Kendra and Sloan have been a couple for four years. But ever since Kendra accepted Sloan’s proposal their relationship has been marred by Kendra’s lack of trust. Kendra’s father walked out on Kendra and her mother, over twenty years ago, and her mother has never gotten over it. Kendra’s mother, Camille has never had a good word to say about any man since.
Sloan’s inability to patiently help Kendra deal with her trust issues is an issue in itself. It was refreshing to find a romance with a ‘misunderstanding’ that wasn’t contrived but realistic enough to make the romance much more interesting. It also allowed the reader to see how the couple got through the derailment in their relationship and move forward.
I could understand Sloan’s impatience and anger and even empathize with how hurt he was at her thinking that he was like her father. But he never seemed to consider that while he had four years to show her that he was a different caliber of man; her mother’s bitterness had indoctrinated her for more than twenty years.
Kendra at Sloan’s instigation starts therapy to lay the past to rest, so that she can be free to understand how her mother’s behavior and bitterness towards all men had affected her own attitude and relationships.
In the run up to their wedding they have to deal with the additional stress of having Sloan’s brother, Kyle staying with them, and Sloan trying to find the identity of the thief who is stealing from one of his clients.
I quickly found myself getting irritated with Sloan’s lack of understanding. As his brother Kyle says in the book, ‘Didn’t you know that she had these concerns before?’ Sloan’s annoyance with her trust issues comes over as criticism, even extending to how shy Kendra is in the bedroom. Not that she’s a sex with the light off and around her flannel nightgown only, kind of girl. It’s just that she worries about his brother hearing them having sex while he’s staying with them and she’s not a raunchy, wild, open to public sex, type of girl.
When it appears that Sloan has let Kendra down in a way that validates all her worst fears, Kendra’s reaction stings Sloan’s pride. He responds by refusing to tell Kendra the true facts, because he’s feels that her behavior proves that she never trusted him. Can Sloan get past his pride and realize that Kendra’s love is too important to throw away?
This is a thought provoking and emotive interracial romance. The latter half with the revelation of the thief’s identity seemed superfluous to the plot, I was far more interested in Kendra and Sloan’s relationship problems, than unmasking the thief and his accomplice. This book is a real page turner.
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content and graphic language.
