Book Description
The more pristine the veneer, the darker the family secrets. Jamie Yates has been living that truth for eight long years, and wants nothing to do with the parents whose DNA he carries.
Damaged and disgusted, he moved halfway around the world to start a new life in Melbourne, Australia, and he stayed away until his brother asks him to come back to be the best man at his wedding.
What seems like an innocuous ask is anything but. The past rears its ugly head, and things are worse than Jamie could’ve ever imagined.
To complicate matters even more, he meets Aurora, a woman he didn’t dare to dream was real. She’s everything he wants in a life mate, but his rage at what happened still tortures him, and he knows he should keep his distance so she’ll be safe. From him.
If he’s even a fraction of the man he wants to be, he needs to return to Australia before he hurts her in a way he’ll never be able to mend, even though leaving her will rip his heart to shreds.
My Review
Jamie comes home for his brothers wedding. He's happy to see his brother but not all that happy to see his parents. He meets Aurora at the party functions before the wedding reception and they hit it off really well. She ends up spending the night with him because, why not? They're both catching feelings really fast but he's going back home to Australia after the wedding so there's no future for them, or is there?
Jamie starts thinking about staying and not going back to Australia but the fact that he would be so close to his parents makes his blood boil. It took forever to find out why he and his parents don't get a long. When I read the description, it said, "She's everything he wants in a life mate." I saw the words "life mate" and thought this was some kind of paranormal romance. That maybe he was a shifter or vampire because that's how they refer to their spouses in those kinds of books.
I was waiting for the big reveal to see what kind of paranormal Jamie was but he ended up not being a paranormal at all, he just referred to her as his life mate as in my human mate for life. So while I was a little let down with that aspect, the twists in this story just kept coming. This was more a family secrets revealed type of story and the romance between Aurora and Jamie. Because of the description I thought Jamie would beast out and become some sort of monster and that's why he didn't want to be with her or didn't think that he could be with her but the truth was he was just afraid he was going to be like his parents and that's what he meant by having the same DNA as them but not wanting to be like them.
Turns out he's very human and he was just afraid that he was going to turn out to be as flawed as they are and boy, let me tell you they are the worst type of people. So I'm not surprised that he was worried he might become like them. Everybody in his family including his brother Griff seems to have some sort of personality problem and is it any wonder with parents like he has?
This ended up being nothing like the book that I thought it was going to be, but it ended up being really good. The family secrets that just kept coming we're big and a couple of times I was mad at some of these family members for the things that they were doing and secrets that they were keeping, knowing full well that in the long run it was going to turn out bad. So while it wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, and ended up being really good. And the romance between Jamie and Aurora was hot, spicy and all consuming.
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.
Disclosure: I was given an E-ARC of this book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
