I liked Finally Mine a lot more than I liked Pretending Your Mine, Aldo and Gloria seemed slightly less toxic than Harper and Luke. I mentioned in my review of the first book that I am not the biggest fan of romance books that include military stuff (I’m a military spouse) but this one wasn’t as cringe-worthy as the first one.

Aldo goes through a traumatic, life altering event when on a 6 month deployment and is sent home early because of it. He has to come to terms with the reality of how different life is going from two legs to one, and the traumatic impact of not only that but going through the event that took place to get him there

Gloria also has a lot of trauma, this story starts with her being saved from her abusive boyfriend who has spent the past 10 years since high school gaslighting, manipulating and abusing her. She has to learn to live with her new reality and re-discover herself after her abusive relationship. She discovers the difficulty of living life without someone telling you what you can and cannot do, she experiences real love, she rekindles her relationship with her mother and gains friendship. All while she’s watching over her shoulder waiting for her abusive ex to force himself back into her life.

It’s very clear that Aldo and Gloria trauma bonded from the beginning, and also very clear that Aldo knew about her abuse for a long time and stood on the sidelines instead of helping. Was it his fault? Of course not. Could he have stepped in if he really cared about Gloria and prevented her from enduring years of abuse? Yes. Again, not his fault. But I hate that he turned a blind eye to what was happening.

Overall, I liked Aldo and Gloria’s story. It made me happy to see them sort through their trauma and find a love for each other. Lots of mistakes were made and things could have been easily avoided if they just had just had a conversation with each other.

Also if you read the first book, this is told at the same time that the plot of Pretending Your Mine, but in a different POV. So you get spoilers for each book in each other.

Read this if you enjoy:
- military romance
- traumatic storyline
- childhood friends to lovers
- FMC finding herself

Please look up trigger warnings for this one, the domestic violence is detailed. Thank you to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books and Lucy Score for the eArc of Finally Mine in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this like I did Pretend Your Mine. Finally Mine, to me, felt like a retelling of Pretend Your Mine. I wanted more of Gloria and Aldo from where they left off in book one. Then epilogue was new, but everything else was a repeat.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Ebook received for free through NetGalley

I read this book back to back with the previous so there was some duplicitous stuff in it. That said I loved the characters and wanted to know the story hidden between the lines in the first book. Love it but can see spacing it a bit more.

Finally Mine is the second book in Lucy Score’s Benevolence series. It overlaps the timeline of the first, providing an alternative look at small town life. I’m not always a huge fan of series that do this, because sometimes not enough is “new.” However, Lucy Score manages to pull it off. This book had enough familiar characters, while introducing a few ones. Since the overlapping is not as noticeable as it is with other series, and has new main characters, it feels like a whole new story (as it should). The middle was a little slow for me, but I definitely just started book 3!

Special thanks to Net Galley and Sourcebooks/ Bloom Book for providing an advanced reviewer copy to me in exchange for my honest review and opinion!

The physical and verbal abuse that Gloria suffered in her relationship I felt was well written as well as her journey to self-healing. Yes she suffered in an abusive relationship for years but Gloria always choose to go back, she had a choice and went back every time. When you think you love someone it is easy to be blinded by the sweet words they say in order to keep you by their side. Aldo’s crush on Gloria was very heartbreaking after learning his role in her previous abusive relationship. He is very considerate of her healing.

This follows the same time line as Pretend You’re Mine but from Aldo and Gloria’s POV.
I absolutely loved watching Gloria grow in character from leaving her abusive boyfriend to learning to stand on her own and make her self happy on her own. I thought this book moved faster than Pretend You’re Mine and the connection between Aldo and Gloria even with them spending a good part of the book apart grew and felt very natural.
The other awesome part of the book was both had awesome parents as a support system and Harper to save the day. It was fun to see her through the book again. I would recommend it as long as the trauma spoken about in the book isn’t a problem to read for the reader.

Domestic/ spouse abuse
PTSD/ overcoming a Huge traumatic event

Finally mine is book two of the Benevolence series of interconnected standalones. I fell in love with Gloria and Aldo in Pretend Your Mine and I’m so happy they got their own book! Gloria is one of my top FMCs and how strong she is. Her personal growth throughout this story was amazing to read. And Aldo is swoon worthy! Even though he is strong, he showed his vulnerability. He is sweet, sexy, and is exactly what Gloria needs to help her learn who she is after everything she’s been through. Yes, these two have their ups and downs but what couple doesn’t. This story deals with some tough subjects (check trigger warnings) and is beautifully written. I love that we got more of Luke and Harper and the rest of the characters from the first book. Even though this was an emotional read, it left me with a happy heart and a smile on my face!

