Begin Again: A Billionaire Second-Chance Divorce Romance

by Mia Starling

Is it unforgivable to ask your husband for love—or for a child? And what, then, of the woman carrying the child he refuses me?

Talia
For three years, I played the perfect cooking the meals he liked, curating my wardrobe to fit his world, decorating our home to project flawless perfection, and smiling through glittering social events. I poured every ounce of myself into maintaining the illusion of a life he could flaunt effortlessly. But I was lonely. I wanted a child. That night, calm shattered—he called me disgusting, accused me of trying to control him. I asked the one thing every woman has the right to ask—divorce. But he refused to sign the papers. No. I would no longer tolerate his disrespect—not even if it cost me my life.

Ronan
I had given her everything a convenient wife could a mansion, jewelry and couture, a life under the Sterling name, protection and prestige at every turn. All of it came effortlessly—she had a world I could conjure without a second thought. But love, the kind that makes you vulnerable, was the one thing I had never given. And yet, when Talia walked away, leaving my carefully ordered life in ruins, I finally saw her—not as a possession, but as a woman who stirred feelings I had denied myself. Suddenly, giving her everything else wasn’t enough. I had to learn what it meant to fight for love.

For readers who Billionaire romanceMarriage in CrisisCheating and betrayalDivorce and second chanceMarriage of convenienceRomantic ComedyLater In LifeOther Woman Drama

Genres: Second Chance

318 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 24, 2025

Reviews

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't expecting this

It was better than I thought it was going to be. Did it end abruptly? Kind of but I was getting a little bored by the end. It had too many characters almost and I had to keep reminding myself about them. Plus storylines did just disappear. But I did feel emotion reading the story. It even made me cry a little at one point, and I ultimately liked it. There was assumed cheating but reading the thoughts of the character assured me there really wasn't physical cheating. Maybe emotional but he was such a stone cold jerk, I didn't feel like he loved the OW either. I didn't like him much but I could see he loved her at times. When he was so childish over the socks it almost made me laugh. You'll know what I'm talking about if you read the book. The opening scene really got me because he was just so cruel to her. I hated him but by the end I started to kind of tolerate him. There will be more books I think from the afterword and so maybe some storylines will come together. I'd like to see his Stepmother get her comeuppance too. She should be arrested. and so should his ex lover. But I am glad he saw her true colors. I loved Violet the Grandmother! I look forward to reading this author again. It may be choppy but I think that she has potential! She just needs a better editor. A live one. Not spell or grammar checker.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

needed one more chapter or one more book

these reviews are not it tbh. before even starting chapter one i checked the reviews and still said whatever and dove in head first. maybe it’s just me but when i rate a book i don’t rate it based off the ending alone. i rate it on the entirety because an ending can be bad or just not what i wanted but if you take the ending out of the equation and the book is good then it’s good. and this was a good read.

that being said the author definitely needs to come out with a follow up story. i’ll be honest the H treated the h like complete shit for almost the entire book until it was literally this 🤏🏽 close to being done. usually there’s a turnaround around the 35 to 45 percent mark where you can start feeling the shift and the feelings developing but i didn’t get that here at all.

the author allowed ronan to treat talia crappily and allowed others to treat her like crap too for almost the whole book. he left her completely hanging during christmas then there was the situation with her mom which was just yikes. by the end i honestly wasn’t even sure if she should have cared whether he was okay or not. that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing but only if the author follows it up properly and actually shows ronan’s growth and his love for talia while also cleaning up loose ends.

because yes he confronted ava and we found out why he was protecting her and letting the rumor mill run but it still left a bad taste in my mouth. none of that justified letting those rumors circulate just to protect her career. then there’s the mother and the pills, the father and the woman talia saw him with who looked familiar but she couldn’t quite place her, the sister in law. it just felt like a lot of threads were left untied.
talia and her mother were truly the victims in this story and they deserved so much better than what they were given. i think that’s why the ending feels like such a bitter pill to swallow. if ronan had started treating her better halfway through the book that would be one thing but he treated her like trash for almost the entire story. so hearing about his 180 instead of actually seeing it isn’t going to work for most romance readers.

still don’t listen to the reviews below. the book definitely kept me engaged, held my attention, made me tear up for my good sis talia toward the end, made me side eye, made me grin, made me roll my eyes, and made me feel things. i just think the author should have either made this a duet or at least announced a future follow up. ronan’s behavior throughout most of the book was not it.

