Sara's Review: Secret Love (4Ever #2) by Isabella White
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PUBLISHER: Fire Quill Publishing
RELEASED: June 28, 2017
GENRE: contemporary romance
LENGTH: 662 pages
FORMAT: ebook, paperback
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Guarding a secret and playing with fire has never been a good combination. Four years ago, Holly Scallenger embarked on the most difficult journey of her life. As if being a single parent isn't already stressful enough, Holly also attended med-school, in hopes of helping other pregnant women in a way she wasn't helped. But things don't look so good as she has to embark on a new journey—a journey that would take her back to Boston, back to the man who broke her heart and discarded her and her babies. Sworn to never fall for him again, Holly is put to the test once more when a chance encounter reunites them.
FIVE BOUNDLESS STARS
Book one in this series Imperfect Love left me a reeling, sobbing devastated mess. So when I finally found that there was a part 2 to the story, I purchased it immediately. But I didn’t read it right away. I had to work up to nerve to deal with the raw emotions that I just knew White would evoke. Boy was I right!
In Secret Love Holly is getting ready to head off to intern in Boston. All of Holly’s feeling of abandonment, betrayal, grief, and loss are still very much prevalent but are now mixed with a feeling of protectiveness for her daughter. She feels that if Jake finds out, she kept her, he will be furious she didn’t abort her and then take Jamie away.
The story has both Holly and Jake’s POV, and it is very apparent from the start that the reason Holly ran may be some big misunderstanding. But instead of hashing it out like adults they dance around the issue, and their attraction builds, and once again they find themselves back to burning up the sheets. Here is the kicker! Jake is engaged! So now he is a cheating douche bag that is just having his cake and eating it too.
“Jake hadn’t wanted the babies when she was pregnant, and he hadn’t wanted her either. He still didn’t want her. All he wanted from Holly now was sex.”
I understood why Holly fell back into bed with Jake; she is a weak woman who is so desperately in love with a man that she will take any scraps he gives her, even if they leave her feeling broken, used, and disgusted with herself. It is unfortunate that all Holly has been through she hasn’t grown stronger.
It is hard for me to like Jake as a character because even though his feelings of Holly were conflicted, he had no qualms having an affair and felt no one shred of guilt. He would have kept up the affair for years. He is one of those men that would keep a mistress on the side for years and years on see nothing wrong with it. He disgusted me. He is the type of guy that give woman bad names for being the other woman. Why is the man never blamed?
When the whole story comes out it is a relief to finally, finally learn the truth, nope no spoilers here, but once again my heart broke for two characters that were ripped apart. I didn’t cry as hard as I did in book one but there were tears.
Even though I think Jake is a douche on such an epic level, I still loved the story. It is real, raw and so emotional. I am giving it 5 Huge Boundless Stars.