I had a tough time at first and perhaps it was because my expectation with Garrett Leigh is her M/M stories. I'm glad I stuck it out though. Luke and Mia's story is wrought with pain. Communication is key in any relationship and these two have the most difficult time ever (from the time they were kids) being able to communicate their feelings about everything in their lives. Not everyone gets a second chance at their first true love and let me tell you that these two have a super long road to go in order to get there. Their relationships with others also suffer the same fate and there are some wounds that need healing. A bit of suspense (and to be fair, although we know the who at the end, I'm not quite clear on the why) adds to the story. I definitely look forward to Gus' story!

Forgiven is the first book in a new series by Garrett Leigh. This is my first time reading the author and I went into it with absolutely zero expectations. That being said , unfortunately this book didn't blow me away.

This is a second chance romance for the main characters Mia and Luke. The synopsis says they are highschool sweethearts but they are not the type of couple that comes to mind when I hear that label. This is not some sweet romance where your heart breaks for these characters and hope they get their HEA. These two have an unhealthy verbally abusive relationship. And from their reminiscing of the past, it wasn't any better ten years ago. They found solice in each other among the disaster but not quite what I look for in a romance. Luke boxed up tight all his feeling while Mia lets them loose with sharp words , the combination isn't pretty. While I like Luke much much more than Mia's character ,neither of them were anything to write home about. Don't get me started on the threat the synopsis eludes to that they never saw coming , don't worry you won't either becuase it was random and barely woven into the story.

Forgiven is a complicated second chance romance. My favorite character of the whole story was Gus and because of that I'll be reading the next book in the series which focus' on him.

3.5 stars

Mia Armour fled England after the love of her life disappeared (he joined the Navy), and her mother died. She left behind a younger brother, Gus, and a life she was determined to forget. Unfortunately, things didn't work out quite as she hoped. She never stopped loving Luke Daley, and she married a man to keep the pain at bay. When he leaves her for another woman and bankrupts their shared Paris flower business in the process, Mia is forced to return home to pick up the pieces of her life. Again.

Unbeknownst to Mia, Luke Daley is also back in town. After a decade in the military, he's returned home to run his uncle's roofing business. He left town to save money for his family (reader, I'm still not sure I understand Luke's storyline - it's never clear how this helped anyone), leaving behind a hurt younger brother (Billy - who stars in the next book in this series), and Mia, the love of his life. His life has never been the same, and these days he works hard and spends his free time with his best friend (and co-worker) Gus, and tries to repair the damage to his relationship with Billy. He's never gotten over Mia, but knows she'll never forgive him for abandoning her.

Friends, I want to tell you this is a delicious slow burn. I can't. Instead we get a super hurt and angry Mia, a super sad and desperate for forgiveness Luke, and lots of angst. Look, it's a romance so it's not a spoiler to tell you these two never stopped loving each other. But it's a real shit show when they realize they're both going to be living in the same small town again, and that they might have to be honest with each about their past or things are gonna be hella awkward ALL THE TIME. They aren't nice to each other, their confrontations are tense and uncomfortable, and they both know in their hearts that their feelings haven't changed..even though their lives have.

Mia is nasty and mean (bitter) for much of this story, Luke takes it because he thinks he deserves it, she feels bad, he feels bad...and they decide that all that lust and horniness means it's a good idea to get off together. Ahem. Obviously the sexy times lead to 'come to jesus,' moments and things seem to be heading in a loved up direction, except some dickhead seems to be stalking Mia and messing with Luke. Say what? Yep, there's a mystery/thriller element to this one, too, and it's nicely creepy.

Like I mentioned earlier, I didn't really understand the circumstances that led to Luke's abrupt departure, and therefor, I could totally relate to Mia's feelings of abandonment. But friends? She's a hot mess, too. She doesn't talk to Luke, she hate/love fucks him and then wonders why things are so weird between them. I usually love the heat level in Leigh's books -the sex is steamy, tender, and intense. This story and these sex scenes are intense, but that's about it. I couldn't connect to these two - there isn't enough of them having intimate, soul affirming conversations and quiet moments, and tooooooo many hot, torrid sex scenes. I just didn't feel like I knew them as a couple or individuals all that well.

Which leads to my other complaint. Primary and secondary characters are underdeveloped, and while I AM HERE FOR THE GUS/BILLY LOVE FEST, I wish I knew more about all these folks.

Good, but far from Leigh's best.

