I was curious to see how this author handled romance after a backstory of domestic violence. (If you like this theme/trope, you might want to check out Protecting His Heart.) I have it say, it was pretty well done. I think it’s a delicate balance, when you have a heroine as abused as Jessie was, to put her back into a potential romantic situation. It helped that she and Robert were a couple for 8 years prior, and of course it helped that Robert was unbelievably perfect. I could believe the reasons for their separation five years prior, as young adults yearning to try their wings and not having the maturity to see how their decisions affect their futures.
With Robert’s help (largely), Jessie regains her self-esteem/worth. Some of the violence is fairly detailed, yet there’s a big piece that I felt was missing, and that was the sexual part. As a ‘sweet’ romance, the most we read here is longing/aching. Which would have worked for me until we find out she’s pregnant by her abuser. In my mind, if you’re going to go there, there needs to be emotional fallout related to the sexual aspects. Instead, it seemed as if this plot twist was mostly to show how wonderful (again) Robert was, as he intends to raise the child as his own. And frankly, it wasn’t necessary; the climactic scene was enough (although a bit cliché).
The story was good, don’t get me wrong, but I think it lacked some depth, possibly because of the ‘sweet’ constraints.