Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great and compelling novel. I had not read the first book in this series, but that did not hinder my reading of this book as this can be read as a stand alone. I greatly enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading more Lucy Score novels in the future as this was my first one.

Thank you Netgalley and Lucy Score for the ARC. This was my first Lucy Score book and I will definitely be reading more.
It probably goes without saying that I didn’t read the first book in this series but this can totally be read as a standalone. My big takeaway from this book is that everyone heals in their own way and in their own time. Trauma was a major theme in this book and each character carried that in a unique way. I appreciated that the author showed that there are so many ways to live after trauma.
Aldo was a super sweet MMC. I think I have a soft spot for the guy who never forgot his high school crush. My favourite character though was Harper. She was amazing. Loving, brave, determined, thoughtful, loyal, supportive….she’s everything we all want our best friend to be.
There are pretty heavy things mentioned in this book so check trigger warnings but this was a great read and I’d definitely recommend it.

Lucy Score balances a solid story line with romance and lust like none other! I loved Gloria and Aldo in this book and felt that their love was unconditional. How could one not fall in love with Aldo? His character was so well-developed and emulated what it means to be a man and a lover. It was wonderful to watch Gloria grow as a woman and into the role of wife. It was an awesome coming of age story line.

This was such a good book, I think I binged it in like half a day. Lemme note the TWs first, because they are very on page - decades long domestic violence (repeated physical violence, sexual assault) on page, characters wounded on the front lines of war on page, character losing part of his leg in the war, gun violence, stalking, general physical assault, strangulation, murder attempts.

Okay so the review - the book starts off pretty heavily, with the FMC trying to escape her abusive relationship and her then boyfriend attacking and strangling her. It was a shock to see it so suddenly on page, but I guess it set the tone for all the healing (physical, but mostly mental) she had to do over the course of the book. The MMC also has trauma of his own, he loses his leg in a war attack on page (around 25% into the book), and he struggles with accepting himself as worthy after it.
The main relationship was really, really sweet, and I loved how they both were patient with each other regarding healing from trauma. There's a lot of on page slow-burn before and after they start the relationship, and their emotional growth was handled really well.

There seems to be a moderately heavy overlap between this book and the previous one (although I haven't read that yet).

I really loved the epilogue and bonus epilogue!

--- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

I'm sorry, but I will be doing something I normally reject - I'm going to DNF this book at 25%. As a fan of Lucy Score and her beautifully written romance books, I was truly disturbed to read about Gloria, who has been abused by her partner for years. Neither her mother nor Aldo Moretta, the hero of this story, lifted a finger to stop this disgrace. I don't buy the justification that Aldo couldn't do anything because Gloria wasn't his to defend. Physical and mental abuse are serious situations that should be approached with sensitivity. The severity of harm Gloria endured was gut-wrenching, and even though Aldo is a soldier and a real hero who serves his country, he should also be capable of standing up to the abusive bastard who ruined the life of the woman he truly loved."

"The beginning of the story, and Aldo's preference for dating other girls instead of going after the woman he loved, made me angry as well. I'm sorry to say that I cannot continue to read a story with a hero I truly disrespect, so I am skipping this one.

As a big fan of Lucy Score, I'm looking forward to reading her future novels, but unfortunately, this one is not my cup of tea. Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for sharing this digital review copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This book is getting a new cover and Lucy Score has new readers, so here’s a new review. I got a copy from Netgalley because I hadn’t gotten around to reading the Benevolence series yet. This is the second book, and you should probably read the first one before reading this. While this can probably stand alone (there’s enough of the other story here to have it all make sense), Aldo and Gloria’s story runs parallel to Luke and Harper’s in Pretend You’re Mine.

The first book seemed too full of extra characters and world-building. It was long and there seemed to be too much going on. This one isn’t a lot shorter (is it shorter?), but it is more focused. That could be because a lot of the stage setting was done in the previous book. We got the basics of Aldo and Gloria’s story in the first installment, but this book fills it out. If you enjoyed Pretend You’re Mine, you’ll enjoy this one too. In some respects, it’s the same story told from another POV, in that you see Luke, and especially Harper, through the eyes of their friends.