This novel happens in a small town similar to that in A Girl Like Her. However, where the person that the main character dated in the past--and who broke her heart--is a side character in that novel, in this novel, that character is the main love interest.

I think that is where this novel fell apart for me. I didn't like Luke. I didn't like the way that he communicated (or, mostly didn't communicate) with Mia. Their communication was so bad, and his efforts to keep his feelings to himself for fear of 'losing her again' so much that, when we came to the end of the book and he was ready to announce his feelings and hopes for her feelings, it came across as... flat. And not particularly believable.

Mia has just moved back to England from France after a failed marriage to an abusive arse who divorced her and stole all the money that they had in their joint accounts. Mia hasn't done anything to try to get that money back. What she has done instead is move back in with her younger brother, Gus, and try to build back up a life that she loves, similar to what she was doing in France before everything went south.

Unfortunately, her childhood love, Luke, is her brother's best friend and has come back prior to her after having enlisted after his father died. So you can imagine how difficult I found it to believe that he lost her when he was the one to leave her in the past before this story starts.

This is clearly a book about healing the past and making better choices the second time around, but it just didn’t work for me. I had so many questions like, why didn’t Mia or Luke seem to have changed since their first break up? Why didn’t either of them seem to take steps to improve themselves after they observed issues with themselves and the ways they were communicating?

Romance is so much about the characters, and I guess I just didn’t like these ones much.

Second chance stories generally bring to mind lovers who yearn for each other and can finally have their happily ever after. Whilst this is the intent for Mia Amour and Luke Daley, it is a messy train wreck getting there. It is rare I read a book where the two lovers do everything they can to sabotage their relationship and stab each other with a metaphoric knife into the heart.


It is as if Mia wants her pound of flesh equal to the pain she felt when Luke went off to the Navy. The book title implies that there will be forgiveness. I am not sure I actually saw this even at the end of the book. The back and forth toxicity Mia spews onto Luke has my head spinning and just as confused as Luke. Does she want him back? Her mixed signals and angry sex are all key indicators to me to run away. This woman is cray-cray. Whilst I understand her frustration and hurt, it has been 10 years woman... grow up?


Many a times I felt badly for Luke. He may not be the best communicator of his feelings but some people are just this way. I felt the brutal treatment from Mia is unwarranted to the degree she doled out. Still, I guess some women are just this petty and this story captures life in all its harsh and unforgiving reality. I continue to read this to the end to see the big moment of forgiveness. Instead, I saw an odd stalker subplot which brings Mia and Luke to a better understanding. I am mixed with this story because Ms. Leigh writes a good story, I just didn't like her main character Mia. This contemporary romance is recommended for readers who like second chances and a "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" theme.

Forgiven is the first book I’ve read by Garrett Leigh, and it wasn’t an entirely successful introduction, but it didn’t put me off the author either. I received an advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mia and Luke had an intense on/off relationship as teens that ended abruptly when Luke joined the navy without telling her he was leaving. Mia left their hometown a few years later, moved to Paris, got married, and opened a florist shop with her husband. She returns to her hometown when her husband cleans out their bank accounts and leaves her. Luke had retired from the navy and returned home to take over his family’s business a year earlier. Mia and Luke immediately fall back into being intense. I often found them exhausting. I’m not sure if it’s because I am now too old to be impressed by the depth of teen love (I know, it can be very deep and intense, especially when there is trauma bonding), or if I’m tired because of the intensity of the last year, plus watching an attempted coup on tv. Either way, I found the emotional drama more tiring than cathartic. Your mileage may vary.

Garrett Leigh is an engaging writer though, and her characters crackled with life. I think I would have enjoyed Mia and Luke figuring out their past, present, and future more if there hadn’t also been the suspense subplot with the stalker. The external danger added what I thought was an unnecessary layer of emotion and drama. I thought Mia and Luke were enough. I didn’t dislike Forgiven, but I probably wouldn’t read it a second time.

