Sometimes, when the real world has you down, you find yourself lagging. In work, in love, hell, in life all around. Emotions are on overdrive, and everything just seems harder to take. That's when stopping the world, if only for a little while, is one of the most important steps in restarting it in the direction you wanted to go. This book was that.
Oh, it had it's drama, and passion. It had the clever snark that I've grown so accustomed to with this author. I would have expected nothing less. There just seemed to be a little something extra though. Something that made this story pack an extra punch to my aching soul.
It could have been the fact that it encompassed several of my favorite tropes without ever feeling overcrowded.
Standalone that's part of a bigger series, with cameos from old favorites? Check. If you haven't read the others in this series you will barely notice, but they're there, and delightfully satisfying.
Sexy man with fatherly instincts and a love for a child not his? Check again. Oh but I fell in love with Duncan, and I fell hard.
Strong heroine, who knows when to push away and when to say she's sorry? Boom. Done.
Pregnancy and it's trials.
Second chances well earned.
Adults actually adulting? Talking through problems, working together to work things out? Delivered, right on time. Oh, I know that the conflict helps to bring about a resolution. But love is hard enough. I hate when it's made even harder by adults acting like teens.
B. Cranford understands that fine balance between engaging conflict and over played drama and angst. It can be a fine line, but she walks it with a balance that leaves me gasping and never wanting the show to end.
Heart. This book had it in every page. From the way Ashton held her hand over her growing belly to the thoughts going through her mind when morning sickness reared it's ugly head. Through the tears -and oh how I sympathize with hormonal crying - the cravings, and the intense passion between
Ashton and Duncan. Just so much heart.
Reading this left me with all the feels, in all the best ways. A soothing mental balm, a well earned escape from reality, and an absolute tease about what might be coming next, who's story I'll get to be a part of.
In true Cranford fashion, this book was everything I needed, whether I knew it or not.