Cassidy was making a sandwich when she saw the men in the doorway and she knew she had made a mistake. But Cassady had learned from her sister Penny the power of self delusion and talked to Mr’ Emerson who she had just made the sandwich for. Then one of the gentlemen came up to Cassady and he said he represented William-Will- Connelly and he believed  she knew why they were there. The man introduced himself as Trevor and asked when he could expect Cassady’s call and handed her a card when his name and cell number on it. Cassady had sent an email to Will that her thirteen year old  niece Emily may ne his daughter it had taken Will awhile but all he did was send this cold lawyer. Cassady didn’t want Trevor looking at  Emily- her niece- with that cold stare. Cassady was all Emily had left in this world. Cassady had to tell Emily what had happened and the lawyer showing up. Cassady had used her own DNA for the cheek swab once she had talked to Emily but Trevor had taken a straw Emily had been chewing on. Emily was will’s daughter and he showed up at the diner very angry but then Cassady acted just as angry that he had sent a cold lawyer instead of showing up himself in the first place. Trevor had been Will’s good friend long before he had became his lawyer. Will thought maybe he had come across to harsh to Cassady. Cassady had left to pick Emily up at school before she found out through gossip that Will was her father and there in town. Trevor pointed out to Will that Cassady was more mother to Emily then aunt. Cassady admitted to Will the roof was leaking at her and Emily’s home and agreed to let him fix it so his daughter would be living in a dry home. But then the roofers found mold in the attic and it could take several weeks to clear it all out. Cassady agreed to stay with Emily at Will’s rental house until their house was cleared of the mold. Also the diners roof was leaking and the landlord had already told Cassady he wasn’t putting any more money in the building. The landlord wanted to find someone who would pay more rent for the building or raise the rent on Cassady and she just didn't have the money to pay more rent. Will had been seeing Victoria but it was more a convenience thing then true feelings . Victoria wasn’t one he could go to with his failures or worries. But Will knew he had to end it with Victoria and when he went to the city again about work that is what he did. That was the right thing to do but Will didn’t want to think about why that was the right thing to do.

I loved this book. I loved how Emily was so open to meeting her father and getting to know him but still loved her aunt deeply no matter how much Will could give her or provide her with. I loved how everything was about Emily with Cassady. I also loved how Will was so good with Emily after the big surprise of her existence and learning as he went along. This was a short enjoyable fun read. I loved the romance in the book also but that wasn’t all the book was about. I also loved how neither Will or Emily were willing to let Cassady go no matter they had to do. I loved everything about this book. I could find nothing to complain about and that was great. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I highly recommend it.

3.75 stars

The Billionaire’s Forever Family features one of my favorite romance tropes – care-giver of an orphaned relative struggles to raise the child, and then has to fend off a custody battle. Cassie Frost has been raising her niece Emily since she was born. Her sister, a free-spirit, and that’s being kind, because deep down she was selfish and cared more for herself than for her own daughter, thought Cassidy would bail her out of every stupid decision she made, has recently passed away from a sudden illness. Thinking that Emily needs a male role-model in her life, Cassie reaches out to Will Connelly, suspecting that he might be Emily’s father. What she doesn’t expect is a threat to her guardianship and having her whole life thrown in an uproar.

Cassidy is struggling to provide a quality life for her 13 year old niece Emily, but with overwhelming medical bills from her sister’s illness, house repairs, and keeping her diner running, she’s on her last legs. When Will strides into her life, angry at being locked out of Emily’s life, she’s fearful of attorney bills she can’t ever afford to pay. Will turns out to be not so unreasonable, however, and he promises to let Emily live where she wants, and to do what’s best for his daughter. He even pays off the medical bills without Cassidy’s knowledge, which infuriates her. She doesn’t want to be seen as the poor relation, and the wealth inequity between her and Will terrifies her. When Will convinces Emily to go to a private school in New York City, she is fearful of losing her niece forever.

While I enjoyed this very much, I quickly became irritated with Cassidy. She wants to keep her growing attraction with Will a secret, and she refuses to even consider that they might have a HEA waiting for them. She constantly blames him for his wealth, thinking that he will become embarrassed by her hick ways. She’s afraid of being rejected by his sophisticated friends. I just wanted to shake her and tell her to get over herself. She finally finds a decent guy, who cares for both her and her niece, and she just keeps finding ways to sabotage their relationship. It was like, come on, girl, have a little bit of faith in yourself and stop putting up barriers when they don’t need to be.

The ending was satisfying and resolved all of Cassidy’s fears and doubts in a believable way. I hope Will’s friend, Trevor, gets his own story, because I would love to learn more about him.

Grade: 3.75 stars

Love is not about possession, it's about protection. Love entails sacrifice. The ability to put someone's well being before your own. To risk your heart is never an easy thing to do. With The Billionaire's Forever Family, Ms. Cameron put into words, emotions that we often find hard to convey. One adorable teenage girl teaches two adults the meaning of love. It's not about broken promises and long kept secrets. It's about giving freely of one's self and building something special together.

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

After weeks of toiling, it’s always nice to unwind and curl up with a short and straightforward book. Much better if the said book doesn’t need a lot of mental gymnastics. Thankfully, Breakaway managed to be the perfect book to curl up with. It was a pleasant surprise considering that the book’s premise screams loudly of cliché. Well, it is. We’ve got a female heroine who’s struggling to make her mark in the world after realizing that she had spent a large part of her life being the shadow of her famous boyfriend. And a male protag who already had the world at his feet but due to an injury, he’s back to finding his new purpose in life. And you know what happens next.

There was the usual angst, the I’ve-got-issues-let’s-breakup scenario, the soul searching moments…yada, yada, yada…But hey, the wonderful execution compensated for all of that. Breakaway is also fast-paced and the drama was kept to a minimum.

There are, however, some things that I need to nitpick. For example, I would have loved to explore Cate’s world of Hockey because this book just gave us glimpses of what hockey is from her perspective. I suddenly missed Miranda Kenneally’s way of writing sporty books. Second, I was left hanging with the way Cameron handled Dawn’s relationship with her parents. That scene where Dawn and her mother had a confrontation in the kitchen felt so awkward… like it just came out from nowhere and the book ended without giving it some sort of closure. And lastly, Corrigan Falls seems a very lovely place, it’s sad that Cate’s writing wasn’t able to entice me, even in my imagination, to visit the place.

All in all, Breakaway’s a pretty good book and I’m looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

The 100 - 3 stars

True Born - 3 stars

Winging It - 4 stars

Murder Madness Such Sweet Sadness - 3 stars

Tage mit Leuchtkäfern - 5 stars

Endgame - 3 1/2 stars

 

Favorite book(s) of the month: Winging It, Tage mit Leuchtkäfern

 

Books started this month but haven't finished yet: Stopping the Noise in Your Head, Shopaholic, Das Jahr das zwei Sekunden brauchte, Crazy Dead

 

6 books this month. Not that bad. This month was really weird reading wise. I didn't feel like I didn't get anything done. Currently I feel a reading slump coming on, which is terrible when you have lots of ARC's on your tablet. UGH. But I will power through it.