Have Mercy

by N.E. Henderson

I never saw it coming.

It's hard to get over that kind of betrayal. It leaves a mark on the heart. A slow bleed that never goes away. She was my girl. We were supposed to be partners. She was going to be the mother of my children down the road. The only girl to warm my bed. She was my forever girl.

Until she ran away.

I thought she felt the same. But if she did she wouldn't have ditched me like I didn't matter. All the plans we made meant nothing to her. She disappeared without so much as a goodbye. Those cuts are the deepest. A gaping hole that can't be sealed. I could've stomached anything else—a meaningless one-night stand, drifting apart, vanishing love. But abandonment is a deadly strike that can't be forgotten. It sticks with you forever.

Three months later she showed up, expecting me to welcome her back with open arms. Excuses, lies, not even her crying eyes could make me believe the manipulative bullshit coming out of her mouth. For months I felt like I was burning alive. She shattered my heart and stole my soul. 

I moved on.

Now, eighteen years later, a nightmare unfolds. Every detail makes my stomach churn. Lies come to the light. The truth is uncovered. And the people I thought I knew become strangers. The heartbreak I felt was only a scratch compared to the sliced open heart in my chest. 

Winning her back seems like an impossible feat. She may never forgive me, because the thing about mercy—you have to give to receive.

***Have Mercy is a 107K word standalone, second chance love story.***

Genres: Second Chance, Romance, Dark Romance, Contemporary, Abuse, Second Chance Romance, Dark

376 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

I'm an indie author of sexy, contemporary romance. When I'm not writing, you can find me reading some form of romance or playing in the dirt and mud in my ATV.

I live in Mississippi with my husband, son, and Bull Terrier, Xena. I love to hear from readers so if you connect with me on social media or meet me at a signing you can call me Nancy.

Visit my Amazon Author page:
https://www.amazon.com/N.-E.-Henderso...

Follow my on Instagram:
http://www.instagram.com/nehenderson

Follow me on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/authornehende...

Join my Reader Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/thefi...

Join my Newsletter
http://bit.ly/NancyNews

Reviews

[Fre06 Begum · Rating 1 out of 5]

ALL the tropes I HATE in a so called love story.
This book was AWFUL and now I know this author is not for me!

Spoilers!!!

If it was me I would NEVER have forgiven him!
Only a few weeks after she disappeared he started sleeping around and then he started screwing HER BEST FRIEND!!
After she escaped she tried to talk to him but found him screwing her so called best friend. He was so nasty to her in that scene saying her best friend was better, he believed the whore friends lies over the so called love of his life.
Whore friend ends up pregnant and her son is only a few weeks/months younger than h’s son. He marries the ow and lives with her for 18 years and then suddenly decided to divorce her. He never thought to look up h but oh he still loves her so much. He cheated on his whore wife (not that that bothered me) but that’s ok because whore wife always knew he didn’t love her. He slept with countless women but he really loved the h.
Even when h came back on scene which started with her straight away from having sex with him he still wouldn’t believe that whore wife was a psycho and a crappy mother to their son. Dammit he didn’t love whore wife but people needed to respect she was the mother of his child!! He didn’t like h or their son with h disrespect his wife!!

The h was pathetic all she did was have inner monologue about how the heart wants what the heart wants and her soul is so entwined with him blah blah blah.....I wanted to barf! Seriously what about self love and self respect? This guy had let her down in some of the worst ways, while she was being tortured he was screwing her best friend and getting her pregnant. He didn’t believe her when she told him why she disappeared, he married the ow and lived with her for EIGHTEEN YEARS!! In the end she decided to forgive him because apparently you only have one life and she doesn’t want to spend it without this worthless wimp!! What a load of garbage seriously I cannot believe anyone can write such a disgusting male lead and then have him get a HEA. He needed to die with his psycho wife that would have been a better ending.

