Everyone knew Alicia Harrison’s marriage to Ilya Stern wouldn’t last. They’d grown up on a remote stretch of Quarry Street, where there were two houses, two sets of siblings, and eventually, a tangled mess of betrayal, longing, and loss. Tragedy catapulted Allie and Ilya together, but divorce—even as neighbors—has been relatively uncomplicated.
Then Ilya’s brother, Nikolai, comes home for their grandmother’s last days. He’s the guy who teased and fought with Allie, infuriated her, then fled town without a good-bye. Now Niko makes her feel something else entirely—a rush of connection and pure desire that she’s been trying to quench since one secret kiss years ago. Niko’s not sticking around. She’s not going to leave. And after all that’s happened between their families, this can’t be anything more than brief pleasure and a bad idea.
But the lies we tell ourselves can’t compete with the truths our hearts refuse to let go…
I have to be honest, the romance between Alicia and Nikolai doesn't really start until half way through the book, so right off the bat that bugs me. Also, the story is almost set up like a romantic suspense and I went through the entire book wondering if Jennilynn was actually murdered (maybe by creepy Barry?) and that entire story line felt loose and dangling by the end so that's another ding. And Alicia and Nikolai? How this book ends is just... it's not enough. It's resolved but only kind of? I suppose I have to get the second book, which is supposedly Ilya and Theresa's story, but I'm not sure if it's something I'm actually going to do.
Overall? I'm only giving this book 3/5 stars, simply because it was built up to maybe be something else and by the time I got to the end of the book it just feels like it's all a bunch of dangling strings. What saved the book, though? Nikolai. He's pretty great and his sex scenes with Alicia are even better and frankly, there was not nearly enough in this book, I enjoyed them that much. So I can understand why it would have been included in a romance book subscription box because those scenes alone carry the book. I want to share a paragraph in the book that just really spoke to me on a bunch of different levels, it's found on page 226:
"When you loved someone, Nikolai thought, you gave them the power to hurt you. Worse than that, you made it possible to hurt them. To disappoint them. The last thing in the world Nikolai wanted to do was hurt or disappoint Alicia, at least not more than he already had in this lifetime."
Isn't that great?! I really loved it. I feel like a bit of a book snob as of late so maybe don't look at my 3 star rating as a dig because I think the Alicia and Nikolai scenes will be more than enough for you to enjoy this read!
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