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The Family Business #2
Man of Action
Once upon a time, Selena Martinez was a dreamer.
When she had one night with Tom Murray and fell pregnant, she thought maybe this was the start to her happily ever after—just like in her favorite romance novels. But then he told her to get lost, and she realized that life isn’t anything like a book.
Now, she knows her place. She’s meant to be in the background, never the main character, and she’s fine with it. She needs all of her energy to focus on raising her son, Max, without the man she once thought could be her hero.
When she runs into him again, and she doesn’t find the man who broke her heart. Instead, he’s caring and attentive—making her rethink everything she knew about him.
Tom Murray’s life is no fairy tale.
His only goal was to take down his father, but when he learns that the very woman who haunted his dreams for over a decade also ended up pregnant with his son, everything changes. Though he can’t remember anything after their one-night because of his overuse of alcohol, he knows he hurt a lot of people during those years. It seems Selena was another person to add to that list. He doesn’t know how, or even if, he can fix the many years he wasn’t around, but he can’t bear to let things go now that he knows about Max. He refuses to be like his father—who is the worst person he knows.
But Tom is his father’s favorite son—a testament to how horrible he used to be. Can he fix what he did, or will he make a bigger mess of things with the woman he let go?
Man of Action is a dual-POV, and the second book in The Family Business series, but can be read as a stand-alone book. This second chance romance features the grumpy/sunshine and the groveling trope. Spice and a happily ever after is guaranteed for the two leads!
When she had one night with Tom Murray and fell pregnant, she thought maybe this was the start to her happily ever after—just like in her favorite romance novels. But then he told her to get lost, and she realized that life isn’t anything like a book.
Now, she knows her place. She’s meant to be in the background, never the main character, and she’s fine with it. She needs all of her energy to focus on raising her son, Max, without the man she once thought could be her hero.
When she runs into him again, and she doesn’t find the man who broke her heart. Instead, he’s caring and attentive—making her rethink everything she knew about him.
Tom Murray’s life is no fairy tale.
His only goal was to take down his father, but when he learns that the very woman who haunted his dreams for over a decade also ended up pregnant with his son, everything changes. Though he can’t remember anything after their one-night because of his overuse of alcohol, he knows he hurt a lot of people during those years. It seems Selena was another person to add to that list. He doesn’t know how, or even if, he can fix the many years he wasn’t around, but he can’t bear to let things go now that he knows about Max. He refuses to be like his father—who is the worst person he knows.
But Tom is his father’s favorite son—a testament to how horrible he used to be. Can he fix what he did, or will he make a bigger mess of things with the woman he let go?
Man of Action is a dual-POV, and the second book in The Family Business series, but can be read as a stand-alone book. This second chance romance features the grumpy/sunshine and the groveling trope. Spice and a happily ever after is guaranteed for the two leads!
360 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 13, 2024
942 people are currently reading
4221 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 203 reviews
April 20, 2024
The story is ok but the writing is so bland, I almost fell asleep while reading. And the adults are not mature enough.
September 7, 2024
Kiss of death: BORING
DNF I think as there is no chemistry between the H and h. Individually they are boring and together they are boring.
The h is just so passive and blah, and we're told the H is an alcoholic with a penchant for ONS but he's as bland as she is. I'm at pretty much the halfway point, and the evil father is still off page. Authors, if you are going to have unoffensive main characters with little personality then you need to bring in an evil OW or in the case the evil and manipulative father to spice things up. Hearing about bad behavior from others isn't enough.
Premise/plot: H and h have a ONS that she has to leave right after...to study I think. She emails the H for heaven's sake and gets a kiss off threatening email back and a payoff.
Thank the gods of heredity because when they meet up again 12 years later the son and H have the same green eyes.
P.S. Scratch DNF...read the rest.
DNF I think as there is no chemistry between the H and h. Individually they are boring and together they are boring.
The h is just so passive and blah, and we're told the H is an alcoholic with a penchant for ONS but he's as bland as she is. I'm at pretty much the halfway point, and the evil father is still off page. Authors, if you are going to have unoffensive main characters with little personality then you need to bring in an evil OW or in the case the evil and manipulative father to spice things up. Hearing about bad behavior from others isn't enough.