Oh and the final clincher? While he was whoring around and sleeping with his wife the pathetic h WAS CELIBATE FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS!!!
How fucking wrong is it that the female lead had no sex for EIGHTEEN YEARS! Whilst the cheating bastard slept around and had a wife?? That’s not showing true love Author that’s showing how unfair and different their version of love was. I am so pissed off reading this rubbish I feel like throwing my kindle against the wall! Now I need brain bleach!
Sorry for my bad language people I don’t normally swear but this book really made me see red!

[Alina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is absolutely disgusting
But to me whats really saddening is seeing a bunch of 5-star reviews and I'm like is this what people see as love?? Do people like reading about heroes who sleep around and heroines who practically doesn't have a life and is celibate for years? I know its fiction but come on!!!!

WE WANT TO READ BOOKS ABOUT WOMEN WHO CAN HAVE A LIFE WITHOUT THE HERO!

[Elizabeth]

This has all these lovely things:

Celibate heroine for 18 years
Hero slept with and married her best friend
Manwhore even tho he was married to best friend
Miscommunication trope so heroine is tortured and the hero thinks he has the moral high ground to treat her like crap

I just.....dont understand how anyone can read this type of story and like it. I'm sorry I try not to judge but....I just cant in this case 😫

[Sonia]

Just read the blurb… but I’ll add to it …
X
X
X
X

Celibate h (18 YEARSSSSSS!!!), H sleeps around when the h leaves, then he sleeps with h’s “best friend”; she gets pregnant; they get married blah blah blah

The h comes back after 18 CELIBATE years and basically sleeps with the H when he wants it 🤬🤬🤬 so over these books!!! 🙄🙄🙄

Oh to top it off, he’s loved the h the whole time 🙄🙄🙄 but that didn’t stop him from continually cheating on his wife (the “best friend”)

So he’s been in so many v’s I’m surprised he has a d… but the h has only ever been with him

GAHHH! 🤬🙄

[Maddy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf at 30%.

I have never stopped reading a book...sure i may have skimmed if there was a book i didn't particularly enjoy but i always got to the end...until now.

It just got to be too much...the hero was the biggest loser i have ever come across and the heroine was no better...
Teenagers 'in love' who get pregnant and the girl gets kidnapped for 3 months and the guy thinks she has run away (and didn't bother to tell him...rightttt! because her best friend said so.) Apparently no police involvement at all. So he starts shagging the best friend (which apparently he doesn't enjoy but keeps doing it) and lo behold she gets pregnant too...big claps! way to go...no one has told these idiots to use protection it seems and now he is stuck with the best friend.

The heroine in the meantime is tortured by a good looking monster who for kicks beats her so that she will lose her baby, so he can sell her. And before you can even wrap your head around it, something clicks for the monster and within 7 days of the beating, he decides he wants to be a good guy (although he has been a human trafficker for ever) and releases her and becomes her best friend...yes you read this right...they become best friends...i know...wtf!

Just wait, it gets better...

The poor kidnapped, abused heroine comes back, and because she is best friends with the human trafficker now, she doesn't go to the police, and apparently her parents weren't too bothered about her disappearance either (although she is only like 16 years old or something) and she walks in on her love of her life boyfriend doing the nasty with her best friend. He's a dick, doesn't listen to a word she says when she tells him she was kidnapped...(side note, apparently best friend was behind the kidnapping - yeah, we are mean't to believe this regular high school 16 year old girl has contacts with the dark side). The heroine doesn't bother telling him she's still pregnant.

They live within a small proximity of each other but we are supposed to believe that they do not have any other contact with each other for 18 years.

Our so called hero marries the best friend, but cheats on her and has no idea what the heroine is up to or that she has had a kid (but apparently he still can't get over her, thinks about her...yet doesn't bother to look her up in all this time...even though she is nearby...) Pull the other one!

After 18 freaking years..they both finally bump into each other and within a few hours they have sex!

The heroine has no self respect whatsoever.

Then there was a lot of back and forth, where the hero finds out he has a son with her and she refuses to talk to him about it and the story of what really happened (she knows the best friend was behind it but didn't want to spoil the happy family vibe). The hero acts all righteous and hurt about not knowing the son.

The heroine is surrounded by hot looking guys, but is celibate. (Of course she is...because all of this is so realistic.)

