but she still needs help since she will forever be scarred by the death of her son, it’s so fucking sad. Before this, Tina and Harris were lowkey moving to becoming a couple and Tina would have sex with him, and then Tina would shut him out. When she saw the necklace and asked him to give it back, I was so pissed and annoyed with her. She didn’t even have a reason to take it back, she was just being plain annoying. When Harris told Tina he loved her and didn’t wait for her response and left, I was like bruh come on. I also liked how Libby called out Tina for being a shit business partner when she walked out, but Libby had no idea Tina was dealing with shit. But I liked how straight-forward they both were and how Libby felt bad after she realized. Greyson was there for Tina when she cried her eyes out and you slowly see him become emotional. He’s so desperate to make things right with Libby but nothing seems to be working despite them probably making out and having sex (Libby says they did do things but yea). Harris basically hides in another country and Tina sends him voice memos and text messages every day. They send messages to each other but then she shows up at his office when he returns home and they go back to having sex. And I loved how Harris always called it lovemaking and refused to call it fucking lol, he was like no I don’t care. Meanwhile Tina tried to act like it wasn’t emotional sex when it was to her. I also loved the amount of cuddling, it was surprising that there was some of it and I adored it, Harris is a major softie. When they went to each other’s family dinners together, I loved how Harris stood up for Tina and admitted he was Fletcher’s dad. All of Tina’s brothers beat him up and he was so chill about it since he loved Tina so much. I liked how we got closure with Tina’s mom, she was so rude for saying the things she did but I liked how they talked about it. [image] Harris continues to hate himself and Greyson is the one that ends up helping him. It was so annoying because Harris continues to say that he either wants all of Tina or nothing and since he knows he won’t have all of her, he can’t do anything. And when Tina would just let him walk away after all the work he did to win her over, it was annoying. I felt like the text messages and voice memos were the bare minimum. I wished she also did some grovelling, I liked how she put the necklace back on him and had the initials of their names and their son’s name. I liked how comfortable she was with opening up to Harris about Fletcher and how he would listen and watch the videos over and over again. I know Tina never gave up and continued to send messages even when Harris didn’t respond but I wished she would go and visit him or something. Like do more than that. But I was glad they finally got together and are even engaged. They were so darn cute in the end, Harris deserved a happy ending and so did Tina, she went through so much shit. I am so happy for them, when they told Greyson, it was adorable. And them planning the future together, ugh I loved it. He also asked about kids but made it clear that he only wanted her so that was a relief since everything was kinda addressed. Harris won my heart over and Tina had a good backbone but it got a lil too annoying. I still loved this book though. [image] (hide spoiler)] I cannot wait to get to Libby and Greyson’s story despite it playing a major role here. We even got spoilers for the next book. Greyson made such a stupid mistake and didn’t even have a proper reason to, so I’m worried. And we already know about what happened between Tina and Harris and apparently they will be in the next book like how Libby and Greyson sometimes took over here, so I’m worried about that as well since it will be repetitive. But I am excited! Anyway, stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Mar 14, 2022
|
Mar 16, 2022
|
Mar 14, 2022
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 172827222X
| 9781728272221
| 172827222X
| 4.22
| 249,360
| Jan 23, 2023
| Jan 31, 2023
|
it was amazing
|
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Death of loved ones, guns, addiction (sex, drugs, alcohol), lifelong injury, parental abandonment, emotional and verba