As a sucker for second chance romance, I was very happy to be part of the blogtour for Garrett Leigh's Forgiven. We meet Mia, who is returning from France, where her lousy ex has drained her savings and left her for another. Fortunately, her brother Gus is there to help her get back on her feet in her new florist shop. Not fortunately is the fact that her high school sweetheart Luke also is back in town, running his uncle's construction company. And he is even hotter than she remembers. However, she also remembers the heartbroken days when Luke had just left her without a word. So, she is determined to keep her distance from him, although her treacherous body doesn't seem to have gotten that memo.
Having been named the serial dater, Luke doesn't seem to stick to one particular girl. But maybe, just maybe, it had to do something with the one girl he left behind, and who still haunts his dreams: Mia. When she is back, Luke doesn't seem to be able to help himself: Mia and Luke are like dynamite together - easily burning and explosions that will tear your brain out. Both inside and outside the bedroom.
So, while they are both fighting their mutual attraction, there are also accidents happening near the florist shop. And it looks like that there is more happening in this town, while Mia is back. So it could be, that Mia and Luke don't have to worry about their clashes: there is something more threatening out there...
A cute story, with second chances, suspense and family ties. I also loved Gus and I'm very happy to see that he will get his own story in Unforgotten. Four out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

This was my first book from Garrett Leigh and unfortunately the plot of this one did not grab me. I DNF Forgiven at 15%. I think some of the authors backlist might work better for me.

I received a complimentary copy of Forgiven in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed the preface, and thought the story had a lot of potential. This was an average read with some highlights. What I actually enjoyed the most was Mia's snarky comments to Luke, creating an undercurrent of chemistry that was unique to this couple.

What I found most challenging with this book is I could never tell if Mia or Luke were dialoguing, and several times I had to reread sections to figure it out. I also felt like the stalker angle was out of place. I have a feeling the author was trying to introduce a surprise ending, but it didn't work. Maybe some more plot development with Mia's ex, and a few other characters that could be potential stalkers would have been better reciprocated, and led to a more climatic ending?

*Thank you to Harlequin, Garret Leigh and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review*

My first thoughts in the beginning of reading this book is there is so much anger in these two main characters that I was not sure how Garret Leigh was going to make a book out of it. But she does. And it is beautifully complicated and rich with honesty and so much rawness.

Mia and Luke were high school sweethearts. Luke broke her heart when he left to join the military without telling her. Ten years have passed and they are both back in Rushmere; Mia recovering from a divorce and trying to open her own business and Luke taking over his Uncle's roofing business.

This is not a simple "Second chance" romance. There is a lot of anger from both of them that they need to work through. I found this book compelling, angsty and unputdownable. Garret Leigh has written two flawed characters who may have their happy ending but unlike most books, will still remain flawed and that is ok.

2.5* If you've read this author's MM tales, this will have you wondering if it's by the same author.

With respect to the author and publisher, I think that Carina's promise to offer at least a HFN speaks volumes where this book is concerned. It feels like a bit of a cop out for a tale that doesn't take you away from reality and make you believe in love. It didn't strike me as being anything solid, as I couldn't believe in the leads' romance or in them having a HEA - apart from sexual attraction, I couldn't see anything that anchored them and the teenage love that we were told about, but that they never voiced.

I find it hard to believe that a 16/17 virgin was that sexually aggressive as Luke's recall of her, which yes, did correspond to the 27yo divorcee he'd reunited with; the latter I could totally believe as wanting angry sex for sex's sake, but not the former. It just didn't gel.

The leads were cold and unlikeable and I didn't like the Americanisms that seemed to have found their way into this British tale set in Britain - we don't use expressions like TED talks, and the French - Mia was half French - don't, either. Yes, there was the odd bit of French history thrown in, but that didn't get explained and it felt like the author didn't fully flesh out either lead. I was more interested in the former fling that each lead's brother had had with the other, especially as one is a recovering/relapsing druggie with many chips on his shoulder, a sarky mouth and attitude to match. *That* sounds more like the GL that I am used to reading.

The sex scenes in this could be straight out from L'Été meurtrier; they left me cold and feeling nothing for the leads, which French cinema expects, I think (I grew up in a French-speaking country). Mia, especially, was cold and selfish, but I think she was meant to come across as a cheated-on woman owning her sexuality - and failed, because she was juvenile and petty and Me, Myself and I.

The author dropped several too-big hints about the identity of the stalker in the tale, overemphasising the red herrings, so it was clear that that line was never going to go anywhere. The actual stalker never made it onto page and never had his name uttered other than in passing, as a vague recollection in Luke's mind of someone he'd gone to school with, and so the reveal didn't feel real at all. If the stalker's inclination was as it was made out to be, the physical vandalism didn't make sense at all.

I finished this book out of a sense of duty to the publisher for allowing me an ARC. It is well written, as this author certainly can write, but I'd recommend her MM tales (those where she's not using Americanisms and tropes) as she is certainly one of the reigning queens of angst in the genre.

