RLbooks (on a break)'s Reviews > Forever Your Rogue

4.5 stars rounded up

Thank you to my GR friends who recommended this! Let me continue that and say I recommend this so much. Let me start by saying that I'm a mom and one of the reasons I read single parent romances is for the parenting moments. In this one, the feelings Cora (h) has for her children and the fears that they could be taken from her, were just beautifully represented and the scenes with the children, esp with the H, were wonderful. Also, the author did thorough research to properly setup the plot and the legal troubles women could find themselves entangled in to keep their children. She has a list of sources, including primary sources which made my historian heart happy. Even though the plight of these women was truly sad.

The book opens with Cora learning that her husband has died and she's not disappointed because it wasn't a good marriage and he wasn't a good father. But then he manages to mess with her further by naming his awful brother-in-law as a guardian of their two children and the in-laws threaten their little family. So Cora and her barrister brother come up with a plan that hinges on her BFF's brother, Nate (H), faking a betrothal to Cora. They haven't seen each other since Cora became engaged and nothing romantic was ever between them, but they were great at getting under each other's skin when they were younger and that comes out still. And oh how these two rock each other to their cores. Their ruse ends up involving all the emotions, the steam, the amazing parenting moments, the character development, and the swoon. Written in third person, dual POV. No ow/om drama and neither were virgins (it's not clear how much experience H had, although it was clearly some and at one point this is thrown in the h's face by others, but there is nothing on page and once they meet again, he's focused on h).

I loved so many aspects of this book. There are letters between Cora and Nate and letters from their family members to them that were wonderful and added to the story. Cora is in an awful position and she's trying to control what she can and hold herself together. Meanwhile, Nate has a checkered history of not holding himself together, but finds that he can be something more supporting Cora and the children. He claims them over and over and some of the swooniest moments were when he referred to the kids as "his". He also wants to fight for them and truly prove himself to Cora. There is some push/pull, miscommunication, and adjusting their perceptions of each other, but they were a team and none of the more challenging moments drag on or turn into something too big that they can't overcome it. It was hard for these two to be vulnerable with each other and once the emotional intimacy started, I just sighed. Nate is also struggling with his relationship with his older brother, who was more like a father, and I was so invested in that relationship wanting him to feel valued for who he was and have them heal their rift.

Nate and Cora spend two weeks in the country together with the kids and the awful in-laws and even though it was fast, Nate's development from charming rogue to family man felt natural, never forced. Cora's realization that she didn't have to do everything on her own also felt natural, because she fights that feeling of depending on someone else, which made sense given her history. The character growth in this one was phenomenal. I wasn't sure if I would love either character when I started the story because their faults are on display in their first interaction, but by the end, I didn't know how I couldn't love them. Then the steam deserves it's own call-out because there's some good spice in this one. The timing and amount of it was also good.

The side characters were excellent throughout the book esp Cora's brother and her BFF, who I wondered if they might get a book together, even though the BFF is married. I thought the humorous parts balanced the more serious and dramatic ones really well. There were places I thought the pacing was a bit off, but it never felt draggy. One of my friends mentioned the story being verbose in places and I agree that there was some wordiness in places. I wished that Cora stood up to her in-laws earlier, but I understood she was terrified, still some of those scenes were hard and hurt my heart. I also wanted Nate to be more open at times with what he was thinking and planning, but I understood that too.

I loved the ending from the final chapters to the extended epilogue and that sense of just satisfaction and joy that the characters are completely in their HEA. The epilogue is 20+ years into the future and all the feels. This book made me cry in more than one place. I can't wait to see what the next book by this author is like.