Trigger Warnings:(view spoiler)[Death of loved ones, guns, addiction (sex, drugs, alcohol), lifelong injury, parental abandonment, emotional and verbal abuse from parent, overdose, panic attacks, anxiety, cancer, pet abuse, PTSD, depression, smoking, infertility (hide spoiler)] THE THIRD BOOK IS FINALLY HERE, I have been waiting for Cal’s book for so long AND IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT, I LOVE HIM. I recommend you read the books in order. The first two are: The Fine Print and Terms and Conditions. This is the final book in the Dreamland series, and my favourite in the series because of CAL and ALANA, they’re both perfect. I cried when I finished, I don’t know what to do with my life. [image] Cal’s grandfather passed away and in his will, he had conditions. Cal needs to sell his grandfather’s house, in a small town in Lake Wisteria, to get access to his shares and money. But he doesn’t expect to see Alana, his ex, to be living there. He has to convince her to let him sell the house by the end of the summer to get his inheritance. [image] Now for spoilers [image] (view spoiler)[ Alana has someone break in and it’s Cal, she holds a gun and they have banter. Cal had addictions like sex, alcohol, and drugs. Alana says his grandfather left the house in Lake Wisteria for her. Cal and Alana broke up 6 years ago. Cal wants to sell the house but Alana says he can’t. Alana’s daughter Camila shows up, she’s 5 years old and Cal passes out, thinking it’s his. Cal asks Alana if the kid is his and if it isn’t she moves on quickly, Alana kicks him out after taking his spare keys. His grandpa wants him to spend the last summer in the house with Alana before selling it to access his inheritance. In a flashback Cal is leaving Alana, he says he was high and regrets being with Alana. Alana tells him not to come back once he leaves. Cal gets to a motel and drinks, he either gets drunk or takes small sips of alcohol to cope with his anxiety. He calls Iris, his best friend, and tells her about Alana and his possible daughter. Declan told Rowan about the kid who texted the group chat, Cal named him Dick-lan LMAO. Camila (Cami) and Lana (Alana) are home when Cal shows up, Lana watched him through her door and saw him talking to himself about being scared of being a bad parent. Cami was Lana’s sister Anontella’s daughter, Anto was high during her pregnancy and Lana was left with Camila. Cami shows up, Cal wanted to get away while Cami was tryna get money outta him for swearing, she has a swear jar. The way Cami acted like she didn’t know how much the money was until Lana proved Cal wrong was too funny, Cal thinking she’s a little shit LMAO. [image] The house is co-owned by Lana and Cal according to their lawyers. Declan already had a buyer ready since he was scared Cal will screw him and Rowan over since they all have to complete their parts to get access to their shares in the will. If Lana decides to keep the house while Cal wants to sell it, she has to buy it from him and it’s a million. She calls her friends Violet and Delilah over, Violet comes up with a genius plan to list the house so high that no one can buy it. Cal finds Lana’s mom died from cancer, and her sister is alive but signed Cami off to Lana since she didn’t wanna take care of her. Cal agrees to stay in the guesthouse. He goes to meetings for Dreamland to mess with his dad but when he finds out subscriptions are lower for their streaming platform, he asks questions and Rowan is excited. His father yells at Cal for being a disappointment and Cal dissed him back, he’s a mess but he’s a good guy that needs help. His dad is a piece of shit for the way he treats Cal. [image] Cal hasn’t been in a relationship in 6 years, he drunk kissed Iris once and vomited after, they’ve been besties since. He has a picture of Lana and himself in his wallet. Cal used the picture to stay sober, but after he tore his ACL and couldn’t play hockey, it wasn’t enough. Isabelle, a store owner in town, tells Cal to watch out since the town hates him. Cal thinks Wyatt and Lana are together and Wyatt comes. When Wyatt says he will fuck Lana that day, Cal goes after him to only be pinned to the table by Wyatt. Wyatt was actually with Lana’s friend Delilah, they’re married. Lana lets Cal continue to think they’re together for a bit but finally tells him the truth. He was in the attic and fell cuz he’s drunk and Cal apologizes and promises not to get drunk around her in the house. Lana wants to sell the house for 3 million so Cal decided to help renovate the house so they can sell it. Cal asked if his grandpa left money for her and he did but Lana spent it all to help her sister get sober, her mom with medical bills, and Cami. Lana meets with Violet and Delilah and Violet is complaining about some guy fucking loudly, I feel like she’s the next book. Cal tells Lana if they sell the house for 2.5 million he will let her keep it all and he will do renovations. Cal got some books from the bookstore but Violet and Delilah see him and yell at him for being an alcoholic. He goes to a store and they refuse to serve him and I feel so bad, he’s being shunned by everyone who used to be his friends. But he doesn’t plan on working on himself so I don’t blame them since they saw how his leaving hurt Lana. Cami sees model boats in Cal’s room, Cal said he did with Lana and Cami begs to do it with him and