The romance didn’t get off to the best start for me, there was something about Cole being so aggressive with innuendo from the second they met that just didn’t appeal to me. I get that the story wanted to establish an immediate pull between these two but I kept thinking if I was Ash and a man immediately came on that strong while staying on my property and when I’m supposed to help his daughter in a professional capacity, to me it would have been off-putting and set off alarm bells about him being well, kind of a sleaze.

Ultimately, Cole isn’t that of course, he is a good guy. And later on I warmed to him and Ash together as the author did an excellent job of showing what a solid influence and help each is to the other’s life, there were several instances where they got each other rethinking their stances especially in their parenting decisions that made a convincing case for their potential as long-term partners.

I really liked Cole needing to connect with the fourteen year old daughter he’s only just met, him feeling like he’s never putting a foot right with her and Maisy’s surliness and resistance felt realistic to the situation, the scenes involving Maisy were among the most resonate throughout the book and had me wishing the Special Edition line wasn’t quite so strict about the page count for just a little more room to expand on Maisy’s arc let the pacing be a touch more gradual, still, even with a more limited length here, Maisy’s part of the story drew me in more than anything else. ( )