Reviews

There With You by Samantha Young

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linchenceto_90's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I was excited to read Regan and Thane's story after she had been in no contact with Robyn since she was shot. But in this story, the things were a bit different. Regan surprisingly arrives in Ardinoch with the plans to fix the issues between her and her sister. But it won't be that easy, because Robyn is still hurt by Regan's actions, and her forgiveness won't come that easily. Because of her past mistakes, in the beginning, Lachlan and Thane have their guards up towards her. She is this sweet, sunshine persona who accepts everything with a smile. But behind that attitude there is a ton of hurt and the reasons that made her run to her sister.

Thankfully, the misunderstanding between her and Robyn got resolved quite early in the story, and I found the real reason for her behavior. I actually don't blame her for it, and neither is Robyn.

She is staying in Scotland for 6 months, and she is in need of a job. What better opportunity than babysitting Thane's kids? At the beginning he was quite guarded with her, but when he saw how much she liked his children and they fell in love with her, his behavior became better. The problem was that both of them felt that insane attraction when they were in close proximity with each other. They did start an affair, but the good part for me was that it wasn't straight in the beginning; it was later within the story. She fell in love with him pretty quickly and saw that he felt more than attraction. Sadly, he was a closed book to her, and sometimes he acted very stupidly. All of this leads me to give you something like a rant, because I was a bit disappointed by Thane's actions as a character. It is not that I didn't like the book; it's just at one point I wanted to hit him in the head with something because he made me angry.

He hurt her with his mood swings, and it felt like a whiplash. It's "I want you so bad" in one moment, but the next he pushes her away. Straight after that, I wanted to see fire and anger from her towards him, but most of the time this never happened. She was making the right conclusions in her head, but verbally she wasn't doing anything.

They both knew the rules of their affair, but then again, rules are meant to be broken. My anger in some scenes was against both of them. His fears that she will leave someday made him afraid and not let go of his past. If he had just communicated with her more, maybe things would have been different.

I actually understand his troubles and insecurities about pushing Regan away, but that didn't make me less angry. Because I felt her love with every page I've read, but didn't feel his. I wished for Regan to go away for a bit like Robyn in the first book to sort her feelings, and I also wished Thane to follow her like Lachlan. I just wanted him to grovel more to prove his love.

When it comes to the spice, I wasn't disappointed at all. It was really damn good. Thane was definitely bossy in the bedroom and had a very dirty mouth 🥵. Which made the scenes even more intense. I loved all the smut and kink happening between them.

Overall, I enjoyed reading their story, even though I didn't agree with the characters in some scenes.