Evan: A Short Story

Regretfully Yours #5

by Maya Alden

She loved him in private—he betrayed her in public.

Navya Rana is having a secret affair with Dr. Evan Vincenzo—no dates, no public acknowledgment, no future. Evan is her first lover, and she believes he cares for her, even if he isn’t in love with her.

But when he ends it—immediately announcing his engagement to a woman deemed appropriate for a man of his standing—Navya’s heartbreak turns to clarity. Especially when she overhears him admit she was nothing more than a convenient distraction, a woman he would be ashamed to be seen with in his elite circles.

Done feeling small, Navya rebuilds her confidence and her life—sans Evan.

Without Navya, Evan’s world grows darker. Now he must face the consequences of his cruelty and prove his regret is real if he wants the right to stand by her—openly and without shame.

Evan is part of Regretfully Yours, an angst-filled romance series about betrayal, redemption, and heroes who must grovel for their happily ever after.

TROPES
💔 Secret Affair
💔 Medical
💔 Overheard
💔 Betrayal & Grovel
💔 No Cheating
💔 Novella

Genres: Second Chance, Romance, Novella, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Workplace Romance, Doctors

231 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 20, 2026

About the author

A top 20 Amazon Bestselling Author, Maya Alden pens angsty contemporary romances.

Reviews

[Amy Garringer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pathetically predicable

It's not even fun to read these books anymore, because we know what to expect: the main male character does something unforgivable, and the female main character forgives it anyway. She whines about how hot he is the whole time he's crushing her spirit, and even though she fakes being tough, underneath she's still a doormat and we can see it in her chapters when she's thinking about spreading her legs no matter what he's done. It's getting gross.

[Liz Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really had high hopes for this one...

I couldn't quite bring myself to give it more than 3 stars.

There were a couple of things that got on my nerves. I am a Hispanic-American female, I love my culture very much, but Navya got on my nerves with this obsession with her Indian culture. The Bollywood references, which felt like every 5 minutes, was exhausting. Seriously... there is probably not a Hispanic on the planet that does not watch Spanish novelas (soap operas). That does not mean we sit there and compare everything to a novela. It was just too much. This author likes to make her characters minorities, which is fine, but it just seems like whatever ethnicity they are completely defines them and that's just not true. Especially if you grew up in the states. You mix your culture with American culture, but it doesn't define who you are. Then the references to things that are so entrenched in Indian culture, but is so far removed from the rest of us, with no real explanation (and let's be real... if the author had to explain all these references then the book would have been 600 pages long). It's also funny because Evan was Italian and there weren't that many references about Italian culture.

The other thing that annoyed me is the author tried to make this mature woman and in her head she just wasn't.

I really thought I was gonna love this one, but it missed the mark.

[divyareads · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was so painfully cliché. As an Indian myself, i was horrified by the curse words. In India curse words don’t work the same way they do in western countries and some of them genuinely made me cringe. No decent Indian person with a gentle upbringing, who has lived their whole life abroad would casually use such crass and vulgar language.

And what was with the whole Bollywood obsession? Your ethnicity is a part of who you are not your entire identity. Indians don’t think the way this fmc was portrayed thinking.

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m always a little skeptical with books that primarily have 5 star reviews from ARC readers and no genuine reviews. As a long time reader of Alden’s, I’ve noticed her books becoming more and more performative. They very much read as a white person trying way too hard and it comes off as superficial. Also side note - I’ve read fantasy books with entirely made up languages that didn’t require me to go and translate every other sentence like this book did. From French, to Hindi to Italian - it was excessive (I’m being slightly hyperbolic). This book, like several of her other recent works, also really plays up the stereotypical “she’s not like other girls”. I was really excited to have a South Asian FMC (extra bonus that she’s a nurse) but this book just fell flat for me.

This quote is from another of Alden’s books, and adequately sums up the icky performative feeling her books are giving me.

"As for me, with my half-Italian father, quarter-Native American maternal grandmother, and quarter-British maternal grandfather, I was also far from typical Anglo-Saxon, though I often passed for it." - an excerpt from No Ordinary Love by Maya Alden. Wtf.

[Shashwat jha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok

Same old plot

virgin women settling for a bare minimum old guy.

Its like the sweetest taboo just less smut

[LaBlue]

God why do I even bother with this author?!