be best friends. [image] The bookstore owner recommends Cal volunteer at a Strawberry Festival so that people will start liking him. Lana’s sister Anto wants to meet her, Cami has no idea that’s her mom. Anto is an asshole, telling Lana she’s lucky she’s a mom cuz of her like the fuck? The construction people get rid of the dock Lana loved and she runs out in just a shirt. Cal asked why she ran out and she said it was their special plank. They had their dares tallied on there with their letters. In a flashback, Lana was gonna go on a date, Cal was pissed and told her to kiss him as a dare and it was her first kiss. Lana was making cupcakes and Cal wanted icing, Lana had some on her finger so he sucked it off. Lana threw cupcakes at him and he puts a cupcake on her face and licks her face goodddaamn. She puts icing on his lips and they makeout and it was hot y’all. Lana dated a guy named Victor for a few months after her mom died and he was bad so everyone scared him outta the town. They have to get to Cami’s graduation and Cal couldn’t take his eyes off Lana. He feels longing so he gets drunk and goes to Lana’s by accident, breaking a vase. Lana asks Cal if he bothered with rehab and he said he did but it failed. [image] Cal is hungover and Cami comes to check up, Cal wants to run away half the time. Cami made Cal a get-well card. Cal bought Lana a new vase and mixer but Lana said the problem was him not being sober. He said he lost his reason to be sober since he lost her. Lana told him not to blame her and he told her he saw her two years ago with Victor. Instead of fighting for her he drank and ruined his life. He wants to be friends again but flirts with her, she gives in. A contractor says they have asbestos in the house and it causes cancer. Cal takes Cami and Lana to the guesthouse. Lana sees Merlin, Cal’s cat, and screams, Cal runs over with a lamp ready to protect her and Cami runs in with her ninja skills. Cal felt like he was a part of the family when Lana let him eat with them. Cal participated in the Strawberry Festival wearing a strawberry costume AWWW. But when Lana asked where he got the confidence, Cal said it was vodka and pissed Lana off. Cal says he’s never gotten drunk again after breaking her vase and drinks sips, tryna cut back. Cal avoids events since they make him anxious, making him wanna drink. Anto shows up, she stole Lana’s inheritance money, and Cal offers to talk to her. He tells Anto he won’t give her money but he can book her a hotel and get her into a facility for rehab. [image] Seeing them grocery store, Cal playing with Cami with the cart was adorable. Cami loves Dreamland and begs them to go for her birthday. Rowan says Zahra will help plan the birthday. They eat dinner, watch a movie, and build a fort. Cal noticed Lana didn’t have DreamStream and asked why. She said the price was more and they added ads and shit. Lana is horny so she tries to get off with her vibrator in her room, imagining Cal but he joins in. Cal facetimes Rowan to tell him how expensive DreamStream is from what he heard from Lana. Wyatt and Cal’s friendship was too funny, they were fighting over who can read Cami a bedtime story. They were pissed cuz they played Barbie with Cami and killed each other. Lana was hesitant of letting Cal take care of Cami because her ex Victor had anger issues and would yell at Cami and sent her to her room. Cal got Cami a custom-made boat with the help of Rowan of Cami’s fav princess, they make the boat together. It’s Cami’s birthday decorating the house. Cal had to take a shot of vodka cuz he was nervous at Cami’s party. Lana realized he drank and is upset. [image] Wyatt gave Cal a cheeseburger to sober him up since he noticed him drinking, telling him he can’t keep doing this to Lana. Cal said Lana dated someone and Wyatt called him out and asked if he dated and he didn’t but he did fuck around. He hasn’t been with anyone for 2 years, after seeing Lana and Victor. Wyatt offers to be Cal’s sponsor for AA, he struggled with PTSD and alcoholism. Cami always checked up on Cal during her party and led him to the cake, she wished he would be her new daddy. Lana avoids Cal after the party but he helps her clean up. Lana believes in Cal getting sober and Cal wants to go back to rehab but he has to complete his part of the will. Cal says he doesn’t want the house hanging around his head because it has bad memories so Lana tells him to put the house on the market. He doesn’t tell her about the inheritance since he doesn’t wanna let his brothers down but he feels guilty. Lana tells Cal she thought Victor was good at first, insisting to meet Cami and Cami wanted a dad. But after he babysat her once, Cami said she didn’t want a dad anymore and Lana feels guilty for not seeing the signs. Cal had to stay in the house for 120 