Finally Mine: A Small Town Love Story (Benevolence Book 2) Kindle Edition

Lucy Score is one of my favorite authors; I will one click her everyday of the week! The first book I read of Lucy’s was Pretend Your Mine when it was first released in 2015. I was going through a particularly hard time in my personal life and those few hours helped me tremendously. Pretend Your Mine featuring Luke and Harper is one of the few books I have read more than once. To say I was super surprised and excited to read a follow-up is an understatement. I even stayed awake the night it released so I could download it at midnight. Over the years I created many scenarios in my head that weren’t in the book and one of them was Aldo and Gloria’s backstory and falling in love. THANK YOU LUCY SCORE!Finally Mine takes place during the same time period as Pretend Your Mine and gives the reader a different perspective as to what was going on when Harper and Luke weren’t together. This book is about Aldo, a hot, handsome, handy around the house, witty, and thoughtful army reservist who is also a talented engineer. He’s the whole package and he’s been in love with Gloria from afar since high school.Gloria’s character is written so beautifully that I had to keep a box of tissues nearby. As a victim of domestic abuse for nearly a decade, she finally found the courage to break free, and the journey of how she comes to terms with all that happened and all that she deserves is truly inspirational. Aldo is so patient and in no uncertain terms lets her know how special she truly is. He encourages her, supports her, and lifts her spirits every time they meet. Gloria is a beautiful kind soul, and it’s so heartbreaking to read all that she went through.They didn’t have much time to get to know one other because he is deployed for a six-month tour in Afghanistan, and he tells her he wants her to use this time to heal. He is so selfless and a great friend which is so important in any relationship. I don’t want to spoil what happens to him, but in his eyes it redefines who he is as a man. He, too, needs to learn to love himself and feel worthy and Gloria is just the one to love him through it. I love both of their transformations and how with the love of their moms, friends, and townspeople, they forgive, accept each other flaws and all, and commit to a future together. They are survivors and the end of this book is everything I hoped it would be and more. (Thank you Lucy for the bonus scene–I love seeing into the future!)Some of my favorites scenes are of Aldo and his Italian mom. I cracked up because I have relatives that talk just like that and hold nothing back! I also loved all the scenes between Aldo and Harper and enjoyed all of his nicknames for her. Harper is so cool and such a great friend to them both. Lucy did an amazing job bringing in the characters from Benevolence into this story. Loved them in the park, in the bar, the police station, in his office, in the florist, going to the diner, and all of the places that make a small town love story make me smile until my cheeks hurt.Lucy told this story so beautifully and obviously did a lot of background work when she talked about the abuse, being in therapy, life on active duty, and when members of our military are injured. It was so very real to me that there were times I had to remind myself it was fiction.I did read Finally Mine to the very last page of the Author’s Notes and saw that there is a future story featuring Lincoln Reed in the works! Yay! Lucy, I am also hoping Luke’s younger brother, James, and the good Doc get a future book (they need love, too). I liked her since she first patched up Harper in Pretend Your Mine!

I loved this secret crush, small town, healing romance with a side of big secrets. It is a heartwarming and spicy story as seen through the eyes of two intense, strong and passionate characters. I was feeling some big feels with this one - wounded characters always draw me in. I just wanna reach into the story and hug them to help them heal. After being physically abused for a decade, Gloria finally decides to leave her abuser. Now that he’s in jail for attempted murder and assault on her new friend (Harper from Pretend You’re Mine), she has to figure out how to be the new Gloria. Aldo is a structural engineer in small town Benevolence and in the national guard. He’s had a crush on Gloria since HS. He is about to leave on a six month deployment and before leaving asks Gloria for a date when he gets back. Life changes their trajectory when a terrible injury brings Aldo back early and Gloria might need to be the hero for both of them. I have such a soft spot for the people who are a bit uncomfortable in their skin because they don’t feel like they fit in or are worthy, like Gloria and the Aldo post-injury. So I love when they finally see their truth and they get swoon worthy HEAs. To get to there, they’ll both having to work on healing, baggage unpacking and life course correction. This heartwarming story was well written and included witty dialogue, three dimensional characters, and an engaging storyline. Note, this story parallels a large part of book one in the series so at times it felt like I had already read the book.

Another captivating book laced with romance and a hit of suspense. Twists and turns that make up a good and wonderful life. Thank you Lucy for characters to love and books to fall into when I need a break from real life.

Overall I liked this book. However, I only gave 3 stars for a couple reasons. 1: there was a lot of repeat (exact same scenes) from the first book. Which I know they had to do that in order to tell the story but it just seemed like most of this book was retelling things we already knew from the first book. I wish we had gotten to see more of Gloria and Aldo. The ended right after they convinced Harper to stay in town. I wish they had made it just a bit longer so we could’ve seen some of Gloria & Aldo that we didn’t already know happens. 2: I didn’t care for the breakup right before the end of the book. I know they got back together and I get that she would have a hard time after what she went through. However, it shouldn’t have taken just luke saying something for her to be scared away from Aldo. He’d already proven that she could trust him & that he’d love her even with her baggage. Otherwise the book was sweet, swoon worthy, and had a little bit of spice thrown in.

Eek love how this story blends with book one. It has its own couple who break my heart and then put it back together.Our wounded hero has so much to deal with and our heroine defines survivor domestic violence in a real way. OMG more of the Benevolence clan surround them adding a brilliance and need to read faster so I could get all the details of this amazing storyline.Okay I am outta here and off to read book three in the series. Happy Reading Everyone.