19% on chapter four and we are nowhere near the betrayal. It should take no more than two chapters to set up the relationship and the betrayal scene. Then a few chapters of betrayal. Then a few more chapters of remorse and angst. Then the redemption and or recovery for the characters and relationship. ESPECIALLY as this author will rob the reader of over 30% of the book for promo material at the end. So it is absolutely PIVOTAL for this author to GET TO THE FUCKING POINT.

I really need to stop wasting my money on this author. I love the betrayal scenes she writes but that’s it. The MMC’s are always atrocious and rarely redeemable. And the HEA’s are never earned. But when the author writes blatant racism of her characters family(ies) on page or when she takes too long world building for worlds that aren’t worth reading about because of said racism and elitism then I feel like I’m going to yell. I don’t read romance to be frustrated like this. And we haven’t even gotten the couple together at all yet.

They have only just met. The MMC is a typical asshole manchild who can’t regulate his emotions in a professional setting and takes it out on everyone in the room with him, in particular the FMC. Even after he realizes his mistake he continues his bad behavior. But then later he apologizes like I should believe it. NO! He has shown you who he is! This is what I’m saying. This is gaslighting. Abuse a person then convince them that’s not you and per the blurb of this story after a two year relationship dump her for someone more suitable to his lifestyle, family and wealth by showing the FMC that he never respected her. She was only good enough to sleep with.

HELLO! That first impression was who he always was. It shouldn’t be a surprise when it reared its ugly head later in the story. Which is the only reason I read these stories. I want that gut punch of the betrayal. The problem is that I won’t feel that since he has already shown his red flags and the FMC chose to ignore them and have a relationship with him anyway. This now became a FMC problem, as it was on her to make better decisions.

Now all I can hope for is that she owns her mistakes and makes him burn for it. But considering who this author is I most likely won’t even get a glass of something thrown in his face for his absurd audacity. Ugh. I’m dreading continuing this book. This author is so unfulfilling and disappointing to me.

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings:Surgery gore, death of parent from cancer recounted, parental abandonment/neglect, death of loved ones, discussions about arranged marriages and domestic violence against women, body comments/fat shaming from husband (side character), loved one with seizures, loved one who is sick, OW slaps MMC, narcissistic parents, cheating? (MMC gets engaged to OW while in situationship with FMC, but he was never official with FMC so idk)

This is the fifth book in the Regretfully Yours series. The first book is Ansel, then it's Basil, then Cain, then Dominic. You don’t need to read the other books to read this, but they’re all short, so you might as well. I went in with low hopes, so I wasn’t surprised to feel meh about this. There were a lot of cultural references and small bits in different languages. We had Hindi, French, Italian, and Spanish, I think. It was annoying to have random words in different languages in the book while having the translations at the end of the chapter. It got confusing since the word being translated isn’t on the translation page. So you lose track of what word is being translated for what. I eventually gave up on translations since it made the reading experience exhausting. In terms of the story, the characters weren’t that memorable. Evan, the MMC, was very immature for his age. He needed to learn how to treat people better. And the FMC Navya needed more self-respect. Like most FMCs from this series, she was pretty quick to forgive the MMC. She did have more of a backbone compared to the other FMCs. But the grovel was brushed over since it’s a short book. I feel like I would’ve liked this more if we got more details about the grovel. I wasn’t that satisfied, especially after what Evan did. The beginning of this book was very slow, but it got interesting once we got to the betrayal.


Evan is the new doctor at Navya’s hospital. When Evan embarrasses Navya in front of everyone, she wants nothing to do with him. But Evan was having a bad day and wanted to make it up to Navya. Little did Navya know that this would grow into something more.

Now for spoilers


Navya is an OR nurse at a hospital, and she finds out that a new doctor named Evan Vincenzo will be joining them. When Evan enters the surgery room, Navya’s coworker Deanna comments about Evan being hot. The doctor who works with Navya is Dr. Klein, and he values Navya’s work. But Evan criticizes everything that Navya does and asks Dr. Klein if he’s sure that Navya knows what she is doing. He is doing this in front of everyone. Navya is hurt, but she keeps going. Doctors are higher on the hierarchy in hospitals, and nurses usually get shitty treatment. Navya even takes the blame for Deanna’s mistakes. And when Deanna admits she did something wrong, Evan was like nope I know this was Navya, like what the fuck? When they are done with the surgery, Evan takes Dr. Klein aside to talk shit about Navya. He asks where they got Navya from, saying she isn’t a good nurse. Even though Dr. Klein defends Navya, Evan continues to be an ass. Navya goes into a room and cries. But the head nurse, Carmen, heard the whole thing. Carmen says that what Evan did was unacceptable. She says that Evan was going through something, but he regrets what he did and wants to apologize. Then Evan comes in and says he wants to apologize privately. Evan told Carmen that his grandma had passed away in Florence. His parents were narcissists, so his grandparents raised him. His grandpa is getting old, and he is taking his grandma’s death hard. He wasn’t able to be there when she died and had to come straight to work on a flight. Carmen doesn’t excuse his behaviour, but she says she is sorry. So Evan apologizes to Navya as well and Navya accepts his apology. She tells him that her mom died a year ago, so she understands. Evan appreciates how nice she is. So Evan tells her to prove that she accepts it and asks her out to dinner. I was like excuse me, what? It was so sudden, he was literally an asshole a second ago. Navya is hesitant, and Evan kinda pesters her. They’re joking around, but I found it weird as hell. Then Evan says “Good girl” and I cringed, but Navya blushed.