Premise/plot: H and h have a ONS that she has to leave right after...to study I think. She emails the H for heaven's sake and gets a kiss off threatening email back and a payoff.
Thank the gods of heredity because when they meet up again 12 years later the son and H have the same green eyes.
P.S. Scratch DNF...read the rest.
Read
April 18, 2024I'm at 21% and im just reading this to read something and that's not what I want 😐
She's a romance book fan and shes drawing a picture of him when he comes into the coffee shop shes at in college. They go back to his room and he's stinking drunk and when they have (with a condom), she finds out shes pregnant. When she emails him to tell him, he writes back saying hell give her money to "take care of it" and not ever talk to him again.
They just SO HAPPEN to bump into each other on the muther effing STREET and he sees the same green eyes he has and knows its his kid. Hes sober now and he steps up to take care of his kid. Wow. Good for you Paying for your kids TI-84 and some socks 😐
He's at a dinner with max the kid and Selena the h and he's struggling to get through the meal without drinking alcohol. And honestly? I want the guys obsession to be on the girl, not wanting a drink so bad to get through the dinner.
Dnf. Maybe ill come back to it, maybe I won't but at this point, theres nothing here that makes me want to open and read this book anymore 🤷🤷
She's a romance book fan and shes drawing a picture of him when he comes into the coffee shop shes at in college. They go back to his room and he's stinking drunk and when they have (with a condom), she finds out shes pregnant. When she emails him to tell him, he writes back saying hell give her money to "take care of it" and not ever talk to him again.
They just SO HAPPEN to bump into each other on the muther effing STREET and he sees the same green eyes he has and knows its his kid. Hes sober now and he steps up to take care of his kid. Wow. Good for you Paying for your kids TI-84 and some socks 😐
He's at a dinner with max the kid and Selena the h and he's struggling to get through the meal without drinking alcohol. And honestly? I want the guys obsession to be on the girl, not wanting a drink so bad to get through the dinner.
Dnf. Maybe ill come back to it, maybe I won't but at this point, theres nothing here that makes me want to open and read this book anymore 🤷🤷
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2024
This should’ve been wayy more angsty and depressing than it was. How are you gonna have so many depressing tropes like that and I’m still bored? Where’s the emotion? Where’s the anger? It’s not here. Also this whole miscommunication trope with the “I had no idea you were pregnant with my child. The email you sent to me was replied by someone else” does not work for everyone. Take some lessons from my girl Elsie bc she did it right.
xoxo
I’m bored to death
xoxo
I’m bored to death
June 9, 2025
cute but nothing crazy. after seeing huda (single mom) crash out on national television (love island) over a man that she met not four days ago, seeing selena with a nice clear head was a breath of fresh air. also good on her for accepting his monetary support (to a certain extent) because i hate it when women are all like "nooooo i actually dont want the four million dollars you zelled me :(((( i am an independent woman and now im mad at you for paying down my student loans >:/" like shut the fuck up, sit down, and take his money. you're too broke to be acting like that.
anyways! super cute! 3 stars because i am writing this review 7 hours after i finish reading this book and i had to think really hard about selena and tom's names.
anyways! super cute! 3 stars because i am writing this review 7 hours after i finish reading this book and i had to think really hard about selena and tom's names.
July 8, 2024
It was okay, it was super predictable. I wish there was more actual romance and connection between the two main characters. It was just kinda bland.
May 22, 2024
4,5 ster
August 28, 2024
Tiktok failed me! I got this book because of a clip I saw on Tiktok and it taught me not to trust Tiktok anymore.
I DNF’ed at 15% and I think even that was too much. I don’t even know what happened. There’s no character development, no rising action nothing.
This girl kept rambling about being in the background and not being the main character in her own story, like OK LADY WE GOT IT! She loses her virginity to a guy she exhanges maybe 10 sentences with just because he likes her drawing. Then the biggest time lapse I’ve ever seen happens and it’s 12 years later. She sees the guy at a park, they talk maybe for 5 minutes, then he gives her a black AmEx for “missing 11 years of his son’s life” and she’s like “ok cool I’ll take it”. WTF!
