3.5 stars

CW's: anxiety, trauma responses, death of character (off page)

This was a pretty good "I'm in love with the boy-next-door/small town" romance. What I really appreciated was the anxiety/trauma depiction. Cole lost his first wife after she gave birth to their daughter. It's been 9 years and he's guarded himself because he believes (although he does not recognize this in himself) good things do not last so you have got to be prepared for the other shoe to drop at a moment's notice. In fact, instead of enjoying happiness it's better to do something to undermine happiness because it will not last and it's better to avoid it than loose it. As someone who has anxiety and similar trauma responses, I felt like I was reading my own thoughts. ( )

Loved!!!

Pure perfection and let’s not forget the author pretty much gave me my holiday dinner recipes at the end. I loved Cole and his insecurities. ( )

While I really enjoyed book 1, I really didn't care too much for this book. For some reason, I knew when we met Cole and Cheyenne in book 1 that their pairing would be kind of blah for me. I loved the Cheyenne character in the first book and I loved her in this second book. But I didn't love her with Cole.

Cheyenne had been in love with Cole for most of her life. He was the boy next door, her brother's best friend. So of course she was off limits. So Cole moves on, falls in loves, and gets married. But his wife sadly passes away while giving birth to their daughter. So fast forward 9 years and Officer Cole Mitchell is the local police and a devoted father to Mariah. So much so that he hasn't ever dated anyone since his wife's death, devoting his whole life and heart to his daughter. So when he realizes he may have feelings for Cheyenne, he tries to hold her off for the sake of Mariah.

Cole had a lot of issues and baggage. And frankly I thought he had more chemistry with his daughter's therapist than Cheyenne. But at the end of the day, it was nice to see Cole put in the work necessary to win Cheyenne's heart. I guess that's the most important thing. ( )

I was debating to myself on giving this either 4 stars or 5, but I gave it 4 stars. So, I'll talk about the first half and then the second.

We focus on Cole, an officer with his daughter, Mariah, and Cheyenne, a kindergarten teacher and Griffin's sister. Cole and Cheyenne do get close to one another, with things like working on the turkeys together with Mariah, and also some phone sexytimes. Cole is also someone who doesn't want to be with another person since the loss of his wife, Trisha and is worried about how his daughter would feel about Cheyenne.

The first half has a lot of things that I loved, like Cole and Cheyenne and them bonding with Mariah, also Blair and Griffin's wedding takes place, Enzo and dealing with Bianca, plus the overall relationship between Cole and Cheyenne trying to stay friends.

And then the second half comes in.

Cole talks to a therapist, Jessalyn, on the advice he needs in terms of telling his daughter about Cheyenne, which Jessalyn gives advice on. However, it goes the opposite way because it turns out that Mariah is quite supportive of Cheyenne rather than disappointed.

And things go from bad to worse.

From Cole saving a baby to dealing with nightmares and having panic attacks, and refusing to see a therapist. It also gets to the point where Cole splits up from Cheyenne, and also doesn't want her to stay in the new house with him and Mariah. Plus the fact that Cole was lying over to her about Mariah having nightmares when it was him. Mentally, Cole isn't okay.

Eventually, Cole and Cheyenne do get back together, with Cole also winning Cheyenne back and realizing his mistakes, plus also going to see a therapist.

And Cole privately proposes over to Cheyenne at Cloverleigh Farms and they go out to eat.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I'm VERY excited for Enzo and Bianca's story! I'm mainly giving this one 4 stars because of some issues during the second half, but I still enjoyed it overall. ( )

This was a great read which had all sorts of good stuff in it: single dad, best friend’s sister, and smart child. I really liked that the issue here wasn’t the falling in love but the fear, and as always hooray for therapy. I think meddling mothers is my only issue so far with this series, and I do like the recipes. ( )