Evan realized he might have been rude to Navya since she stood out to him. Like when a kindergartener is rude to their crush. The maturity of this man smh. He overheard someone calling him hot in the morning, and he got pissed since he thought it was Navya. But Carmen told him that it was actually Deanna. Anyway, Navya’s friend Latika comes to visit. Latika was forced into an arranged marriage with Rohan. He makes comments about what she eats and hints at dieting. Luckily, that is acknowledged at the end of the story. They talk about the struggles of being a brown girl in a brown family, which I related to. The forced arranged marriages and the pressure on women to have babies, do chores, etc. Latika visits Navya to take a break from her life. Even if Rohan isn’t bad, they don’t have much chemistry, especially when it comes to sex. When Navya tells Latika about the date, Latika encourages it. Turns out Evan is 36, and Latika and Navya are 26. It’s crazy how immature he acts when he is so old. Navya and Latika watch Bollywood movies, talk about personal dishes they like, and are really in tune with their culture. Evan is a rich man from a family that owns vineyards and a wine company. He meets his friend Massimo, who is a manwhore. Evan mentions that his grandpa wants him to marry a girl named Arabella, a family friend. Even though Evan’s little brother Leo is married to a family friend and had kids, everyone insists that Evan get married since he is the eldest son. Evan doesn’t mention that he is interested in Navya, even though she is all he thinks about. He texts Navya to plan for their apology dinner.


So Latika helps Navya choose an outfit. Evan is outside her door and calls her beautiful. The restaurant is really rich, so Navya feels out of place. When she admits to Evan that she doesn’t even know what drink to order, Evan is sweet about it. He tells Navya they can go somewhere else if she wants. Like getting tacos from a van outside or even Indian food, an inside joke between them. Navya says they can try this out, and he offers to take her there if it isn’t to her liking. He tells Navya to ask him questions about the menu since it is all in French. He finds out that Navya speaks three Indian languages along with English. Evan speaks Italian, French, Spanish, and English. He tells her more about his grandma. Navya tells Evan that her mom was a single parent. Her dad abandoned his family for another woman. Navya gave up her dream of medical school to help pay medical bills since her mom had cancer. Her mom passed away a year ago. So now, Navya’s brother Arjun is living her dream and going to medical school. She chose to do nursing so that she could get a job and pay bills. They joke around, and Evan walks Navya home. Navya asks him if he wants to come up, and he says yes. They start making out, and he strips her. Navya admits that she is a virgin, and Evan says that he will take care of her. He calls her cara, and he gives Navya her first orgasm. At the hospital, they work together and feel tension. He calls her to the on-call room and says that he needs to have her. They have sex for the first time on a hospital bed. After that, he goes over to Navya’s place whenever he can. They go out on dates, but the dates are at restaurants where no one will see them. They fuck in the on-call room whenever the coast is clear. They meet once a week to fuck whenever Evan isn’t busy. Navya can’t help but feel like a dirty secret.


