Liz Loves Books
I love to read and to talk about books. I review many of the books I read. I do not accept any author/publisher submissions for reviews. I do not read or review ARCs. I do not enter any giveaways or contests. I obtain the books I review by purchasing them at the same price they are offered to the general public at the time of purchase. My reviews are intended for the use of my fellow readers. They are not advertising or promotion. They are not beta reads or constructive criticism or editing or advice to the author. My only obligation to the author is to pay the price charged for the book at the time of purchase. My reviews are sometimes critical and I will not stop posting critical reviews just to spare delicate authors' feelings. I am happy to make new friends, but friend requests from authors or promoters who have few or no books (and/or friends) in common with me and write or promote categories I do not read (especially new adult) will be ignored. I used to read more self-published books. After recent meltdowns by self-published authors, I now only read self-published authors I've previously read or who have been recommended to me by fellow readers I trust. I also used to read young adult/new adult books but rarely do so now.
I wish I'd had a box of tissues handy while I read this book! It technically qualifies as a romance but the relationships are very complicated and messy. It has the necessary hea for the hero and heroine but all the characters go through a lot before they get there and I felt very sad for a lot of them at the end. The married brother is the villain but he's made his own life a living hell so I couldn't fell that negatively towards him. He was punishing himself enough for me. The writing is pretty terse for an HQ Superromance but I think the style fit the subject matter well. The hero is too good to be true and the heroine almost is as well. I still liked them but they didn't seem very real to me. It's a great book if you need other people's messes to make you feel better but probably not the best choice if you're looking for a feel-good romance. Just in case you want to be prepared for the hard parts ... The brother is a spoiled, bitter, miserable jerk. He resents the hero for a combination of being the older "golden boy" and for a horrible bike accident (that was really his own doing) that happened when they were kids. He is a liar and a (possibly serial) cheater and his life is fueled by bitter resentment. So he seduces and marries his brother's ex wife, gets her pregnant, goes on a business trip the next weekend and hooks up with the heroine (who was his high school girlfriend), gets her pregnant and then when the heroine shows up at big brother's trying to track him down, he lies and denies the heroine's baby is his and accuses her of blackmail. His wife figures out what happened and kicks him out, then he gets in a fight with the hero who breaks his arm. Days later he drives after ingesting a combination of pain killers and alcohol (after the hero took his car keys -- he had a hidden extra set), has a wreck and dies. We get his pov during the wreck and it helps a tiny bit but he still dies a jerk. This leaves two women pregnant with his child, two children who will never know their dad, the hero and villain's parents and the hero who feels partly responsible and got to listen to a horrible "I hate you and always have" speech on the night of the brother's death, just before he dug out his hidden key and drove off to his death. All grieving and horribly sad even though he was a jerk. I was actually more sad for him because he was a jerk.Oh and he was broke. Fortunately the wife has her own money from her family and the hero's going to take care of the heroine. After all that the "I love you"bits were pretty anticlamactic.