3.75 stars. if the ending had been handled better or if the blurb had mentioned an unconditional hea, an open ending, or even a cliffhanger it would have been received better and easily would have been a 4 star read for me. mia don’t let the reviews discourage you. i really hope you put out a follow up because i absolutely need ronan’s redemption arc.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmmm

The premise of this was intriguing the idea of and the plot interesting, however, it was not the angst filled story I anticipated. It was almost parody of the betrayal marriage trope. Everything way over the top. There was no HEA or HFN, the book ends after the declaration of their feelings and the last bit is a note from the author I think in lieu of an ending. When the book ends there are so many plot points that don’t get tied, many assumptions we are lead to make neither proved true or false, just left hanging. Parts that were important in the story.

I did not hate the book but because of the paragraph duplication, the ending etc. I was disappointed.

[Housefish · Rating 1 out of 5]

unfinished Book

This book is unfinished. The writer didn’t even warned readers that the story is not done. Please don’t waste your time reading this.

[BAG of Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ronan and Talia were married in an MOC 3 years ago. He needed the right kind of wife and she needed money for her mother's medical bills. Talia eventually fell in love with him, but he is still cold towards her. After this long, Talia wants a baby, so she propositions Ronan to start a family. He tells her no, he doesn't even intend to spend the rest of his life with her so he has no intention of having children with her.


Talia decides to divorce him. She needs to give grounds for a divorce, so she states in the divorce papers that he has sexual dysfunction and infertility (LMAO!!), and she moves into her best friend's (Riley's) house.

We get a little of Ronan's POV. Ronan thinks Talia is collaborating with his mother to produce an heir. It has nothing to do with his mother, but he doesn't see it that way. He thinks the divorce papers are just some kind of stunt to manipulate him. And there's the issue of needing his money for her parent's bills. He thinks Talia will have to come crawling back eventually.

So anyway, now Ronan thinks Talia is suddenly very interesting, because they keep arguing over the divorce, and she's no longer just an "ornament." So he wants to contest the divorce. He calls the courthouse and tells them not to let her file the divorce. The courthouse agrees to have a "computer malfunction" the next day. This was so stupid I almost stopped reading. But I continued on . . .

But it doesn't matter anyway, because on her way to the courthouse, Talia gets an emergency call that her mother is having a heart attack, so she doesn't even try to file the divorce that day.

Ronin had seen the divorce papers before she actually filed them so she could have him "sign the papers," which is only a thing you need to do in Romancelandia, it is not a real thing. Moving on . . .


So this whole thing ends up being about him finding ways to prolong the marriage by not agreeing to sign the divorce papers and not letting her file the papers. There's also some gift her father buys for his MIL and asks Talia to deliver it. But she doesn't want to deliver it herself because she hates her MIL, so Ronan uses that to prolong things by not delivering the gift for her. It's dumb as shit. DNF

[Traci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notes for me while reading.

TW: parent in long lasting coma

Reviews just meh, but I ended up really enjoying it. It touched my emotions.

Ronan - cold hearted billionaire. MOC

Talia - trophy wife of 3 years.

MOC to unite rich families. Talia’s dad will pay her mom’s medical bills in return.

Opens with her seducing him and asking to start a family. He’s cruel to her saying they aren’t forever and he doesn’t want a family with her.

