This was well written and kept my interest. I enjoyed reading it but I do have some issues with it. The hero, Dillon, has a history that makes him less than sympathetic about her issues with being a battered wife. Every time she has a moment where she lets old fears and anxieties overcome her, he gets pissed and tells her off or walks out on her. It seemed like he wanted her to be super perfect or something. She does eventually call him on it. But I didn't really like Nina either. Sure she had a bad history but she needed to stand up for him sooner and better. I didn't really see their relationship develop much either. They fussed and didn't get along then suddenly they were in bed together. I'm not sure I believe in the HEA as we didn't really see them fall in love or enjoy spending time together. Hmmm, still I liked it pretty well. Well enough to perhaps check out the rest of the series. ( )

This was a good read. I enjoyed both characters and think the heroines emotional journey was the best part of the novel. ( )

Above average. Liked the characters, and the story wasn't bad either. Will be looking out for more from Beth Andrews ( )

When I did the research before getting this book and discovered the hero had been in prison for either a) a crime he didn’t commit or b) a crime he committed but in defense of someone who couldn’t defend themselves, I knew this one would be on my Very Short List of books to read. I LOVE this trope and some of my favourite books have this theme.

And Dillon makes for a very scrumptious hero indeed. He’s been out of prison for a while now, living in the apartment over the bakery owned by Nina, our heroine. While he had gone to prison, he fell in the second category – he was defending his younger sister who he had almost raised himself. But still the townspeople don’t particularly care to have an ex-con living amongst them, including Nina. She’s about to toss him out on his kiester after listening to her parents and bossy jerk of an ex. And Dillon isn’t really surprised. He doesn’t expect any support from the townspeople, figuring they would just as soon see him run out on a rail. But while his relationship with his sister is rather strained, more on his end, still she’s family. So when Nina gives him the book, he’s ready to move on. That is until a tough teenager living in a foster home with a gigantic chip on his should crashes into Nina’s bakery and Dillon offers to stay and fix the damage.

Nina is reluctant to say yes to the help, her family is opposed, but she does reluctantly agree. Dillon is slowly, and almost against his will drawn into the circle of family and friends around Nina. Her children like him and as penance, he has the young man who did the damage helping out too.

I really enjoyed this book. There’s no question the real draw was Dillon; he’s the kind of hero I adore, withdrawn, almost surly yet drawn to the heroine in spite of himself. As for Nina, well – she was a doormat. She let her father push her around. She let her ex-husband push her around. This can be very irritating, especially the ex-husband bit since he’d pushed her around even in the literal sense. But thankfully she grew a backbone during the story, although a couple of times I did get very irritated by her, when she didn’t stand up for Dillon, when I thought she should have. But I suppose old habits are hard to break and being a wimp that other wimps pick on, isn’t something that’s going to change overnight.

Overall, I was quite pleased with this book and now I have a new author to BOTLO for – one with more books about these people. I like that! ( )