Publisher: HQN
Where did you get the book: e-ARC
Release date: September
Posey Osterhagen can’t complain. She owns a successful architectural salvaging company, she’s surrounded by her lovable, if off-center, family and she has a boyfriend—sort of. Still, something’s missing. Something tall, brooding and criminally good-looking… something like Liam Murphy.
When Posey was sixteen, the bad boy of Bellsford, New Hampshire, broke her heart. But now he’s back, sending Posey’s traitorous schoolgirl heart into overdrive once again. She should be giving him a wide berth, but it seems fate has other ideas…
*Blurb taken from Goodreads*
Kristin Higgins is one of my autobuy authors, and you always know what you get in one of her books: a good solid romance, and usually a heroine down on her luck, and a distant/reserved hero. Until There Was You features this, and whilst I liked the book, I found overall that it was lacking the oomph in the romance with a not so nice hero.
Until There Was You is a unrequited love story that started from when Posey, the heroine, knew Liam, the hero, back in school and when he worked at her parent’s restaurant. Posey was the unpopular shy girl, whilst Liam was the atypical bad boy. Unwittingly, Liam broke young Posey’s heart with some cruel words and by falling in love with the all American girl who would become his wife.
Liam settled down after marrying his childhood sweetheart after their unexpected pregnancy. Liam became the hands on dad whilst his wife went out to work. But his wife developed cancer, and soon after being diagnosed, sadly dies, leaving Liam and his daughter Nicole alone. Liam decides to move back to his hometown to bring Nicole closer to his in-laws, but moving back to his hometown brings back memories for Liam. The now grown Posey captures his attention by not falling at his feet, and with her smart mouth.
Liam was a great (and neurotic) dad, but I hated how he used Posey for his daughter, and I really hated that Posey let Liam walk all over her especially after he treats her quite shamefully by being his dirty little secret because he wasn’t ready, and because he didn’t want his daughter or his in-laws to know. The writing was engaging, and Higgans has very memorable secondary characters that bring her stories to life, but Posey’s and Liam’s romance was such a let down for me because I didn’t really believe in Liam’s love for Posey. For the first time, we get a hero’s POV in a Higgins romance and even though we see inside Liam’s head, he was still an asshat for the way he treated Posey. He knew that her feelings for him were strong, yet he still carried on a secret relationship with her knowing that she would be hurt in the end. I felt like shaking Posey because how did she not realise what was happening with Liam was the same with her ‘boyfriend’ Dante, which fizzles out in a predictable way early on in the story.
I did like Liam’s relationship with his daughter, and the bond between them was very strong and his obvious love for her. The secondary storyline featuring the in-laws I found to be cliched with them being the ‘evol’ in-laws, and I felt it was unnecessary because it all fizzled out and everyone was hunky dory at the end. The ending for me was very much rushed, and whilst I liked Posey, I wish she had more self respect for herself as a woman because it seemed no matter what Liam would do, she would forgive him.
Until There Was You has the classic Kristan Higgins romance and characters, but for me had a very weak romance, and a hero that fell short.
I give Until There Was you a C-.
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