0 stars.
Content warnings in the book for emotional manipulation and abuse, sexual assault, and stalking.
I could honestly write this whole review in caps because I've been yelling at this book since about 20%. No joke.
Reese Carroll is a controlling son of a bitch. He doesn't *let* Dylan wear certain outfits. He gets angry when she wears something he doesn't like. In the epilogue he ADMITS to being more possessive since she got pregnant.
That's not possessive. That's a controlling, domineering asshole. I had one of those in my life, and I'm so, so disappointed read a character who acts this way. Especially one written so recently.
AND THEN, in case that's not enough, HE FUCKING BLAMES WHAT DYLAN WEARS FOR SOME OTHER GUY TOUCHING HER. NOPE. There's 0 excuses here. None. And he never apologizes, never tries to change or make amends or see how she was feeling. What does he do? He goes and gets plastered because he couldn't protect her. FUCKING NOPE. Do you know what my husband would do if someone touched me in a way I didn't want? He'd be next to me. Immediately. He'd make me feel better, safe, however that needed to happen. Then, and only once I was completely comfortable again, would he go kill the person. Because when you're married you put the other person's needs before your own.
Here's what happens: Dylan has been dealing with Bryce, creep from book 1. Turns out Reese has enterer into a business deal with Bryce for reasons we later learn, even though this makes Dylan extremely uncomfortable. Fast forward to the bachelorette party, and Bryce ends up at the same bar as Dylan and her friends. He buys Dylan a drink, she throws it in his face (this is deserved), says nasty words to him, and leaves. Here's issue 1: Dylan wore a dress Reese wouldn't approve of (wtf) so when she gets home, not only is he pissed about the dress, but the next day when he founds out Bryce saw her in it, he flips out and doesn't talk to her for hours.
At some point, Bryce places a rose on Dylan's van, and Dylan thinks it's from Reese.
Issue 2 comes about after Reese buys Dylan a car. She shows up in lingerie and a trench and has sex with Reese in his office. As she's leaving, Bryce meets her in the elevator, proceeds to pin her against a wall, and runs his finger down her neck. She knees him in the balls, drives back to her store (freaking out) and calls Reese. Reese literally says
"“...Don’t fucking yell at me because you, once again, decided to wear something that could draw you undesirable attention. You could’ve stripped all your clothes off once you got in my office, or waited until I fucking got home to pull that stunt.”"
wut.
As I said in my update, this is victim blaming. And then to top it off, he doesn't contact her the rest of the night and stumbles in drunk, waking up Dylan with the security alarm. As he stumbles in, he is a *sad drunk* and says some odd things (imo). The next day, they basically act like nothing happened because Reese is hung over and sick. Later, when they do talk about it, all Reese says is he's mad at himself because he didn't protect Dylan. Turns out he's working with Bryce because he was trying to catch him in an embezzlement scheme.
Then the night of their rehearsal dinner, Bryce once again corners Dylan and starts making out with and groping her. Honestly, I was worried about Reese's reaction. If he would have blamed her for that, I would have thrown my phone (bad choices, I know) and DNF. I was prepared for this reaction. However Reese does not do this; he pulls Bryce off Dylan and starts beating the shit out of him. Reese breaks his hand. He tells Dylan that now is the time to slap Bryce and she does (this was one of my issues with the first book), then the cops take Bryce away and we learn he's looking at 25 years for his crimes.
At no point does anyone check and see if Dylan is okay. They don't ask if she wants to press charges. Dylan tells the officers about the other incidents, including the rose, and apparently Reese didn't know about that because he looks angry when she mentions is AND SHE APOLOGIZES. No one comforts Dylan. No one asks what she needs. Instead, she just goes on with her normal plans like nothing happened. This did not seem realistic to me. Bryce became a villain and a convenient excuse for Reese's "possessiveness" which we can easily see is really a controlling nature.
I can't tell you how livid this book made me. This happens about halfway through, and it RUINS the rest of the book. And I'm a sucker for weddings and babies. But not here. I was so angry no one pointed out Reese's horrible behavior, so angry Dylan just forgave him and basically said she was sorry for the incident where SOMEONE ELSE TOUCHED HER. So angry I ended up hating this book. And idk if I can read anymore of Daniel's work, even though I want to see more of this series, because this was a huge turn off.
If you've read this far, thank you for coming to my TED talk.