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The Yearbook #3

Most Likely to Doubt Love

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*** Previously published as Most Likely to... Doubt Love (2022) by Mary Waterford. This Second Edition has been extensively revised and expanded from the original novella. ***

Cam Rockford is the definition of grumpy. He eats cereal from the box, glares at his lawn like it personally offended him, and has perfected the art of one word answers.

He's also a devoted single dad, and my frustratingly gorgeous neighbor who just fixed my flat tire without being asked.Now I owe him. That debt turns into babysitting his two adorable daughters while he works late.

It's supposed to be temporary. Professional. A bit of extra cash to pay for my art classes.

Except he keeps looking at me like I'm the answer to a question he's too afraid to ask.

And when he catches me at my lowest, when I'm shattered and gasping for air, he doesn't run. He holds me together with
those rough, capable hands and whispers that he's got me.

When Cam Rockford falls, he falls hard, and he's determined to show me that I'm worthy of a love that doesn't flinch.

But can a former beauty queen with a traumatic past really build a future with the grumpy single dad next door?

Narcissistic parenting and past self-harm (scarring) by FMC

409 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2026

536 people are currently reading
603 people want to read

About the author

Mary Waterford

31 books149 followers

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5 stars
592 (47%)
4 stars
425 (34%)
3 stars
190 (15%)
2 stars
29 (2%)
1 star
7 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
Profile Image for Katie.
44 reviews
Read
January 29, 2026
SPOILER WARNING!!!!!


I don't like the single-parent trope but I somehow found myself going in blind without reading the blurb (LOL) so it wasn't surprising that this would not be my cup of tea, but nevertheless I stumbled through it.

Anyway, this is a story about a rich divorced ML with 2 little girls raising them in a plain suburban town & home next door to FL who is a 28 year old part time Assistant and part time Artist/painter- wannabe with trauma issues.

ML's family is in the moving-home industry. He had married a gorgeous & business savvy online influencer OW and they were happy for several years until the kids came along and he no longer wanted to live the high life but raise them in a normal home like he & his siblings were raised which made OW unhappy and their marriage crash & burn so they now share custody and he is not looking at starting up another relationship due to his failed marriage.

FL has trauma & parents issues because her Mother forced her to attend beauty contests when she was a child and she did not have a normal childhood growing up. When she did not win or do as she was told, her Mother would punish her by locking her up in the Shed with no food or water for hours and would monitor her diet, etc. So when she was a teen, depression sunk in and she one day slashed herself in the chest and torso with a knife as a cry for help. This left her with scars on her body that a former BF was repulsed by and now she has intimacy issues because of it.

Anyway, there is not much angst here other than FL pushing ML away constantly for a good portion of the story because she is insecure about her body & afraid of getting rejected again. When they finally do cross the line, it's sex scene after sex scene as filler pages.

The kids play a major role in this as they are in every chapter and have a sweet relationship with FL. The OW is not a problem as she only shows up once or twice and has not anything bad to say to or about FL. The ML is supportive & patient but FL tested my patience with her hot & cold attitude and pulling away. The "trauma" was also glanced over quickly with no true resolution or satisfaction.

So all in all, it wasn't a bad read but it wasn't anything good either that kept my interest. Plus, as I mentioned, I loathe fictional romances that have kids that are not with the main MCs that we are reading about but with OP. In this case, it felt more like ML had his big love and all his firsts with the OW and just settled for the FL.

SAFETY:

No cheating
NO OW/OM drama or intimate scenes
FL said she had one sexual relationship when she was 21 and celibate since then
ML was married and no info about any others.
HEA with epilogue of proposal
Profile Image for Melissa Briggs.
176 reviews2 followers
March 5, 2026
I quite enjoyed this. The characters were likeable. MMC was a grumpy to hero. The FMC was likeable and her trauma was realistic. The story wasn’t too cheesy and the spice was pretty good. No drama or miscommunication between the couple and she stood strong when confronting her trauma.
Profile Image for Sara Vaughan.
42 reviews
February 6, 2026
Great book but I feel like it dragged on for some of the parts and it felt like something was missing

