Warning: This rating is heavily biased because I am just so in love with this couple.
Things I blatantly Ignored:
*Typos
*The lack of editing.
*The cover of the book does not align with the hero’s description, like at all. The hero is a redhead with full sleeve tattoos on both arms. The guy on the cover has dark hair with a barbed wire tattoo (which is such a funny thing to see on a man, btw.)
*This book was self-published at it showed. Some self-published writers are fantastic and go the extra mile to hire great editors and cover artists. The devil is in the details and an expert set of eyes to read and reread the work is worth the cost because the benefits or return readership matter and at this point, I’m not sure I will be one.
Anyway....
This is a second-chance romance story between Gage and Claire. They dated for four months previously and have been separated for at least 6 months, if not more (the time lapse between book 1 and 2 is a little hazy). Gage works at the security firm, Titanium, and Claire works for the NSA. Gage and Claire were hot and heavy during their four months together. They were super in love and Gage bought a ring with the intention of proposing when Claire bails on him with a simple, "I can't do this anymore." Gage was destroyed by the breakup and never stopped loving Claire or wanting her back, which we see in Book 1.
Look, Claire’s reasons for ending the relationship were only partially legit. The reader learns her reasons for ending the relationship right at the beginning of the book. Claire has major fears relating to Gage’s job and not just for safety, but also for his mental health. Both Claire’s father and brother suffer from PTSD and Claire’s broken over the toll combat has taken on her loved ones. I absolutely feel like her fears hold weight. Not everyone is cutout to be married to a person in such a dangerous position.
Less legit reasons were as follows:
1. Claire says their age gap is an issue. They are separated by 12 years, with Gage being older. He’s 42 and Claire is 30. It’s not really clear why this bothers her. She knew his age from the get-go and it’s not like the gap is all that significant (not that I have issues with large age gaps, because I don’t. I have no problem with people dating whoever the hell they want to as long as it is legal and consensual). Also, I don’t think all age-gap relationship can be painted by one brush. A healthy relationship comes in all shapes and sizes and I stand by that in both fiction and real life.
2. Gage has a 14-year-old daughter and apparently that relationship is newly repaired (though, the author doesn’t give a lot of reasons as to why it was fractured in the first place, so I mentally block out the idea that Gage was a shit bag dad, because that seems totally unlike the character that was presented). Claire is nervous and hesitant about being a stepmom as there are lots of responsibilities and potential conflicts when taking on a step-parent role. That reasoning would make sense but it didn’t hold water in this case because Gage’s daughter loved Claire and got along with her great. If Gage's daughter hated Claire, I’d be more understanding of Claire’s reasons.
3. The last non-legit issue is the fact that Gage had a vasectomy before meeting Claire and says he can no longer have kids. Claire states she doesn’t know if she wants to give up on the idea of ever being a mother. I would totally respect her reasoning if the science was accurate. There is a procedure to reverse vasectomies, though I think the success rate varies (Google says 50-80%), but that’s not the only route to have kids. I feel like the author didn’t understand vasectomies and certainly didn’t research them because it’s not like a vasectomy removes the balls. Men who have vasectomies are most certainly still producing sperm. The tube in which those suckers travel is cut and burned, so sperm can't escape into the world. You can still retrieve sperm from a man via needle aspiration and do IVF. So the reason and the lack of logic really irritated me, especially since Claire was supposed to be smart.
**Also, not related to the reasons for breaking up, but later Gage and her are doing the deed and he asks her if she’s still on the pill and pulls out. There was zero discussion if either person had been with other people during their time apart and if condoms were needed. I feel like that was more pressing to discuss than a pregnancy that has something like a 1 in 10,000 chance of happening.
Anyway, all of the above make it sound like this book wasn’t good, but Gage is SOOOOOO desperately and totally in love with Claire, that I couldn't help but swoon over his devotion. I just love him and that made me rate this book higher. He’s now one of my favorite heroes. Also, I like Claire and I like Gage and Claire as a couple. They truly love one another and their path back together had a lot of touching moments.
I wanted more moments of Claire and Gage together and I would have preferred the author flesh out their relationship more (both past and present). The story itself was a little wobbly and I don’t think I’m going to continue with this series but may circle back to the author eventually.
Hero is 5 stars.
Story is 3ish.