He literally only says “I’m so sorry” like he accidentally spilled coffee on her shirt and not knocked her up and told her to get lost after, and she’s sooo impressed with it she swoons. Ugh🤮
Honestly, the worst part about this is I think the story had soo much potential, it could’ve been a heartstopper but the writing was just so bland and infuriating that I couldn’t handle it.
Anyway, maybe there are people who will like this sort of thing but clearly it’s not for me. Good luck to anyone who buys this book. You’ll need it.
I DNF’ed at 15% and I think even that was too much. I don’t even know what happened. There’s no character development, no rising action nothing.
This girl kept rambling about being in the background and not being the main character in her own story, like OK LADY WE GOT IT! She loses her virginity to a guy she exhanges maybe 10 sentences with just because he likes her drawing. Then the biggest time lapse I’ve ever seen happens and it’s 12 years later. She sees the guy at a park, they talk maybe for 5 minutes, then he gives her a black AmEx for “missing 11 years of his son’s life” and she’s like “ok cool I’ll take it”. WTF!
He literally only says “I’m so sorry” like he accidentally spilled coffee on her shirt and not knocked her up and told her to get lost after, and she’s sooo impressed with it she swoons. Ugh🤮
Honestly, the worst part about this is I think the story had soo much potential, it could’ve been a heartstopper but the writing was just so bland and infuriating that I couldn’t handle it.
Anyway, maybe there are people who will like this sort of thing but clearly it’s not for me. Good luck to anyone who buys this book. You’ll need it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2025
boring, a hallmark movie in a book form
May 22, 2024
Boo this book
January 25, 2025
this is so like 2017 writing core
April 13, 2024
e-ARC Read - Thank you Elle for the opportunity to read early!
Completely honest review below - attempted to be spoiler free!
4 stars
What You Get
• second chance
• secret kid
• slow burn
• groveling
• overcoming toxic family trauma
• sweet fmc
• protective mmc
• sobriety journey
• auDHD representation
Spice Level
🌶️Low — a few open door intimate scenes
"Man of Action" picks up after the revelation at the end of book one ("Forces of Nature") with Tom finding out he has an almost 12yr old son from a one night stand in college. As the story progresses, we get Tom and Selena reconnecting, Max and Tom bonding, and Selena trying to figure out her feelings for Tom and how/if he should fit in her and Max’s life — and in my opinion it all felt so genuine.
Much like "Forces of Nature", this book is less focused on a heavy romance, and more on the personal journey each main character goes through. Throughout the story, we get Tom’s POV as he is trying to fix his asshole of a father's mistakes, deal with his own self-doubt, and maintain his fragile sobriety. On the other side, we have Selena’s POV as a single mom desperately trying to get by while still wanting to chase her dreams, dealing with an overbearing mom and chaos personified sister, and now reconnecting with the man she's both hated and yearned for over the past twelve years.
While the romance might be second to the characters' individual and intertwining journeys, the connection between Tom and Selena was sweet and felt so natural. I loved how much Tom wanted to make sure Selena was always treated the absolute best with love and adoration.
What endeared me to Tom, early on, was how quickly he jumped into action to be there for and provide for Selena & Max in whatever way they were comfortable with. & his groveling was top tier imo! At the end of the day, he just wanted the chance to get to know his son and make Max and Selena's life a little easier (what they deserved). My heart broke for Tom with his low self worth that stemmed from being raised by emotionally toxic parents; but I loved how Selena was able to reassure him and show him the love and understanding he needed.
As for Selena - her soft, caring, and forgiving personality was like a breath of fresh air. I also found myself relating to her in so many ways!
I truly love the way Elle tells the stories of her characters. It's honest, raw, realistic, and relatable. The ongoing theme of having your eyes opened to the fact that you've been experiencing family trauma your entire life and that you don't have to be perfect to be loved or to have someone tell you their proud of you, makes this series an emotional and therapeutic one for me. The things we come to realize, the older we get, about how our parents raised us can definitely shift our center of gravity!
While technically this series is set to be three standalone books - this is one of the rare times I will highly suggest reading in order. The first book sets up the backstory for the toxic family trauma each of the Murray siblings eventually work to overcome and I think you'll have a much stronger connection to Tom and his internal struggles if you read "Forces of Nature" first.
