Wilder Family Book 3 read in 2025
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199204742-promise-me-this
Ian and Harlow have been best friends since childhood he has always looked out for her until they both moved long distance he moved to London for a job and she moved to New York to be more serious about her writing career during that time they lost touch... like for a long time 10 + years no reaching out at all of course as life happens many things change including Harlow becoming a mom to a outspoken 10 year old daughter who is a mini version of herself deciding that she wants to give her daughter an opportunity to be closer to her family and grow up with her cousins she moves them back home to the small town she grew up in and they are now living with her parents (who are judgmental of her life choices including feeling that her career choice is lacking).
Harlow has had many successes during her writing career but she is currently struggling with an idea... any idea this isn't good and it doesn't help that she is now living with her negative nelly parents who think she would be better off as a waitress or working at the local mill shop. In comes Poppy (Ian's meddling younger sister) saying that she will give Harlow a ride home from the coffee shop she instead brings her over and drops her off at Ian's house... he is newly back in town too and has this big mostly empty house it's just him and he doesn't even have decorations or much in the way of furniture, he is working on building his furniture don't rush the man!
Ian is working for his family's construction company and seeing Harlow for the first time in years brings back old feelings and some new unexpected feelings he still wants to take care of this woman she has still always had a piece of his heart that no time or distance could erase. Knowing from their past experience how Harlow can't thrive in her parents home and it certainly doesn't give creative energy needed to produce a book he makes the suggestion that she should move in with him her and her daughter they can be room mates she can stay as long as she wants to until she gets on her feet and finds a new place, Harlow thinks it over and ends up moving in with Ian.
In the past they always were just "friends" nothing more no matter what Ian's brother's or any of their friends at school had to say about it... but living close together and being around each other leads to some minor cracks in this friendship mainly being that they are finding it harder and harder to hold back their new feelings that lean less towards friendly and more towards steamy.
I really love the Wilder family the author does a great job of creating a loving family that you as the reader would love to be a part of they are supportive/caring/loving but also have no problems calling you out for BS if you need it... they were often too meddling but I didn't really mind that part.
I enjoyed that Ian was becoming the father figure in the daughters life during the story and being there when she really needed someone to have her back on several occasions he was stepping up when he didn't have to and that shows a lot about his character even if he was a grumpy/brooder a lot of the time to most people.
I don't mind a slow burn... sometimes or maybe I enjoy somewhere between a slow burn and a fast burn... but this was like a small fire was started and trying to melt a glacier our MMC spent a lot of the book finding reasons to stay at work and away from his growing feelings towards the FMC there was a lot of inner monologue and it was kind of boring in the middle there really wasn't all that much going on just day to day life with no romance at all between the couple, the author throws in a potential side man with her daughters handsome football coach but I was at one point starting to wonder if anything was ever going to happen or if it was just a story about being in the friend zone.
Once things started heating up everything happened really quick it was they kissed then took a bit to talk about this kiss some spice happened (this was all in the last 15% so if you are interested in this book you will be waiting awhile for anything to happen).
While I feel it was the right ending for our couple since everyone around them knew that they had feelings for each other before they did, I did feel that it was kind of weird that after not even talking to each other for over 15 years Ian immediately offers up his home to Harlow a lot has changed in that time and he didn't even ask for rent... can I move in one of the guest bedrooms? I haven't talked to him in over 15 years either.
I did enjoy the book well enough to finish it it had some sweet moments and I enjoyed the family dynamics some things were just a bit odd for me story line wise. The characters are likeable I just like my romance story to start earlier in the book as opposed to everything feeling bunched up and rushed in the last pages.
have you read this book? Have you read this series? which book was your favorite in the series so far?
*childhood best friends --> More *Super slow burn *Some spice *single mom *forced proximity
*small town romance *grumpy MMC *author FMC *leads are in their 30s *angst
*no communication x 0ver 15 years *FMC has mom issues (her own mom) *Happy Ending
No comments:
Post a Comment