Review: Fell in "Really Like" with Daniel
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 4, 2014
*****SLIGHTLY SPOILER-ISH*****Where to start? I liked this book... a lot more than I thought I would.It had the potential to be very cringe-worthy because of the Hero's relationship with both the heroine and her mother but amazingly I was able to deal with it. You might just say I didn't let the cringe get to me because I was rooting for Daniel (Hero) and Stella's (heroine) happily ever after, so much. Cougars of the co-op be damned!So, yea... Daniel is an art instructor who gets paid on the side for providing "private services" to the lonely, married cougars in town... and he doesn't seem to have a problem doing it. That is the initial ick factor of the book. The ick is upped considerably when Daniel begins to fall for Stella, the daughter of one of Daniel's "clients".Like I mentioned before, I was able to get past this issue easier than I thought I would. A big reason why is because Daniel doesn't sleep with Stella's mom after their first meeting, even with the constant propositions she throws his way. (Daniel sees Stella on a daily basis because her mom hired him to give her actual art lessons, in hopes that it would be a sort of art therapy for her.)Stella suffers from agoraphobia and has awful panic attacks. She left college and has been staying at her parents' home for a couple months. They basically give her an ultimatum- go back to college or be cut off. They are totally unsupportive of what she wants to do and really are such selfish people.After some time together, Daniel and Stella both start looking forward to their daily lessons. They grow closer and things sort of take off from there. (Desperately trying not to spoil things here!)Stella isn't the only one suffering though. Daniel grows to dislike what he's been doing- having sex for money. He doesn't like these women only wanting him for his body. Stella shows him that there's much more to him and that she's interested in him for reasons other than that. She genuinely cares about him, his family issues (and they're pretty heavy) and his art. (I kinda felt like his family problems got the shaft a little but hey... there were a lot of pressing problems between them already.)Anyways, I fell in "really like" with Daniel. I really liked how sweet and encouraging he was with Stella.  Her problems were his problems too.  They worked great together; although it was a bit of an accelerate, brakes on, accelerate, brakes on type of relationship for a while.But never fear. Daniel and Stella eventually accelerated straight to the finish line for their HEA. And it was pretty hot. (I only wish they did it sooner!)*Added Bonus- We get more Caleb and Romy!