P.S The brothers of the leads *do* get a second chance together, and I'm up for reading that.

ARC courtesy of Carina Publishing and NetGalley for my reading pleasure.

Forgiven is not, in my humble opinion, a good introduction to Garrett Leigh's writing, if you never read anything of hers, and just start reading this one because it's an M/F romance published by 'mainstream' publisher rather than M/M romance that Leigh is more popular for. The story feels all over the place, for example that HUGE chunk of plot missing regarding Mia's stalker. The identity of that person is so far out the left field, this person NEVER appears on page.

But the biggest problem, for me, is the romance, or lack of it. Neither Mia or Luke come as likable characters to root for. Individually or as a couple. Mia is a VERY, VERY angry woman when this story starts -- especially related to Luke -- and I never feel that the anger is justified.

Yeah, sure, Luke left without a word (although Mia knew he joined the Navy) but considering that they were SEVENTEEN at that time, shouldn't she matured a bit? Life happens to her, right? And nursing a decade anger just isn't healthy, no? Mia feels very snappish and hating Luke so much, their first sexual encounter doesn't sit well with me. Or the next sex scenes for that matter.

Luke is no better... talk about men NOT COMMUNICATING as the main conflict *SMH*. And because their problem comes from Luke not explaining his reasons until it's too late, imagine how annoyed I am when they finally talk, it all sums up into this sentence... "We talked until dawn about everything and nothing, and by the time we fell asleep, not much had changed".

SERIOUSLY?!?! 🙄

So no, I'm not remotely impressed with their romance. It doesn't feel inspiring. It doesn't even feel like they can work it out. I don't think they're compatible or have chemistry whatsoever. It's exhausting reading about their drama, I end up skipping pages.

The only 'light at the end of the tunnel' is Mia's brother, Gus, who is probably the sanest character in this book, and I hope his story is better

This is the first story I've read from this author and the blurb had me excited to read the story. However, I was completely disappointed. First of all, I wish I could say that I enjoyed Mia and Gus characters but I didn't. I didn't care for Mia and her bad attitude at all, and as much as I tried to like her I just didn't. Then there was the pace of the story. It was so slow that it made the story drag. Everything seemed to move in slow motion and it's hard to get into a story that had so many things wrong with it for me. Another thing that bothered me about this story was when there were words or sentences written in a different language. It's a language that I do not read. Therefore, I felt as if I was missing out on some things because I had no idea what was said and there was no English translation. I really tried to find something that I enjoyed about this story but unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.

DNF.

I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I wanted to like this book but I just didn't like the writing style or the storyline. I can't even really tell you where it fell apart for me but something was missing and I couldn't finish.

Although filled with plenty of angst and both personal loss and abandonment issues, this is the story of Mia and Luke and their second chance at love. I am so happy that Garrett Leigh is being published by Carina Press, as she writes emotional romance that tugs at one's heart. Ultimately she pulled me in and made me care about these characters that have so much anger between them, but are able to find their way to each other. I am especially looking forward to the upcoming story of secondary characters Gus and Billy (respectively Mia's and Luke's brothers).

Forgiven est la première romance MF que je lis de Garrett Leigh. C'est une histoire de seconde chance, d'un amour de jeunesse perdu retrouvé.

Après une séparation, Mia retourne en Angleterre après dix ans d'absence auprès de son frère Gus et ouvre une fleuristerie. Elle ne s'attendait pas à tomber nez à nez avec son amour de jeunesse, Luke. Les deux anciens amants ne s'étaient pas quittés en très bon terme et on ne peut pas dire que les retrouvailles soient très chaleureuses.

Entre eux, c'est beaucoup de choses jamais avouées, de non-dits. Les blessures sont toujours aussi douloureuses et le désir malgré tout bien présent. C'est du sexe sans attache mais aussi brutal que Mia et Luke vont s'adonner, aussi brutal que leur rupture a été douloureuse. Seulement, le sexe entre aux n'a jamais été que du sexe, c'est de l'amour et ce qu'ils vont tenter de s'avouer l'un à l'autre.

J'ai aimé ces personnages ! Mia est une femme indépendante et forte qui a fait certains mauvais choix en pensant être les bons afin de tourner la page « Luke » à l'époque. Luke est un homme gentil, qui a blessé profondément Mia et s'en veut terriblement.
La tension qui règne entre les deux est intense et personnellement j'ai ressenti cet amour toujours présent entre eux.