days but he wants to leave so he can go to rehab and his lawyer mentions another clause, if Cal attends AA, Alcoholics Anonymous, gets a green card and sells his house, he can get his inheritance. They head to Dreamland and Lana is excited to meet Iris. He showed Lana the photo he kept in his wallet. [image] They’re in a penthouse and Cami hugs Cal and he pulls Lana in for a group hug. Cami wants a sister and Lana asks if Cal wants kids and he does. They meet up with Zahra and Rowan, Zahra is cute, telling Lana Cal won’t shut up about her. Cal lets Cami buy whatever she wants and Cami drags Zahra along with her. Rowan is worried about Cal since he relapsed two years ago after seeing Lana with Victor. He defends Declan for always looking out for Cal, Declan wanted to prevent Cal from going back to Lake Wisteria since it made him drink more. Cal surprised Lana with her fav chef and she is starstruck and they bake together. Iris sees Lana, and she hugs her, Iris is ready to exchange stories while Zahra listens to Cami. I’m so glad we see Declan apologizing, he’s even seeing a therapist because of the anger issues he had with Iris in the previous book. In the previous book, Declan pissed me off, his grovel didn’t do it for me. Hearing that he’s working on himself even in the future makes me so satisfied. [image] Rowan wore Cami’s tiara while answering questions about Dreamland. Cal says Rowan is a better uncle and Declan is pissed, Iris is swooning at Rowan and he’s jealous. He swears and Cami gets her swear jar, Cami asked for $1,000. Declan finds out it’s for college and is proud. Lana isn’t scared of Declan since she already knows the brothers. Cal lets Cami help him blow out the candles of his cake and wishes his addiction away. They all love the cake Lana makes and Rowan offers to sell it in Dreamland. Whenever Cal is around people, his coping mechanism is to fiddle with Lana’s hair instead of alcohol. Lana overheard the guys talking and finds out about the inheritance. Cal says he’s going to rehab and Declan is pissed their part of the inheritance is at risk. Lana feels so betrayed because she thinks everything Cal did was to get his inheritance and regrets trusting Cal with Cami and herself. She avoids touching Cal and he tries to talk to Lana and since she ices him out, he goes back to drinking, I’m like fuck Cal. She managed to avoid him for the week. Cal sees Lana near the river and asks what’s wrong and Lana asks him why he’s selling the house, hoping he would be honest. He said so they can move on but Lana says she wants the house. Lana tells him she overheard him about the inheritance. He said he couldn’t tell her cuz of his grandpa and Lana says he never follows the rules. She tells him to leave and never come back and Cal is heartbroken. [image] Cal went to Cami to say bye and I cried at this interaction, he told Cami he was sick and needs to get better and will be away for a while but promises to come back. He left Merlin behind for Cami to take care of and as an excuse to come back. Lana says it doesn’t change anything if he comes back and how he’s going to rehab for the inheritance but Cal admits he’s going to rehab for himself since he hates himself and wants to get better. Cal sent Violet and Delilah to Lana since he knew she would be upset. He even told them about the will since he knew Lana wouldn’t tell them. Cami told Lana everything, even wanting Cal to be her dad but Lana doesn’t trust Cal to stop his addiction. He signs up for rehab, it was nice seeing Iris cheer him on. Lana misses Cal and it’s been two weeks so she texts Iris and Zahra to ask to clarify more about the will. Iris tells Lana that if the brothers don’t get their inheritance, their dad gets the shares and he’s an asshole. Iris tells Lana she married Declan cuz of the inheritance and is pregnant now. Rowan offers to give 5 million for the recipe and has Lana as a baking consultant. She can use the money to travel the world and he wants to buy more recipes. Cal was in rehab for a month and headed to Chicago to attend an AA meeting. Cal introduces himself for being sober for a month and his dad shows up. His dad has been sober for 640 days. Their grandfather made their dad go to rehab for his shares. His dad admits he’s doing it for money and when Cal asked what about them, his dad didn’t care. I loved how all three brothers are working together to get rid of their abusive father. He calls Lana and she’s glad he’s out, he wants to work on himself before he meets her. Cal wants to find a way to keep the lake house. [image] Cal visits Wyatt and asks him to be his sponsor and seeing them talk about books was everything. Cal visits Lana and gives her his chip, saying he will stay sober for the three of them. He stays at the motel since Lana doesn’t want him around yet. Cal