After All
By Kristen Proby
Release Date: July 14, 2020
Ebook Available from WV Reads!
2 Stars! - This was a rare miss from the author for me. The characters did not feel very original and it's a short, quick read. I think with more depth and/or a little higher page I would have enjoyed it more. Anyone looking for a short and sweet single dad or friends to lovers or office romance, it's all here and mostly light and fluffy goodness. But getting drawn in maybe takes longer than expected.
Normally, I'm a huge fan of Kristen Proby's novels from suspense to just contemporary stories. But this fell flat for me. The beginning failed to grab me. Dropping us into Nora's day in first person wasn't a bad way to start but the execution didn't catch my attention. My first impression of Carter was that he was a jerk. If he didn't want Nora involving herself with Gabby, then he should have picked her up from school himself. But at least he apologized quickly. Then we awkwardly fast-forwarded four months and are told the romantic tension between these two has SUDDENLY blossomed since that day. They're both sweet characters though and have a cute friends/coworkers-to-more thing. And Proby never fails to write some sparkling chemistry.
Gabby is the hero's daughter, and at first I struggled to figure out her age. Writing a child character realistically is for some reason a big point for me, can either make or break a book depending on how important the child is to the story. Christopher, Nora's BFF, just provides a filler/sounding board. Also the cover had me thinking I was in for a sweet and splashy summer read but it was mostly cold, old Manhattan there. The snowstorm and forced proximity didn't really spice things up. There's heat and power in the office plus a couch AND a bed. Really. And they don't use it for fun. It's basically a half scene. Both sides of our couple are rusty with dating after being off the market so long and it makes for some funny and quirky moments. And the steamier scenes are well-written. But then after everything is chill and perfect, drama rears its ugly head. This is clearly a standalone but maybe if I'd read the rest of the series (which hadn't much appealed), I would have had more to get excited about in this story.
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