Sometimes the willingness to fight for another is all a person has left to give. And sometimes the fight is the most important gift of all.
What a fantastic book from Elizabeth Finn. This is probably my favorite book by her that I’ve read to date. The story, the characters, the steam, the side characters, I don’t think there was one thing I disliked about it. But my favorite part? The thing that ultimately sealed the deal for me was Isaiah. You just don’t get better than him.
If I even had the slightest doubt (which I didn’t), but IF I did, this quote by him at 25% absolutely did me in.
Now I ask you, how do you not love him?
I’m a huge fan of the hate to love trope, and by huge I mean HUGE. To say that Isaiah and Natalie start off on the wrong foot would be an understatement.
Natalie is getting over a horribly abusive marriage to a man that continues to manipulate her even 5 years later. She’s just trying to make ends meet and support herself and her teenage daughter. So when she gets a call from the high school principal about her daughter, Harper, being in trouble, the last thing she expects to hear is that she is responsible for bullying one of her classmates. The classmate also happens to be the daughter of the very pissed off man also present in the meeting, Isaiah.
Miss Finn did a brilliant job in writing this book with the division into 4 parts; The Fight, His Fight, Her Fight, Fight for Us. YOu get to know more about Isaiah and Natalie and their struggles with fighting for their own happiness. Both of them have been through so much, I really didn’t know who my heart hurt for more
Their struggle with the attraction to one another, moving on from their past and finally forming a connection was also written in a wonderful way. You really feel and see what drives them. You feel their pain, what’s holding them back from each other. It wasn’t a quick 180 where they go from hate to lust. It was definitely a slow burn. But when they finally do get there, boy was it satisfying
“What? Where are we going?”
“Upstairs. Your bedroom.”
“Why?”
“Because obviously you need more convincing, and I’m not going to run the risk of getting caught eating your pussy in the living room. Certain things are inappropriate when you have children, and that’s definitely one of them.”
You really just can’t help but fall for Isaiah. He spends a good amount of the book being a grade A asshole. But as much as you want to hate him for it and his treatment of Natalie at times, your heart hurts for him at the same time. His struggle of feeling guilt about his past, his struggle about possibly having a future with Natalie…
I really loved Natalie’s character as well. She was damaged but she wasn’t broken. She definitely still had a very big core of strength to her. And the fact that Elizabeth Finn painted a picture of both of their inner struggles perfectly just made this book that much better.
On the subject of Natalie’s ex husband, I only have one thing to say
Damn but the woman can write one fucked up sociopath of a villain, and Todd was one sadistic fucker. Gawd but I hated him.
I don’t want to give much away, so I’ll cut myself off. But if you’re looking for an emotional and erotic read that has a great plot, fantastic characters, HOT as hell sex, and swoon worthy hero, you really should look no further than this book.
And the epilogue? Perfection
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I need you to love yourself as much as I love you, and I need you to let me love you too. I need you to share your hurt with me, not try to protect me from it or hide it from me. I need you to forgive yourself for your past, and I swear to God I’ll forgive myself for mine too if you will. And more than anything, I need you to fight.[
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A huge rec from me. I’ve been a big fan of Elizabeth Finn’s for a while, but I think this book is in a different category of it’s own. Just fantastic. Read it! You won’t be disappointed.
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