We find that her teenage son is shagging the 16 year old daughter of her kidnapper...and everyone is hunky-dory about it - its a common occurrence for the girl to sleep over...(history repeating itself).

..and then i just put the book down.

Should have listened to Fre06 Begum...her review is awesome.

[Lana ❇✾DG Romance❇✾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 STARS

Eighteen years have gone by and Elise Thomas still owns me like no other woman ever has—or ever will.

This review is extremely difficult for me to write. I have sat on my rating for it for a solid week and I'm still struggling with it. Why? Because I binge read this story. I'm talking glued to the pages, completely incapable of setting it down for even a second sort of binge here, people. It was like a rockstar soap opera. No lie. If OTT drama, angst, and alphahole heroes aren't your jam, I'd say this book won't be for you. But this reader? I froth at the mouth for it. Don't you judge me either. I yam what I yam.

I think that had it been for different execution on a few plot devices and elements of this book, it would have been a no brainer 5 star. As it was, there were things in this story that I really hoped would be better wrapped up then they were at the end. But I'll get to those in a minute.

First let me start with what I loved; the set up. DELICIOUS. A second chance romance 18 years in the making. Jamie and Jenna were each other's world as teenagers. They loved and they loved hard, until they fell apart even harder. Eighteen years later and neither of them is much closer to any sort of closure from each other. Jamie is now divorced and still as bitter as he was back when he though Jenna betrayed him. Jenna has tried to move on from Jamie, but how do you forget the love of your life? But how do you ultimately pick up the pieces when you realize that everything you thought you knew was wrong. And the person you've hated for years is not at all who you thought they were and that you're ultimately responsible for breaking you apart? That's the premise of the book.

The story unravels in alternating flashbacks. These were cleverly written to give the reader the whole story crumble by crumble, until you're utterly desperate for the whole picture. I loved the over the top angst and drama of this book. The antagonistic sort of back and forth between Jamie and Jenna was book crack. Jamie made a terrible decision those years ago that essentially got all the dominoes to fall. A decision made by a young and immature boy that didn't yet have his head out of his own ego long enough to dig deeper. I didn't hate him for it, but I can see a lot of readers having an issue with it. This reader, however, did not. I loved to hate Jamie. What can I say? I live for some book drama every now and then.

Jenna struck me a great and strong willed heroine at first. I loved her spark and the added edge of what she keeps hidden below the surface with the scars of her past. This is also where the story began to lose me. I wanted Jenna to keep holding on to that edge, but I couldn't help but feel that she began to lose most of it with Jamie. She gives in so easily to his every whim. After the betrayal that lies between them, I just couldn't wrap my head around this, no matter how much she still loves him. I wanted her to make him work for it. Make him beg, crawl on his knees! But she does none of those things. The only thing she does do is keep him on the edge by not sharing the full capacity of the truth with him. This ultimately drove me crazy. It just seemed like an unnecessary way to drive the plot forward where there were plenty of other moving wheels in the story to do so. It dragged on for way too long. I also absolutely hate when a heroine is celibate for years while the hero is swinging his left and right when they're not together and have no hopes of being together. It's unrealistic and it's a huge pet peeve of mine so unfortunately this played a big part in my rating.

There is a very heavy element of suspense around the mystery of what happened those years ago. Though to be fair, it's only a mystery to the reader for a short part of the book. It continues to be a mystery to Jamie for longer. I also really disliked that Jamie continually kept jumping to the wrong conclusion of Jenna no matter how much evidence he had to the contrary. I wanted this man to GROVEL, and I do mean GROVEL. And all he continues to do is jump to conclusions and think the worst of her.

I liked the inclusion of the secondary characters and the kids, however, I didn't feel it necessary to have their POVs. While it didn't take away from the story, it did convolute it a bit with the continuous flashbacks.

I wanted Jenna to be as strong of a heroine with Jamie as she is with every other aspect of her life, and unfortunately for me, she just wasn't. A betrayal of that caliber needs a huge grovel, and that didn't happen either. I wanted to 5 star this book so much. It took me out of a huge book funk and kept me glued to the pages. Unfortunately I just couldn't look past the many issues that I also had with it.