Again, thank you so much to the author for the e-ARC opportunity and I cannot wait for the third book!
Completely honest review below - attempted to be spoiler free!
4 stars
What You Get
• second chance
• secret kid
• slow burn
• groveling
• overcoming toxic family trauma
• sweet fmc
• protective mmc
• sobriety journey
• auDHD representation
Spice Level
🌶️Low — a few open door intimate scenes
"Man of Action" picks up after the revelation at the end of book one ("Forces of Nature") with Tom finding out he has an almost 12yr old son from a one night stand in college. As the story progresses, we get Tom and Selena reconnecting, Max and Tom bonding, and Selena trying to figure out her feelings for Tom and how/if he should fit in her and Max’s life — and in my opinion it all felt so genuine.
Much like "Forces of Nature", this book is less focused on a heavy romance, and more on the personal journey each main character goes through. Throughout the story, we get Tom’s POV as he is trying to fix his asshole of a father's mistakes, deal with his own self-doubt, and maintain his fragile sobriety. On the other side, we have Selena’s POV as a single mom desperately trying to get by while still wanting to chase her dreams, dealing with an overbearing mom and chaos personified sister, and now reconnecting with the man she's both hated and yearned for over the past twelve years.
While the romance might be second to the characters' individual and intertwining journeys, the connection between Tom and Selena was sweet and felt so natural. I loved how much Tom wanted to make sure Selena was always treated the absolute best with love and adoration.
What endeared me to Tom, early on, was how quickly he jumped into action to be there for and provide for Selena & Max in whatever way they were comfortable with. & his groveling was top tier imo! At the end of the day, he just wanted the chance to get to know his son and make Max and Selena's life a little easier (what they deserved). My heart broke for Tom with his low self worth that stemmed from being raised by emotionally toxic parents; but I loved how Selena was able to reassure him and show him the love and understanding he needed.
As for Selena - her soft, caring, and forgiving personality was like a breath of fresh air. I also found myself relating to her in so many ways!
I truly love the way Elle tells the stories of her characters. It's honest, raw, realistic, and relatable. The ongoing theme of having your eyes opened to the fact that you've been experiencing family trauma your entire life and that you don't have to be perfect to be loved or to have someone tell you their proud of you, makes this series an emotional and therapeutic one for me. The things we come to realize, the older we get, about how our parents raised us can definitely shift our center of gravity!
While technically this series is set to be three standalone books - this is one of the rare times I will highly suggest reading in order. The first book sets up the backstory for the toxic family trauma each of the Murray siblings eventually work to overcome and I think you'll have a much stronger connection to Tom and his internal struggles if you read "Forces of Nature" first.
Again, thank you so much to the author for the e-ARC opportunity and I cannot wait for the third book!
April 15, 2024
Elle Rivers, the woman you are.
What would I give to join your arc team or even have a conversation with you?
I have loved Elles' books for a while because they just know how to hit me in the feels but in the best kind of way.
This book really had it all; it felt as though it had been made for me!
As an autistic person, I just felt seen by not one but TWO of these characters. They also had a flipping cat y'all.... that's literally me right there.
I love the secret baby/second chance intertwined trope books, even though I hold a grudge and am a lesbian. This was one of the best renditions of the trope I have ever read!
It was so cute, and the groveling was SO GOOD!! Tom was able to pick up on so many little things that just made him the perfect.... zaddy.
Y'all... he begged... ON HIS KNEES!!! (again, I am a lesbian)
It was easy to connect to their son, and I felt so seen, so thank you, Elle.
5/5 Stars
What would I give to join your arc team or even have a conversation with you?
I have loved Elles' books for a while because they just know how to hit me in the feels but in the best kind of way.
This book really had it all; it felt as though it had been made for me!
As an autistic person, I just felt seen by not one but TWO of these characters. They also had a flipping cat y'all.... that's literally me right there.
I love the secret baby/second chance intertwined trope books, even though I hold a grudge and am a lesbian. This was one of the best renditions of the trope I have ever read!
It was so cute, and the groveling was SO GOOD!! Tom was able to pick up on so many little things that just made him the perfect.... zaddy.
Y'all... he begged... ON HIS KNEES!!! (again, I am a lesbian)
It was easy to connect to their son, and I felt so seen, so thank you, Elle.
