[CW: miscarriage, wealthy tobacco company]

Parenting has such an impact on how a child grows up into the adult the world sees. One child in this story was brought up to be tough as all heck and giving no way to any softness, and the other child was brought up in a loving family where all feelings were allowed to have free rein. Both adults are driven to succeed, but for one adult, there is never any other way of life, whereas the other one has realized that a fast-paced life is not all that it is cracked up to be.

In this story, we see two protagonists coming at their relationship wary of getting in over their heads. But in slowing down their physical intimacy, their fledgling emotional intimacy has a chance to grow and become stalwart into a forever love. Williams’ twist in the story with her heroine as the prickly one and her hero as the accommodating one makes for very interesting read.

Full Review Here: https://frolic.media/book-of-the-week-careless-whispers-by-synithia-williams/

Included as a top pick in bimonthly March New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

Ahh!! I have been WAITING for this book, waiting for Elaina and Alex to finally get together and it did not disappoint! Easily going to be one of my favorite romances of the year. And if you too love to see strong, smart, prickly women finding love with men who don't feel the need to dominate them, then do yourself a favor and read Careless Whispers!

I will say, it's going to pack more of a punch if you read the rest of the series first. And you should anyway because all three books are fantastic, but this one is hands down my favorite. If you enjoy soapy romance with family drama, this series is the one for you. It follows the Robidoux's, an elite Black family from the American South with lots of secrets and internal drama.

Careless Whispers follows Elaina, the "bitchy" business-woman being groomed to take over the family holdings and Alex, her workplace nemesis. Alex is smart, heads up research and development, and has been used by Elaina's father as a threat to her job if she doesn't toe the line. Nevermind that Alex doesn't want her job in the first place. We get a beautiful, slow burn romance between these two with Elaina slowly taking down her walls and facing her issues without losing herself. And as we've seen throughout the series, her dad continues to be a piece of work with hurtful, controlling, and manipulative behavior.

I don't want to say more, but I absolutely loved this book, drama, prickly heroine and all. That said, I often find that my favorite heroines are prickly and damaged and need to find unconditional love and healing. You get all of that here, with a strong dose of family drama and bad behavior. And after two books of seeing Elaina and Alex interact on the side, this was SO satisfying! I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.