“I love you. Don’t ever forget that… Twice as much as yesterday, but not half as much as tomorrow.”
I read this forbidden romance in one sitting the other night!! It was one of those surprise reads where I tried out the first chapter to see if I would like the book and then just never put it down!
The story starts out with heart-break. Genevieve learned that her husband, best friend, and long-time love would never return from his deployment right after finding out that she was pregnant with their first child. Two years later, his loss still weighed heavily on her. He might be physically gone, but she still felt married to him in her heart. She’d had her first love and lost him, and now her only focus was on their little boy.
“Cade is a hard act to follow. He loved me. It’s hard to describe, but I feel like we’re still together, that he’s still mine and I’m still his – even though he’s gone.”
She wasn’t looking for a relationship and wasn’t looking to ever replace him but ended up finding love again in the most unlikely of places… with her lawn boy, Daniel, who’d been caring for her and her son from afar for many years.
Ok, so I’ll admit that I was a little nervous going into this book because of the age gap thing. Not that I’m judging or anything but sometimes it just doesn’t work for me. But in this case, it honestly just felt right. For the record, Daniel was 22 years old (about 10 years younger than her) and this completely amazing guy. Mature, self-sufficient, in full control of his life. He was kind, caring, and he made her feel safe. And I think it helped that he was the one who made the move to enter her life initially. He just quietly took care of them until, as a reader, you just could see so clearly that he belonged with them. It just felt right. And honestly, the way that their relationship developed was really sweet. Naturally, Gen had understandable worries about how their relationship would look to the rest of the world but for them, it really just worked.
There were only 2 things that bothered me a little… First, Gen’s mother and her whole attitude kind of drove me up the wall and but hey, thankfully she didn’t do any lasting damage. And second, I wish there’s been an epilogue. There is a happy ending and it does end in a good place but I do feel like an epilogue would have been a good addition to have.
This is a standalone romance though. Overall, I’d say it’s a little emotional — there were a few times when I got misty-eyed — and quite sweet. Daniel and Gen were an unlikely couple but I really liked them together. And I gotta say, it’s incredibly swoony to watch a guy care for a child that isn’t his and just totally accept that child into his life. I also found it to be quite an easy read. It’s a full-length novel but I was surprised at how quickly the pages flew by. I liked the writing style and just generally really enjoyed the story.
Rating: 4 stars. Standalone romance.
Melody says
I was wondering about this book! Thanks for the review, its added to my list now!
Aestas says
You’re welcome! Happy reading 🙂