It’s not just that, though. When I saw that this book would be about Aldo and Gloria, I wondered why they needed a book when their story was pretty much told in Pretend You’re Mine, but when I read it, I didn’t feel like I was just reading a retelling here. There is a lot of overlap and duplicated content. These four characters are pretty tightly twined together. But it was nice to focus on Aldo and Gloria. Harper butted in, but didn’t take over. I honestly enjoyed this book a lot more than the first one.

I liked Aldo a lot better than I did Luke in the last book, although it’s hard to believe that that guy could stand by and watch Gloria’s situation for a decade without trying to help. His character wasn’t written to stand back, so that’s a bit of a puzzle. In fact, shame on the whole town for that.

Gloria really seems to grow from the introduction we got in the previous book—she became a whole person, and I enjoyed reading her journey.

Trigger warnings in this book: domestic violence is a big part of the story—Gloria is a survivor, and has to learn to live with that. Her actual abuse is not heavily detailed, for the most part. Aldo survives combat injuries, but loses part of his leg, and has to learn to live with that too. There is some PTSD, as you might expect, for both characters. The book is probably less steamy than the first one—these two have a lot of baggage to unpack before getting down and dirty, but they eventually do, so it’s not a “clean” book.

Lucy Score can write happy, heart wrenching, funny, and steamy stories better than most, and this one has all of those things. I recommend it, but also recommend that you try the first book first.

Aldo and Gloria. What a beautiful story. This does read a bit heavy as it navigates some tough topics. But the way that Aldo and Gloria and the friends all deal with said tragedies is beautiful. Both of them had very difficult things in their lives that they needed to contend with yet found, and held on to, love. Very good read!

I liked it well enough. I like to see a sweet male protagonist who doesn’t really question his feelings for the FMC. I liked seeing Gloria take control of her life, even when Aldo was being a jerk, and Aldo be patient with her when she starts to freak out.

I always appreciate books that have a good girl friend group and this one does. Women friends are such an essential part of a woman’s life and it’s such a glaringly obvious omission when a book doesn’t have them.

But the idea that this (apparently small) town did nothing while this woman had the crap beat out of her for ten years is ridiculous. The MMC was in love with her for years but never once put a stop to it? Never once tried to step between them except the first time?

Battered women hardly ever leave on their own. They almost always need help and the idea that no one in this town seemed to want to lift a finger to help until Harper seems a bit of a reach.

Overall, I liked the book, but I didn’t LOVE the book like I have some of her others.

I loved Gloria and Aldo's story! They were both likeable, well-developed characters. The author does a beautiful job of tackling the difficult issues of domestic abuse and physical disability with sensitivity and respect. Gloria and Aldo's journey isn't easy, as they both deal with physical and emotional trauma, and it was wonderful to see them grow and overcome their challenges. The story was emotional and gut-wrenching, romantic and steamy, hopeful and inspiring. I highly recommend it.

Finally Mine by Lucy Score was a quick, heart-warming read that follows the girl next door who is abused by her ex Gloria and hometown military hero Aldo on their requited love journey. Filled with emotional ups and downs, you can't help but cheer them on through their personal growth overcoming their traumas and growth together. This was definitely more of a story about learning to heal from past traumas and trust feelings with splashes of humor and a dash of spice. This book did an excellent job promoting mental health awareness. Some may disagree, but thanks to the overall theme of fixing yourself not others, it promotes seeking help for yourself.

TW: domestic abuse and PTSD

A beautiful story about a military man who loses a leg and a woman who stayed too long in an abusive relationship. Can they put aside their baggage and finally let love lead them? This book runs in the same timeline as Pretend Your Mine so you'll get some repeat scenes if you've read it, otherwise this can be a stand alone and you won't miss anything. But either way you are going to love this book. It's got some angst, it's got some humor, it's got the feels, everything you want in a book for strong women (and men) to overcome what they thing damages them.

2.5 stars.
A romance between people who longed for each other in their youth but never acted on it and then life and dramatic things happened, “Finally Mine”, by Lucy Score (SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books), features a wounded hero who seems to have lost his stamina and a heroine rebuilding her life.
Arlo and Gloria’s romance was bittersweet when they reconnect and their HEA is delayed mostly because of his injury and the feelings of lack of worth he experiences.
I felt the wounded hero dimension was interesting, although predictable, with the isolation, feelings of hopelessness and general depression. The author explored it in an extensive way.
Aldo has a boyish charm when he’s not being the surly wounded warrior or the “sex god” (mental eye roll…).
As for Gloria, the depiction of domestic violence gave the story substance. I liked how the author showed her fears and insecurities. She’s a brave woman, too.
I’m afraid that not all victims of this crime benefit from the support she had.
I thought the book could be well shorter, a lot in the overly descriptive sex scenes, the small town atmosphere and the friends/family interaction didn’t really interest me – a personal preference - and only dragged the story unnecessarily.
There was a lot of talking about emotions and feelings, either within the romantic couple or involving their friends/relatives.