It’s been 6 months of Navya and Evan doing whatever it is they’re doing. When Navya asks Evan to spend the night, he says he doesn’t do that. He says that he wants to clear up that their relationship is just “Sex and fun.” He doesn’t want people to know that they are together. Navya is hurt, but doesn’t say anything. IMO Evan should have told her this before he slept with her for the first time. Navya seemed very blindsided which I found fucked up. They still go on dates and have sex, but Navya is feeling more and more hurt by this. When Arjun calls Navya to tell her about his first kiss, Navya feels like she can’t tell him about Evan since she is ashamed. When Evan visits his grandpa, his grandpa says that it is time he gets engaged. They invited Arabella to come to America, and rather than standing up for himself, Evan is scared to say no. He doesn’t want his grandpa stressed out since his health is fragile. Even though Evan feels more for Navya, he doesn’t think she would fit into his life. But he doesn’t want to marry someone he doesn’t love. When he asks Arabella if she is okay with this, she says yes, that she is in love with Evan and has been waiting for this. Evan says he doesn’t love her, and Arabella doesn’t care. She says she will make him love her. So Evan says yes to the engagement and breaks the news to Navya in the on-call room. Navya is heartbroken and asks if he has been with Arabella this whole time. Evan says he wouldn’t do that to her. Evan says he was upfront about their relationship, and they ended up having a goodbye fuck. Even Navya knew this was a pathetic thing to do. Turns out Evan used to fuck another doctor coworker at his old job. And that coworker threw a tantrum. So he tells Navya not to cause drama, like bruh, why are you even fucking coworkers? Like yes I know some romance books have workplace romances, but it’s just crazy seeing how Evan is doing this after it negatively impacted him last time. Plus, HE is the one causing drama. Navya was hesitant to go out with him in the first place. Him tryna blame Navya like he isn’t the problem is crazy.


When Navya goes to a bar to drink her feelings away, she sits in a booth near Evan by mistake. Hearing his conversation with Massimo was fucking disgusting.

“Sex was great. I mean…considering I was her first.”
The other man laughs, and I realize, yes, I can feel cheaper and smaller than I just did a moment ago.
“Initiating a virgin is not always pleasant—I did a couple of times in my youth. Now, I steer clear.”


“Will you miss it? Her?”
I hold my breath.
“No, not at all. Navya was convenient,” he says. “A distraction. That’s all.”
“And she can’t compete with Arabella.”
“Come on! Arabella went to London Business School and comes from an elite family. Navya is just a nurse…hell, she couldn’t afford medical school, so that’s not a fair comparison.”


It’s so gross that these grown-ass men are talking about her like this. There was no reason for Evan to say these things. And Massimo is a disgusting friend. Evan gets engaged to Arabella, who refuses his grandma’s ring for something bigger. I found it cringe that Evan used that to propose to Navya later. He only took it back since Arabella refused it. Even if he didn’t want Arabella to take it in the first place. Anyway, Evan doesn’t have sex with Arabella. Evan feels like he is cheating on Navya. But he doesn’t stop Arabella from kissing him. It’s been 2 months, Evan is taking Arabella to the opera. Navya has always wanted to go, but he never took her since he doesn’t want people to see them together. Instead of waiting outside, Arabella comes inside, and they run into Navya. Navya has kept it professional and distant with Evan, which he hates. Arabella holds onto Evan and she can sense that something happened between Navya and Evan. Navya says she is happy for them and congratulates them. When they say they’re going to the opera, Navya has no reaction. Evan takes Arabella to the restaurants that Navya always wanted to go to. He couldn’t take Navya since it was too crowded. He is bored with his conversations with Arabella and the people around them. Everyone is out there to use one another. Massimo tells Evan that if he isn’t happy, to just tell his grandpa. But Evan is scared since his grandpa’s health is declining.


When Navya is treating an older patient named Gaston, he wants to introduce Navya to his son, Pierre. He can tell that Navya had something going on with Evan, but says that men are supposed to do the chasing. Gaston has a point y'all. When Pierre is over, Gaston tells them to go out for dinner. Pierre is down, and that’s when Evan comes in. Gaston tells Evan that he wants Pierre to take Navya out, and Evan is jealous. He grips Pierre’s hand, tryna out-alpha him; it was so immature. I was so happy that Navya had someone hitting on her since Evan took her confidence away. She gets a haircut and a makeover done with Latika. When Navya gets ready for her date after work, Evan runs into her. He is surprised at how good she looks, and she says she is waiting for her date. He looks jealous, and she asks if he’s going to the opera again with his fiancée, and he says yes. I was happy to see Navya with another guy, but sadly, it didn’t last. I don’t even think they kissed; it was kinda brushed over. I wanted to see Evan suffer with jealousy, and he did, but not enough. Anyway, Navya says it didn’t work out with Pierre. Suddenly, Evan is tryna talk to Navya. He’s been engaged to Arabella for 3 months now. Navya tries to avoid him, but he asks her for 5 minutes. He says he misses Navya but she says that he is engaged. Then she exposes what she heard him say. She calls him out for knowing about her giving up on her dreams to pay her mother’s medical bills, but he still found her too low to be with him. She calls him out for talking about her virginity and making it seem like she was only good for sex. It was so satisfying to see her stand up for herself. Evan feels like shit and doesn’t know how to excuse any of it. He says he is sorry, and she tells him to stay away from her. I was like, yes girl, this is what I wanna see.


