Book Review — If I Only Knew by Corinne Michaels

“What’s happening with us?”
Milo brings his lips to my forehead and places a soft kiss there. “I don’t know, but I’m not sure I’m strong enough to stay away from you.”

HOLY FREAKING SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!

You guys! This book was AMAZING! When I finished reading it, I literally just sat there smiling from ear to ear overflowing with all the happy feels because seriously the epilogue was pure SWOOOOONY PERFECTION and the absolutely best ending I could have hoped for for such a wonderful story!!

This book was absolutely everything a strong Romance should be — it was addictive and unputdownable, heart-poundingly intense at times, but sexy and romantic at others, it had a sprinkling of sass, complex and relatable characters, a lot of emotional healing and depth that tugged my heart-strings, and a believable love story that made me genuinely happy. It had everything in the perfect balance all rounded out with beautiful writing, not to mention that the pacing was on point so the editing was well done. I was just truly impressed with this book!

“My life was perfect – until a shocking tragedy pulled the rug out from underneath me.

My children were left without a father. I was without a husband and a provider. Instead of wallowing in my grief, I buried myself in my work at Dovetail Enterprises. Landing the promotion as the CEO’s right hand was exactly what I needed.

Getting saddled with Milo Huxley as an assistant is exactly the opposite.

I can’t stand him.

He’s arrogant, irresponsible, and out for my job. As if that’s not bad enough, he has to be devastatingly sexy, and have a posh English accent that makes me squirm on top of it all. I’ve had enough unpredictability for one lifetime, thank you.

But soon enough, we’re fighting less and laughing more. He’s there for me when no one else is. And those good looks aren’t the only panty-dropping thing about him.

If I only knew what to do about it…”

The story starts out with a heart-breaking prologue where the heroine faces one of the worst things a wife or mother could endure. The writing was so honest and I loved that the author conveyed the pain without making their lives seem perfect — their marriage was messy and imperfect, but the love was so very real, and was the loss.

As soon as I think of Peter, my chest aches. I miss him.
I miss him so much sometimes that I can’t breathe.
No amount of time has erased the pain that sits inside of me, festering, clawing up my throat until I choke on it. I’ve gotten very good at hiding my agony.
My friends eep saying how great I’m doing, and how they’re proud of the woman they see, but they’re not there at night when I break. When I long for the smell of his cologne on the pillow next to me. When I can’t stop the tears and bury my head in the pillow to muffle the sobs.

The heroine is the true voice behind this story even though later on in the book it begins to alternate POVs between the heroine and hero. But this truly begins as HER story and I loved her as a heroine. She was a character I cared for even enough that I cared about her individually, separate from the romance. Usually I tend to lose focus when a book veers away from the romance, but in this case, the slow build made so much sense and I absolutely loved the relationships she had with her tribe of amazingly supportive girl friends. It brought a lot of depth to the story to have her character and family built up with so many layer before turning the focus onto the romance.

The small boy walks over with his hand extended. “I’m Parker Bergen.”
“Milo Huxley,” I say as I give him a nice strong shake. “Quite a grip you have there, Parker.”
“Dad said a man is measured by his handshake,” he tells me.
I smile. “Your dad was right.”

The hero was surprising in the best way. I kind of expected him to just be another bad boy but the more we learned about him, the more intrigued I was by this character who seemed like a bad boy on the surface, but was hiding so many unhealed hurts underneath.

“I’m all in.”
She smiles, lifts up on her toes, and kisses me. “And you said you weren’t a hero.”
I release a breath through my nose and rest my head against hers. “I guess I needed to find a cause worth fighting for.”

For the record, the heroine is late 30’s and the hero is early 40s. I usually don’t comment much on age but the burb could be interpreted as them (or at least him) being a lot younger and I actually really loved that they were both so mature and level headed.

“You only see what you want,” I say.
Milo lifts his head, wiping th tear that’s slowly falling, leaving little black rivers against my skin. “I see you. I wish I didn’t sometimes. You can continue to push back, and that’s fine, but I’ve bene dealing with people doing it to me my entire life, Danielle. I’ve gotten bloody good at fighting back and I’ll fight for you.”

Now, you can read this book as a standalone, but it is also the 4th standalone in a series of standalones following several others that I’ve loved. The reading order is listed below so you could easily dive right into this one, but if you’re looking for a whole bunch of reading, I do recommend them all.

If you’re looking for a FANTASTIC NEW BOOK to fall in love with, this is it!!!!

Rating: 4.5+ STARS!! Contemporary Adult Romance, can standalone

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Series of standalones.