Cam - single dad, loving really hits you in the feels
Profile Image for Michelle.
4 reviews
February 16, 2026
This book would have been a 4 or 4.5 for me but the scholarship thing irritated me so much it landed at a 3. Why not leave it as it was? Emily's character has doubted her talents forever. Being told "oh you won after all" after having a complete mental breakdown should have caused her some doubt. Based on who she was as a character, she should have been suspicious that the only reason she was awarded the scholarship is because her friend thought she was broken and asked her husband to fix it. It makes no sense at all for this character to just accept the fact she actually won. She would have been internally questioning that for the rest of her life because that's how her mind works. She would have told herself she didn't really deserve it because she only got it because she fell apart and her friend felt sorry for her. You can't spend an entire book telling us who a character is and then just abandon it because you want everything to come up roses for her. The book would have been better if she'd lost the scholarship and learned how to move on from that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nic Sosa.
249 reviews1 follower
February 3, 2026
Cam and Emily
Love their story, Ems past and the way Cam take care of her
I always loved a single dads love story
❤️
Profile Image for Angela Taylor.
Author 5 books221 followers
February 4, 2026
I really enjoyed this installment in the Yearbook series, and it probably has one of the sweetest MMCs ever. Cam is everything you’d hope for in a boyfriend, and exactly what Emily needed. Sweet, patient, understanding…he’s careful with her and lets her go at her own pace. He allows her to come to him on her terms.

Emily is strong, but broken. She’s been dealt a lot of bad cards in her life, but is still standing. I think her situation and emotions were handled well by the author. Honest, raw, emotional and touching = all the feels.

As far as their physical relationship goes, it was steamy, but didn’t feel rushed or skeezy. It was treated as something sacred and reverent. Kudos on Cam for steering it in that direction.

I love that his family is a foil for hers, and turns out to be the perfect surrogate. And Cam’s kids and their antics were cute and entertaining, rather than the opposite where you can’t wait to get past their scenes.

I’m so sad I have to wait a year for the next book in the series.
Profile Image for Jessica Tittermary Culp.
80 reviews1 follower
February 3, 2026
beautiful story of love and acceptance

Can and Emily’s story was a beautiful mesh of broken Indians finding love and acceptance with each other. Emily broken by her childhood and dismissal’s from her family never felt good enough. She would suffer silently, never showing her scars, both figurative and literal.

Cam is a single dad trying to raise 2 girls with their mother who has totally different values. He’s a grump shielding himself from hurt again since he failed once at marriage.

Cam was a MMC DREAM - supportive, loving, protective, nonjudgmental and dominant. Watching him care for Emily and be that rock she never thought she had was beautiful to see. Ans I was so happy there wasn’t a 3rd act break-up, just a momentary blip for a chapter which I think for the story and spoke to the dedication of the characters.

My first read from this author hit definitely not my last.
Profile Image for Buffin.
217 reviews
February 22, 2026
3.25 stars.

This book had me until about 50%, and then it just...fell a little flat. The plot was formulaic, and while it wasn't bad, per se, it just wasn't great. Cam and Emily had really good chemistry and then it's like all the spark fizzled. The kids were actually pretty great, they felt like appropriately aged characters.

I actually would have rated it a smidge higher if things didn't wrap up quite so perfect. I think the scholarship decision should have stayed as it was-there was no reason for the fraud/mix-up and now all of a sudden she wins. It was a wasted plot element, and while it didn't add much to the overall length of the book (because there was no mention of it anywhere else in the book to hint at the possibility), it just left a sour taste in my mouth.

This book was fun in the moment-ish, I guess. I don't regret reading it, but I'm not jumping up and down in excitement.
768 reviews2 followers
February 17, 2026
Super sweet and full of deep feelings.

I fell in love with the blurb and picked it up the same day, devoured it in two.

These characters have such depth, trauma, and so much love still to give.

Plus I loved how this is a single parent story and the kids aren’t a side note. They are very much front and center and they play a huge part in how the plot moves.

I also absolutely loved and cannot get over how well Cam took care of Emily during her mental crisis moments. He was there, didn’t push, just existing and holding her. Absolutely well done and perfect.