A côté, nous avons Gus et Billy, les personnages secondaires et frères respectifs de Mia et Luke avec un fort potentiel, j'ai hâte de découvrir leur histoire dans le second tome ! J'espère que la relation entre les deux frères sera d'ailleurs plus approfondie car j'ai aimé ce qu'on a pu voir dans ce premier tome !

Alors oui, c'est rude et douloureux mais l'auteur n'en fait jamais des caisses. C'est juste la vie qui est comme ça, et il faut faire avec, avec ses bagages, avec les traumatismes encaissés de chacun, avec certains démons qui reviennent hanter. L'intrigue secondaire est pas mal aussi, je l'ai trouvé réaliste tout comme la fin de cette histoire. Et puis, les petites phrases et références en rapport avec la France sont fort agréables à lire ^^
La marque de Garrett est bel et bien là, du début à la fin et ses personnages sont traités de la même façon que dans ses MM.

Dommage que ce livre soit si court au final... j'en aurais aimé beaucoup plus !

[Thanks Netgalley for the ebook. This review is my honest opinion but just another opinion, you should read this book and judge it by yourself]

A second chances story with two damaged characters that decide to follow their hearts instead of their rage.
It's been a good reading, although an irregular one. Luke and Mia had a love story that ended abruptly when Luke ran away and Mia stayed alone in their town. Grief and rage had been their motor but when they meet again after ten years apart they can't deny they still love each other.
There's a little angst but I thought there was going to be a lot more. I think Garrett Leigh didn't want to make us sadder with their unhappy past experiences but not telling us that info gives less depth to the characters and their love story. And I was not completely convinced with the stalker story, I think it's a waek point of the story.
But it's well written, easy to read and has a character, Gus, that steal your heart from the first moment. I hope I can read his story very soon!
------
3'5 estrellitas, un pelín más tal vez, pero no para subir otra estrella más.
Solo había leído un libro de Garrett Leigh, Slide, y pensaba que esta escritora solo escribía M/M, así que me sorprendí al ver este aquí. Los protagonistas, como era de esperar, están traumados de la vida, pero no tanto como yo esperaba. Tuvieron una relación de adolescentes pero acabaron separados de malas maneras y sin hablarse. Diez años después se reencuentran dentro de una maraña de rencores y de sentimientos que no han sido capaces de apaciguar pero que resurgen cada vez que se ven.
Me da la impresión de que la escritora no ha querido hacer leña del árbol caído o asustar al lector, ya que ambos arrastran más traumas y problemas que vislumbramos pero que no se nos llegan a enseñar. El libro no llega a ser totalmente angustioso, ya que la escritora mete otro tema por ahí con un toque de suspense que hace que quita peso a la relación y hace que no llegue a ser asfixiante a la hora de leerlo.
Me he entretenido y lo he leído bastante bien, para tener mucho pensamiento no se me ha hecho nada pesado, pero me parece que se queda algo superficial. Creo que esa subtrama de suspense hace que la parte amorosa se aligere y que la parte final del libro sea menos intensa de lo que parecía que iba a ser. Me he quedado con la sensación de que el libro está rematado rápidamente.
Por cierto, tiene un personaje secundario, Gus, absolutamente maravilloso cuya historia estoy deseando leer (M/M y con pintaza, que aquí ya vemos por dónde van a ir los tiros...).

Garrett Leigh writes angst so, so well. Luke and Mia are ex’s back in each other’s orbit for a second chance. They have a lot of unresolved hurts and anger between them, but they are still in love despite all that. In addition to all that angst, there’s a small suspense subplot I didn’t expect from this. Not my favorite, but relatively minor compared to the second chance romance.

Thank you Carina Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

I guess I’m just confused. I was confused when I saw the blurb for this book, I was confused while I was reading this book, and now I am confused with it after finishing this book.

Like? I do read straight m/f contemporary romances, but I just wouldn’t expect to read one from Garrett Leigh? I know she has one that she initially published under a different penname (since changed back to her main one), but I haven’t read that one. This is her first book with a traditional publisher and the first one out of the gate is a straight m/f? I would’ve been much more excited about reading this book if it had been a queer m/f romance instead. I kept hoping for it to be a queer m/f, but it was disappointingly not.

As it is, I guess the point of this book is to introduce new Harlequin readers to the author, but I wonder if I would’ve been better off skipping this one and just skipping to the second book (a m/m romance). I read this in the middle of December, which is about one month from publication, but there’s still no promo for this so I went into this book not knowing what to expect at all. All I can tell from the publisher’s website is that this book will have an audiobook release in addition to an ebook, but no physical paperbacks. So, that’s a bit disappointing since that means the m/m sequel won’t either.

