Cara Bastone - Can't Help Falling

Serafine St. Romain doesn’t need her psychic powers to know she’s no longer in Tyler Leshuski’s good graces. True, she did tear him to pieces when he asked her out, accusing him of being shallow and selfish. Despite the energy crackling between them, the gorgeous sports writer is a no-strings, no-kids kind of guy. And Serafine, raised in the foster system, intends to be a foster parent herself. She won’t compromise that dream, even for a man as annoyingly appealing as Tyler.

In a simpler world, Tyler would already have gotten Serafine out of his system. For him, women equal fun. Not this kind of bone-deep, disconcerting desire. Life gets even more complicated when he becomes the guardian of his much younger sister. Suddenly, he’s way out of his depth. Serafine’s the only person who can connect with Kylie. He can’t jeopardize that for a fling.
But maybe…just maybe…he’s finally ready to risk everything on forever.

Comment: Last year I've managed to read the first book in this Forever Yours trilogy, by author Cara Bastone. I've liked that book a lot and decided I'd finish the trilogy.

Tyler Leshuski is a man who likes good but simple things. One of those things is how great it is to be friends with Sebastian and his son Matty, since he never had such a great childhood nor a close father as Sebastian is. He doesn't envy them much the fact Via is in their lives but he does resent a little how he can't function properly around their friend Seraphine and after she rejects, he feels he should step back on how much he depends on them. Everything changes when he has to become his younger half sister's tutor and she seems to connect with Seraphine. As they get to spend more time together because of his sister, is there any hope they can finally realize they are perfect for one another?

It was easy to go back to the dynamics of this group of people, although I had read the first book in October and some details are already gone from my mind. I think the author did a good job setting up things so that new readers - or forgetful ones like me- can have an idea of things but past events aren't being repeated over and over.

The writing does seem consistent and appealing as I remember and the characters have enough layers to make them interesting. I don't think I liked the Tyler-Seraphine dynamic as much as I had with the couple of the first book because the evolution of their relationship wasn't as much to my taste. I mean, it's not as if they don't connect well as a couple, but with their backgrounds with issues with parents and the roles they should have had for them, both Tyler and Seraphine were a bit too aloof in how they acted at times.

To be fair, Tyler is more approachable and I liked discovering things about him, such as that he danced ballet when younger, and his evolution as a character somehow appealed more to me than Seraphine's. Her character development was understandable and logical, but she wasn't as likable to me until a certain point. By then, my mind was already done and although she changed her opinion on some things, I still could not fully "buy" the romance. I liked it that they found their HEA but it wasn't as sweet and awaited for as it had been in the first book.

The plot touches interesting themes when it comes to tutoring, parenting, fostering, family dynamics... things that added more layers to the story and one of the reasons I've found this engaging. I think the author did a good job trying to set up situations and explain them and how Tyler's sister is kind of caught in the middle of this. I liked how Tyler isn't a magic solution for his sister and that they had to compromise, and that he had to explain his side of things to her too.

It is true that this one didn't convince me as much as the first, but it was still a very enjoyable read and with many interesting things being mentioned. I can only suppose the author investigated how some procedures are done to give a realistic vibe to the plot, but the heroine and the overall feel of things brought the grade down a little for me, by comparison.

Grade: 7/10