Format:
Audible. At the time of this review – the ebook & audio were included in Kindle Unlimited.
Publisher’s Synopsis:
Single mom Heather Ellis would do anything for her adopted daughter, Ava. Even post an online reward for anyone who found the girl’s lost stuffed animal. Who’d have guessed it’d be returned by a drop-dead-sexy man with such sadness in his eyes that she had to reach out to him? To Ava, he’s a hero. To Heather, he’s a fantasy that puts at risk the happy life she’s made for herself.
It’s been five years since billionaire developer Sebastian Romano lost his wife and unborn child in a tragic accident. Now he’s all business. No room for emotion. Until he stumbles across that damn stuffed wolf and the beautiful single mother looking for it. Is he ready to give love a second chance?
But there’s more to Sebastian, his family, and his past than Heather knows. More than even Sebastian knows. Will the life they’re building together be challenged when the truth is finally revealed?
Rellim’s Thoughts:
The storyline was intriguing, but it just wasn’t pulled off well. It was sort of clunky and felt like someone arranged some plot points and then slapped a few sentences between to try to join them together. I also felt like I was asked to suspend a lot of believability in order to “buy in” to several scenes.
The push/pull went on way too long and Sebastian was pretty vicious to Heather too many times to feel like he redeemed himself enough to be proposing a week later.
There were also these odd chapters from the POV of a child called Judy who had nothing at all to do with the main story or character and it’s never explained why she’s in there. There’s a LOT of references to characters from Cardello’s other series which I haven’t read, so maybe that’s part of the reason why it didn’t make sense. I should NOT have to read 20+ books from other series in order to “get” a significant portion of this book.
Narration:
I loved both Summer Morton & Brian Pallino – especially with what they were given to work with. I’m not sure I would have finished if I was reading or if the narrators weren’t as good.
About the author:
Ruth Cardello was born the youngest of 11 children in a small city in northern Rhode Island. She spent her young adult years moving as far away as she could from her large extended family. She lived in Boston, Paris, Orlando, New York–then came full circle and moved back to New England. She now happily lives one town over from the one she was born in. For her, family trumped the warmer weather and international scene. She was an educator for 20 years, the last 11 as a kindergarten teacher. When her school district began cutting jobs, Ruth turned a serious eye toward her second love- writing and has never been happier. When she’s not writing, you can find her chasing her children around her small farm or connecting with her readers online.
You can connect with Ruth Cardello here:
Rellim Reads 