Nicole Jacquelyn

Synopsis: Shane was fostered by Kate's aunt and uncle so they grew up as friends. Later, Shane married Kate's best friend, Rachel. Shane is military and deployed frequently so during those times Kate would help Rachel with the kids.
At the start of the book Rachel dies in a car accident and Kate steps in to help Shane raise the kids.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought this premise had promise. I love watching characters fall in love while co-parenting children together and the fact that both Shane and Kate adored Rachel and the children offered great potential to bring the couple together.

I liked the discussion in this book about the difficulties of having a family when one member is in the service. I was previously a military spouse and it is demanding both for the service member and also the rest of the family.

I thought the children in this book were overall well developed and fun to read about. They played big roles in the story and were front and center throughout.

My biggest issue with this book is that Shane was constantly mean to Kate and she didn't deserve it. I felt like the author tried to justify him being a jerk with both the grief for his departed wife and his childhood in foster care but it didn't work for me. I didn't feel that there was a significant enough change in his behavior to have me believing by the end of the book that these characters were capable of a happily ever after together.

I felt like we didn't see enough of Shane and Kate getting along. Especially during his deployment the reader is told there are phone calls and messages where Shane and Kate grew close but I didn't think we saw many of those. The arguing and Shane being awful happened significantly more than Shane and Kate being nice and falling in love which was a shame because it was such a nice premise.… (more)

The beginning had me but then it all went back to the beginning when they first met. I was excited to find out how the situation at the first of the book was going to wrap up. I had to read the entire book with Callie making one stupid decision after another then blaming everybody else! She loves Asa so much but won't move to where he is at....HUH?? It would have been much better if only half the book had told the past parts then continued on. I hated there was so much time apart between Callie and Asa. I loved the first book but this one was nowhere near as good!… (more)