for the general plotline] Single mom who has an abusive ex and falls in love with her neighbor that’s an ex military man who’s much older than her, lost his dad when he was young and had very similar ex gf/wife situations.

Nothing truly grabbed me in this story, the pace was odd, it started with some arduous 30% of reading where the main characters barely interacted and the little interaction given didn't make me curious or hope for more. I found everything so very cliché. Don't get me wrong, I'm a lover of tropes and emblematic romantic gestures, but an author has got to bring their own thing to the romance moves textbook. Here it felt like a mod-podge of romance scenes. Nothing felt organic but forced. single dad romances always end up with three people in that relationship— the hero, the heroine and the hero’s dead wife. single mum romances never seem to play into the dead spouse trope so im all for it. i don’t really wanna read about the hero pining for his dead wife while the heroine is competing with a ghost. I thought this book had a really good premise and these types of romances about overcoming past toxic relationships are something that I completely love, however, it all started wrong when I started hating the main character in the first 10% of the book because of this: Not in his dark hair, not in his physique, and definitely not in the dimples she’s only seen a hint of. She’s one hundred percent, absolutely, not interested.I had more reasons, but I forgot. He is a no no, so when they went to have sex, I couldn't go there, it made me cringe and even though I applaud Maddison for doing what is right for her (she still got the job even though he didn't want her to), and no paying attention to him. I still think she deserved better. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️❤️ Ummm... this is actually complicated for me to rate, because I loved it and hated it at the same time. this is the first lilian t james book ive ever read, and i have to say i’m absolutely HOOKED. this book was amazing, & i loved every single second of it. The book was also SO LONG. I could've spent that extra hour reading, sleeping, or eating instead of suffering through this. There are like 4 toxic men in the mc's past/ present (and I'm obviously counting Garrett cause that relationship is going to last as long as my patience). FOUR. And honestly, it's not that I believe that this isn't possible in real life, because it obviously is, but it seemed over the top for me. The author could've focused a lot more on overcoming past relationships/ trauma, rather than ADDING more to it, which felt unnecessary.

Gracing him with the most insincere expression I could muster, I stepped into his personal space, just shy of straddling his knee. The side of my pinkie brushed the top of his hand as my fingers wrapped around his beer."Now, at twenty-five, Madison has long since stopped believing in love. Balancing single parenthood, three jobs, and online courses, she doesn’t have the time anyway.

He didn’t date. Didn’t believe in tying himself down to only one person to touch and taste for the rest of his life. And then, this guy became the love interest because he's hot, so why not? I thought I was going to like him after putting her in her place, but oh my god. Sadly, I got so tired of the book that I stopped highlighting the toxic behavior and all the possessiveness. The author tried to make him all mysterious and a little grumpy, but he was just an asshole and didn't show personality throughout the entire book, he was just there. He also made some terrible assumptions about the protagonist at the beginning, about her being a gold digger (when she's far from it, working like three jobs and being a single mom) and never apologized for that. After just leaving a failed relationship, she's not looking to jump into another. But when he invites her home and offers her a deal, she can't help but accept. Speaking of algorhythms, I was almost expecting a recommendation for "Wait For It" by Zapata on my paperwhite at the end, this story is truly reminiscent of it, but nope.No, you won’t. From the sounds of it, you got nothing left in the tank. You’d just gag, and I gotta tell you, baby, gagging doesn’t bother me.” I probably would have enjoyed this book more if I didn’t notice that it felt way too similar to Wait For It by Mariana Zapata mixed with a bit of One Percent of You by Michelle Gross — and yes, obviously a lot of books can feel similar to each other, especially when you’re dealing with similar topics and tropes… but the amount of similarities I found between these three books were a bit much to seem coincidental and therefore it gave me a bad vibe. Careful,” I said, my voice muffled by the cushion smashed against my face. “You’re objectifying him.”