I had just finished another Naima Simone book a day or two before I spotted this available on Netgalley. I really enjoyed the other book and immediately requested this one. (So, standard disclaimer: I was provided a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley in order to facilitate a review.)
I’m sorry to say I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the other Simone book.
Let’s start with what went right. This book is hot! The sex scenes! Simone knows what she is doing with these sex scenes! If you are in the mood for some down and dirty–and don’t lie, you know you have your favorites for when you need that inspiration–this needs to be in your collection. On sex scenes alone, 5 stars.
But for the story? I didn’t connect with either character and didn’t feel the connection between the two of them together. I don’t mind instalust, but I wanted to see it grow into something more, and I didn’t get that. I felt like Cypress and Jude’s stepsibling relationship was tacked on for the added drama of it, to give her father something to hold over her, but ultimately no one cared about it. Cypress didn’t care. Jude didn’t care. In the end, even her father didn’t care. It provided all of two seconds of drama when they realize the connection, and that’s it. So why bother?
Also, Jude was made out to be a long-suffering family “secret keeper”, which might be true, but didn’t feel true, if that makes any sense. (I need to allow for some benefit of the doubt here because I didn’t read the first book in the series. Maybe more people lean on him in that book. In this one, there’s… one secret? And somehow that means he was holding the family together? It’s not a small secret, but it’s also not devastating.)
And I’m not sure how Cypress didn’t find another accounting job in Chicago? With her credentials? She was making “high five figures”, so she couldn’t have been making so much money that it’d be worth anyone’s while to blackball her from an entire industry when she has a master’s degree in the subject matter. Even if she didn’t work for one of the biggest firms, there’s plenty of accounting work to be had in Chicago that would pay “high five figures”. So why the waitressing?
This one wasn’t one of my favorites, but I will still keep an eye out for Naima Simone’s new releases. Not every book is for every reader, and she has a lot of talent.