SAD ( )

This book is the start of a new series, technically. But all the series are connected. We see characters come back from the 3 series before it. And we’ve met Bass before in the baseball series. But in this book, he gets his own story.

The story starts with Bass on his honeymoon in Hawaii. But without his bride. She left him at the alter. As he goes on his first excursion, he meets Ivy, who is also in Hawaii by herself. Ivy is broken, having suffered terrible heartbreak. Bass is drawn to her. And slowly she begins to forget about her troubles when she’s with him. Slowly she begins to fall in love with him.

When they return home, both being from NYC, they give this new relationship a try. But Ivy discovers something that forces her to push Bass away because she loves him too much to make him suffer the way she’s suffered. Ivy and her ex have had two children and both of them have died due to a kidney disease both Ivy and the ex carry a recessive gene for. Upon her return from Hawaii, Ivy finds out she’s pregnant and the estimated conception date leads her to believe the baby is her ex’s. She has very little hope the baby will survive, so she pushes Bass away so he won’t become attached to the baby only to suffer when they lose it. She makes Bass believe she still loved her ex and that she was back with him. She spends her entire pregnancy pushing Bass away and only when she’s about to give birth does she want him back. After the baby is born, they discover that Bass is the father.

At the end of the day, Ivy and Bass get their HEA, but there’s a lot of needless suffering. I understand Ivy’s fear, but I still feel bad for poor Bass. Who just kept loving her no matter how much she pushed him away. And lied to him.

I will say that this book is hard to take at times. Trigger warning for those who are sensitive about children dying and stillbirth. Ivy suffered both and had many vivid and graphic nightmares about the death of her children . Those were terrible moments.

Overall, this was a good addition to his world the author has created. It’s fascinating to see the way these characters interact and continue to add to the giant family that started with the Stone Brothers and the Mitchell sisters. ( )

4.2 stars

Different than I was expecting from this author. Still, a very heartwarming story. My heart for Ivy and all she went through. I'm glad she got a chance to heal and find peace. ( )

Cute story as usual - hard hitting topics - still hate the non communication brought to the table. It's not like it happens this way in real life. Would have been a 5 star read for me if it was more of a reality type scenario. Did like how there were several scenes of Bass is action with the firehouse. I really enjoyed those - didn't enjoy the second half of Ivy's story, was boring and very annoying to me. Did love the plot twist at the end though that made it a 4 star for me. ( )