In a business where people's livelihoods depend on the decisions he makes every day, Walt Nelson never wanted a life built around anyone but himself. With a fiancée equally versed in self-centeredness, he is living the life he created, until the call that changed everything. Forty-eight hours later, he buried his best friend and became the guardian to his two daughters.
Forced to admit his life is no longer just about him, he hires his brother's personal assistant in a moment of desperation. His goal, to survive this new normal until he can arrange a boarding school for the girls.
The last ten years have kept Samantha Abbott in an endless cycle of regret and sorrow as she slowly rebuilt a life she never wanted- a life alone. When her boss's brother offers her a job that solves her money troubles, her only goal is to put her past behind her. What she gets is a head-on collision between a loss she has yet to survive and a love she doesn’t think she deserves.
Release Date: January 9th, 2018
***4 Stars***
This was one of those books that I barely gave a passing glance at when it first popped up, and then at the last minute I ended up signing up to help with the cover reveal and really took a look at the blurb and something about that second look had me putting my name into the pot to hopefully receive an ARC of it and I have to say I am really happy I took that second look. I loved the journey that Walt, Samantha, their girls and their friends went on as they all worked through their grief and the new situation they all find themselves in and how it made them all stronger in the end.Now, here’s the thing with this book, what I liked the most about it didn’t necessarily have to do with Walt and Samantha’s romance. It probably should have been based on the description and the fact that it falls under the romance genre, but it wasn’t. I really liked Walt and though I had my moments with Samantha, I liked her, but I was more taken with how Walt, the girls, Sam and their friends worked through the loss of their loved ones and became a family. It wasn’t an easy road by any means, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching not only Walt’s evolution, but Zinnia and Poppy’s, with the help of an amazing group of people.
As for Walt and Sam’s romance. While it was there simmering under everything else going on, it never really grabbed me, even when things finally took off between them, because of everything else going on. I liked them together and thought they were actually well matched in a lot of ways, but outside of that I don’t have any strong feelings for or against them.
This is my first KJ Lewis read and I really enjoyed it. The writing was engaging and I liked the pacing of the story. I was a little confused in the beginning as to where the story was actually taking place at, but I think that was more of a “it’s not you, it’s me” issue and got it all worked out quickly. The solo first person POV was done well, and I liked that it was from Walt’s POV, but this is one time when I would have liked to have had Sam’s POV thrown into the mix because it took me awhile to connect with her. But outside of that, I thought the story was well thought out and I really enjoyed the very eclectic cast of secondary characters that populated this story. They were all well written and I’m crossing my toes that they will all be getting their own HEA’s down the road.
~ Copy provided by the author via The Next Step PR & voluntarily reviewed ~
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