There was more than one “not so heroic moments” by the hero.
He messes up THREE times and she forgives him.
I didn’t particularly enjoy this book.
Heroine sounded way too good for him and I think she forgave him too quickly and settled for him because he was the first one to see her as she is, not her money.
But unlike her I couldn’t see past his mistakes.
The second time he screwed up, unlike heroine I didn’t blame him for snapping at her parents but what he did AFTER was pure douche move with double standards. He demanded she opened up to him but shut down the moment she demanded the same of him. It was very much all taking on his part in the relationship, no giving.
Then the next day he comes to her claiming he’ll fix it, they’ll talk things out and be honest and the first thing he does when asked about the OW is tell her she’s “nothing”! She was his EX-FIANCÉE FFS!
who came to see if they could rekindle things! Who’s been trying to contact him over phone to reconnect FOR QUITE A WHILE by the sound of it.
Then by talking he meant he’ll give heroine vague ideas that he was a “bad” boy in the past! He does NOT disclose ANYTHING!
Then, the third mistake, he does NOT disclose ANYTHING! So now heroine’s father discloses his past to heroine and he dared demand heroine let him explain? He should have done that BEFORE! And by the sound of it, he would NOT have told heroine about his past or his fiancée if she didn’t find everything out.
Oh but hey, he still kept demanding heroine told HIM everything and then tell her dad to fuck off.
Heroine’s dad was a POS, yes, but how is the hero anymore trustworthy? He’s the one to judge?
And after EVERY screw up, he doesn’t respect her space or boundaries. He takes her outdoors spare key and helps himself to her house WITHOUT her permission EVERY time. That still counts as breaking and entering and that is DEFINITELY harassment! He didn’t let her cool off a single time so my feelings that heroine just settled for him only been reinforced.
Now coming to his very first mistake. Which I just couldn’t get past or brush off like heroine’s bff did. I guess he was a guy first, friend second.
I understand he has traumas relating to fire. But SURELY his grandma showed concern throughout the whole episode? By the sound of it she cared first for him then anything else. And hero is claiming he’s very attached to heroine already.
So heroine accidentally sets fire on hero’s kitchen and burns his really expensive coffee maker. The first thing he asks was WTF she has done to his kitchen, then refuses to listen to her that it was accident while berating her for destroying his one of a kind coffee maker, and then snapping at her that she couldn’t possibly afford to replace it for him when she finally gave up and offered to replace it for him!
At no point of time did he even WONDER if she was ok even to himself, let alone ask her. Trust me, he had no intention of asking after her wellbeing because that thought never even occurred to him until heroine finally snapped and told him she can definitely afford a measly $3k coffee machine, and she’s fine, no thanks for asking.
She took him back after that????
Ladies, I don’t care HOW strong the orgasm is, if this EVER happens, I want you to promise me that you’ll punch them on the face and run the other way????
Same rule applies for guys too (just hold on the punch, you might get in trouble, equality doesn’t factor into this).
Since this happened very early in the book, I never warmed up to the guy. When he declared his love, it didn’t ring true and I just never believed him to be a caring person! He sounded extremely shallow and selfish.
This book and this couple should have never gotten past the first incident. That mistake was enough and was one too many. This should have ended there. NOTHING could EVER redeem him, and NOTHING DID.
There is also subtle misogyny running through the book. Apart from taking and using heroine’s spare key to force himself in her space, he drove her car, WITHOUT her permission, he just told her and got in the driver’s seat, (it’s a cherry red mustang, all guy’s wet dream, so I DO know it’s an extremely chauvinist thing to take over driving of THAT car), any guy trying that would lose all three legs!
He carried her out physically from in front of her co-workers humiliating her because he didn’t like the other guy touching her. In process he almost costed the heroine her job, not to mention that was also sexual harassment on his part and physical assault and humiliating for the heroine!
Plot hole: we never found out WTF it was about the scam and his break up with ex, or why they actually broke up. (Or I may have missed it)
Safety: by the sound of it they were too busy pranking and hating each other not to be abstinent since they met!
They both used random people to make each other jealous, it was extremely petty, and sounded like something 18 YOs may do, not grown ups!
Sadly no safe sex.
björk was a dormant character cat, with rare occurrences.