Trigger warnings include mentions of emotional abuse, abandonment, mentions of parents dying from illness, mentions of drug use (secondary character), violence, hospital stays, stalking, and harassment.

This is a second chance romance with stabby heart feels. And I usually like those types of books!! But the added melodrama of the characters not communicating at all, a mystery that made no sense, the POV chances mid-chapter, and the unnecessary angst at the end just did not help.

Mia and Luke had been high school lovers, but personal tragedy wrenched them apart. Luke handled his grief by running off to join the Navy ten years ago, and that was the last they saw of each other until Mia returns home to Rushmere and quite literally bumps into him in town.

Mia’s younger brother Gus works for Luke in a roofing business around town, so it’s not like Mia can avoid Luke forever, but she certainly tries. A lot can happen in ten years and Mia now owns a flower shop she’s starting up in the town and she’s pretty sure she doesn’t want to see Luke again since he broke her heart all those years ago.

Yes, there’s angst. But it’s a lot, and it doesn’t really ever end. Mia and Luke just keep going in circles and I KNOW people are messy and contradictory, but it does get to a point where it gets really boring to read. Something this book doesn’t touch on is that Luke needs therapy because I don’t think he ever came to terms with his feelings and what happened with his dad. And Mia needs therapy too for what she went through in France. This book just seems to think their long lost love for each other will heal all their wounds, but I feel like there’s still stuff that needs to be aired out. And with what happens at the end? That HAS to be traumatizing? Both of them have to go talk to a therapist.

That said. THE ENDING. Just...what happened??? What was the point? There was some mystery leading up to the ending - like who is sending Mia weird things, what’s with the strange car following her around town, etc. But finding out who the perpetrator was?? was just so weird and out in left field. I love a good mystery book, and this was not it. I can usually forgive a bad plot if I love the characters but unfortunately this just wasn’t the case here. I just had a hard time loving either Mia or Luke.

The incident at the end and the piece that resolves it all in the epilogue? It’s overly dramatic and then tries to tie everything together in a neat bow. Also? Somehow the police are all caring and competent at their jobs. But Mia never took any threats to her life seriously enough for me. She’s a woman! Why is she not more worried that she has a jealous ex or someone else after her?? The one incident at the end also begs the question of how long should someone be on bed rest if they have broken ribs? How long before they can have sex? This book avoids thinking too hard about any of it.

And speaking about sex...it was fine. Except for all the parts where it wasn’t. Mia and Luke started out using condoms but apparently the book just forgot about them as the story went on, never to be mentioned again and the two characters never talked about forgoing condoms so what the heck. And there was one scene that jumped from them heading off to have sex, only to turn the page and it’s suddenly morning and we’re left with a flashback back to the sex scene??

There were other things in this book I wasn’t happy about, like the POVs switching mid-chapter. While, yes, the book does tell you who’s perspective you’re reading from, it’s not obvious. The name is just in italics a paragraph down and I kept thinking it was the character thinking the other character’s name in their head, not that the POV switched. And picking up this book mid-scene, I found Mia and Luke’s voices to be way too similar to distinguish between them.

Things I liked about this book is Gus and Billy, Luke’s younger brother. They’re obviously the couple in the sequel. Gus is a protective brother to Mia and confident with his sexuality while Billy is more of an enigma right now. Billy has been drinking and doing his fair share of drugs, so it’ll be interesting to see where their relationship goes in the next book. Do I think you need to read this book if you want to only read Gus and Billy’s story? I don’t think so. Not unless you just need to read books in order.

Another thing though. Mia and Gus know French but we don’t really know how they came about it. We presume their parents but it’s never mentioned. Gus just randomly speaks French in the book for no reason at all?

Personally, I find that this book as a straight m/f romance was not only just disappointing for an author who primarily writes queer books, but it was also a frustrating read where I never warmed up to the main characters.

***Thanks to the publisher for approving me for this ARC on NetGalley.***

Forgiven was a good book. Luke and Mia dated in high school. Then for reasons unknown to Mia Luke ups and leaves for the Navy. After eight years of being away Mia returns home to open up her flower shop, only to find out that Luke is back and her brothers best friend. I loved the emotion and I felt the author did a good job at conveying Mia’s hurt. You get drawn in right from the start. I was given an arc in exchange for my honest review.