Evan tells his grandpa that he wants to end the engagement. His grandpa says that his grandma would’ve wanted that. He knows Evan is doing this for love, and Evan admits it. This all could’ve been easily resolved with communication bruh. Evan admits he fucked up, and his grandpa says to hurry up and fix things since he wants to meet the girl for lunch. When Evan ends things with Arabella, she throws a glass at the wall. She knows this is cuz of Navya and starts to insult her. Evan tells her not to say a word about Navya and threatens Arabella’s career. Arabella admits she wanted to marry for his last name so she could become CEO of his family’s wine company. He tells her to marry his cousin, and she slaps him. When she tries to slap him again, he stops her.

Then Evan openly starts grovelling to Navya, so everyone at the hospital knows. He hands her coffee instead of leaving it in a room for her to pick up. He gets her flowers, cupcakes, and smoothies, HR said it’s okay for him to do this. He leaves her notes of all his regrets and how he will become better. Navya threw the first notes out, but then started to keep the notes since it got deeper and made her emotional. I got so annoyed when he ran into her in the hallway and they kissed. Navya says it was a mistake but ugh. He gets her a jewellery box with earrings. Evan’s grandpa admits himself to the hospital to meet Navya and is impressed by her. He tells Evan to hurry up and fix things. Navya realizes who he is and finds it funny. When Navya talks to Arjun, Arjun says that men can be dumb, but asks what she wants. Navya says she wants time and patience. Arjun says she needs to tell Evan that. So she tells Evan and he says he can do that for her. Even though Navya makes Evan grovel, it’s brushed over as a quick retelling. I would’ve loved to see more details of her pushing him away while he’s hurt cuz duh, angst. Evan says he wants a life with Navya and kids with her someday. He says Navya won’t be a secret and he isn’t ashamed of her, and they make up. When Navya asks about his parents, Evan says they won’t like her since they’re narcissists, they don’t like anyone. Rohan and Latika realize that they both brought bitter feelings to their marriage. He apologized for the body comments and told her she made him feel small for not taking a Google job, they make up. Evan takes Navya to meet his family for Thanksgiving, and his parents invite Arabella despite Evan telling them not to. They don’t like Navya, but she doesn’t care. When Arabella tries to rub it in that she was engaged to Evan, Navya says that she heard Evan couldn’t have sex with Arabella and made jokes about it. Evan had Indian food secretly made for Navya by his grandpa’s chef with a table set up. Then, Evan proposes to Navya with his grandma’s ring in the hospital with everyone around them. I hated that he originally gave it to Arabella, even though she didn’t accept it. They dated for 2 years and moved in together for 5 months. They can’t use the on-call room for sex since people know about them. For their honeymoon, they go on vacation to Florence, I think. While I enjoyed the angst in the middle, I still think Evan is immature, and Navya should’ve made him work a bit more. I wish we saw the grovel dragged out. But it was a quick read.

Stay safe folks!

[Jody Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Peak Maya Alden. Nurse has insta-lust attraction with a surgeon from a fancy family. They have a "no strings" relationship where he's keeping her secret but they are both in love. He gets engaged to someone his family approves of and breaks it off with her, immediately realizes that nothing matters except how he feels "like himself" with her and she is "real" unlike his fancy society world. He does a lot of grovel that feels boundary crossing, and HEA.

I actually liked this a lot. I think Alden works for me to the extent she does in her shorter format books, because she has a tendency to lag a little in her story-telling. I also loved the no biggie drop that Evan sees a therapist. I don't love it when characters refer to testing negative for STDs as "I'm clean" but shout out for having the conversation, even though taking a new acquaintance's word for health status and the presence of an IUD, especially when you are from a Fancy Family is maybe not smart. I also really like the amount of agency Navya showed throughout. Alden's earlier FMCs were very doormat-like, but she's like, yeah this doesn't feel great, but that D sure is good. And when he breaks up she's like, ok yep. And when he's regretful and asks if she misses him, she's all "You have no business asking me that. You're the one who told me we were done - and how relieved you were that there wouldn't be any drama like the last time you were [forking] a colleague." And unlike those earlier FMCs who thought a "sorry you got your feelings hurt" level apology for truly terrible behavior was sufficient, she makes him work and reflect with his apology, showing real understanding of his actions and the effects.