I'm definitely a huge fan of the author and will definitely read her future books. This one may not have been perfect, but it still hit the spot, so give it a shot and see for yourself.


ARC courtesy of author in exchange for an honest review

Find me on:

[Ana Laura]

Just pleeeeeeease! Stop doing that!!!! FIND ANOTHER JOB AND SPARE US OF SUCH BUNCH OF SEXIST GARBAGE!!!! PLEEEEEEASE!!!! PLEASEEEE!!!!

[Ellie]

Oh my hell. What did I just read?!

This 'writer' has no control of her imagination and moreover, clearly hates women. Those are the only relatively fair explanations I have for this car crash of a book - and for the moronic arsehole hero and TSTL heroine.

This guy, Jamie, was awful. The writer scraped the bottom of the doucheweasel barrel for this prick. What a stupid, weak-minded, entitled piece of human affluvium.
MOST of the time I can let some stupidity go when the hero is in his teenaged years. Mind and character are still forming at that time in life, and teenaged boys haven't learned to rein in the effects of increased testosterone flooding their young minds and bodies. They are cocky and impulsive - foolishly so - and tend to be led the little head behind their trouser zipper.

But what this guy did goes way beyond a mistake by an emotional teenaged boy.
Now, Jenna's ordeal was eye-rollingly, ridiculously over-the-top and the story gets more silly as the book goes on, BUT...I digress.
Before that, she and Jamie had been in love since they were kids. They had plans. She'd never given this guy any reason to not trust her. But he immediately believes a pack of lies and betrays her in the cruelest of ways. He says the ugliest things to her, rubs her nose in what he's done in her absence, and proves himself irredeemable in my eyes.

And yet, at just 17% into this story, after this guy destroyed what was left of her after her kidnapping and abandoned her, she spreads her legs for him almost immediately after seeing him for the first time in 18 years.
Eighteen. F*cking. Years.

So much for a heroine with strength and self-respect - and intelligence. I can't get behind someone like that. I won't. I have no respect for women who say one thing and do another, who let their libido take over good sense and who let pieces of garbage like Jamie push their way back into their lives.

Now, I thought I was reading a romance, not a fantasy. This story was utterly ridiculous and beyond the scope of anything believable. In other words - this just wouldn't happen. The actions and decisions of Jenna defied logic or intelligence, which made her unrelatable. And honestly, her unconscionable choices and lack of discernable personality made hating her not worth it. She didn't warrant the energy it would take.
But aside from all that, this writer lost me at the 17% mark. I've seen words like 'love,' 'forgiveness,' and 'redemption' bandied about with regards to this story, but I must argue otherwise. I saw none of those things, particularly redemption. Jamie was no hero. Not even close. He didn't earn forgiveness, did nothing to redeem himself and yet ended up getting everything he wanted. Everything - as we see him insist throughout the book - that HE was entitled to.
But hey, if the heroine didn't think enough of herself to demand that rat bastard grovel in broken glass and cinders to EARN the right to even breathe the same air, then why should I care?

This writer isn't for me and I will be avoiding her material. Jenna was as strong as a wet noodle and had about as much character.
It's come to it for me that if you're a writer and you represent my gender in a way I feel casts them in a bad light, you are one and done.

I most definitely would never revommend this book.

[Mojo_Mama · Rating 5 out of 5]

2ND EDIT:
5 stars cuz it didn’t deserve the thought police trolling. 3.5 cuz it had a damn fine plot.

Major fucking spoilers ahead.
I rarely state that and reveal them anyway. (Spoiler Whore, sue me.) So, if I bother to mention it, be advised.

The real problem with this book is it needed more of everything.

More romance building in the present. More details about H/h’s lives in 18 year gap. More insight to his Rockstar lifestyle. More sex for the h, that’s for damn sure. More details on the OW’s sex trafficking operation. More on the absolute bombshell of Josh being the brother of the villain. Jesus, fuck. That’s was a wasted goldmine. More scenes of the relationship of H and OW during gap. More scenes of the h’s relationship between her son and the H/OW son. More on what Josh did to redeem himself, how he spent those two years before FBI. More on how/what Brandon’s childhood was like.

