A review by bribreez
Keepsake by Amy Oliveira

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

*Check Trigger Warnings before reading.

4.75⭐️/ 3-4🌶️

Suffering the lost of a loved or a friend is always a heartbreaking experience. For, Logan she lost her best friend, Sofia, and on top of losing the one person who knew her best, she was now faced with the biggest change to her life, becoming the legal guardian of Sofia’s children. Logan found herself in the role as a single parent trying to help care and get to know Sofia’s children, and always trying to maintain a good relationship with Sofia’s parents. Luckily, Logan wasn’t alone since Sofia’s older brother, Alvaro was there to help. This emotional story had a lot of heart, sadness, love, and tropes ranging from slow burn romance, best friend’s brother, single parent, and age gap romance.

If you like the single parent trope then I think you’ll enjoy reading this book. I also think you’ll like this book if you’ve read, Mariana Zapata’s book, “Wait for It” that had a similar plot line to Logan’s. In Logan’s case, she wasn’t the kids actual parent, but became their legal guardian after their mom passed away. Logan became a parent to Sofia’s kids, and it was a new adjustment not just for her, but the kids and Alvaro as well. I could tell that Logan wanted to make sure everything went according to plan from making sure the kids had everything they needed to ensuring they felt comfortable with her. Although, with all the planning and organizing Logan did, some things you couldn’t control as seen by Dash, the oldest of the three kids constantly at odds with her or even with Vienna’s temper tantrums, and the youngest, Lachlan. While I’m no expert when it comes to kids, I could see that Logan was always trying her best, and not just to honor her late best friend’s wishes, but also trying to be there for the kids. At times, I just wanted to hug Logan and let her know it was ok, and to take a breather, my girl was going through it, but at least she had Alvaro to help along the way. 

Best friend’s brother/sister’s best friend is one of my favorite tropes, and seeing how Alvaro was, it was easy to fall for the six foot tall retired MMA fighter! Alvaro was literally a strong man both physically and mentally. Alvaro was the kind of man who tried to do right by his family, but even when his parents didn’t agree with him becoming an MMA fighter, he still sought to mark his dream a reality. I was expecting Alvaro to be more off stand-ish towards Logan in the beginning, but I was glad to see that he fought for Logan to raise the kids just as his little sister, Sofia wanted. Plus, seeing Alvaro take on a parenting role to his nephews and niece made him more aware of their needs as well as helping Logan. As much as Alvaro agreed into helping Logan with the kids, the sparks were bound to fly with them essentially living together in Logan’s penthouse and coincidentally enough having alone time when the kids weren’t there! Alvaro was a “take charge” kind of man, and OH BOY DID HE TAKE CHARGE WITH LOGAN! WOO! The way Alvaro dirty talk to Logan, commanded her intimately with trust was sexy, and called her, “Jefe” (boss) was both sexy and at other lighthearted. Alvaro was just all around GREAT!

Omg I feel like I haven’t read a book this fast in a while that was so good and held my attention all the way through! This was an emotional story with lots of heartfelt moments as well as equally heartbreaking sadness that really tugged on my heart strings. Logan became not just a legal guardian to her best friends kids, but a parent who did the utmost to give them the best life possible after suffering a terrible loss of their mom. Alvaro was a great advocate to support Logan through the new transition of being the sole caretaker of his nephews and niece. I really felt sympathetic towards all the characters from Logan to Alvaro to even the kids as they worked their grief and adjusting to a new life. The tropes in this book were absolutely amazing from, single parent, retired MMA fighter, best friend’s brother/ sister’s best friend, age gap romance, forced proximity, and a sprinkling of slow burn romance. Logan and Alvaro had great chemistry and oh boy were those two intimately connected when it came to those heated scenes together! OMG! IT WAS HOT! A tall, muscular, former fighter who was wholeheartedly in love with his sisters best friend, YES I LOVED IT! I wasn’t expecting the bit of danger in this storyline but I actually liked how it played into Alvaro’s storyline which made it a bit suspenseful. As a whole, this book had me captivated all the way through, and I loved every moment of it! I was really happy to see Logan find her way towards happiness and even after suffering the loss of her best friend, she managed to find her own family, not those of blood, but by choice. I also really loved the epilogue since it further showed a happy ending for Logan and Alvaro and (sigh) it was really satisfying to read! Highly recommend reading this story! 
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