⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
🔥 🔥 / 5

Lucy Score has quickly become an auto buy author for me, so I’m excited that Bloom Books is now rereleasing her back catalogue - so many great reads to enjoy!

In Finally Mine we head back to Benevolence so it was great to see characters we already know and love. Lucy is the queen of small town romance!!

I loved Aldo and Gloria in Pretend You’re Mine, so it was great to see them get their own story. I loved Gloria’s quiet strength and that we got to see more of the girl gang’s shenanigans. It can be incredibly hard to leave an abusive relationship and while it did seem like Gloria stayed with her ex for a long time, it seemed true to life. It can take years for someone in a domestic violence situation to leave - if ever!

Aldo is a great MC, but there were times I was yelling at my Kindle for him to get his head out of his butt. I was glad to see he finally came around!

Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Score and Bloom Books for an advanced copy - this is my honest review.

*review has been submitted to Amazon.ca and is pending approval.

First I would like to thank SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a Lucy Score stan and I will tell anyone who asks! I was excited to see some of her older books being republished and took my chance at requesting a copy of Finally Mine and lucky for me I was approved.

This is the story of Gloria and Aldo, former high school classmates, who both experience life changing events separately and end up relying on each other in many ways to not only survive but thrive together. Please read the trigger warnings before reading in case you are sensitive to any of the topics covered.

What I Loved:
- Healing, there are a lot of characters who go through a trauma in this book and I appreciated how each of these people were working through their journey in different ways
- Mothers, both Gloria and Aldo have very strong mother figures and I just loved their versions of tough love and telling their kids how it is even when its hard/harsh
- Friends, Gloria builds up a great group of friends especially her girl group and they really reminded me of my “girls” and I kept looking forward to more interactions throughout the story
- Romance, it is a bit of a slow burn but in true Lucy Score fashion I was not disappointed in the spice within this story
- Series, this is the second book in the series but I did not feel like I was missing anything when reading but get the bonus that there are more to read!
- Epilogues, I’m a sucker for a good epilogue and this one had two with the second one having a good jump in time and I was smiling while reading both
- Ivan the Terrible, Gloria gets Aldo a kitten to help with his recovery and lets jus stay the name is apt for the type of kitten he appears to be 😹

Overall I really did love this book, I pretty much devoured it in about 3 days on my vacation and even chose to skip much needed naps to keep reading. The three other girls I was on the trip with were sick of me talking about this book and me carrying around my kindle everywhere but it was completely worth it. If you are a Lucy Score fan and want to read a romance with amazing characters, a cute town and lots of spice (eventually) then I would highly recommend this book to you.

Another beautiful story from Lucy Score…some parts of the story are hard to read but she handles them with grace and respect.

Gloria is done, she’s tired of living in fear and decides to make a change. She is scared, but so incredibly brave.

Aldo is a sweet, caring military man who’s had a longtime crush on Gloria. He’s watched her from afar but is ready to make his feelings known.

This is a slow burn between two people holding in a lot of emotion, stress, fear and trauma. They are just what one another needs but they both have true tissues. Their story will bring out all the emotions - sadness, hope and love.

This is a stand alone but connected to the characters in the first book (Pretend You’re Mine)- recommend reading it first.

I was very disappointed in this book, second in the series! What i did like was getting to hear Gloria's side of everything and watching her overcome her previous abusive relationship. What i did not like was that there were EXACT conversations from Pretend You're Mine. I can't believe I had to read the same exact pages again, very disappointed in that aspect. Overall, Glorias story was strong and needed to be told, could have had better fluff than exact conversations!!

Let me start by saying I LOVE Lucy score books. They are always interesting and pull me in from the start. She tends to make me laugh out loud while reading. I must say I did not fully click with this book. The way she let aldo kiss her so quickly and started to go towards him immediately was a little to quickly. I think it was shown how hurt she was after going through everything which made it confusing how she was so open to him. I will still continue reading her books, but don't think this one was for me.

I loved finally getting to see Aldo and Gloria's story from their POV's and it was worth the wait. They both deserve a do-over from the hands they've been dealt in life, and have a great support system in their friends and family.

If you've read the first book in the series, then Finally Mine is pretty much a retelling with a few added scenes. I only wish there would've been more to the story, as I felt like I was just getting a refresher, which says a lot with how bad my memory is, lol.

I absolutely LOVE that this Lucy Score series is getting a makeover and more love.
This is book 2 (of 3) and the new discrete covers are so perfect!!
Love LS!!

So cute. I loved this! I need to read the others because I loved this!! Thanks NetGalley & Lucy Score for allowing me to read Finally Mine before its release!

Finally Mine by Lucy Score is book 2 of the Benevolence duet. First, I love this author and will read anything she writes. However, this book felt like a retelling of the first but from another perspective. I enjoyed the other point of view but it felt very repetitive. Gloria and Aldo are the perfect couple and I do enjoy them. I do recommend but just know it has similar qualities. Looking forward to so much more from this author!

⭐️⭐️
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Thank you to Bloom books and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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Finally Mine is the second book in Lucy’s series set in Benevolence and is a republication of a book written a few years ago. The series is dual books taking place at the same time - this one tells the stories of Gloria and Aldo. Gloria, who recently left an extremely abusive relationship, and Aldo, a Lieutenant in the National Guard who has harbored a crush on her for a decade, finally have their paths cross again shortly before Aldo deploys. He asks Gloria to let him take her out when he gets back from Afghanistan, hoping that the 6 month deployment will give her time to recover and build a life of her own so that she can be ready to date again.
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Reading this book made me realize that I wish I gave the first book in the series 1 star because while this was better, it was nowhere close to 3 star material. I don’t understand how the same person that wrote these wrote TWNGO… there’s such a disconnect in her skill, ability, and care with developing her characters in these books versus her more recent ones. I think it’s a shame that these are being republished and think they have the capacity to tarnish her reputation and skills today. Would not recommend this series whatsoever.