Definitely interested in the rest of the girls stories. It was incredible to see such a strong and large friend group coming together for the good and bad.
36 reviews
March 13, 2026
Very disappointing

The first third of this story, and it was great, I ! The girls, especially Alice cracked me up. Excellent story. And then it changed. It went from excellent to triple x porn and stayed that way for 20 skimmed pages! The remainder of the story was likewise. A few pages of actual storyline and then more sex, running into bondage and all kinds of crap. I will NEVER read another story by this woman. The initial story line was excellent and then it imploded on itself!! Great authors do not need smut and pornography to have a great story. Since probably 2/3 of this was pornographic, and I skipped over, I will not waste my time on any more of this author's work.
Profile Image for Michelle.
580 reviews8 followers
January 27, 2026
2.5 stars. Did I miss something? This book jumped into the story in a way that felt like chapters were missing. Then chapters would continue where others left off, and then others would jump forward in a way that didn't make it clear.

I liked Cam, Audrey, and Alice. I did not live Emily (FMC) which made it super hard to get into the story. Also, I'm all for ropes but am I really supposed to believe someone with Emily's trauma would be into that?

Overall, this book felt disjointed and didn't flow well, and while I loved Cam, I didn't love Emily and I didn't really love them together.

As always, YMMV.
Profile Image for Fiction Majorette.
605 reviews7 followers
March 15, 2026
This book had the perfect balance between cute contemporary romance while also handling some quite serious topics with care. The kids in the book were adorable and I liked that they had their own mini-plot line going on that was resolved by the end of the read instead of just being used as plot pawns for our main couple. I really enjoyed the slow-ish burn between our MCs where there was a little bit of insecurity on both of their parts but once they finally went all in, they were in it together for the long haul.

Full thoughts: https://fictionmajorette.blogspot.com...
Profile Image for Kimberly Travis.
23 reviews
January 28, 2026
oh my

This book! I have laughed, cried, been so worried and extremely happy all in the day it took me to read this because I absolutely could not put it down. I had to obsessively read every word today! I loved this book and these characters so much - Emily with her history and anxiety, Cam for his patience, Audrey and Alice for being such sweet girls! Also, can’t forget all the friends and Cam’s family and how great they all are. There is definitely some trauma in this book so maybe check on that before you read it but I highly recommend it.
Profile Image for Rachael.
725 reviews1 follower
February 1, 2026
Perfection.

Emily, a wannabe artist has struggled all her life to be what her mother wanted and never met up to her expectations. She’s the best type of main female character… strong through the emotional damage, funny, caring and beautiful inside and out.
Cam, the broody single dad next door is struggling to make sure his daughters are raised happy and emotionally healthy. He’s strong and sweet and a dirty talker.
Loved everything about this book. The story, the characters and the spice were all perfect.
Profile Image for Tychedea.
254 reviews
February 7, 2026
I enjoyed this book, but it is my least favorite of the series so far. Emily is Cam's sweet but broken artistic neighbor. Cam is a grumpy guy raising two daughters. They connect via helping each other but Cam spends a lot of time picking up the broken pieces of Em's childhood. It is good to see her over come, but the breakdown is a little too close to the end. You walk away still feeling a little sad even though Cam pulls out all of the stops proving he is 100% swoonworthy. The girls are fun side characters that do bring additional joy to the book.
Profile Image for Ena Bobbitt.
5 reviews
February 15, 2026
What a rollercoaster of emotions

Wow, I just wanted to say I absolutely loved this book! I couldn't put it down for a second. It was a real roller coaster of The emotions in this book are so vivid! I fell in love with the characters from the grumpy dad to the emotionally damaged female lead within minutes of reading it. I really love how relatable they are. This book really explores the dynamics of dysfunctional families and what true friendship is truly like. Definitely a book worth reading! I can't wait for the next book in the series..
39 reviews
Read
March 11, 2026
Cam and Emily are neighbors, but they’ve rarely spoken. Cam is a grumpy single dad to two young girls, and Emily has her own shadows and ghosts.

Emily’s family is completely awful and has managed to mess her up completely. She has really gone through a lot and thankfully has come out the other side with the help of Cam and his whole family, who have accepted her for who she is.

