Quite an emotional read.
Well written.
Both H and h made mistakes, I enjoyed it.
No cheating despite separation.

( )

Typical HQ. Sweet and a bit on the mushy side. Nice beginning but it began to slog about where Chris figured out what an ass he was. Honestly don't totally believe the HEA either, but still... Nice. ( )

I need a happy ending. This seems to fit the bill. ( )

Funny story with this one. I tweeted DA's Jane to ask if she had any semi-recent Presents to recommend when Sunita suggested this book. Next thing you know, Sarah Morgan tweets "Noooo I'm not ready to be creamed in #dabwaha and by @_ridley_ in the same week."

I had no idea I was so terrifying.

Long story short, she offers me a free copy of the book to show she was only kidding, and I happily accepted. Good thing too, as it was a great source of vitamins A(ngst) and D(rama), and I like to stay healthy.

Personal trainer to the stars Laurel Ferrara has reluctantly flown to Sicily to stand up as the maid of honor in her best friend's wedding. She's booked her flights without telling anyone the details and reserved a simple hotel room in the city center. Planning to quietly perform her wedding duties without entangling herself too much with the family, she's nonplussed when the bride's brother meets her at the airport and insists she's staying with him at the family's villa. The only contact she'd hoped to have with Cristiano Ferrara was in a lawyer's office, where they'd be signing divorce paperwork.

If you like second chance romances and angst so thick you could cut it with a knife, this is your book. Something traumatic drove these two to separate two years ago and Morgan does a great job of showing why they split as well as why they've worked things out for good this time. I enjoy how she shows us both characters' points of view on the event. When you're in Cristiano's head, you see the same mistrustful, overreacting Laurel he does. Then from Laurel's eyes you see the callous, stubborn, mansplaining Cristiano she walked out on. Because of this, you work out their problems along with them, and there's no true villain or victim. They were two people who acted out of a place of insecurity rather than communicated with each other.

I loved the main couple. Cristiano was the perfect Presents hero - handsome, successful, stubborn, domineering, protective - and Laurel his perfect counterpart with her boatload of insecurities from an unstable childhood. Both characters have ambition in spades, know what they want, and aren't going to let anyone push them around. Watching them spar was a joy. Seeing them reconcile was immensely satisfying.

A few nit-picky things irked me, including a predictable ending to the infertility plot line, but they were nothing serious. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for an angsty HP to read. ( )

Boring. The whole book was just a constant back and forth argument about ONE event, and while the arguments themselves were well-written and made sense* considering the characters, by the end I just didn't care if this couple got back together. There was nothing romantic about this story.

*Made sense, that is, until the hero suffered from an acute drop in IQ points and said, right when things were starting to look up, "Why do women always turn everything into a major drama?" Really, jackass? That's how you go about trying to win back your wife. ( )