FFS. This is a 4 or 5 or 8 book series shoved into one fucking book. Too many people had POVs to allow the H/h enough on page time for me to believe their reunion romance. But I don’t know how this plot could’ve progressed in the fashion it needed without the way it was written. While I feel cheated because shit felt glossed, if this was a series opener with a novella about this H/h really finding an HEA and then a series of novels about the full cast of interesting secondary characters, I would recommend it to everyone.

As it stands, that 18 year ho gap for the H is never described enough that you really understand his pattern. I mean, if the evil OW ex-wife paid to have the h trafficked and really killed or trafficked every woman the H fucked during their marriage it could be thousands. Ask Anthony Kiedis...his number is mother-fucking staggering. So was he like that or just one a month? WTF happened to all those women and did they learn anything from bringing down her sex trafficking ring???

Also...what a total shit father was the H??? For real, he was so fucking clueless about his personal life it made him look stupid.

Fuck, I want to read the sons’ books. And Mal and Cole’s book. And Jesus, Josh and Jess’s book *bites-knuckle*

This was really plot driven and the romance took a backseat to it. Their separation is pivotal to this plot. There would be no Brandon, no Maggie, Jess would be dead from being trafficked too long, Josh would still be breaking girls, and Jules would’ve probably kept trafficking for decades.

This really wasn’t about some nasty manho fucking everything that moved while married to the ex-BFF of the love of his life. It was about sex trafficking and the family that grew from it to destroy it.

EDIT:
A GR buddy messaged me and told me I was wrong about this book and I should read it. I am such a proponent for keeping it real in reviews and not telling authors what they should and shouldn’t write based on my personal beliefs/morals, I’ve decided to read it...more soon...

ORIGINAL POST:
SPOILERS:
18 year separation where H marries h’s best friend and cheats on his wife and the h is CELIBATE. Fuck right on off with that bullshit.
Love angst. HATE doormats.

[Olga therebelreader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plus: the starting of the story was really interesting, the sex was hot, the writing was fluid
Minus: the story line was terrible, the romance wasn’t convincing

One star for a promising start, and second star for somehow skimming to the finish line.

In short:
Hero 2/5 | Heroine 2/5 | Plot (Point, Originality) 1/5 | Writing Style 4/5 | Steam 3/5 | Romance 2/5 | Angst-Suspense 4/5 | Darkness 3/5 | Humor 0/5 | Secondary Characters 2/5 | Drama-Conflict 3/5 | Mystery 0/5 | Twists 3/5 | Pacing Steady | Action 3/5


*I won an e-ARC of this book*

[Veronica WordsAreMyDrinkOfChoice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Are you kidding me?

[Rejane]

Reading this review 👉🏻 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I can almost say this book is the worst of the year. 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
What are those authors thinking lately? Are they eating 💩?? And 18 years time line.. not believable even for a fictional book. This is delusional. 🤢🤢
Unfortunately we still have 5 more months to go and we are on the risk to get worse.
Honestly, I don’t think this one can be topped 🤔
🤔

Another great review 👉🏻👉🏻 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Cc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait to read!

You ever wonder why people need to tell others what to write and read? Ever wonder why these same people would then foam at the mouth telling you how bad you are if you like it? Ever wonder why they read something they KNOW they are going to dislike? Have you ever wondered what their spittle encrusted computer screens must smell like? Or look like? Ever wondered why they need to tell people what to feel over and over and over again? Ever wonder why. they. waste. their. time. on. books. that. will. induce. strokes. for. their. judgmental. selves? No? I do have theories (conspiracy theories, the best kind). I think they're related to Goebbels. Um hmm. He liked to burn books too.

It's like they're projecting their own fear onto others. Ever notice they never have books listed that they actually like? Probably too afraid they'd be judged. Oh! The Irony!!