3.5 stars, rounded up to four. The only thing that keeps this from being four stars is Navya is Southeast Asian, and I am not saying white writers can't write other races or nationalities, but I for sure hope they have a sensitivity reader or three who lets them know if they are crossing a line into appropriative. Navya, born in the states with no accent (as we hear), is obsessed with Bollywood and references the movies constantly, cooks only Indian food on page, and speaks Hindi in her internal POV and with her friends. I asked an Indian friend of mine, and she said "Sounds very stereotypical or narrow version of what an Indian origin American born person would be like" but she wasn't offended per se, so I'll give her a pass as well.

[I’m a Paula too… Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another zero, mostly…

Evan is the MMC, obviously, and he’s a neurosurgeon. Navya is the FMC and an OR nurse. He’s Italian and she’s Indian. Which doesn’t mean anything other than his family does wine. Evan is the only one in the family who is not in their wine business.

The couple do not hit it off! He’s jet lagged and emotionally drained due to his grandmother passing. He does a very dumb thing in the operating room… But they start meeting, and he has some rules that he makes very clear. Just fun, nothing else.

His grandfather wants him to marry so he breaks it off and gets immediately engaged to a truly nasty woman who is a friend of the family and works for them too. She’s aiming for a CEO spot and is a seriously mean girl.

This is an average read, and it’s mainly because this is no different from many of this author’s other works. The Hero is really more of a Zero, and this FMC just suffers in silence. He eventually gets his head out and there’s a sort of HEA.

Ok read. Not bad and not great or spectacular. Just… fine.

[Bookish.Midnight. and. black · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lately, all her books seem the same and I don’t understand why she insists on making the hero or heroine speak another language or have a different culture or nationality.
It’s always a french person, indian, italian, or whatever else. As if everyone has to be something different for it to be okay to write about them.
And then she throws in words from that language so that we,the readers can see how much effort the author put into writing that book….along with 20 others that same year. honestly, I really don’t know why I keep trying to read her

[Zahraas · Rating 2 out of 5]

yuppy iam excited to read the upcoming novel : "the wrong vintage " even though i know how frustrated it can be ,yikes!!!

okay like i said i am a mean bitch , he grovelled by being a good man who knows who he is and he is making up for his cowardness but chosing her and breaking off the engagement

and she had a cool hair cut and new attitude , she goes from i can accept the rules of a dirty secret to i want the people who choose me to be proud to be seen

BUT

i am really disappointed, the development of these characters felt shallow and rushed
and i lost intrest in the story
when she accepts him back
i am spechless , and i am going to put this book in the shelf of never really raise my hope for a good grovel when the story is short
😭😭😒😒😒

[❁ lilyreadsromance ❁ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I'm entering a new era. I'm loving these grovelling ass heroes and their stupid mouths that said stupid shit.

[JKMNO · Rating 3 out of 5]

Foreign language sayings disrupted the flow

The angst and grovel were great as always with Maya, but I wasn't a fan of the way the translations for the Hindi and Italian sayings that were used were listed at the end of the chapter. It definitely disrupted the flow of reading.
Other than that, I enjoyed this novella, looking forward to reading Foxes!

[Midnight Dahlia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dear Maya,

I want to share my honest feedback about your book. I think you have potential, and the fact that you’ve come this far and have many readers shows that people see value in your work. That’s why I hope you take this as constructive criticism.

However, I feel like the story structure and plot are becoming repetitive. This particular book did not feel very engaging or memorable to me. As a reader, I found it quite predictable and, at times, boring. I also had to skip some parts in the beginning because it didn’t hold my interest.

I’m not Indian, but I feel that the way the heroine speaks sometimes, especially the use of vulgar or unrealistic language, does not feel natural or believable for mature and professional people, especially those working abroad. It made some parts uncomfortable to read.

Evan also didn’t feel like a strong or attractive hero character, and overall the story didn’t stand out for me. I think the idea has potential, but the execution could be improved.

I would really encourage you to revisit your writing style, character development, and plot ideas. Many readers, including myself, expect more growth in terms of depth, originality, and emotional impact. I’ve read many of your books before, but I feel less interested in continuing unless there is clear improvement.

I hope you take this as honest feedback from a reader who wants to see your work get better.

[Authentic Annalist · Rating 1 out of 5]

It Really Disgusts Me, Reading His Excuses, Reading Him Create A Narrative Of Self Saviour Syndrome About How He Didn't Realise What He Was Choosing

As always, Alden has an egotistical MMC who never surrenders control of the situation.

