Our paths were never supposed to cross, but they tangled irrevocably during those summer nights where we exchanged forevers and I love yous under the stars.
In secret.
He knew it had to be that way. Yet, he betrayed our relationship the moment he made it public. So I left him brokenhearted in order to save us both.
Years later, to help my family financially, I signed a six-month contract to perform within the Black Diamond Resort and Casino. It should be easy. But Dex Hardy is now the cold, ruthless billionaire tycoon who owns it. And he wants revenge.
When he finds out I have a ring on my finger, he makes his own deal with me: ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐โ๐บ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ถ๐บ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ. ๐ข๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐น๐๐ฒ. ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐บ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐรฉโฆ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐. ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ด๐ป๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ณ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ปโ๐ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐บโฆ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฑ๐ผ.
The problem with faking this engagement is Iโm starting to believe in forever with him. Yet, as more truths come to light, my fiancรฉ may never want that with me again.
Shain Rose is an author of Contemporary Romance and New Adult novels. She fights for love one word a time. Those happily ever afters can be difficult to get to sometimes!
When she isn't writing, she's spending the days with Doc G, Liv and Gray Gray, and their wild golden retriever. She and Doc G drink way too much coffee, eat way too much candy, and fight like they've been married for hmm how long has it been now?
Life is good when the kids are behaving.
On the off chance she's not writing or spending time with family and friends, she's calling them to talk. And if no one answers.... then she's reading and watching trashy TV.
This is one of the worst books Iโve ever read. And Iโve read The Trench (Meg #2).
My bar is never high for Shain Roseโs books. In fact, it is quite low. However, in the past, the books Iโve read by Rose have made up for their lack of quality with their entertainment value. This was not the case for Between Never and Forever.
This bookโs plot made no sense. The characters were unlikeable with confounding motivations. The time jumps were unnecessary. The writing was atrocious. It genuinely felt like Rose simply fed all her past books into an AI engine and gave it the prompt โdo this again.โ Even the spicy scenes were lacklustre and awkward compared to previous books in this series.
Iโm genuinely so disappointed in this book and I think it may have turned me off Shain Rose forever.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I didnโt think I could love another Hardy like I loved Dominic, and then SHAIN MOTHAFUCKIN ROSE HAD TO GO AND MAKE A CRAZIER CADE ARMANELLI. AND THE CAMEOS?!!???? THE CAMEOS. I wonโt be okay again until Iโm back in a world ruled by these people. Iโm anticipating a big ass book hangover, I canโtโ no one talk to me. ๐ญ 5/5โจ 9/10๐ถ๏ธ๐ฅ๐คค๐ฅต๐คญ
** I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Between never and forever, I have to go with neverโฆ
These two people have been friends for years, and have been in a past relationship, and yet their story was less romantic thanโฆI donโt know. Most things.
Honestly this author is such a hit or miss with me. I either love it, or I donโt like it at all.
Keelani was a bad person. There is no other way to put it. Dex was so sweet when they were young and wanted to love her openly, and she strung him along, hiding their relationship, and dating someone else publicly. Then, three years after they broke up she begs him to come back to her, and tries to guilt him into saying he loves her as much as she loves him. And I was enraged on his behalf when I realised nothing had changed. She was still going to have the public relationship with the other guy, and keep hiding Dex. Had this been reversed, everyone would talk about how she should know her worth, and not settle for being anyoneโs secret.
Now even though I liked Dex in the beginning, I did not like how he constantly used sex and other sexual activities to hurt her. To get her to beg for him only to shut her down, or to do it all without emotion. I donโt know how I feel about her being a virgin and him having all this experience. I guess I wish she had some experience herself, because the book created this picture of her saving herself for him whilst he was just living his life. And they were broken up for fifteen years. It would have been different had it only been five or something. But I hated how she lost her virginity. How she said โjust get it over with Dexโ, and how he tried to be sweet when he found out, when really he actually hated her, and she knew it, and we knew it. And it was just all wrong.
I didnโt understand why she needed to keep everything bad in her life a secret from Dex when the rest of his family knew about several of the problems she was dealing with, such as the stalker, and her moms diagnosis. He asked her several times to be honest, or just asked questions outright, and she was always evasive and tried to cover it up. It was like she wanted to create miscommunication.