By the way, if you can't tell that is, I'm being facetious. All except the Goebbels reference, that's dead on.

[Renegade ♥]

Reminder:

Seriously?!



From Ellie's helpful review:

I've seen words like 'love,' 'forgiveness,' and 'redemption' bandied about with regards to this story, but I must argue otherwise. I saw none of those things, particularly redemption. Jamie was no hero. Not even close. He didn't earn forgiveness, did nothing to redeem himself and yet ended up getting everything he wanted. Everything - as we see him insist throughout the book - that HE was entitled to.
But hey, if the heroine didn't think enough of herself to demand that rat bastard grovel in broken glass and cinders to EARN the right to even breathe the same air, then why should I care?

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Nope. Nope. Nope.

To put it simply?



This sounds like a shit ton of dysfunctional, sexist crap topped with an HEA that I'd never believe in a million years...



Yeah, NO.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was expecting something totally different based on all the five star reviews.

besides the fact that the villain was so unbelievable (16 year old girl basically sells her “bff” to her brother (who doesn’t know he’s her bro? but she does?..) because she’s obsessed with “bff’s” boyfriend. and btw she comes from a rich family and guess how they became rich. that’s right human trafficking), I can’t get past the fact that the heroine is so forgiving of her captor and eventually works under him in the FBI (um what?) and is even more so forgiving of her douchey ex! this whole story takes place in 2-3 days (besides flashbacks to 18 years ago) and she forgives her ex boyfriend for believing her ex bff over her (THEY WERE TOGETHER FOR NINE YEARS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! I wouldn’t want to be with someone who so easily believes someone like that over me). but what really kills me at the end of the day honestly is the fact that the hero was a man whore.. AND THE HEROINE HASNT SLEPT WITH ANYONE SINCE HIM 18 YEARS AGO. this trope is so ridiculous.

ugh 😒

[Lu Bielefeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 - ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
===========

EIGHTEEN YEARS! Zero does not deserve forgiveness.
Her attitude is unbelievable.
But I read it to the end of the book and it's already a bonus.

[The Neighbourhood Suriel]

I knew I was going to be disappointed by this book even before I started it and yet my dumb ass went and read it.

Let me sum it up for you.
Jamie - I am the most important person in the world, everyone needs to tell me everything because the world revolves around me, I want something so you have to give it to me, I'm clueless and have shit for brains but it's everyone else's fault, I've been in his life less then 24 hours but I definitely get a say in my sons life, my sons - neither of whom, I know well at all - are inside performing but I want to fuck their mother so I will, I was just told my son has been kidnapped but I won't believe it because what I know is always right. The world revolves around me and must bow down to me because I am it's master. Thank you.

Seriously, I can't even rate this because 2 stars seems to harsh too the other characters but 3 stars is reserved for books that I even mildly enjoyed.

The plot idea itself was absolutely amazing, a great book could have come out of it but ugh it was so bad I can't even talk about it.

Characters? All of them were fine except for Jamie
Spice? Wouldn't know since I skipped right over it (at this point I just wanted to get the book over with) but what I did read was NOT GOOD.
Plot? Great but was shredded to pieces.

Seriously, I finished it and am sitting here crying actual tears of disappointment over the fact that I wasted my time on this.

Also did I mention, what in the Stockholm Syndrome is going on with those two???
(You will have no idea what I'm talking about unless you read it which I'm not going to recommend unless you feel like utterly wasting your time and you ACTUALLY WANT to go into a reading slump.)

[Heidi (MinxyD14)]

This is quite possibly the most schizophrenic book I have ever read. I can't even put a rating on the experience. Utterly devoid of conveying real emotion, other than the H falling to his knees in emotional consternation, A LOT, it is a laundry list of every modern-day, contemporary romance trope that moves at warp speed. Come one, come all ... there is something that you love and something that will simultaneously trigger you.