After he walks out a text comes in. Picture of a pregnancy test and a photo of him and his first love Ava in hospital hallway. He’s looking at her gentle and warm. He’s never been that way with anyone else.

Talia contacts a divorce lawyer. She’s not letting him file for divorce first to be with Ava. She lists the reason as his sexual dysfunction and infertility. She also asked for half his assets. That convinces him she only wants money.

In his POV he’s does sweet things for her like get on a 6 month list for a Hermes bag she wanted or gorgeous diamond earrings. But tells her they were gifts from a client he has no use for.

In the beginning of their marriage she’d make him a lunch every day. He would say it was terrible and even let her see him dump it in the trash. However in reality her cooking is all he wanted.

These miscommunications happened the entire time. Just have a truthful conversation! That did get frustrating.

Safety

OWD - Ava, Ronan’s first love.

She causes drama and is sketchy all though the book. Takes a voice job that should have been Talia’s. Presents her baby as Ronan’s.

Perceived cheating- my catnip!

[Carole Copeland · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lots of mistakes

This was a hard read. I tried to stick with it but had to start skipping. Transitions were awful. Not enough dialogue. At an early point, I had to wonder if AI had anything to do with it. There was one point where your reading then confused because the story went back in time and then quickly present time. That's where the transitions were not good. Details were mixed up. Now, for the storyline, it could have been good but ahe was never able to develop the lead female character. You kept waiting for her to really let them all have it but she'd say these weird things that I think were supposed to be her fighting back. I don't know. This was a mess I ended up skipping most of the story. Then the ending?? That wasn't an ending. Is there a book 2? Not sure it would work because all the drama was wrapped...sort of...up in this one. We didn't get an ending just the author talking to us about what emotions they have to deal with. Where is the editor. A friend to say... here's some areas to work on. Finding more and more of these books with the same issues. Are we getting authentic writing or is AI too much involved and proof reading out the window? I don't know. I don't know if AI is involved here but when reading feels chaotic something is wrong.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good writing.

Needs editor.

H's sister's name is Vivienne and at one point Olivia.

H takes over mother's medical care and financing of it, upgrades room and teeatment plan; but h's evil father cuts off funds somehow later in the story.

h's credit cards and bank accounts are frozen. That's never explained. I'm left to assume evil father had them frozen. My problem with this is he's portrayed as more of a hanger on/not really powerful/smart enough to pull this off. H maybe? But why? Who knows?

And a liable lawsuit is is started, but then is never mentioned again.

h's father is seen with mysterious blonde woman. She seems familiar, pics are taken to later identify her and... she's never mentioned again

H is going to find out where FIL is finding 80 million dollars for investment of some kind. We never find out. I assumed would tie in with mysterious blonde mistress? We'll never know.

Evil MIL is never dealt with.

That's the problem when wattpad moves over to Kindle.

Because the chapters are like episodes the final product is disjointed.

Needs a good going over to clean things up.

But, I did really enjoy the read despite these issues

[Ellen Flory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story vs writing

I gave three stars because the STORY is great. But the writing…. I’m pretty sure the writer had a whole bunch of different ideas for how she wanted the story to go and just started writing in tiny little pieces and didn’t remember which ideas she went with each time she did a tiny piece. Just kept writing tiny little pieces without ever going back to read what was written and then never had anybody else read it. Just decided when the last piece was done to throw them out into the world as a finished book.

The reason I say this is because the book is all contradictions. I mean there are contradictions on the same page from paragraph to paragraph. So you have to completely ignore that because while it’s annoying and frustrating, if you just think of the story and ignore all those contradictions, it is a good story.

But I do really wish a good editor would take this book on because I think it could be a truly great book.

Also, the book cover is completely wrong for this book.