bought Lana a store so that she can have a bakery. Someone bought the house for 2 million. Cal keeps insisting Lana meets the buyer since they wanna tear the house down. Some guy named Lorenzo is with Cal, I think he’s the hero of Lauren’s new book and it’s gonna be with Violet. Cal offered to buy his own house for 3 million. He opened a trust for their future kids and is buying the house through that, the trust is 26 billion. Cal says he loves Lana and just wants a future with her. Cami is reunited with Cal and it was sweet seeing them together. I loved how Cal not only had to work to win Lana back, but the whole town, and he did. [image] After 3 months in AA, Cal feels good but his dad says after today he’s back to drinking. Cal says he’s a miserable person with or without alcohol. Cal helps behind the scenes with the streaming services but his brothers don’t know. Declan is the CEO since he filled his requirements. When Cal called Declan “Daddy” I was dead. They meet with the lawyers and their dad is there, there’s one more letter from their grandpa. Their grandpa knew their dad would get sober for his shares and took them away, he had another harder route but he chose the easier one. Everyone else gets their shares and can decide if their dad gets his 6%. Declan votes no while calling their dad out for abusing them, Rowan votes no, and before Cal can vote, his dad is ready to leave. Cal asked what the other choice was and his dad said he would have to get the forgiveness of his sons and place his shares up for vote like today. Cal votes yes to fuck with his dad so he wonders if it would be possible to win the other votes. The three brothers are disappointed in their dad and go out to dinner. Declan is excited for the baby and says he’s proud of Cal, encouraging Rowan to go to therapy. I didn’t know I was so attached to this series until it was over. A year later Lana has her own bakery and works for Rowan. I loved Cal’s proposal, relating to their childhood dare games and he even kept the plank. Three years later, they all have kids and meet at Lake Wisteria. Lana struggled with infertility but they managed to have a baby. Lana and Cal had a baby and Lana is pregnant again. Declan scaring the girls away from boys was too funny, he’s goofy around kids it's cute. Cami gave Cal adoption papers as her birthday gift, I am crying. I love Cal and Lana so much, this book was my fav in the series and is among my top books. I’m gonna miss this series. [image] (hide spoiler)] Stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jan 31, 2023
|
Feb 03, 2023
|
Mar 03, 2022
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| B09W7K7844
| unknown
| 4.25
| 1,047
| unknown
| Mar 25, 2022
|
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[Childhood abuse (not shown); mentions of weight (no sizes or scale numbers); discussions of mental health, including
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[Childhood abuse (not shown); mentions of weight (no sizes or scale numbers); discussions of mental health, including PTSD and anxiety; cheating ex (not shown); violence (in flashback); body shaming (by parent); cursing and vulgar language; explicit sexual content, parental abandonment (hide spoiler)] Thank you to Lucy Watson for providing trigger warnings, I don’t get triggered easily but I keep track for my reviews so this helped. And thank you for being such a kind and generous author by giving me an arc, I can never thank you enough, I honestly can’t believe I got this. [image] WE FINALLY GOT NICK’S BOOK!!! [image] This comes out on March 25, 2022, so IN ABOUT A MONTH Y’ALL CAN READ THIS AND EXPERIENCE NICK’S STORY. I highly recommend reading Shortcake before reading this because a lot of the characters show up in this book and you will be confused. There are a lot of references to Shortcake, I kinda view this as a sequel despite it following other characters. This is a second chance, childhood friends to lovers story. It’s a grumpy sunshine book in reverse because Riley was kinda a grump whereas Nick was the sunshine which I LOVED. Riley is so relatable, the girl talks about zits, eating stuff, and getting her lip gloss mixed in and stuff. She is the girl that wears random outfits that are comfy and cute, which I found super relatable. This book deals with heavier topics, it is funny but it is more serious as well. I love the matching covers Lucy has, I’m excited to see the future covers! [image] It was nice revisiting the wonderful world that Lucy Watson created with amazing characters. Every time she introduces a new character, I just want them to have a book. Lucy’s writing style is impeccable, I don’t know how she does it. The thing about Lucy’s books though is that I am always left wanting more. I’m always left with questions and wishing for