* Childhood sweethearts
* Second chances
* Cheating
* Verbal abuse
* Physical abuse (including that of a pregnant woman)
* O.W./Crazy-Ex etc. etc.
* Abduction/Captivity/Stockholm Syndrome (of children)
* Rock stars
* FBI/Police
* MMA
* Bisexuality
* Secret babies
* Secret siblings
* Enemies to lovers
* Villian to hero
* Human trafficking
* Drug abuse/overdose
* Betrayal and lies in every possible direction

I am sure I left something out. But, honestly, this reading experience is like someone took all the above, mixed it in an industrial blender, and shot it at my face from a water cannon.

The fantastic thing about all of it is that I think N.E. Henderson is a good writer. It is my first book by the author though I imagine it could have probably been six books in total. Ultimately, I suspect a talented editor would be a real asset.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disgusting, idiotic, unfaithful H who believe skanky ow over the h. Was fucking ow while h was kidnapped and abused. The h found H/ow ( who was supposedly her friend btw) in bed together.
The h was pregnant and managed to not lose the baby despite very physical abuse. So many unbelievable things in this one so warnings:
- 100% not safe
- numerous eye rolling moments just too many to count
- so many unbelievable things such as h who was teenager when the kidnapping occurred managed to impress said kidnapper so that he let her go, turned his life around became FBI then recruited her. She managed to become an amazing mother, go to school become FBI Agent working under cover very successfully
- H parents looked after her secret son and managed not to tell him all these yrs ( now bad ass teenager)
- OW manage to be a very very bad mother to son who is now friends with secret brother/son and calls h "mom"
I have to stop my eyes are glazed from the rolling even writing this review.
- just too many unbelievable things here -- just be aware and withhold your smart brain cells while reading
This h was so bad ass, she should have kicked the douche bag Zhero in the balls instead of jumping into bed with him.

[Debbie "Buried in Her TBR Pile" · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

If you are in the mood for a soapy dramafest, then this is your book. The plot twists keep coming until the very end. Kudos to the h for doing something meaningful with her life after her kidnapping and torture. You will have to suspend disbelief to keep reading with everything that happens. It was entertaining. H a little TSTL where his ex, former h bff is concerned.

[Vintage]

These say it all.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Chem&Comp · Rating 1 out of 5]

i have always thought that 5 star is not an honest review i think most of them are of ARC...this book proves true, HE Henderson delivers her an no brain writing and that it. Celibate h for 18??

[S. Hartley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a fan of N.E. Henderson’s work from the start! But this book… WOW! I feel like she took it to another level - to me this is her best work yet!

Love, lies, and deception… This second chance romance has it all! Throw in some steamy romance, suspense, a whole lot of forgiveness and a happily ever after - there’s nothing left to ask for!

Jamie Hart had two loves as a kid/teen: Elise Thomas and music. Eighteen years later only one remains in his life - music. After what he believed to be the ultimate betrayal he let Elise go and moved on with her best friend. Now he is divorced and again left with two loves in his life: his son and music. But the ghost of his love with Elise still haunts him.

Jenna Thomas will never forget her past, but she has worked hard to move forward with her life. Jenna was not only a victim, but a survivor. Though it was easier to hide the scars of her heart break it was harder to get over - between that and an uncertain future she reinvented herself with the support of the most unlikely candidates. Eighteen years later she too is haunted by the memories of lost love.

Jamie and Jenna find themselves reunited in what becomes a roller coaster of emotions, turmoil and life or death situations. Can love truly conquer all? Can people change? Can you forgive and forget? These are questions you will need to read to find the answer… and I highly recommend you do so!

[sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay so I read this book because I saw it on tiktok and the premise sounded bizarre. I kept reading it hoping it would get better but it didn’t. I ended up finishing it purely because I wanted to know how the plot was resolved. Personally I think the book could have been much better had it had quality writing and development of characters. The writing was elementary with tons of typos and grammar errors and honestly the characters pissed me off in their narrations because the writing was so repetitive. Like okay, I get it, she has secrets and she’s afraid for her kids and okay, he wants to know the truth, but they kept saying the same thing every chapter for 300 pages.

