i have some thoughts…
Ok so this wasn’t the worst I’ve read, but there were some bumps that stopped it from being awesome.
I love the “secret baby” trope, it’s a classic for a reason, and that’s why I picked this one up. However it wasn’t very clear as to why the heroine left. Did her brothers lie to her about seeing the hero cheat on her (he didn’t) or does she run for some other reason? this wasn’t resolved satisfactorily for me.
Here’s how it’s laid out: h comes back to town after disappearing for a year. Hero has been gutted and devastated at her disappearance. Before she rabbited, they’d been seeing each other secretly and one day, she’s just gone. She never even calls to tell him they’re broke up. Or leaves him an angry text. Nothin. It’s radio silence and that was shitty.
When she comes back, he’s angry and bitter and wants revenge. He wants to fuck her out of his system. He doesn’t trust her. And finding out he’s a dad: there was no emotional oomph. Between finding out and meeting his baby, the whole thing felt lackluster. We never get to see him bond with the baby. And heroine never explains why she left the way she did.
I also didn’t like that the hero was depicted as a manwhore prior to being with the heroine and yet has always been drawn to her. They don’t really know one another before they secretly start dating, but they’ve seen each other around and felt a pull. Since there was attraction there, it made no sense to make him a manwhore. It seemed to only be used as a plot device so that way the heroine wouldn’t trust him and run away.
What I DID like was that the hero was faithful to heroine during separation. That was awesome.
What wasn’t awesome was condoms in the first smexy scene that completely ruined it. Like tossing cold water on a fire. The subsequent scenes are bare, skin on skin, so that rescued the steamy bits a bit.
All in all, it’s not a terrible story, it just could’ve been better and these elements stopped it from being really good and bringing the swoon.
Safeish. Even tho hero has seen heroine around school and the neighborhood, he’s a manwhore until he meets her and dates her. He’s faithful from that point on. Celibate during separation. Heroine is a virgin and belongs only to the hero, gives him the gift of claiming all her firsts. No others, no cheating or abuse. HEA with epilogue