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A review by sueread2030
Rome by E.K. Hart
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
You keep finding your voice, baby girl, and I'll listen. I'll try to listen even when you don't speak up, I promise you"
Oh Rome! That is what we truly want in a relationship. Listen and understand
I am not that often surprised by a book, let alone an MC Romance though they are my guilty pleasure. But it becomes the highlight of my day when a book does just that.
In my opinion, I dont think this is a dark romance. This is Romance with a dark theme
I do not think it is an MC romance. It is a romance with an MC member
I do not think it is a cheating romance. It is a romance that deals with the aftermath.
I think I have read two or three cheating books were I was rooting for the male lead to get back with the h and have their HEA.
Rome is one of them
and not because he did not plan on cheating or,at the moment, he did not know he was cheating but because of how he handled it.
I love books where we see "real humans" make mistakes. We are not all good or all bad. We are a mix and it is by our free-well to choose which side we lean towards.
Some mistakes are unredeemable
Others totally are
⚜ rating: 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
⚜Genre: Contemporary Romance
⚜Theme: Second-Chance MC romance
⚜Targeted audience: Adults
⚜Characters: Caleb/Rome, Abby
⚜Representation: side-character disability
⚜ driven: Character driven
⚜Pace: medium
⚜TW: cheating, triggers of trauma, alcoholism, OW drama, double standards
⚜ tropes: betrayal and grovel, young love, claiming, he's celibate she is not
⚜ POV: double first person
⚜ spice 🌶🌶 🌶
⚜standalone: yes, but part of a series
⚜Ending: HEA
⚜Book read: KU
The Plot
though it is set in the MC world, this book focuses more on the drama and romance between Rome and Abby. something that the author clearly stated. And I was there for it all.
I loved that we got a look at how Caleb and Abby met then how their relationship progressed
I loved seeing their marital bless before everything crashed because it helped me feel how much Abby was betrayed and how much angst Rome was in
Stories that begin with the betrayal while showing little of their past life usually fail to make me feel the connection and frankly I don't care much about the characters
I did understand that the act of cheating itself was a sub-problem to the way Rome dismissed Abby's concern of his drinking habits, which lead to his fatal mistake
I also loved the way Hart managed to show us the male's double standard look
which leads me to the characters.
Rome/Caleb
God! I really disliked him in the prologue. The way he took one look at Abby, decided she is his, proceeded to act like it while still sowing his MC oats.
He prevented any boy from approaching Abby, waiting for her to come of age so he could claim her. meanwhile, he did not see anything wrong sleeping with the MC bunnies.
However, my mind changed when the chapters started and we see how much he loves her, and how much dedicated to his family he is. They have a son and a baby on the way but still he worships Abby in every way.
We learn that he has a drinking problem that he dismisses even though Abby clearly showed stated that he should get help. Because of that, one drunk night, he mistakes one of the hangarounds for his wife and let's her give him BJ. When he wakes and sobers up, he realizes how fucked up he is.
And here is the part where I was rooting form him. Not once he concidered hiding what he did from his wife. He did not encourage his brothers to do that also eventhough he knows they would have. He took responsibility, arranged for therapy sessions then confronted Abby.
From there on, everything was about Abby's happiness and emotions
and then the idiot digs his grave even deeper when he throws the "Male Standard" in Abby's face. When she asks him to leave he says, "I can't believe you're throwing everything away, you're throwing us aways, over ONE MISTAKE.....I didn't have sex with her...It was just a blowjob"
The way he belittled her anguish and acted as if she is the one creating problems pushed Abby to ask for divorce.
Abby
I absolutely adore a book with a strong female lead.
I stated before that "strong" does not mean "kick / fight/ bitch"
Abby went through all the emotions.
shocked, anger, shut down, crying, depression
all while 8 month pregnant
but then, she stepped up. She did not wallow whine
She took control of her life
found a job
tried casual hookups
tried dating
I read some reviews that tore her down for not going all the way with the other men. Seriously! She is comming out from the fact that the love of her life and only man she ever was intimate with cheated on her, also she just gave birth and still nursing, but you want her to be comfortable having sex with other men!
besides, if we want to concider Rome having BJ as cheating, then Abby giving BJ is not being cleibate.
otherwise, you are being double standard
the side characters
I loved all the side characters
especially the MCs. They were on Abby's side. Did not side with Rome just because he is a BROTHER. they clearly let him know how wrong he was
I loved Lia. hope she gets a book
Kim, the therapist, was amazing
Oh and the writing was very well done
Oh Rome! That is what we truly want in a relationship. Listen and understand
I am not that often surprised by a book, let alone an MC Romance though they are my guilty pleasure. But it becomes the highlight of my day when a book does just that.