Loved this! Lucy has built a warm and accessible story that begins with Gloria leaving after ten years in an abusive relationship. The narrative shows how leaving is a process, not an event.
Aldo has his own demons and a catastrophic event while on deployment changes everything for him. But yes, luckily for the reader, there’s love and longing and steam and a HEA for these two. It’s not too long, and the dual POV keeps the reader in the loop. Absolutely recommend!

Thanks so very much to NetGalley for the ARC.

After reading, Pretend You’re Mine, I was excited to read more about Gloria. And while it was extremely dark at some points, her resilience and power shined through.

With the first book of the series being so fresh in my mind, it was a bit redundant to relive the same scenes through different eyes and I did find the book to be a bit longer than it needed to be.

However, I really enjoyed reading Gloria’s & Aldo’s story and this felt a bit closer to the Lucy Score books that I’ve really enjoyed!

Thank you for this ARC!

Sexy, heartbreaking, and just amazing! New author for me and was happily surprised with how much I liked this genre! Would recommend

This book is another great small town romance by the phenomenal Lucy Score. In Finally Mine, we return to Benevolence and immerse ourselves in Aldo’s and Gloria’s story. This book is incredibly written with well developed characters and the depth of emotion is just extraordinary. We revisit with our favorite Benevolence residents, all as we watch Gloria’s and Aldo’s second chance at love and life unfold. They both have a lot of personal fears, self doubt and difficult past experiences to overcome, will they be able to let go of the past and become each others future? This book has it all - captivating story line, romance, humor, love, the feels and enough steam to melt your Kindles! I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did:-)

This was a wild ride of a book. From the very beginning, we are introduced to Gloria who is strong and brave and fighting for her life and survival by leaving her abusive partner after ten years. Then we meet the lovely and heroic Aldo who finally feels he can pursue his life-long crush on Gloria without risking harm to anyone, only to suffer his own traumatic injury during his last deployment with the National Guard.
Both these characters go through so much healing, self reflection, friendship-making, love-blooming experiences in this book. I loved both Gloria and Aldo so, so much. Gloria, for one, was a damn hero from start to finish. For herself, her friends, her family, her love-- Gloria is a hero who never stops trying to heal and be happy and find the best ways to move forward in a happy and healthy life. Aldo, dear Aldo, has some pride and strength that can border toxic if he wasn't so concerned with checking himself, or allowing others to check him when needed. He tries so hard to be a good partner, friend, lover, and man, dedicating himself to healing and also learning to live a happy and healthy life.
I cannot relate in anyway to the lengths of trauma these characters experience, so I won't comment on the healing processes they go through nor the descriptions of their traumas. I will so though that I greatly appreciated the de-stigmatizing way mental health and the importance of therapy are discussed in this book. I will caution anyone with experiences in trauma to check trigger warnings if they feel they need a heads up before reading (or choose not to read, that's cool too).
Thank you for the ARC!!!

This is the first book I’ve read by Lucy Score and really liked it.
It’s a cheesy, easy romance that drew me in quickly that dealt with some tough topics.
I’ll certainly look out for more books from this author in future.

i think the reason i'm giving this a 'bad' review is this the worst formatting of a book I've ever received - not sure if that fault lies with netgalley or with the publisher. getting through this book was arduous.

in terms of the writing - it read like any another lucy score book. there were some jumps in the plot that made no sense. something would happen, and in the next sentence we were in another scene, not knowing how much time has passed? not sure if better formatting would have made this less of an issue.

Finally Mine is the second installment of the Benevolence series. It picks up with the story of Gloria, the abused girlfriend from the opening scene of the first novel. It follows her recovery, and it builds into her love story with her high school unrequited crush, Aldo. Gloria and Harper form an unbreakable friendship throughout the story. Like many Lucy Score books there is heat, action, and a bit of suspense to keep readers turning pages.