I adored this book a whole lot. Gloria is a survivor of domestic abuse, and Aldo is a war hero who comes home an amputee. The way these two grow to love themselves, and are finally able to express their love to each other because of it was beautiful. Being a survivor myself, I deeply related to Gloria. Aldo reminds me personality wise of my now partner, so I really enjoyed him as well. Love this small town. I would read these in order, because this one takes place along side book 1.
Can't wait for the next one!

I was provided a free copy of this book from @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
This is the second book in the Benevolence series and follows the same story as the first, Pretend You're Mine, from different main characters' points of view! In this story we follow Gloria, who after ten years, decides to leave her abusive boyfriend, only to have a stranger, Harper, jump in to help her fight in the bar parking lot. This gives her the courage to finally press charges and get him behind bars. Now she has to start rebuilding her life, and maybe see if there is room in it for Aldo, Luke's best friend and National Guard buddy. If you've read the first you know the gist of how things go and some major events, but it's still a different story overall. We get a view into their thoughts and still a lot more of the story we didn't see in the first. The two stories together provide a bigger picture of the whole storyline. I read these back to back and was not bored in this one! I'm not sure it would matter too much which you read first. But since these were republications, they are both available now.
This one does have less bedroom scenes, but there is still quite a few. And again, we have trigger warnings for domestic violence, depression, and PTSD.
I enjoyed both stories, not sure which is my favorite. But I see that there is a third, so I'm interested to read that one as well!
#NetGalley #FinallyMine

Finally Mine follows the same timeline as Pretend You're Mine so there's a lot of overlap and even some shared scenes and dialogue. I really loved Gloria's character but wasn't a huge fan of Aldo at all times. A bit less steamy that the first but followed a pretty similar recipe otherwise. Always prefer to skip unnecessary fights/drama when possible but who am I kidding as I'll still read the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the ARC of the recent rerelease of Finally Mine. I read Pretend Your Mine right before jumping into this book so I knew about Aldo and Gloria. I felt that the two stories were written in a parallel fashion so if you were interested in Aldo and Gloria's background after the first book then it makes sense to read this one. You get the background on Gloria's history which is hard to read at times. You also get to see Aldo's POV and I feel like you're either a fan of his or not for not stepping in with Gloria prior to the current timeframe. Their story isn't an easy one with what happened in the past and then currently.

If you happened to pick this book up without reading the first one then you'll jump into Gloria and Aldo's story without any background. While I don't think it's necessary to read Pretend Your Mine first, if you're planning on reading all the books in this series then I'd recommend reading them in order. I did enjoy seeing how Aldo and Gloria's relationship evolved from their POV's along with some of the other characters.

I know this is a popular author, but this is not my cup of tea. I did not like the way the characters were portrayed.

I feel like this book and Pretend You’re Mine have solidified that I am just not the target audience for a military romance. I feel like the book was just too long for what it was.

Finally Mine, by Lucy Score was rereleased Tuesday last week with a beautiful new cover. Even though I did not read the first book in the series, I didn’t feel lost; I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the two character’s perspectives, and following them along their development. Gloria and Aldo both needed healing, and have to figure out who they are now after their traumas. It did a pretty good job at blending all the different aspects into a cohesive story, and after reading Finally Mine I feel compelled to read the rest, since The Benevolence Series books are all interconnected.

This book has:
Military romance
Second chance romance
Overcoming trauma
Found family
He falls first
Slow burn
Dual pov
Small town setting

Thank you netgalley and bloombooks for a chance to read this.

Oh no...no no - the abuse in here??? No no no.
- the scenes are the same as book 1, like literally the same
- Gloria was abused for YEARS and no one helped/tried to help
- Aldo was a soldier but also a piece of stale toast bread

This book was originally written in 2018. It's undergone some updates, including the cover. I really enjoyed the story. As the wife of a wounded warrior, I really got into the storyline of the physical and mental struggles of the two characters who returned home from war. If you think that someone goes off to a war zone and returns even close to the person they were when they left, you are mistaken. Just flat out mistaken. The person that you loved when he was deployed will not be the person that you loved when they get home. You can either cut and run or learn to love that new person and try to help him through it. I really appreciated the honesty in the book about that.

This is a romance of two damaged souls. It was a beautiful romance that also included lots of friendship and family running throughout. I haven't read the first book yet, but I certainly will. Lovely! The Bonus Epilogue was perfect.

I was gifted a copy of this book by Sourcebooks/Bloom Books and NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Lucy Score has fast become one of my favourite rom-com writers. Her novels are always full of emotions and highly entertaining.

I didn't realise this was the second book in the Benevolence series. Not having read the first one, all I can say is that it can totally be read as stand alone.

We follow Gloria and Aldo. Both are rich adorable characters with baggage and a few hurdles to overcome in their personal lives. It was lovely to see both their journeys and overcoming some life adversities.

I cannot wait for Things We Hide From the Light, due out later this year. I loved the first two from the Knockemout series.

TW’s Domestic violence, abuse.

Many thanks to @netgalley @sourcebooks @bloombooks @lucyscore for an advanced reading copy