In my opinion, I dont think this is a dark romance. This is Romance with a dark theme
I do not think it is an MC romance. It is a romance with an MC member
I do not think it is a cheating romance. It is a romance that deals with the aftermath.
I think I have read two or three cheating books were I was rooting for the male lead to get back with the h and have their HEA.
Rome is one of them
and not because he did not plan on cheating or,at the moment, he did not know he was cheating but because of how he handled it.
I love books where we see "real humans" make mistakes. We are not all good or all bad. We are a mix and it is by our free-well to choose which side we lean towards.
Some mistakes are unredeemable
Others totally are
⚜ rating: 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
⚜Genre: Contemporary Romance
⚜Theme: Second-Chance MC romance
⚜Targeted audience: Adults
⚜Characters: Caleb/Rome, Abby
⚜Representation: side-character disability
⚜ driven: Character driven
⚜Pace: medium
⚜TW: cheating, triggers of trauma, alcoholism, OW drama, double standards
⚜ tropes: betrayal and grovel, young love, claiming, he's celibate she is not
⚜ POV: double first person
⚜ spice 🌶🌶 🌶
⚜standalone: yes, but part of a series
⚜Ending: HEA
⚜Book read: KU
The Plot
though it is set in the MC world, this book focuses more on the drama and romance between Rome and Abby. something that the author clearly stated. And I was there for it all.
I loved that we got a look at how Caleb and Abby met then how their relationship progressed
I loved seeing their marital bless before everything crashed because it helped me feel how much Abby was betrayed and how much angst Rome was in
Stories that begin with the betrayal while showing little of their past life usually fail to make me feel the connection and frankly I don't care much about the characters
I did understand that the act of cheating itself was a sub-problem to the way Rome dismissed Abby's concern of his drinking habits, which lead to his fatal mistake
I also loved the way Hart managed to show us the male's double standard look
which leads me to the characters.
Rome/Caleb
God! I really disliked him in the prologue. The way he took one look at Abby, decided she is his, proceeded to act like it while still sowing his MC oats.
He prevented any boy from approaching Abby, waiting for her to come of age so he could claim her. meanwhile, he did not see anything wrong sleeping with the MC bunnies.
However, my mind changed when the chapters started and we see how much he loves her, and how much dedicated to his family he is. They have a son and a baby on the way but still he worships Abby in every way.
We learn that he has a drinking problem that he dismisses even though Abby clearly showed stated that he should get help. Because of that, one drunk night, he mistakes one of the hangarounds for his wife and let's her give him BJ. When he wakes and sobers up, he realizes how fucked up he is.
And here is the part where I was rooting form him. Not once he concidered hiding what he did from his wife. He did not encourage his brothers to do that also eventhough he knows they would have. He took responsibility, arranged for therapy sessions then confronted Abby.
From there on, everything was about Abby's happiness and emotions
and then the idiot digs his grave even deeper when he throws the "Male Standard" in Abby's face. When she asks him to leave he says, "I can't believe you're throwing everything away, you're throwing us aways, over ONE MISTAKE.....I didn't have sex with her...It was just a blowjob"
The way he belittled her anguish and acted as if she is the one creating problems pushed Abby to ask for divorce.
Abby
I absolutely adore a book with a strong female lead.
I stated before that "strong" does not mean "kick / fight/ bitch"
Abby went through all the emotions.
shocked, anger, shut down, crying, depression
all while 8 month pregnant
but then, she stepped up. She did not wallow whine
She took control of her life
found a job
tried casual hookups
tried dating
I read some reviews that tore her down for not going all the way with the other men. Seriously! She is comming out from the fact that the love of her life and only man she ever was intimate with cheated on her, also she just gave birth and still nursing, but you want her to be comfortable having sex with other men!
besides, if we want to concider Rome having BJ as cheating, then Abby giving BJ is not being cleibate.
otherwise, you are being double standard
the side characters
I loved all the side characters
especially the MCs. They were on Abby's side. Did not side with Rome just because he is a BROTHER. they clearly let him know how wrong he was
I loved Lia. hope she gets a book
Kim, the therapist, was amazing
Oh and the writing was very well done