And how dumb does one have to be to say their stalker is just a harmless fan MULTIPLE TIMES, when said stalker has snuck into your building several times, taking pictures and stealing lingerie to send it back to you?? If you want the answer, just look at Keelani. She said it was nothing, and it was harmless, and a dumb fan so many times I wanted to pull my own hair out. Said stalker ended up kidnapping her, and all I could think was โserved her rightโ.
And I hated how it felt like Keelani just needed all these problems and bad things to happen to her so Dex would feel bad for her, and think she was so strong, that he couldnโt possibly be mad at her any longer when she has been dealing with so much. Oh please. She was a doormat for her father and her record label her entire career. She said she needed to do this because she needed the money for her mother. Her best friend and his family are billionaireโs. If you are as miserable in your career as she was you take the offered help, or you ask for help, and you get a better deal, because the money she made with them was a lot less than she should have made. Dimitri would have helped her out of her situation in a heartbeat. And he would have given her the money she needed in a heartbeat. And he would have helped her get a better deal where she could have paid him back if that was important to her.
Nothing in this book made sense because nothing had to be the way it was. It was like they were all put in this position not because of real struggles, or tough to make choices, but because they had to be there for the story to play out.
The only reason it gets two stars is because I loved the small moments where the rest of the family was involved. Even though they werenโt really present at all until the 80% mark.
The first book in the series was okay, the second was amazing, this you donโt need to bother with.
I've been feral for this book. Absolutely feral and let me tell you it did not disappoint. The Hardy Brothers series hasn't let me down so far and I suspect that trend will continue onto what I can only assume will be Dimitri's book next! Out of the Hardy Brothers series this one stressed me out the most, as I was reading it, I was absolutely desperate for Keelani and Dex to make up. I kept waiting for him to come around and it was so stressful! I loved every minute of it. If you're new to Shain Rose- firstly this is the 3rd book, but if you're like me feel free to read things randomly out of order... I did start this series on the second book, but I was so sold on the title that I had to read it ASAP. Dex and Kee's story had it all: -Second Chance Romance -Forced Proximity -Marriage of Convenience Can I also add Tattooed bad boy to this list? That's a selling point all on its own for me. If you love Billionaire romance that is SPICY and a little dark (I said a little, because Dex is like a little unhinged for Keelani... he's got like not quite a red flag for me, but maybe an orange one) read this book. It's fabulous.
1.25 โญ I shouldn't have listened to that Instagram reel quote and read the book blindly I was literally 70 percent through the book and I dnf it
The FMC (that I immediately forgot her name after finishing the book) irritated me so much , she had no character. He literally humiliated her , told her he doesn't want her anymore, and was like " I need you , I love you, you are my whole life " ewwwww๐คข
And the WALKING RED FLAG MMC ( who i also forgot his name) . He literally doesn't love her , he was so toxic . All he had was physical attraction
And the book was also poorly written, had no plot, they were both yapping and repeating every sentence hundred times, and I was really bored most of it
The only thing that I liked was her friends, I really loved Dimitri, olive and pink
Wow. Iโm not 100% sure what I expected from Dex and Kee, but this blew me away. Dex is Cade-level crazy and Kee is a mix of wild and considerate.
As usual, the author creates this world of trauma and healing. There are elements we can all understand and resonate with, along with the billionaire lifestyle that most can only imagine. Shain Roseโs stories are always a wild ride that Iโm happy to climb aboard. My heart broke and soared for both of the characters.
Dex was this regimented, hard, protective, and passionate man. He was ruthless but giving at the same time.
Kee was a woman trapped by circumstances and loyalty. She had talent and drive, but was molded into something that drove her from the love her life. It was heartbreaking.
To see them come together and work through so much, it was amazing. I adored how when Dex decided he was all in on Kee, he didnโt waiver or prevaricate. He was clear and honest and did not hide his feelings behind a smoke screen to save his heart. It was magic!
I canโt wait to read more from this author!
I received an arc copy, and this is my honest review.
I started the book with too much expectations and the saying proved itself, expectations leads to disappointments. This book was actually a big disappointment for me.
I will give it only ๐๐โจ (2.5).