I see Male Supremacy and White Supremacy all through this hospital and he doesn't do enough to address that behaviour.

Unless he can be honest about what systems he abused her with, then hes not stitching a wound, hes distracted by his own paper cuts.

None of his apologies feel genuine they feel rehearsed and controlling.

Ugh the way the hospital Communally Abuses her into forgiving him, and he sends fucking flowers, how slow, stunted and shallow.

A white male Social Abuser never stops Socially Abusing an Indian woman, even at the end, abusing her with deliberate emotional infections because he realised he liked the doormat, controlling her, and not the uncontrollable Arabella.

She really is just a convenient hole for him.

And he demonstrated that with his choices and she still normalised it.

How appropriate that you bring up Jane Eyre, the girl who married a racist abuser and attempted bigamist.

Kept his wife locked up drove her imsame after stealing her families lands in Jamaica.

Ugh.

Men that demand eye contact are so cold turkey, they can't make you come so they make you a deer in the headlights.

Ugh.

Nah bored of the Mills and Boon fucking, grow up.

Make his ego bleed.

Instead everyome forgives him for her.

Its so gross the racist cunts.

Her brother is toxic as fuck, normalising her trauma bond with her abuser.

[Tmstprc · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, they meet for the first time in the operating room, he’s very obnoxious and knows it—he apologizes and insists on taking her out to dinner as part of the apology, which is somewhat refreshing for a MA hero. But then he turns into a family pleasing snob, gets engaged to the OW and breaks the FMC’s heart. Realizing he doesn’t want to please his family and dumps the fiancée and begs his way back into the FMC’s life.

The whole thing is very meh.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surely there's a law somewhere that says a neurosurgeon can't be the king of TSTLdom? Because Evan reigns supreme 🙄

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes for me

Evan - well respected surgeon

Navya - OR nurse. Proud of Indian heritage

They meet in OR and he is arrogant and horrible specifically to her. Another nurse admits to setting something up wrong, but he stares at and blames Navya.

After surgery he says to not be scheduled with her again. Another Dr says she’s one of the best. He responds “Then your best is disappointing “

Come to find out a different nurse said he was hot and he thought it was Navya. By the time he figured it out he’d already been rude.

He takes her to an apology dinner and it turns physical. He sets rules they can only have sex/fun, no type of relationship and he doesn’t stay the night. She surprised him by saying ok. He only takes her to places they won’t be recognized and never his apartment.

He meets his Nonno at a vineyard. He’s on his deathbed. Arabella is a girl from Italy his family wants him to marry. Nonno insists on it. He tells Arabella he does not love her. She tells him she’s loved him all her life and he will learn.

He breaks it off with Navya after they were together 6 months. Right after they are intimate in a work call room. He asks if she’s ok. She lies and says yes. He responds “Good. I don’t need the drama. Last time I ended something the dr lost it in the OR”

She meets her friend at a bar. Evan is there but neither see each other. He tells his friend he ended it and she took it fine. The manhoe friend mentions her being a virgin so Navya is mortified Evan talked about it. And the dagger to the heart - Navya was a convenient distraction but she could never compete with Arabella since she is well educated and from an elite family.

Let the grovel commence.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

ends at page 185 out of 231 - MMC isn’t horrendous and MFC actually had a backbone

So a good 4th of this book is Ads for her other books. So you’re paying to read ads to hopefully generate more income for the author.

Book was a lot of TELL and not SHOW. The main characters barely spend any time on screen and spice is low low low. They spend more time talking to supporting characters.

I will say the author has a formula - and they way she cranks out books soo quickly leave several open questions about her methods, imo —

….but she’s dialed back on the MMC being absolutely horrendous and unredeemable and instead, has their transgressions being mild (instead of like, having the MFC get thrown in jail, or a s33x tape, or losing her job and her house, IYKYK it’s how her earlier work is like, etc) and now she writes the MFC with an actual backbone that doesn’t cave immediately. I will say I like it. Much less enraging and I’m more likely to Isley with the characters more realistically.

Evan did grovel - but I would’ve appreciated more showing and not telling. It would’ve made it more impactful. But I love Navya’d strength - she held firm on a lot of things and even tossed the trash he said about her back in his face.

Overall it’s decent - could’ve done without the heavy emphasis on a minority culture the author is just guessing at (she does this with her Savannah series as well)

[Aarann · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 "felt somewhat disconnected" stars. This one was cute and better than some of the author's more recent stuff, but it felt like there were time jumps where emotional stuff that should have happened on-page was just skipped over. The biggest thing was I would have liked to see Evan's public announcement, and Navya's reaction to it, when he suddenly decides his engagement is over and he wants her back.

