Mia's ex is stalking her, and when things get too serious, she decides to leave town for a while and wait for things to cool down. Her friend Layla offers her a place to stay with her brother Eric.

Eric reluctantly agrees to this situation but is wary of Mia because he doesn't trust anyone after his past experience. With time the two get into a routine of sorts and slowly start opening up to each other. When Eric finds out about her situation with her ex, he vows to protect her and keep her safe.

I liked Mia. She was the kind of person who was always there for everyone she cared for without asking for anything in return. After growing up with 3 brothers and feeling invisible all her life when the limelight was on them, all she wanted was for someone to see her for her, choose her, and fight for her.

Eric has major trust issues with the way his last relationship ended and the emotional abuse he suffered, which deeply impacted him. He wanted nothing to do with relationships or love. It also led to him tying his self-worth to his job and climbing the ladder by working himself to the bone even if he wasn't too thrilled about it.

As Mia and Eric fall into a routine while she stays at his place, he slowly starts feeling a sense of ease and comfort with her, which allows him to open up in a way he never has with anyone. The dinners together, watching movies, and talking late into the night lead to a growing sense of attraction, but it also feels like more. I liked how Mia took care of Eric when he was hurt and how refreshing that was for him for someone he barely knew to do so much for him for nothing in return. The spice was good, and there was back and forth with all the blurring lines, but it was definitely hot.

I loved how Mia bonded with Eric's family so easily and felt a sense of belonging with them. They were all so supportive and protective of her, which was sweet. I also liked how they all called Eric out when he screwed up and gave him the push to get his head out of his ass.


On to the things that I didn't enjoy so much (please avoid if you plan on reading this+minor spoilers):

The "stalker" situation seemed to fizzle out in a very anticlimactic way. How was Don not arrested after what went down? Her family was wealthy and had the connections, so how was he not in jail after that B&E???? And how was it that her FOUR brothers couldn't intimidate him enough to stay away from Mia, but one visit and 2 punches later from Eric, and he promised to stop??????

Where was the groveling? The third act conflict went on for far too long in my opinion, and I wasn't too happy with how it was resolved because I was still pissed at Eric for being such an asshole. Doing a calendar photo shoot is not how you win a woman back after hurting her the way you did. Also, things got resolved too quickly towards the end for how long it was dragged out.

I actually liked these two together and how their relationship grew up until the third act conflict. That is what ruined this book for me. I had to skim through the last few pages because I was pissed and honestly couldn't care less if they got together or not. I would prefer if they didn't.

Can women in books PLEASEEEEEE, for the love of God, not go back to shitty, emotionally unavailable men who hurt you as soon as they say sorry once??? The fact that she was so desperate that SHE apologized to HIM while he was groveling for not accepting him back the second he apologized. I mean, she had a valid reason because she wasn't sure about his feelings with the way he so easily dismissed her and didn't reach out for WEEKS. The way she starts doubting herself when he doesn't reach out and contemplates reaching out herself and even shortly considers being happy with whatever he was willing to give her. Like NOOO!!!!!! Why can't we get stronger women who are independent and capable and don't take men's bullshit and make them work for it?

Also, his temper tantrums were not a good look, and I didn't like it. It felt borderline abusive how he twisted her words and concerns just because he had trauma from his past. I was not happy with the way he used to snap at her whenever she tried to address his issues only so she could help him. The audacity of him saying she was trying to force him to make changes in his career after knowing him less than two months when, in fact, she was the ONLY person who had ever understood his passion and saw how good he was at it and believed in him to be successful. So fuck you, Eric, and Go. To. Fucking. Therapy.

Thank you to Nicole Baker for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.