3,5 Stars
This was my first Toni Aleo book and the first in this series. You don´t necessarily have to have read the other parts as this was completely fine to read as a standalone :)
This book is about fears, flaws, insecurities, making mistakes, learning, love and fighting for what you want and need, fighting for your dreams and fighting for love and happiness. It´s also about changing who you are and becoming the person you never wanted to be but learn to love to be.
The main characters of this book are Wren, a therapist, and Jensen, a Hockey Player.
Wren is someone who is desperate for attention and love but always finds herself "falling" for men who were of the bad kind and just interested in sex. One of those men just left her with a souvenir he doesn´t want and made it clear to not ever bother him with "it". Alone and scared Wren finds her in a situation she never wanted or even planned. And it´s even worse that his words made her even more insecure and closed off. Pushing everyone away is all she knows but hiding her little secret becomes harder and harder and there´s sth. she has to do now. For getting her inheritance she needs to be married. But who would do that?
Jensens dream of winning the cup just came true. Everything he wanted he achieved but looking at his teammates, he finds himself missing sth. he always wanted- a family. When Wren, the woman he grew up with, the woman he knows all his life and the woman he loved since the day he saw her, came to him with a proposition, he could not believe it. He could have the woman of his dreams and could be a dad. The problem is though, she just wants a fake marriage and isn´t interested in more. But is he able to do it? Wouldn´t he be the one being hurt at the end? What happens when he could make her fall in love with him? He wants it to be real and that´s exactly what he was going to tell her.
How will Wren react? How will she decide? Can Jensen do it? Will he be able to make Wren fall in love with him? Will the whole thing be successful or will it leave someone with a broken heart? And what happens when the baby daddy comes back? Can they overcome their fears and insecurities? Will there be a happy end?
Read and find out ;)
My Opinion:
I liked the story. I had a smile and grin more than once on my face and Jensen- swoon.
I´m not really a fan of this writing style. I mean it was good but I prefer books that are written in the me or I perspective (I hope you know what I mean). Here though it was like someone was telling me their story, feelings and thoughts. It was like I´m an outsider. I´d rather feel the characters. I couldn´t connect to the characters completely because of it :(
The characters were fine, though. I liked how different they were and how easy it was to like or dislike someone because of what they said or did.
Jensen was my favorite. I loved how he loved and how much he cared. He put everyone first. He really was a good man and he´s sexy and cute and funny. I liked that he had also this insecure side- The one that thinks that a woman would be better off without him because of his "condition". Loved how he was fighting for Wren to fall in love with him even though it hurt him at times. In my opinion he was perfect. Where can I find a man like him? ;)
Wren...well... I was constantly torn about her. She was annoying at times but at the same time I knew why she was the way she was. Sometimes ppl. who just are insecure and scared can be annoying even though they don´t want to or mean to be. Therefore I´m just in the middle of the like-dislike scala.
The side characters- Vaughn and Wrens brother. Loooooved them- Especially Vaughn. He was so, so funny. Not sure if there is already a book out about him but I´ll look after writing my review and will read it one day :D Jensens parents were awesome too.
The scenes till the end were all predictable. It wasn´t sth new and a bit boring to be honest.
At the beginning there was a hockey scene and there were so many names thrown in. It confused me for a while. There were just too many names to remember who is who. But with time it got easier.
As a fan of books with pregnancies and kids, this book was one I wanted to read so bad. I just would´ve wished that the book had more "intimate" scenes. I don´t mean sex, I mean more scenes where the baby and the baby belly was involved. Like them going to the doctor to see the baby and hear the heartbeat or Jensen talking to the baby. Jensen alays wanted to be a dad. I just wanted the whole package a new dad would do. The book though was more about Wrens feelings and the back and forth about falling or not falling in love and the insecurities. I think a second book about them would be great. I´d love to read more about Jensen as a dad and would love to have more scenes with Gunner and him. Also: There´s still one question left. Will there be a second baby or not? Would love for Jensen to have a biological child as well. that´s why I hoped that the epilogue would have this in it. It didn´t though, so I´m curious about it. And I don´t want to read it in Wrens brothers book if I´m honest xD It´s just not the same.
All in all: I´m ok with the way the book ended and will read more books by Toni Aleo and more of this series :)