I had read the second book in the series BETWEEN LOVE AND LOATHING and had immensely enjoyed it.. But this one, no comparison at all. The book was too dramatic, full of clichรฉ, big egos and unrealistic settings.
Spoiler alert:
1. Dextan literally hung up on the US President to satiate his fiancรฉ, KEELANI and also PRESIDENT is calling him back and our dex still didn't felt the need to revert.
2. First time, the girl was a big bold RED FLAG. She said herself to be a doormat and she literally was. There was no spark or bone in her while our hero had too much ego. I was literally dragging myself to go through it.
3. Apparently, Dex has created some super hi-tech technology for security, which idk if will be available in the next 20 years but here we are on totally unrealistic scenes and he is using everything without any consent from heroine and as I said earlier, she is literally a doormat.
4. The end was so bad, her stalker was EZEKIEL. Like shit. And also, no drama no nothing. He was just there, a little deranged but still stuttering like an idiot in front of dex and guys, that's the so called STALKER of the heroine.
5. The biggest issue in the Book was I didn't understand the heroine's stupid mind. What the hell was she trying to prove? Listen to this, she is earning, she is (god knows why) asked by the company to be in a relationship with her fellow singer (when she is a singer herself) and also, her dad is a gambler who is laundering money but also loves her mother too much who is suffering from Alzheimer. He is using her money for her mother's treatment and gambling and she is left with nothing. She is close to zero bank balance. Then, her once-lover (who hates her too much bcz she broke his heart 15 years ago) asks her to get engage to him instead of her fellow singer (bcz her company wants it, literally for some publicity which I didn't understood 1 percent).
This book was literally just like this. No concrete agenda, no plan of action, the heroine was the biggest pushover and hero had ego of the PRESIDENT. But still, if I was able to go through the novel was because of DEX. The heroine had me on the verge of DNFing this book.
I hope the next book comes good in the series because only the SMUT can't get it on the top. SMUT at a point, was becoming too much and mostly unnecessary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I just miss the build up and angst books used to have. There was a random storyline at the beginning, then this big jump into the future and just like every other book right now the couple just living off of only insane sex, no character development, nothing. Authors need to stop thinking smut is the only thing a romance book needs.
Keelani and Dexโs story is one that spans years and one that is not easily put into words.
Their love wasnโt enough to save them in high school and when given the opportunity love might be the thing that breaks them when they are given a second chance. Keelani has secrets that were at the heart of driving them apart and now Dex had the opportunity to get the truth and he is not going to let anyone or anything get in their way again.
My poor heart was torn into shreds while reading this book because there was so much pain and yet Shain pieced it back together as Keelani and Dex found their way and started healing. It was so beautiful to see the fam rallying around each other and helping these two find their HEA.
Kee is a singer and a star. She signed with Trinity Enterprise when she was just 17 and they have owned her ever since. Kee's mom had a stroke and early onset alzheimers while her Dad was a gambler. They needed money to provide care to her mom so Kee kept entering bogus contract deals with her record label.
Kee grew up next to the Hardy brothers with Dimitri being her best friend and Dex being her first love. Everything changed after a night of drinking and they got into a car accident along with their friends Gabby and Kyle. Kyle died that night and Gabby was left in a coma. Kee was forced to walk way from Dex, flee to Nahville and enter a fictitious relationship with fellow singer Ethan.
Kee and Dex cross paths 3 years later, but nothing has changed and they again go their separate ways.
Now another 12 years later Kee is still with Trinity Enterprise, but the Hardy boys have all become moguls and are Billionaires. Dimitri gets Kee a 6 month lucrative contract to be the headliner at their Las Vegas Hotel.
Kee and Dex are one again forced together. Kee now enters a fake engagement with Ethan but Dex is having none of that and gets Kee and her label to agree to her being engaged to him instead.
Now this is where you lose me. They are finally together and we learn that Kee is a 32 year old virgin. I just can't with that. She says it's because it's always been Dex but 32 come on. Also why didn't she take control of her finances and continued to let her Dad handle things???
