E-Audio, 08:40:15
Narrated by: Charlotte North
Release Date: January 14, 2020Published by: Harper Audio
Read from: April 1-2, 2020Hot & Hammered, #2Source: LibraryTW: N/AFor fans of: Romance, Adult, Contemporary, 5 Love Languages, Second Chance Lovers, Multiple POVsNew York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey returns with a unique, sexy romantic comedy about a young married couple whose rocky relationship needs a serious renovation.
Rosie and Dominic Vega are the perfect couple: high school sweethearts, best friends, madly in love. Well, they used to be anyway. Now Rosie’s lucky to get a caveman grunt from the ex-soldier every time she walks in the door. Dom is faithful and a great provider, but the man she fell in love with ten years ago is nowhere to be found. When her girlfriends encourage Rosie to demand more out of life and pursue her dream of opening a restaurant, she decides to demand more out of love, too. Three words: marriage boot camp.
Never in a million years did Rosie believe her stoic, too-manly-to-emote husband would actually agree to relationship rehab with a weed-smoking hippy. Dom talking about feelings? Sitting on pillows? Communing with nature? Learning love languages? Nope. But to her surprise, he’s all in, and it forces her to admit her own role in their cracked foundation. As they complete one ridiculous—yet surprisingly helpful—assignment after another, their remodeled relationship gets stronger than ever. Except just as they’re getting back on track, Rosie discovers Dom has a secret… and it could demolish everything.
BETWEEN THE COVERS!
*This book is part of the new adult contemporary romance genre! It is more mature than YA. I have featured it in Between the Covers as a way to feature the few Adult and New Adult titles I am beginning to read!”
*MY THOUGHTS*
I knew I would like this one as soon as I knew this one was about Rosie. I liked her and was intrigued by her cooking and drive to own a restaurant. I never expected all the things that were going on in her marriage. Definitely an interesting and different way to tell a story of romance!
Rosie has not felt like herself in a long time. And her marriage hasn’t felt like it once did either. But now, she’s grown tired of it. She needs more. So she tells her husband the only thing that might help them for now is marriage boot camp. Will her “too manly to emote” husband accept, or will he let them fail?
When one thinks of romance novels, they don’t normally think of a couple on the verge of getting a divorce. It definitely wasn’t something I was expecting when I picked it up. This second chance romance was a bit different, but I think the way it was told worked really well. It wasn’t something I had read before and I appreciated that it was different.
The characters I actually kind of connected with Rosie. My “love language” is also Words of Affirmation, so I understood what she was asking of Dom. I know from experience a lot of people misunderstand that Love Language because they think we just want compliments all the time when that’s not true. However, I did not like how she was making it seem like everything was Dom’s fault when a relationship is between partners. And I loved that she did this in multiple POVs, because Dom was so quiet, so trying to get to know him without being “inside his head” would have been impossible.
Now the romance itself, once it got started….. MAN! Can we say hot? Bailey made their romance spicy in the way only she can. Twice I had to pause it to fan my face. Glad I was listening to this while I worked from home, because I don’t think I would have been able to listen while at the actual library! I also liked the way it felt realistic. Some things came out only because they talked it out and had to participate in “assignments.” (I know its not marriage boot camp, but it reminded me of the things we had to do when we were prepping for marriage lol)
There were things I liked about this but also things I didn’t. After writing this review I think I liked this one more than the first. I loved seeing Georgie grow up, but I think I liked seeing Rosie take charge and make sure she got what she wanted just a little more. Now, I can’t wait to see what we get with Bethany! (Also, I’m going to be super sad when this series is over!)
Overall, I give this
