Quick Synopsis – Gillian is a financial planner bruja who recently divorced her piece of shit whitebread husband and moved back to her home town. Nicky is her old lover who took her virginity and showed her the art of the bedroom. In forced proximity as they haunt their hometown, will love bloom or are they two passing trains?

Song this reminds me of – WHERE SHE GOES – Bad Bunny

Book Review – Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Books for the advanced readers copy.

This is the second in a series, but I didn’t read the first and I wasn’t lost. Slight trigger warning this book does deal with emotional abuse, drug addiction, and the loss of a loved one.

In all my years of reading, this is somehow my first Harlequin romance and I can say I wasn’t disappointed. Gillian and Nicky were characters I wanted to repeatedly lock in a room together and shout now kiss! This book gave me so many secondhand feelings and I loved every second of it.

Gillian is recently divorced and trying to pick up the pieces of her life. She has spent the better part of the last decade being emotionally controlled and belittled by her ex-husband and now she’s trying to find a way forward with her two kids. The most beautiful part of this story for me was how she interacted with her children and fought for them. Her oldest child is on the autism spectrum and the interactions depicted with him are realistic and heartwarming. Gillian was willing to sacrifice so much of herself and what she wanted to secure a good childhood for her kids.

Nicky is her old lover her taught her the ways of the bedroom and is back in Freedom to paint a mural in the old train station. But really he can’t stay away from Gillian. They are both at a crossroads in their lives and they both have this cloud of loss over them. Nicky is so much to Gillian and vice versa, but the biggest romance trope of all (miscommunication) keeps them a part.

This book was 4 out of 5 stars for me. The only thing that stopped it from being 5 stars was I felt like Nicky was a halfway character. I didn’t really understand a lot of the relationship between him and his brother. There were a few flashbacks to when they were kids, but none when they were older. We are supposed to have this sense of obligation when it comes to Luke, but that whole storyline was a little half baked to me. Also why did the spelling of Gillian keep changing?

I will definitely read the third sister’s book and I may have just bought the first book After Hours on Milagro.