Just know that Lucy Score can do very little wrong in my book except maybe make her books a little too long. But I can forgive her because the plots are just so darn good. I love Aldo and Gloria and their character development. This book sucked me in and I just love the second chance love connections. I highly suggest readers to buy this book when it comes out. You will not be disappointed.

I was really disappointed in this book. The author took so much dialogue from the first book and repeated it word for word. It made the book boring for me at times and I felt like it lacked creativity. I really liked Gloria and Aldo's story, but I felt like they deserved more. I get that Aldo and Gloria's story ran concurrent with Harper and Luke's story, but there was just too much repetition.

Thank you to Bloom Books for the e-arc in exchange for a honest review.

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gah i love gloria and aldo so much. i was so excited to read this one <3

i loved this one so much, lucy score is the queen of small town romances and i absolutely adore her writing style.

she creates such lovable characters and i loved reading about gloria and aldo’s journey.

hearing about them in pretend you’re mine, i was so excited and i was not disappointed. i loved the character development and watching gloria grow into her queen self.

5/5

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series and was looking forward to this one but this was a major let down. It feels the author copies pasted from the fist book and adjusted the view to the second book. Gloria is a victim of domestic violence. This book fell flat for me. 1.5 star






**********************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley.************

I've recommended this book successfully to fans of Colleen Hoover, personally I found it to long. A priority for collections with strong Colleen Hoover readership.

Immediately read it after Pretend You’e Mine. Found this book sort of redundant because the time line is the same as Pretend You’re Mine, but from Gloria and Aldo’s perspective.
I liked it but not as much as I liked Pretend You’re Mine. Wish the story picked up from the ending of Pretend You’re Mine, and just gone into Gloria and Aldo’s life together.

TW: domestic violence

I read this book immediately after finishing Pretend Your Mine. I absolutely loved Pretend Your Mine, but since Finally Mine occurs on the same timeline, there were parts that I found redundant and boring. Lucy Score is a great writer, if you read this as a stand alone I have no doubt the rating would be higher. Aldo and Gloria are lovable characters each with their own traumas to heal through. My only issue was that nearly half the book was rereading the same conversations/scenes from the first book just from a different POV and that because the timeline is the same I already knew what was going to happen in the end. I was missing some shock factor/plot twists. Overall though cute story and good writing.

Finally Mine by Lucy Score is a heart-wrenching yet heart-warming story of second chances and healing. Aldo Moretta, the hometown hero, returns from deployment with a life-changing injury that shakes his confidence in his ability to be the hero he always was. Gloria Parker has spent ten years of her life with the wrong man and is struggling to rebuild her life after finally breaking free from an abusive relationship.

As Aldo and Gloria reconnect, they find solace in each other's company and their shared experiences. They have both been through a lot, and their wounds have left deep scars. But as they heal together, they realize that they may have a chance at real love.

Score's writing is raw, emotional, and poignant, as she expertly weaves together the struggles of these two characters, both individually and as a couple. Their chemistry is palpable, and their journey is one of growth, redemption, and ultimately, hope.

Finally Mine can be read as a standalone novel, but it is a companion to Pretend You're Mine, which tells the story of Harper and Luke. For readers looking for a romance novel that tackles serious issues with sensitivity and heart, Finally Mine is a must-read.

The story honestly wasn't my favorite. The plot was really dragging that I found myself skim-read most of it. There was also another romance plot going on for the other couple that really distracted me. As for the main characters Gloria and Aldo, the author maybe wanted to go for the imperfect couple trope here, but it fell flat and felt superficial.

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

i love lucy scores writing but this was not my favourite. i give it an overall 3 stars. the plot and the characters were all mixing in my brain and i just didn’t feel a good connection towards any part of this. i do recommend but it is definitely a small town mood read.

As usually Lucy Score wrote an engaging, sexy, romance.

I loved Maggie Moves On so when I saw this as an Arc on NetGalley I figured I’d give it a shot. Heartbreaking and raw this book had a bit too much trauma for me. The steam is fantastic though and her hero’s are always so well fleshed out. If you don’t mind some violence this is a great read. I won’t be reading the rest of the series though

Lucy does is again! I have found I love anything she writes. The writing is thoughtful & intentional, and the characters are believable. I appreciate that because I usually look to reading a Lucy Score book when I’m taking a break from my usual fantasy reads. 5 stars in my book.

Lucy Score does is again. “Finally Mine” is a spicy but emotional romance that will certainly be a book-tok favorite. Add this to your list!