I'd actually read the second in this series beforehand, and enjoyed it. But this one was a miss for me. Part of it was a frustration with how much time they wasted. They'd been best friends since childhood, but a couple of dumb decisions later, and they missed out on even that friendship for 14 years(!), much less the happily wedded bliss they should have had. That's not romantic, that's just sad. And at every turn there's a path to perhaps get things back on track- but then they head off some other way instead. And because they're not even penpals during that time, there are large stretches of the book where they aren't even interacting with each other. Lame. There's like one chapter in the middle of the book about a secondary relationship, and I think I actually preferred it to the entirety of the main one. They had my respect and empathy so I cared more about their HEA. And lastly, I didn't like how this couple's reunion was handled. There's a time and place for bedroom games, but I don't think this was it. At all. It made it into playing mind games and throwing the other off balance, rather than sitting down to finally address some things, or having an emotional heart to heart, or some physical tenderness during this emotionally trying time, or anything one might expect in this scenario. If things go well then there will always be more time later to play around and experiment, etc. It made it seem like sex, and in particular the hero's fantasies, were the real priority and everything else could just be squeezed in in the gaps. So I didn't find the story romantic, and because the one real sex scene is that last one and I didn't like how it was handled, it didn't end up feeling particularly steamy to me either. I didn't hate it, but it was definitely a disappointment. Overall though, I disliked the characters' decisions but I didn't particularly dislike them. So it had potential, but just missed its mark. ( )