I enjoyed the beginning and ending of this book a lot more than the middle, which seemed to kind of drag on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Megan G.
100 reviews
January 29, 2026
Completely worth the read

As a person who reads quite a few books you know that they can become fairly formulaic or even a bit tropy but this one was quite lovely. And I will have to say that once the FMC reaches her breaking point and says what she needs to say to the crappy people in her life It is one of the best come to Jesus moments I have read in a long time. Maybe it's the cussing but it really did it for me. 💜
Profile Image for Ana.
170 reviews5 followers
February 5, 2026
Social media blurb got me intrigued.

Single dad and single girl next door, expected a typical grumpy sunshine contemporary romance.
Book 3- read as a stand alone and went in blind.
What I got was a green flag compassionate, empathetic MMC and a very TRAUMATIC FMC.
Didn’t think I was gonna cry when she finally tells him her story and he just supports her any which way he can.
Ending felt a little rushed but she wrapped up all lose ties for a HEA.
Profile Image for Jessica.
73 reviews
February 11, 2026
emotional

I didn’t read the first two.. this was the book I started with. The only negative thing I’m going to say is I wish that there was a little more of Emily’s backstory. There was so much heartache and the tidbits were definitely worth it and emotional but could have brought it further. I loved how strong Cam was for her and always being there when she needed him is exactly what I imagine love is. It was a beautiful story.
Profile Image for Andrea.
305 reviews5 followers
March 30, 2026
I don’t know who is rating this book and giving it great ratings. The FMC has had a very traumatic life with truly awful parents who abused her and she is suffering from that. She can’t live on her own and struggles with being intimate. She does not see a therapist, and I truly don’t understand and don’t particularly like that a man can make her better. She needs to learn how to be happy on her own and she never did in this book.
4 reviews
January 30, 2026
This series 🥰

Sweet baby Jesus! I have to say Emily’s and Cam’s love story might just be my favorite. All 3 books are a must read but just make sure you have some tissues around. Can’t wait for the next book
26 reviews
February 6, 2026
Snuck up on me

I'm fairly new to this author, I think this is the second book of hers I've read. It had me reading past my bedtime and sobbing into my coffee. While the romance is top tier, the female friendships are just....

Yah, we all need a girl gang like this.
325 reviews1 follower
February 14, 2026
This book is awesome

I love the characters. The little girls are perfect! Cam is wonderful, and I hope I am as good a friend as Emily's are.
She overcomes such intense hardships and becomes so much more than a survivor, she's a real inspiration. Not bad for a fictional character!
Profile Image for Mealva2021gmail.Com.
582 reviews
February 20, 2026
loved it

Loved this book. It’s beautiful, emotional. It will pull on your heart strings. It’s a must read. First time reading this author and I loved this story from the first page
Profile Image for Bonne Sharp.
95 reviews2 followers
February 20, 2026
I fell in love!!!

What an amazing story. It captures you from the very first sentence. Get tissues as it will touch you deeply and make you root for them as they grow closer together. Definitely recommend reading this book!!
Profile Image for Spike M Hill.
144 reviews
March 3, 2026
I loved this book cam and emily are a perfect match and he certainly knows how to make things spicy 😉
This while series was sweet, shame the moment id been waiting for took till the end of the story though.
15 reviews
March 7, 2026
YES

Absolutely loveeeeeeeeeed this book!!! I ate it up!!!!! So beautiful and heartwarming!!! I cried so many times! I love everything, the way Emily fit right in, to the way they all accepted her with so much love and care!
Profile Image for Julie Kay LeBlanc.
98 reviews
March 20, 2026
Absolutely heart-wrenching and so restorative! Awesome! Intense!!!!!*****

I understand this story too well. Thank goodness your beautifully constructed turnaround is possible for some people. Thank you for showing there can be a happy ending. !!!!!*****
Profile Image for Emily.
85 reviews7 followers
March 22, 2026
Love

I was hoping for more support from her dad, but both are parents suck. I love Cam's unwavering support for Emily despite her trauma responses. This was a sweet book despite some heavy topics
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews