Romance Books Reviews & Treats

25yo heroine walked out on her husband & their newly-born son & left them with a terse note 2 years ago. She accidentally meets both of them again the day that she came back to London to meet with her lawyer so she could re-establish contact with her son. Hero is suspicious and scornful about heroine’s real intentions regarding their son. He accepts her request for time spent with their son but is frank about what he thinks of her. She does her best to focus on her son & tries to steel herself from Hero’s harsh words against her. Her attempts at explaining herself is met with repeated rejection & resistance. Their close proximity fires up their still-fiery sexual chemistry & they end up sleeping together. Hero attributes his lack of control as her scheming to seduce him. But there are things about her that don’t add up to his view of her as a manipulative & gold-digging pretender. How will he react when he finally listens to what happened to make her leave him & their son 2 years ago?

An angsty book. Green’s emotionally-laden writing gripped my focus throughout the book. I was caught up with the emotional betrayal Hero was constantly heaping on heroine because he was ignorant of what she’s been through in the past 2 years. I felt the sexual tension & heavy emotional undercurrents between the two. The buildup was great. The ending was satisfying. Groveling wasn’t required. Hero’s earth-shattering realization of how very wrong his judgments were about heroine & his consequent action to right his wrong towards her were fitting.

---------------------------------------------SPOILERS: Don’t read if you don’t want to know the book’s details---------------------------------------------------------

We’re not told that she had cancer & had various treatments for it until about 2/3s of the book. But it’s greatly hinted at that it was something major to make her sacrifice being with her beloved husband & newborn son. Others might think she’s a doormat but I didn’t think so. Heroine was socially awkward, quiet, & knew what she wanted. She married Hero knowing that he was marrying her for her social status. She was hopeful that more could come out of it if she tried. It seemed like it did, based on his responses towards her when they were together. But overhearing his harsh words about his lack of feelings for her to his sister just happened to coincide with her learning about her cancer diagnosis when she was 7 months pregnant. It felt like a betrayal when he rejected her repeated attempts to inform him of what she went through. I understood his resentment & hostility. And I understood her backing down on his clear objections on hearing what she was trying to explain. Hearing that nothing she could say would excuse or change his mind about her was a clear enough statement. She didn’t want to jeopardize her new relationship with her son. She did try again at other times with similar results. When he was finally amenable to listening to her, she told him about her cancer diagnosis, consequent infections, & treatments for them. She withheld details about the pain & anguish she went through. He only got this information when he talked to her doctor. Heroine wasn’t trying to manipulate Hero to feel sorry for & obligated to her. She wanted him to love her for herself.

I loved how Hero began with intentions to marry her for business reasons only but ended up falling in love with her in their 9 months or so together. So his deep resentment & hatred towards her when they were reunited made sense. He was a prideful & controlled man who felt duped by heroine. He thought she was one way but, her note & leaving him & their baby for 3 years without any other communication, made her appear like an irresponsible pleasure-seeker & gold-digging schemer. Yet he stayed celibate during their 2-year estrangement. No other woman (and there were many willing) appealed to him. He channeled his energies towards work & parenting their son. His disparaging judgment of her was warranted & his actions were that of a protective father. The truth shook him to the core. And it didn’t take him long to amend his mistake.

Highly recommended.