I am not sure how to rate this book. While the writing style is very good, the story itself was problematic for me on many levels. I think this book is actually a revision or rewrite of a book that was published a dozen or so years ago, though I'm not entirely sure what parts have been revised.

While clearly an effort was made to update the content to reflect the technology and events of the early 2020s, the book doesn't read as if it truly is new. Instead, it feels like someone took an old copy and did some spit and shine, but missed a few parts. A mention of using a pay phone at JFK airport stands out, for example.

But the plot is most problematic of all. Our hero, Jack, apparently grew up in homeless shelters, and that is where he supposedly met the affluent Caroline. However, we don't really see them meeting or know the extent to which they knew each other. He mentions her reading to him and then we see him virtually stalking her at home, but did they ever have a true connection? A conversation, even? While it's easy to see how Jack became obsessed with Caroline, we don't learn anything that suggests that Caroline thought about him at all.

And then we come to present day, Jack shows up in the middle of a blizzard at Caroline's bookstore, claiming to need a place to stay. Side note: I don't really understand when or why Caroline opened a bookstore when she had a severely disabled, younger brother to care for and no money to do it with. I guess it's just more genteel than working as an administrative assistant somewhere? Anyway, she decides to take a total stranger back to her house and then promptly falls into bed with him. Their entire relationship is sex and soft looks from Jack so we know he's got more to him than just being hard all the time (ALL THE TIME). I eventually started skimming all the intimate scenes. It's not that they weren't well written or that I'm prudish about very descriptive sexual scenes. It's just that I'm not particularly interested when there isn't enough character development to support such a connection.

The most interesting parts were actually when we were following the bad guy in his journey towards the final conflict. True, he's melodramatically bad, but that's something I can deal with. But what was problematic was that his connection to Jack and to Jack's adopted father was a little bit vague. It's eventually explained, but it's still not fully clear to me how it all fit together. Just that he was a bad guy.

So where does that leave us? I think the book has a lot of potential, but I just had a hard time connecting with anyone simply because I didn't know enough about them or bought into the story that they were destined to be together. I needed more in the background to know why the two heroes had a connection, and I needed more in present day to show that they had something in common besides just a sexual attraction for each other.

To that end, I think I've settled on 2 stars. I don't feel fully happy with this rating, but I can't give it higher because it just didn't feel like a complete story with a believable end.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher and Netgalley. I'm writing this review voluntarily, and it reflects my honest opinion. Thanks!

This cover intrigued me! I also liked the story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. There was passion and spice and good pacing.

I enjoyed this, but it was a reprint from a title I'd previously read. I love LMR and read EVERYTHING I can find by her. It was just as good the second time around, but I was looking for a new title...