I also would like to say how annoying and toxic it was for Jess and josh to be together after he was her abductor and tormentor and for her to still be uncomfortable discussing their relationship when she’s a therapist/ psychologist. Like it’s one thing to have moved on and forgiven and fallen in love with them (a bit toxic, but romance novels always are), it’s another to not be able to discuss how you forgave him because it makes you uncomfortable. That to me screams she’s not processed what happened and is in a state of denial and has likely been manipulated even if that wasn’t the author’s intention.

Okay onto everyone just believing Julia over jenna including her parents? How unbelievably toxic is that? Like wtf? Your gf/daughter goes missing and tells you she was kidnapped and you won’t even give her the time of day bc some girl who gets in Jamie’s pants as soon as she’s gone tells you she ran off with a guy? Honestly they’re either such bad friends or the author picked such a ridiculous plot line just to show how betrayed jenna would feel.

What was really annoying was how everyone just collectively agreed to not tell Jamie anything even after he found out about Jenna’s torture and Danny. Like I’m sorry, but all the people involved were super annoyed by how clueless Jamie was but no one thought to just tell him one thing because jenna wouldn’t ruin his image of his ex wife? Bullshit my friend. Someone should’ve caved and moved that plot line along much faster.

There should’ve been more conversation between jenna and Jamie and not just her refusing to tell him her secrets and him fucking her when she would ask to be alone, I’m not even gonna go into how toxic that was (all done to be able to explain why they have a baby at the end I might add). The relationship was so anti feminist when Jenna had so much potential as a single mom FBI agent. The fact the author had to throw in the fact she was celibate for 18 years? Like come on. You can’t write him as a man whore and her as a nun. Also the fact he doesn’t seem to listen to anything she says and believe her and never really apologized to Jenna was unbelievable considering they end up together.

Another annoying aspect of the story was the fact Jamie was made to be super annoying in that he keeps acting like a good respectable dad who gets butthurt every-time his kids or someone disrespected his ex wife in front of him or his kids? Like if you hate your ex wife you wouldn’t care about people trashing her, and how does he act like a superior parent when he was literally gone 85% of his son’s childhood on tour? Like the fact he had no idea how trash his wife was shows he’s a useless dad bc if he had any conversations with his kid about his life while he’s on tour he’d know that Julia wasn’t a mother?

I’m gonna stop ranting about characters because that could go on all day. Basically the writing was subpar, the characters were poorly developed and very unrealistic, and the relationships between the characters were toxic and so annoying to read about.
I hate that all the bad things about this book means I can’t even appreciate the small things like the family tattoos or the fact brothers are secret best friends and Jenna is Brandon’s mom.

The book was honestly rushed but had way too much stuff in it at the same time. It could’ve been half the length it was if unexplored and under explained parts of the story were cut completely.


Overall would not recommend this book at all, don’t waste your hours reading this book. It’s like a bad wattpad story written by a teenager who has no concept of healthy relationships.

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve read this book. Recently I’ve been checking reviews first and decided to go through my no thanks pile and read some.

The H in this book is a joke. No redeeming qualities what so ever. I am interested in the kids if they get a story when they become adults. Brandon and Danny were the only characters I liked in this story.

The 2 stars are for them.

I do not believe the love he has for the h. I do not believe they can have a hea.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worst rockstar book ever because this rockstar was the biggest douche ever. I keep reading and he just could never get better whereas the female lead (Jenna Elise) was powerful and loving. Jamie was a terrible person for not listening to or believing Elise in the beginning but he cheated on his wife and horrible as she was as a person, he left his son in her care. His selfish needs.

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not “romance”
Do better authors, do better

[Gabby]

This book is perfect example of why writing is not for everyone.

Perfect review here :
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jena]

h WAS CELIBATE FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS!!!

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall good book

Only thing is me personally wouldn't be able to forgive Jaime as easy. Considering every time you turn around he defended Julie. He does usually use the term ex when referring to her usually says wife instead.

Julie was an evil person, I don't understand why Jenna just didn't go after her earlier. Her son would of been safe that way also.

As far as Josh being in their lives that was for Jenna to decide as she is the one that went through everything.