Abby Davis isn’t wearing a skimpy bikini or sipping umbrella drinks, not when she’s busy chasing around four little ones. And Matt McKinney isn’t looking for fun—he’s a Navy SEAL, a grown man with a long list of missions . . . and fallen brothers.
They only have a week. . . . Abby has brought her children to this beach to start over, to give them the enjoyable memories they deserve. Matt’s been sidelined by a combat injury, and haunted by the best friend he lost and the promise he made: to remain a SEAL—focused and dedicated. This leaves no time for what he’s always wanted: a family.
But a week is all it takes. . . . Matt opens her heart while Abby soothes his soul. And though they plan to say good-bye when the week is over, something magical happens on that beach, something neither can forget. Something utterly, completely worth falling for.
Comment: I had this book in the TBR list since 2015. A few of my GR friends had liked it and one of them even recommended it to me, but it has been kind of forgotten... until now, when I've finally added to my reading list.
Matt McKinney is a Navy Seal and his past relationships have always been with women who liked that aspect of his life. Recently, however, he has been feeling down, especially after his friend died while on duty, but he is now reluctantly helping his cousin, agreeing to a double date, but his date is just one more woman who isn't even nice and is only interested in his looks and status. While being introspective, he notices a gorgeous woman at the beach and she seems so calm even though she has four children with her. And she's pregnant. Not seeing a husband nearby, Matt can't help but feel attracted to her serenity in what should be chaos, and he approaches them. As their interactions continue, so does the physical attraction grow, but they don't live near one another, is there any hope for something between them?
This is the first book I try by this author, in terms of writing I think her style is fluid and easy, I didn't have any issues in following the story and in wanting to turn the pages... well, until a certain point anyway. I'd divide this book into two parts (not a real graphic division on the page, just my way of seeing things), the first being while everyone is at the beach in vacation, and the second when everyone goes back to their lives.
I actually liked this "first part", both Abby and Matt were, as individuals, people I was interested in, mostly because of their family life. Matt comes from a busy family, he has many siblings, he and two others are the single ones (also the protagonists of different books in this series) and Matt has had a great example of what family should be like, what values and dynamics should be the ones to cherish. Abby is the opposite, her parents died while she was young, her mother in a very tragic way for a young Abby to bear, and she was in foster homes. She didn't have that support system Matt did and she compensated, one could say, by having many children with a husband who just wasn't there.
All this is kind of shared during the chapters they spend at the beach and even the children are cute in their own way. I think the fact she has four and another on the way is meant for us to see her as overwhelmed, but she loves her children and they are also a way for her to feel she has someone. Matt is dealing with regret and guilt after the death of his friend and, to be honest, I understood what the author wanted here, a couple who had troubles and worries but who be so much better together. I didn't really feel they had that much chemistry but that would surely be developed as the story went along.
Things obviously change when the vacation is over and that small bubble ends. They don't live near one another but both feel they want to continue their connection. Long distance romances don't seem practical nor conductive of a strong relationship in real life, and here I think the author really stressed out that, with their moments on the phone making them seem like teenagers. Plus, the dynamics of their lives at home, Abby with the children (perhaps her husband's death left her well financially, because she didn't work) and Matt with the job demands (he still went on missions) made it see as if they weren't in sync.
By this time, the book was around half way, they had admitted to one another they wanted to try for a relationship and still had these worries and we kept on seeing them struggle with so much and I will be honest, I've started to loose interest in the book. Things started to be a bit boring, and dragging, and while the reasons to keep them apart were as valid as the ones to bring them closer, I just did't feel the connection between to be that great to justify their romance was really that amazing to last. I figured that they should not try, and long distance didn't help.
Of course, at some point, the idea they should be closer so that their romance could really develop come up and the way the author executed this was correct but not engaging to me. I think there were some situations where a subsequent emotional response didn't happen, and reading or not reading wasn't much of a difference to me for I had lost the drive to care. I kept reading because things were getting to the end and, as predictable, some situations had to be played so that Abby and Matt could process the emotions they had ignored about their past experiences, so that their romance could develop without secondary worries.
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