Blurb:

CALEB

I came to the lake to be left alone, to lick my wounds. I wasn’t counting on neighbors and I especially wasn’t counting on her.

Lucie was a little kid the last time I was here. Now she’s grown—and God, did she ever grow up—with two young kids of her own.

She’s everywhere I look, no matter how hard I try to avoid her. I’d forgotten all the things I used to want, used to dream about. She’s reminding me…and making me want every last one of them again.

LUCIE

From the moment I first saw Caleb when I was six, I knew he belonged to me. And I knew I’d have to save him—because how else does the girl nobody wants win over the boy beloved by all?

Nothing about his life or mine has gone to plan. He’s isolated and miserable. I’ve got a vindictive ex and more problems than I can count.

But what hasn’t changed is this: it still feels like he’s mine.

And I still think I may need to save him.

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*****

Review:

This one is listed as “an Angsty, Single Parent Romance” on Goodreads and it’s not a lie. There’s SO much drama going on here. Lucie’s ex is quite the piece of work. He’s controlling and manipulative and pretty much a horrid human being. He doesn’t really care for her or their kids and shows it every way possible, but he also can’t stand to lose so he’s not going away. It leads to more than one moment of trouble.

Caleb has never really recovered from a few traumatic events in his past. They’ve made him hard and detached and sometimes pretty self-absorbed & crappy. He’s a terrible boss, which has caused some retention issues, which is where Lucie comes in as the newest hire at his company.

While I feel like Lucie gives Caleb more than he sometimes deserves, I found myself liking him just because she does. She’s had a terrible childhood, unloved and ignored, and just as bad young adulthood but she’s resilient and so very obviously loves her kids. It makes her appealing as a character and I felt compelled to keep reading to make sure she finally gets a HEA she deserves.

But I do feel like both of the characters could probably have done with some therapy. There is a lot of hurt on both sides and I don’t know that they properly address them. I do have hope for them though and feel a lot of that is due to O’Roark’s depiction of them. I’m curious to see what else she can do.

(Part of a series but can be read as a stand alone. In fact, I didn’t even realize it was the second book until today.)

*****

Author Info:

Elizabeth O’Roark spent many years as a medical writer before publishing her first novel in 2013. She holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and arts from the University of Texas, and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Notre Dame. She is the recipient of the 2017 IBPA gold medal for romance. She lives in Washington DC with her three children. 

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