the main thing i took away from this book is the fact the hero wore red chinos on their first date. red chinos
that’s the lasting impression the hero had on me. while the heroine, Natalie, i liked a lot more. she was an amazing mother and was so devoted to her daughter, Tatum, that it made this soooo much more enjoyable to read. and Tatum was so stinking cute🥰
...and maybe im in the wrong, but i seriously wasn’t as mad as all the other characters bcos Natalie kept her daughter a secret from Alden? i mean, she’s been in love with him for years, he takes her virginity and then proceeds to not remember a thing, devastating her. then when she finds out she’s pregnant, she finds out Alden’s dating someone else (who he later moves to Europe with and proposes to her) so decides not to tell anyone out of humiliation for herself and then to protect Alden. she was 17 while he was 21... which is statutory rape if anyone found out. she was scared for him, as well as herself.
so, while her actions may not have been right, i really understood them and symptomised a lot with her. his reaction was pretty severe and i felt so bad for her. especially when her whole family kept reiterating how disappointed in her they were. she was a kid who made a mistake, with Alden living in Europe with his fiancé, Natalie couldn’t imagine him wanting anything to do with her🤷🏻♀️
again, maybe her actions weren’t right but i understood where she was coming from. it also probably helped me like Natalie more bcos Alden was an arse a lot of the time— he was rightfully blindsided, angry and hurt... but refused to see where Natalie was coming from. and the guy really took no responsibility for his own actions. like having sex with an underage girl while you’re so drunk, you have no recollection of the encounter... yeah, just stuff like that.
so my sympathy for him was minimal, especially when he said shit like “Get back to work. And Natalie, why don’t you button your shirt up a little more” in front for the whole kitchen staff of their workplace🥴 you best believe i would be PISSED.
and i didn’t understand... if Alden has had feelings for Natalie since she was sixteen... why tf did he get engaged to another woman, huh? he kept spouting on about how he’s always had feelings for her and now he’s was back in town, he wanted to act on them. so what about those years you were with another woman?? i– make it make sense bro.
i also have a physical aversion to romances where the MCs are parents and their kid is injured or sick... and the MCs have sex while their kid has spent the day suffering? like i wouldn’t take my eyes off my kid lol. sex would be the last thing on my mind. i know that’s a really specific qualm but this is the third book i have read where that happens and it never sits right with me ://// like their poor three year old broke her arm and had a traumatising af day... and your response when you finally get her home is for the hero to make you “feel good”??? weird, but okay, i guess.
id be at my kid’s bedside for as long as possible, but you do you.
so all in all, this was a quick cute read with two of my fave tropes.
side note:
and all the cool hairstyles the heroine could do on her daughters hair (like wtf even is a waterfall braid? it sounds cool af) made me low-key have a crisis for when i have my own kids bcos i am 21 and i cannot even braid my own hair never mind somebody else’s😒 the most complex i can manage it a ponytail🤪