certain scenes with the characters. I would be down to read a book with 100K pages by her, I’m not even joking, that’s how much I love her writing and characters. I feel like this book could’ve been 600-800 pages but if it was longer than that, it would be even better. There were so many moments where I fangirled, I even cried at one point and got teary-eyed at other points. Nick is someone I hold dear to my heart, he won me over in book one, which is why I was expecting a bit more in this book despite me liking it. [image] So this book is about Riley, she is broke and has nowhere to go and her life is slowly falling apart. She decides to stay at her grandpa’s place while he’s gone on vacation. Nick lives in her grandpa’s guest house and can’t seem to leave Riley alone once she’s back. Nick, Riley’s childhood crush and best friend, who she thought she got over. And as she continues to meet with Nick, she’s not so sure anymore. [image] I really loved Nick but we didn’t see enough of him in this book. It felt like this was centered around Riley and I loved her but honestly, I care more about Nick. I adored Nick but there was so much going on, there were a ton of pages focused on things I didn’t care about rather than Nick and Riley. And Nick and Riley didn’t have enough alone time and I was left wanting more. The ending is a bit abrupt and there were so many things that I was curious about that weren’t really addressed. All I kept thinking was that I wished the book were longer, lol I’m just greedy for more when it comes to Lucy’s books, I felt the same way with Shortcake. [image] I feel like childhood friends to lovers, especially second chance, is a trope that I’m not a huge fan of unless it’s done right. The romance development just felt kinda one-sided, maybe it’s because we only read this from Riley’s POV. I like following Riley’s POV because it adds a layer of mystery to Nick, but I eventually want to learn more about the characters. I want moments where they actually sit down and talk, have a long conversation about their lives and their feelings. I wanted more “couple moments” between the characters. There were so many other storylines that could have been explored more but were kinda abandoned. I expected more, I did enjoy this but I had higher expectations. [image] I am grateful for having the chance to experience Nick and Riley’s journey. And I am looking forward to Mara’s book, which is coming up next!!!! Mara is a bookworm just like us and I cannot WAIT to see who she ends up with. Will it be one of the guys that we know of? Derek? Winston? Jesse? And if it isn’t a book with one of these guys, I gotta see all of their happy endings. Like bruh, I WANT TO SEE IT ALL OKAY. I think I’m really looking forward to Jesse’s book though cuz the guy is a quiet grump but so funny too. Okay, I’m gonna shut up cuz my fangirling is gonna take over, but I recommend you give this a go. But only AFTER you read Shortcake, cuz I ADORED THAT BOOK. If you don't read it you're missing out, just sayin. Y’all hit me up if you wanna talk/fangirl about Shortcake or Peanut (once it comes out) because I would love to gush about these books. Thank you again Lucy, you’re bloody amazing, please continue to create these amazing gems, I will read anything you write. [image] Stay safe folks! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Feb 22, 2022
|
Feb 22, 2022
|
Feb 13, 2022
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 1951936043
| 9781951936044
| 1951936043
| 4.27
| 5,176
| Sep 21, 2021
| Sep 21, 2021
|
it was ok
|
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[PTSD, panic attacks, loss of a loved one, gun shot injury recovery, Alzheimer's, fires, violence, violent threats, mu
Trigger Warnings: (view spoiler)[PTSD, panic attacks, loss of a loved one, gun shot injury recovery, Alzheimer's, fires, violence, violent threats, murder (hide spoiler)] Tee and Apoorva, look away, don’t read this review. I know y’all loved this but sorry this wasn’t it for me. [image] I read Wrecked Palace by Catherine Cowles and LOVED IT. I didn’t read the first two books and don’t plan on doing so but I jumped right into the third book and fell in love with the characters. I cried in the FIRST BLOODY CHAPTER of the book, that’s how good it was. But then I read Reckless Refuge and despite me liking it, I started noticing a pattern. The stories all followed this formula where there are two characters that have been through something traumatic. One of the characters is dealing with threats and some person is out to get them. And the whole book follows a mystery of who it could be while they slowly fall in love with each other. Now I loved it in Wrecked Palace because it was the first book I read in the series. It was so refreshing because you see a sibling take care of her