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romanticread 's review for:

4.0

Second chance romances can go either way for me and I feel like Rayne made some good choices here. Shayna definitely has her reasons for holding on to old hurts – Lee did her pretty bad. (I haven’t read the prequel and, while it can be read without it, a good many reviews say that it helps with adding extra dimension to their relationship.) She’s not going to let him keep her from accepting her dream job though, she’ll just have to be strong and ignore him. Which is easier said than done when he’s intent on apologizing for his mistake.

Lee never forgot Shayna so having her walk into his world again is his chance to get her to forgive him … and maybe something more. It soon becomes obvious she’s not going to be won over easily but he’s not giving up. He just has to be patient and prove he deserves a second chance.

The first part of the story is the resolution of their past hurts. It’s handled well and I feel like Lee redeems himself nicely. I’m with Shayna, those kinds of broken hearts take a lot to get over, but his sincerity is easy to feel. So their struggle soon moves from their history to their present circumstances, which forbids any fraternization between Kingsmen players and staff. And we all know how that’s going to go :) I will say that while the intent may have been to show that Lee has embraced his privilege, he instead reads as very naive. He’s the leader of his team, wealthy, and in the public eye. How he didn’t see the way things would go from the beginning, like Shayna told him it would more than once … instead it just has him come across as unworldly and inexperienced. He may feel like his position has power but Shayna knows the truth. So then the question becomes what happens next.

I enjoyed getting to know Lee & Shayna and seeing how they resolve their issues. I also really liked meeting their friends and I’m anxiously waiting to see what Rayne has in store for them. Brady is quite the character and I’m hoping his new nanny can keep him on his toes!

(I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)