Thank you @netgalley and @pageandvine for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Between Never and Forever by @author.shainrose has some of my favorite tropes so I knew going into this one that I would love it! This is a marriage of convenience, forced proximity, second chance romance. Itโs emotional, STEAMY, and made me swoon! I love an alpha male thatโs protective and somewhat ruthless, so I fell hard for Dex Hardy FAST. Kee was great too, and her story is really powerful, but Dex just took me by the heart and SQUEEZED IT. I loved it! If youโre in the mood for a billionaire romance with all the feels and a hero that will make you drool, then read this one. You wonโt regret it!
๐ง๐ฅ๐ข๐ฃ๐๐ฆ โฅ Forbidden โฅ Age Gap โฅ Marriage of Convenience โฅ Forced Proximity โฅ Second Chance
Dex and Kee are absolutely amazing! This story captured my attention immediately! The back and forth with Dex and Kee kept me on the edge of my seat needing more the whole time i read the book! The fact that they loved each other so much but denied it so much had me wanting to grab them through the book and scream at them! Shain is an amazing author! All her work has proven this and Between Never and Forever shows it again! The fire between these two was written beautifully! I absolutely cannot wait to get a physical copy for my shelf! And now to wait for Shainโs next book. This will be so hard!
DNF 49% (195 Pages) This man pissed me off to no ends. Like this book will forever be never finished by me, I have more chemistry with cardboard than these 2 characters ever will. LIKE DUDE SAID HE SHOULD FRAME THE BLOODY SHEETS๐คฎ LIKE THAT AIN'T CUTE.
Shain Rose is a new to me author and now I want to read everything!
Keelani is a raising star in the music industry when at the age of 17 they send her away leaving her first love behind. We get to see them at 17 in their early twenties then in their early thirties where the book takes place. Dex is heartbroken and throws himself into a highly successful career in tech.
I love the way the second chance romance played out. Super steamy! I couldnโt put this one down.
If you have read Shainโs work before there will be a lot of characters you know.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
A second chance romance of epic love, angst, steam, heartbreak and happily ever after! A fake engagement with the most obsessed, sizzling hero! TOP READ of the year for me.
Dex and Kee suffered a trauma so life changing that I was crying very early on in the book. And how they broke up and dealt with their lives after was amazing. Shain Rose always does a great job with representing real issues and character growth. I loved seeing how Kee grew, how she confronted her father, how she learned to have a different type of relationship with her mother. My heart was broken and then mended while I read. I also appreciate, as always, the spice. That stage scene was HOT!
"We've always been together. Even when we weren't. And we always will be too Kee. I'm always going to protect you."
I absolutely LOVE the Hardy clan, but Dex is hands down, my favorite brother. His arrogance, possessiveness, protectiveness, loyalty, and love and just do something to me. And the words that come out of that mouth of his? ๐๐ฅต Whatever magic dust that was sprinkled into them during their conception needs to be replicated asap.
Dex and Kee's story in Between Never and Forever is inspiring. You really can make it out of any dark place you find yourself in as long as you're surrounded by the right people.
BNAF has fake engagement, second chance romance, possessive hero, tons of "MY wife" thrown in, billionaire, and mafia tie-ins from previous series. It can absolutely be read as a standalone, but you will get previous books semi-spoilers if you read out of order. Another absolutely amazing book by Shain is about to hit the market!
The relationship between Dex and Kee is so relatable and so beautifully wrote. The love and the insecurities. Shain Rose did it again!!!! I love that her books and her characters donโt fall into the same story lines just different characters. All her stories are different and beautifully written. I canโt wait for more!!! Olive and DimitriโฆBane and Pinkโฆ๐๐โค๏ธ
I think my expectations were just too high after the last two books. I really wanted to love Dex and Kees story from their build up in the last book but it just fell a tiny bit flat for me.
I wanted Keelani to stand up for herself against everyone who she let treat her like a doormat and it just never came.
Still definitely recommend the series though. Iโm excited for Dimitri and Olives story!
This book had me feeling all the feels, sad, happy, mad, ๐ฅต ๐ I loved that the spice was {chefs kiss} and I didnโt have to wait till the book was almost over for it ๐คฃ. I also enjoyed the certain level of suspense in the story. Keelani (Kee) and Dex were high school lovers. Kee is a rising musician whose parents are having money issues as well as her motherโs health issues. One night changed their lives forever forcing Kee to move out of state and break Dexโs heart. Even though she came back and tried to explain to him, he never wanted to hear it. Fast forward 12 years later and Kee is doing a residency at one of Dexโs hotels in Vegas. Keelani is set to get engaged and Dex cannot and will not stand for that in his casino! Will they realize how much they still truly love each other? Will Dex stop trying to torture Kee? Will Kee FINALLY tell Dex why she actually left him? Why she couldnโt be who she wanted to be and who he loved?