I just don't get how a plot where the MMC throws over the FMC to marry someone "more appropriate" doesn't connect with me. I mean, The Billionaire's Pregnant Mistress was so much fun... How did this not feel like more of a gut punch? I mean, I didn't want Navya to just wallow in front of Evan or anything, I'm over that, but for all the set-up this book had to get to the Big Betrayal, his decision to dump her just felt very... "so that's what happened on Tuesday."

Also, I liked the medical drama a lot more in Careless Whisper. And that sucks because I wanted to like Navya so much more than I did.

I think this author has lost of lot of her spark in outputting what, like, 5-7 books a year? She seems like she has a release at least every two months, and I'm pretty sure there were 3 releases in April/May this year. I mean that's a lot of writing. It's not AI levels of bad, but it does feel like she's typing in formulas on a lot of the more recent stuff.

The problem is, the blurbs always look soooo good to me so I just can't quit her yet.

[K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried. I only got a few chapters in and I was exhausted trying to translate all the languages used. It takes away from the story. Every time I had to pause to translate a word, I had to go back and read it again in the context. It doesn’t make me think more of a character because they think in their native language. It comes across as an author trying to create characters with a background they’re not a familiar with.

It felt phony. Maybe if I just knew the struggle of the characters, regardless of race/ethnicity then I’d know whether the story was worth a read. I genuinely don’t spend too much time worrying which continent a character descended from. I care about their story, their struggles and whether they overcome them.

This isn’t the first author to do this and it won’t be the last.

I’ve read entire worlds created out of thin air with religious beliefs and languages that felt more genuine than this did.

Maybe I’ll try again later but for now it was a miss right off the bat.

[Margeaux (meg_booklover7) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5⭐️ The queen of betrayal and grovel has done it again. If you like getting your heart ripped out, then you will love Evan. Navya Rana is an accomplished OR nurse who is comfortable in her body and her identity. When grumpy neurosurgeon Evan Vincenzo enters her OR and reprimands her for mistakes she didn’t make, she decides that he is on her not-so-nice list. But realizing his mistake, Evan apologizes and invites her to dinner – a dinner that turns into a hot but secret love affair. But like all secret affairs, this one was not meant to last, especially since Evan has responsibilities to his family who expects him to marry someone they’ve chosen. Upon getting engaged, Evan breaks it off with Navya but not just breaks it off. . .he also humiliates her when she overhears him tell his friend that she was merely a convenience. But Navya does not sulk or break down after Evan’s betrayal, she instead finds her true value. Seeing her confidence and professionalism, Evan realizes his mistake and knows he’s going to have to grovel so hard to get her back. . .that’s if he can get her back. I loved Navya! Her little Bollywood quips made her so relatable. I love that she never felt pressured to change. And that’s why this one delivered a hard gut punch. Evan made such a big mistake and Navya deserves so much more. But the grovel is good! And I love the lovable Nonno. Evan is Maya Alden at her best.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maya, I truly love all your books!!!

These novellas though are seriously becoming my favorites! It’s amazing how you give us so much into such a short story!

I love Navya! She let go when she needed to and didn’t give in quickly! Looove it!

I loooved Evan’s parts when he realized his mistakes! The emotions you give me are just chef’s kiss!

Highly recommend!

[Shanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

Evan is a TSTL Neurosurgeon who has misguided loyalties to family obligations. Navya is a super sweet, smart Nurse who always puts others before herself. This was a great overheard betrayal, angst, grovel, redemption story. Her finding her worth and him finding his courage. Them both learning to communicate their truths and fighting for their hea.

[Ana · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing was more telling I didn’t like the story at all it was just boring

[Melanie Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

:/

[Jill S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Am I going to read it? Yes
Will I be underwhelmed? Also, yes.

Not much different than her book with the nurse named Reggie except that Reggie had money and the misunderstanding was different.

[Kenshie Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with her poker face since the first chapter and fell in love with her courage during the family lunch...
All in all Maya never fails to make me emotional with her novellas

[Jennifer Moreno · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved the humor!

I really loved the humor is this book! Navya was so refreshing and honest. Evan did his groveling like a pro! Highly recommend this one!

[Serial Romance Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining novella. I like the pace of these stories and I though the characters were well-developed. This one didn’t have as much gut punch, but still enjoyable.