other siblings, filling in the guardian role without taking care of herself. And you have a grumpy guy who bonds with kids when he rarely lets anyone into his life. This was so different and had me so emotionally invested because the characters felt different. But with Reckless Refuge and this book, the characters didn’t feel that different. They felt very generic and boring, I just wasn’t as invested. I loved Hunter in the other books, he’s a sweetheart, but he’s literally just a sweet guy with no personality. Same with Piper, she’s a sweet girl but she has no personality. Their relationship buildup had no excitement, it felt kinda instalovey. They found each other attractive and two seconds later, Hunter is ready to throw his arms around Piper and protect her. They have a dog named Bruno which was cute, but I didn’t care since I wasn’t invested in the story. [image] This book is the fifth book in the Wrecked series, I feel like, for this one, you definitely need to read the previous book and Ford and Bell’s book. These two books are constantly referenced since Hunter is dealing with the consequences of the previous book. I haven’t read Ford and Bell’s book and don’t plan on doing it, but I was kinda curious at points. The previous book is briefly mentioned and you do kinda get a recap but you won’t understand the emotional trauma that characters have faced unless you read the previous books. All of the characters from the previous books appear in this book which was nice. Anyway, this follows Piper, who left the islands after she lost a loved one and is back to honour them by building a place to remember them in. While this is happening, Piper meets Hunter, someone who is gonna help with renovating the area and they slowly start to fall for each other. [image] So despite me not enjoying this book, I do wish we could get a book for Parker. Parker is the Sheriff and he has helped all of the couples in their books. He’s a young, attractive guy who makes sure to keep people safe. But I felt so bad for him cuz the guy would be chilling somewhere and he would get a call and show up right away. I wanna see a book that focuses on the other side of the mystery, rather than following a victim, it would be interesting to follow someone dealing with the crimes on the island. Especially since there are so many crimes on this island smh. I really liked how Parker doesn’t hesitate to help others and goes above and beyond to do what he needs to. I wanna see him happy and with someone I dunno, it would be nice. [image] “I was about to hang up when Parker spoke. “Ethan’s actions aren’t on you. Just like Shay’s brother’s or Sam’s weren’t. I know it can be hard to let that shit go. Constantly asking yourself if you could’ve done something differently. But when the time came, you acted. You tried to help when others would’ve turned away. That’s more than anyone could ask for. If I wasn’t so sure you loved your job, I’d ask you to think about joining the department.” I love Parker ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
Jan 26, 2022
|
Feb 2022
|
Jan 26, 2022
|
Paperback
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| 3.58
|
Mar 07, 2024
|
Mar 07, 2024
|
||||||
|
| 3.46
|
Dec 31, 2023
|
Dec 31, 2023
|
||||||
|
| 3.78
|
Dec 28, 2023
|
Dec 28, 2023
|
||||||
|
| 3.71
|
Dec 20, 2023
|
Dec 20, 2023
|
||||||
|
| 4.13
|
it was amazing
|
Dec 25, 2023
|
Nov 21, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.24
|
really liked it
|
May 09, 2024
|
Aug 11, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.38
|
it was amazing
|
Aug 03, 2023
|
Jul 29, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 3.69
|
liked it
|
May 16, 2023
|
May 11, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.23
|
it was amazing
|
Apr 16, 2023
|
Apr 10, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.02
|
it was amazing
|
Mar 18, 2023
|
Mar 14, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.04
|
it was amazing
|
Feb 07, 2023
|
Feb 06, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.14
|
it was amazing
|
Nov 08, 2022
|
Oct 17, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.83
|
really liked it
|
Jul 09, 2022
|
Jul 07, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.64
|
really liked it
|
Jul 06, 2022
|
Jul 06, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.29
|
it was amazing
|
Jun 28, 2022
|
Jun 21, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.86
|
liked it
|
Nov 18, 2022
|
Mar 29, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.76
|
really liked it
|
Mar 16, 2022
|
Mar 14, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.22
|
it was amazing
|
Feb 03, 2023
|
Mar 03, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.25
|
Feb 22, 2022
|
Feb 13, 2022
|
||||||
|
| 4.27
|
it was ok
|
Feb 2022
|
Jan 26, 2022
|
Loading...
