“The truth is, you fall in love with a woman twice. Once, so that you want her to give you a child. And a second time, when she does and you realize you cannot live without her.”

I loved this story. It made me cry and laugh and sweat like nobody’s business, but I enjoyed every second of it.  Truthfully, this one felt a little different from LJ’s other books and I loved the direction she took. I assumed Devon would be cold and hard to love, but he was my favorite part of this book. In fact, he is currently my favorite hero in the entire Boston Belle’s series. I absolutely adored him! From the moment we meet him in this book, he’s unique. He clearly has a dark past that he’s running from but we don’t find out about it until later on. His relationship with women is also fascinating. He isn’t disrespectful, but he’s honest about never wanting to get married or have a relationship that lasts more than a few months. His internal comments about Emmabelle had me cackling, though. I felt like we weren’t really given much to go on as far as who Emmabelle was in the previous books in this series. I had zero idea what to expect when it came to her character and I found myself pretty conflicted for a large majority of the book. She continuously pushes Devon away after he has admitted to her that he’s all in and ready to commit. It broke my heart.

That leads me to the rather large elephant in the room. Trigger warnings. I know a lot of readers expect an author to give trigger warnings, but I don’t think that’s fair. I’m going to assume that LJ might have received some backlash regarding the trigger warning she provided at the beginning of this book because it didn’t cover everything that happened in the novel. I don’t think that’s fair though! There were certain things that couldn’t be revealed until you read the book because they spoiled HUGE plot points! I think if you want to spoil the book for yourself by reading reviews with spoilers because you know you have major triggers, then that’s a choice you need to make for yourself. I won’t go into these specific triggers, but if you are interested in what they are, I have them listed on my Goodreads at the bottom and on my Instagram. I felt that the trigger warning LJ gave us at the beginning was sufficient and very thoughtful. I was deeply moved by this book, largely in part because I didn’t know what was coming. I didn’t know what lay in either of our main characters pasts but…there was SO MUCH TRAUMA. So much pain. It endeared me to these characters, especially Emmabelle, and I was then able to empathize with her. I was able to understand to an extent, why she did the things she did. It made my dislike of her choices dissipate. 

This story reminded me a lot of Angry God on some levels. It’s not similar in hardly any way except in terms of the trauma. This book is dark and beautiful and addicting. I was immediately sucked in and cherished every moment I had with these characters. I cannot wait to see what LJ Shen writes next! I’m also really looking forward to a new series from her – which was teased at the end of this book. Bravo, again! 5 stars!