Review: A great conclusion to the series...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 25, 2014
I received an ARC from the author for an honest review. Oh, and this is a repeat of my Goodreads review, because my thoughts and feelings are the same.Since I finished Now and Again, I had been looking forward to another story in this series. Ben charmed me as much as he'd charmed Layla, and I loved that he turned her around and helped her grow. The thing was, it hadn't occurred to me that Ben didn't experience the same level of growth in Now and Again, not until I read Now and Forever. Here is where he finally understood what it meant to become fully invested in another person - sometimes, you have to adjust your perspective, even if you think there is nothing wrong with it.The same thing happened with Cole. That he hadn't changed much in Now and Then escaped my notice until I found him altering his attitude here. To be honest, I thought maybe he'd go the same route as Layla or he'd go work with his soon-to-be sister-in-law as a partner instead of returning to his firm, but no. Though I think working with Emma at the bakery made a difference in his intellectual approach to his job.So, while the Carson sisters had to learn to make some adjustments, this story was more about the guys and how they grew and proved that they deserved these two spunky sisters. Lots of twists and turns, plenty of hot, hot, hot sex and a lovely conclusion to both stories. I'm not sure that Brenda has further plans for this series, and if it's done, I say that's a satisfactory way to end it.Why the 4 stars instead of the 5 from the last two? I don't know quite what it was, but I felt a little bummed in the earliest pages of this one. I can't pinpoint the reason. It picked up considerably as the story progressed and I loved the end, which I think wrapped things up well. By the end, I felt those 5-star feels again and I nearly clicked the 5th star. But this is an honest review, and when I recall what I was thinking at the beginning, it was, "I don't love this as much as the last two." In fact, my favorite is probably Now and Again. But there was more Ben in that, and I do so love Ben. :) And maybe it was that Cole seemed to be basically the same, despite the fact that Emma, Layla and even Ben had all grown some (for the women, that was obvious at the end of the other stories, but for Ben, an early event makes it blatantly obvious that the guy has already grown). Cole had even regressed a little. I think, by the time I got to the end, I realized that he HAD to take a few steps back in order to push further ahead later, but it wasn't as fun going backwards with him. So, while it's more like 4.5 stars, I'm not rounding up so that it's clear this was my least favorite of this series. It still rocked. And I can't wait for what Brenda has coming down the line!