[Marle · Rating 2 out of 5]

complicated Live story but…*spoilers*

Talia and Ronan have a complicated love story. Misunderstandings, sabotage, and interfering relatives make their love story hard. I was in it for all of Talias disappointments and hurt. So when I read a page that hinted at a resolution, I turned the page excited to read what came next. There were so many unanswered questions- who canceled her charge cards in effect killing her mother? Did Ronan ever confront his mother? Did Owen have a crush on her? What about the online sabotage? Was anyone held accountable for that? So when I turned the page, I was utterly shocked that the story had ended, felt like it ended in mid sentence!! So disappointed! Badly done.

[Jennifer Lockhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has potential, but needed a proper epilogue/hea.
Or make 2nd book, write up a triangle with Owen and show Ronan's transformation to a better partner thus a proper HEA. Vivian would be the OW via her fixation on Owen. It's hinted Owen has a health issue so that'd be dramatic. Anyhooozle, needs a proper HEA
Needs tightening up, has repetition and some odd time shifts/memories out of place. Felt ai-gen'd, but not the worst I've seen - and the surprise spit take scene actually had me giggling and that earned it an extra star.
Also not much background into why the fmc had feelings for the mmc. There was some insight into why he had feelings for her (whether he admitted it or not).
And tho I read it all, there was not enough grovel.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it.

Exactly as I said I liked it.. at first. The more I read the more it reminded me of these novels I use to read the plot and everything reminded me of them. It had potential really but I will say this there is no on page cheating, really no cheating at all just assumptions of it. Then when it’s brought up in the end it makes you think where in the book did it show he cheated. Like I said I liked it would I recommend probably not unless I know somebody who’s into these kinds of plots and story I really like cheating arc and the groveling but this isn’t that book if that’s what you’re in to.

[Nicole Hasenbush · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many incomplete plot twists

This book started off great. I loved the FMC finally realizing her worth and taking a stand against her husband. She started showing all this strength when it came to her value and what she deserved not only in a partner but in life and her career. Then all of a sudden she’s a pushover. She keeps giving in to her husband’s demands despite her earlier revelations.

The ending while left with a cliffhanger, felt way too rushed. Hardly, if any, consequences were given to the people who hurt her. Meanwhile, there story hints at a second chance for the couple but he hardly showed and growth.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cold hearted clueless man

The author did a good job of creating how clueless Ronan really is till almost the end and how sneaky Ava is but then she knew if she said 'jump', he'd say 'how high.' His poor wife with that, his cold attitude and his family she couldn't win for losing.

The characters in this story are all amazing. I was actually rooting for Owen but the good guys never win.

Begin Again is a good read. I think most people would enjoy it.

[Myra Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't make sense or flow, had no real beginning or end and I do not recommend.

I didn't like this at all. I kept hoping it would somehow come together or make sense but it never did. None of the characters were even slightly likable which made it pointless to want them to have a HEA. I dont get the point to any of this story and wasted time reading it.

[Maria Moody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read

I really liked this book ,yes it's a theme lots of stories have ,a marriage of convenience but I like Talias character and I thought Ronan wasn't so bad just cold .It held my attention and I read it in a day so for me that's a good read

[Laur Laur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hoo boy, this was a soapy hilarious hopefully unrealistic mess... that was so entertaining!

There were terrible grammatical errors and entire sentences repeated, and I still couldn't put it down.

[Lilac · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star

What a horrible book. Almost dnf it but kept going hoping it improves wow was I disappointed. The word divorce was mentioned so many times it was exhausting by the time the mmc agreed to divorce. Just horrible

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

No real ending

It starts out good with some mistakes but then it just kind of ends. I would of given higher rating if the book was complete

[Gloria A Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about two star crossed people. He had to lose her to realize he loved her and she had to escape before she could find herself again. A sad and yet touching story.

[Marty H · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has so much potential….

This book started off good, but then it got repetitive.
It did kind of remind me of a ppc novel. It needs serious editing.

[Rinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Paige Whitecotton · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

The only thing that would have made this book better is if Ronan’s mom and sister , Ava and Talia’s father got what was coming to them. I loved this book.