This book was wonderful. I’ve been in a reading slump and this story pulled me out of it. Such a page-turning romance, I just loved it. The characters both primary and secondary were well written. I enjoyed the family dynamic and small town community as well. Steamy bedroom scenes added to the romance. I'm immediately starting Benevolence book 3. Highly recommend.

I received an eARC from the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC

I know this book was originally published in 2018, but everyone is republishing their books so it’s like a whole new Lucy Score read for me.

Honestly I’ve never met a Lucy Score book I didn’t like, and this was no exception. The growth between Gloria and Aldo, it’s amongst their relationship with each other and themselves was so beautiful to see.

I was nervous when on chapter 65/79 things seemed to be fairly wrapped up, and I was right to be. But as always, it was wrapped up beautifully.

I fell in love with Gloria and Aldo’s relationship in “Pretend Your Mine” but getting to watch it all play out in their own perspective was such a treat.

I love how they were really able to find themselves after so much trauma and heartbreak.


The epilogue was everything I could have ever asked for out of an ending for this book. Getting to hear about how they can help break the cycles of abuse and be upfront and talk about it moving forward with their lives.

Trigger warnings: domestic abuse

This is Gloria’s and Aldo’s journey to their happily ever after. Which was not smooth for either of them.
First, Gloria finds the life she dreamed of having derailed when she starts dating Glenn in high school. No more college, no more friends visiting. The physical abuse begins before she even graduates.
Finally after years of his physical and emotional abuse she takes the courageous steps and leaves. She confronts him at the bar in front of others. He attacks her and the person who stops him, Harper landing himself in jail.

Aldo has been interested in Gloria since high school, but backed off when she came to school with a black eye the day after he spoke to her where Glenn could see. He didn’t believe he could help her so he focused on graduating and joined the National Guard with his friend Luke.

Fast forward to now. With Gloria finally free he’s not waiting anymore. He knows who he wants in his life and he’s putting her on notice of his interest. But, Aldo is also getting ready for his deployment overseas.

I throughly enjoyed this book and am becoming an avid fan of Lucy Score. Her characters are multidimensional and her stories give all the feels. Now, this is the second book in the series and I recommend reading the first since the stories are intertwined.
I want to thank both Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this title. I was given the ARC in exchange of a fair and objective review,

I was so excited to read Aldo and Gloria’s story after I finished Pretend You’re Mine. This book was just as good as the first but definitely presented a little better due to the strong character development and obstacles that needed to be overcome. I would have bumped my rating up but my reading was a bit disrupted by the repetitive portions of dialogue and the scenes covered in the previous book. If you loved Pretend You’re Mine and fell in love with both of these characters, this is definitely a great small town romance with tons of emotional baggage and a love that’s been a long time coming.

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lucy Score for allowing me to read Finally Mine! It's another five star read from Lucy Score for me! While it's true I'm easy to please, I absolutely loved this one and it's one of my favorites from her. I won't give any spoilers, but if you're looking for the perfect romance read, this is it!

The expected publishing date for this book is June 13 2023.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I will definitely read more of her books in the future.

This is the story of Gloria, who is trying to find herself again after enduring 10 years in an abusive marriage. Her love interest is Aldo, who has carried a torch for her since high school. He is a confident, charming hometown hero who is deployed by the miliatary and comes home to Gloria with serious injuries. Can they help each other to recover, and find the light at the end of the tunnel?

I enjoyed this book, Lucy Score writes with humor and sweetness even though she deals with serious topics like spousal abuse, and severe physical injuries. It is very uplifting going along with these characters on their journey of both physical and mental healing.

Thank you to Sourcebloom Books and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC to read and review.

This couple deserves every bit of happiness in the world! This series so far has a hold on me like I never imagined!! You won’t be sorry and you definitely won’t be able to put this down once you get started!! I love Lucy!

This is such a beautiful and romantic story. I fell in love with both the main protagonist and rooted for them throughout the book. All of the side characters are interesting and fun as well. There is banter and chemistry and romance which means this is a book that I would recommend to everyone.

I read book one so I couldn't wait to get book two to see what happens to Gloria. Although this is book two this could be read as a stand alone. Gloria finds her voice and stands up to Glenn who had been physically abusing her. I wanted to cheer for her as this was huge decision for her to finally believe she didn't deserve to be treated like this. Glenn goes off to jail where he can't touch her and she can finally move on with her life.

She is blessed to have Harper as a friend as she tells her how to combat the negative voices in her head and helps her believe in herself. She helps her find a job and gets her dating Aldo. The funny comments between Aldo and Harper and how they joke with each other just made them seem like someone you would want to hang around.

Aldo has loved Gloria for years but was shy. Now, he is finally making his move and getting the happily ever after he deserves. Gloria loves him just as he is and it so heart warming to see these two finally be happy.

I just loved this small town romance that makes you believe in happily ever after and second chances.