โEverything I wanted was you.โ ~ Keelani Hale
Canโt wait for the next Hardy brotherโs book! โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ๐ถ๏ธ
Dex and Keelani grew up together and due to singing career grew apart. She kept in touch with her best friend Dimitri. Dex and kee love story was always there but due to her career they has a lot to go through I love how dex pushes her get what she wants and how protective of her. She was only doing the contract do help her family out due to health issues with her mom.
Dex Hardy is her best friend's older brother. He was always her downfall and more importantly, he's forbidden. Keelani is working at a Hardy resort to pay for her mom's medical bills and take care of her family. But Dex isn't ready to forgive her for walking away.
When I say was absolutely FERALLLL for Dex Hardy, I'm not kidding. He is by far my fave Shain Rose character. This book made me cry because of how quickly I felt connected to these characters. It pulled me in from the beginning and I loved every second of this journey.
Shain nailed this story and the characters. With cameos of other characters, and an emotional journey for the two main characters, it was the perfect story.
Tropes: ๐งforbidden ๐งsecond chance ๐งbillionaire romance ๐งfamous pop star fmc ๐งforced proximity ๐งmarriage of convenience
This was so spicy!! The mouth on the mmc ๐ฎโ๐จ 5 stars for that alone tbh. I had a fantastic time reading this. Kee got on my damn nerves but I was entertained so I take it as a win.
I swear she does MMCs in a way that not many others can. I eat these men up..
Dex was so damn good. And I enjoyed Kee. But DEXXXXXX.
The book starts out heart wrenching from the jump and then Shain soothes that ache with some (okay a lot) chemistry filled back and forth lmao. But boy did they have chemistry. I was so hooked. I had to know what was happening. Every time I had to put this down, I was cranky lol
please read this. and everything else by Shain Rose
โYou gonna marry another man when you belong to me?โ
I had a lot of fun reading this book, the beginning was very angsty but the constant back and forth between Dex & Keelani was definitely entertaining. The story was addictive and Dex & Keelani had an insane amount of chemistry. I loved Dex and his possessiveness, he was sometimes a bit too much but he cared for and protected Keelani despite whatever happened between them in the past. I tried to like Keelani but she was too much of a pushover (which she admitted herself) and I just wanted her to take a stand for herself just once but she still remained a doormat and Dex did everything to keep her safe. If it wasn't for him and his brothers, maybe she still would've continued to live the miserable life that she was bound to. Her father also did not face any repercussions and he got off too easily in my opinion. If Keelani had a good character development, maybe I would've loved this book because half the problems in her life were a result of her senseless decisions. Dex was the only highlight of this book for me and the angst and pain that came with their story was too good. Also I loved all the scenes with the brothers and the entire family. They're the reason I can't get enough of this world and I can't wait to see what's in store for us next because I'm very excited for Dimitri's book! But overall, this book was a 3.75 star read for me.
I stopped 3 times, and trying to be kind, restarted hoping for it to improve. But after the 4th stop, I am DNF'ing this book at 27% (I really should have stopped at 8%).
The writing is abysmal.
The characters reasoning for their fake engagement is beyond unbelievable. The manager accepting the change in engagement to Dex with no fight back, when all her career Kee has been denied him is a joke and a flimsy plot.
Why was Dex branded a bad boy and outcast for saving his best friend instead of his recent GF? Who knows, because there is no explanation... again unbelievable and flimsy plot.
A spicy scene should never be written as "up, down, up, down. He kissed me softly. He fucked me slow." Boring boring boring. And why the frick would the virgin girl want to pick a chair over the bed for comfort, that's not an instinctual selection and so was just a lame way to point out Dex has a kinky sex chair.
I don't usually write a review if I don't like he book, but this one has me really annoyed and wondering WHY this has almost a 4* rating!