5/5 Stars
March 17, 2025
the plot line was interesting enough if not a bit predictable, but the dialogue through the book was a bit bland and felt seriously awkward in some parts, i know that was the characters brand and what not but it was painful sometimes. Has the concept of alluding been taken out of the education system?? This is not just a problem i’ve noticed in this book but most new books i read these days are all overly literal in their dialogue and descriptions. Like please leave something to the imagination, give me context clues to figure it out not everything needs to be so literal #bringbackmetaphors2025.
April 6, 2024
I bought this book off of TikTok because I saw the author giving a little snippet of what it was about and before the video was even finished I bought it. I was not disappointed, I finished it in a day! Such a sweet story I loved the relationship between Max and Selena even though he’s eleven he wants to take care of his mom. It deals with anxiety, alcoholism, autism, I would also mental child abușe. So definitely keep that in mind if you want to read.
I will absolutely be reading another book by this author I already ordered more! 🙃
I will absolutely be reading another book by this author I already ordered more! 🙃
January 26, 2025
Me ha gustado mucho aunque es verdad que este libro, si no te lees forces of nature antes, pierde muchísima profundidad.
Tom un poco penas, sí, abandonaste a tu hijo, ya te hemos oído, por favor deja la fiesta de la vergüenza un rato.
La representación de personajes autistas me ha gustado mucho y creo que esta bastante bien hecha.
Me ha gustado mucho volver a leer a Ruth 🩷 aunque haya sido como personaje secundario esta vez.
Tal vez le daría un tres con cinco si goodreads me dejara.
Una lectura rapidita y disfrutada.
Tom un poco penas, sí, abandonaste a tu hijo, ya te hemos oído, por favor deja la fiesta de la vergüenza un rato.
La representación de personajes autistas me ha gustado mucho y creo que esta bastante bien hecha.
Me ha gustado mucho volver a leer a Ruth 🩷 aunque haya sido como personaje secundario esta vez.
Tal vez le daría un tres con cinco si goodreads me dejara.
Una lectura rapidita y disfrutada.
May 24, 2024
Não me julguem 😂😂😂😂
Adorei a minha primeira história de secret pregnancy ☺️☺️ agora tenho de ver se existem as histórias das outras personagens porque isto ficou num cliffhanger sobre a relação do irmão do mmc 😂😂😂
Recomendo muito! 🥰
Adorei a minha primeira história de secret pregnancy ☺️☺️ agora tenho de ver se existem as histórias das outras personagens porque isto ficou num cliffhanger sobre a relação do irmão do mmc 😂😂😂
Recomendo muito! 🥰
April 13, 2024
I love this broken little family….deeply
April 15, 2024
3.7 🌟
Definitely enjoyed this more then the first in this series. 🫶💓 Great book!
Definitely enjoyed this more then the first in this series. 🫶💓 Great book!
July 9, 2024
the mfc was boring and the mmc was also boring but the family dynamics were juicy
December 30, 2024
3.5 this was a really nice easy read AND he bought her a library wtf
Read
April 18, 2025DNF this is soooo boooriiiiiing
June 14, 2025
so uh i'm pretty sure this is........ai😀
October 4, 2024
This was the best book I’ve read in a while. I need to own this physically asap.
June 5, 2025
this was a very good slay!! lower stakes, just pure romantic vibes, and i loved the autism rep :)
February 26, 2025
gostei muito da história mas achei os personagens meio burros
April 28, 2025
First few chapters and already she’s thawing out. Weak as fuck. Her taking him up on his offer for help wasn’t for her son’s benefit but because she wanted to prove he was a good man so she felt good about how spineless she is. Don’t waste your time with this. I was done by the end of the second chapter.
May 7, 2025
yo sabíaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
April 27, 2025
Some people simply shouldn't write books.
Didn't even check when I dnf. No build up, no chemistry, same old repetitive plot, not worth spending money, felt like a book written by 15 year old.
Didn't even check when I dnf. No build up, no chemistry, same old repetitive plot, not worth spending money, felt like a book written by 15 year old.
May 16, 2025
This book was so badly written that I wanted to drive into a wall or find some other way to kms. 1,5 stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 203 reviews