Finally Mine by Lucy Score - Love comes in all shapes and forms, but when love is tested, do you trust yourself again? Gloria and Aldo, flirting, teasing, and flings are all level waters. I love that they both balance each other (will not spoil the entire book). Great book, it's just witty throughout the story, Gloria and Aldo is the main character, but there are many minor characters that play a big role throughout this entire book.

I just reviewed Finally Mine by Lucy Score. #NetGalley
[https://www.netgalley.com/member/book/285653/review]

4.4 stars

Beautiful and poignant. I loved how the author showed the mindset of both the victim and those around them about abuse. It is so easy to say, "I would have done that" but until they are in that position themselves they or even I have no idea.

I loved how this concluded for everyone.

At this point, I am not sure that this author can write something that isn't exceptional. There is a reason that I am slowly working through her backlog and reading everything that she has ever written.

Finally Mine is book 2 in Benevolence. Book 1 should definitely be read first as the timelines overlap.

Gloria Parker just left a ten year long abusive relationship with Glenn Diller. Aldo Moretta has been in love with her since high school. A civil engineer in the military, Aldo deploys to Afghanistan before he ever takes newly single Gloria on a date. When he tragically loses a leg in indirect fire, Aldo no longer feels worthy of pursuing Gloria. As they work to become survivors together, they must first work to heal their scars on both the inside and the outside.

Finally Mine has all of the markers of a trademark Lucy Score romance. Quirky small town all up in each other’s business? ✅ Resilient and strong female main character? ✅ Strong, sexy but wounded and brooding male main character? ✅ one crazy drama to overcome? ✅ and lastly, hot hot hot open door scenes? ✅ This book really has it all, and if you love Lucy Score you will love this one!

You have to read this if you love: 📖 book one of Benevolence, Pretend You’re Mine 🏘️small town romance 🎙️3rd person dual pov 🎖️military romance ❤️‍🩹 two wounded and traumatized people finding love & healing with each other 🔥 multiple open door scenes 🍭 toothache sweet happily ever

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Lucy Score for sending this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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Finally Mine follows Gloria and Aldo. This book takes place at the same time as Pretend You’re Mine. Gloria and Aldo are given a second chance at falling in love. Gloria is processing the aftermath of being in an abusive relationship and Aldo is processing losing his leg in Afghanistan. The two are also falling for one another, but they both realize they need to love themselves before loving someone else.
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This was a beautiful story. It took me a bit to read, but I loved it. Dare I say I liked this more than the first book? I think Aldo and Gloria are both just precious humans that should be loved forever.

One thing that Lucy Score does well is integrate real life experiences into the book and not make it inaccurate. The back and forth between Gloria’s mind and heart due to the abuse was accurate. She felt that she was at fault, but by the end she saw that it wasn’t her, it was Glenn.

I think Aldo also learned how to let people in. Not just Gloria, but Harper too. He really learned to love and love himself, even if he was going through something horrific.

I really loved Aldo and Gloria. It was great to see the two and understand them on such a deeper and more meaningful level.

This was a beautiful story and I highly recommend.

I read Finally Mine immediately after finishing Pretend You’re Mine. The overlap in plot and dialogue (albeit from a different POV) was repetitive and a little tedious, and I ended up skimming those parts. I loved the characters (charming Aldo!) and a glimpse behind the scenes for PYM.

Another heart-wrenching romance from Lucy Score. These new covers are to die for, and I feel they fit her genre of romance so much better than the older covers.
As always, character development and all the feels were spot on.

I would absolutely recommend Finally Mine, even to those who aren't normally into the romance genre.

DNF'd this as well as the other book in the series that I received from NetGalley.

This book was almost exactly the same as Pretend You're Mine. I'm not even sure why a second book was necessary.'

Lucy Score needs to consider writing shorter romance books. There is no reason this should have been 400+ pages long.

DNF @ 70% - but shannon, you got to 70% why didn’t you just keep going and finish this one? thank you for asking - I will answer honestly. this book was a toxic relationship all wrapped into one. the FMC was clingy and desperate to move on with her life that she was willing to do whatever was possible to convince herself of that fact - which fair, it is relatable. but luke, our MMC, oh boy … he spends the majority of this book telling the FMC that he in fact will never love her because the only person he will ever love is his dead wife. talk about a mood killer 😭 I mean, you couldn’t just lie and say that you’ll always miss your spouse but it’s nice to move on again? nope, no room for any embellishment here. I just really couldn’t get past that and so, I’m done with this series v sorry netgalley

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 3.75⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Contemporary romance📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
An adorable romance with heavy topics.

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Military romance
Emotional reads
Strong characters
Small town setting
Great chemistry

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Aldo’s mom

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
Alot of it overlapped with Pretend You’re Mine so it felt a little slow at times

Lucy Score does it again with her small hometown romance! Story is so picturesque and irresistable, the story was enjoyable from start to finish. I loved the character development of the main and secondary characters. I feel like the secondary characters add so much to the story and their contributions can't be overlooked. Definitely recommend for Lucy Score fans and anyone new to her books!

4/5 stars