Boozy Bookgasms - No He Didn't!

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

Broken by Sadie Kincaid Once again this amazing author takes us on a journey of love, heartbreak and some real spice.  Join the cousins for a quick recap, some great moments and an oddly long discussion on the Purple Pie Man.  Signature Cocktail: F*ck Me Before You Go Ingredients: 2 oz Whiskey (bourbon or rye) 1 oz fresh pineapple juice 2/4 oz fresh lemon juice Pour all ingredients into a tumbler over ice and stir. Garnish with a fresh pineapple wedge and a slice of jalapeno. This one is a bold and beautiful treat with at punch in the end, reminding us of that heartbreaking moment Nate and Melanie share when he serves her the divorce papers. 

He did good. All right. And you may remember his name with Nathan. Maybe. It was a long time ago. But you remember other things about Nathan. I don't remember every tick on the bedpost, Lindsay. Book of literature fans.

We're in for some boozy bookgasms today. Join three cousins creating a titillating headspace where steamy romance novels collide with strong cocktail. So sit back, sip slow, and enjoy the ride. Hello and welcome back to boozy book gusms. I'm Jen. I'm Lynn. I'm Kim.

Today we are talking about Broken by Sadie Kincaid, Queen Sadie Kincaid. But before we try to fix this billionaire, what are we drinking tonight? We are going to have the classic, Fuck Me Before You Go. It's brought to us with whiskey, pitiful juice, as well as some limited. juice over ice. It's beautiful. It's strong. It leaves you with regrets. Enjoy. Enjoy, ladies. Enjoy. I mean, how can we not at this point? I mean, we're already a little tipsy, why I don't just like add the whiskey to it. So this series is, it's part of the Manhattan Ruthless series, which follows five very hot brothers. Of course, they're all.

Hot. And this book is the first in the series following Nathan James. And these are interconnected standalones. Very similar to the Chicago Ruthless series with Dante, which we covered in season one. And Sadie definitely knows how to write a Hot as Hell MMC. Have you guys ever read her bio when she talks about how she writes? Yeah. I don't think I did. Okay, so this is what she says. She loves to write a feisty heroine and a morally gray swoonworthy alpha with a filthy mouth who would burn the world down for the ladies they love. I'm here for that. So our swoonworthy MMC is Nathan James. He is a billionaire, which you know, that's like my thing.

That's your favorite. That's your favorite genre. Still looking. His mom was Spanish, so he speaks Spanish when he's angry or when he's horny, which I think is. It's like, me now. So hot. Every time he called our leading lady Corazon, it like melted my butter. We open on New Year's Eve, and it's a very sad night. The five James brothers are drinking Scotch with their dad, multi-billionaire Dalton James, and mourning the loss of their mother. And their dad looks at all three boys and says, I have one piece of advice for all you boys, never fall in love.

This impacts all of them at that moment. We're getting five books in this series, and I'm assuming it'll follow the Five Brothers, but I have to say we've been doing so many Zaddy romances lately that I wouldn't mind seeing like Daddy Dalton in one of Sadie's books. I'm just saying Sadie, you know, we'll phone in the request. Give him a shot. But this particular book revolves around a marriage of convenience trope. I freaking love a marriage of convenience trope. And Nathan's dad negotiates an arranged marriage with this horrific man named Bryce Edison.

And so a little bit of backstory. The Edison dad was murdered about 10 years ago, and the oldest son, Bryce, took over the family business and basically ran it into the ground. And Melanie is the middle child, and she's a veterinary nurse. So we do get some cute dog moment, which is in total Sadie fashion. She loves her dogs.

Melanie blames herself for her dad's murder and her brother uses this to manipulate her. Eventually in the story, we kind of find out the murder was really Bryce's fault, which makes him just, you know, extra douchy. Yeah, he was very duchy, but she felt guilty because he made her feel guilty. Yeah, he definitely manipulated her, like, the whole life. Oh, yeah.

Like, I just see him as like this evil villain with a top hat just kind of rubbing his hands together the whole time. He's an evil villain. Yes. The whole time I'm like, he's like this horrible cartoonish character. Yeah, he's like the purple pieman. Yeah, exactly. Oh, my God, you're in my head right now. That's exactly who I was envisioning.

The skinny legs and the, you know, the whole time. He's pretty awful. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. But he's like a cartoon. Like, he is, you know. It's so cheesy. You can kind of vision that evil villain, twirling his mustache, you know. The mom is like the horrible woman in like Cinderella with the clothed hair and the like

She eats her and like with the cat sitting on her lap. Like she was awful too. Of course, Bryce was her prized child. So there's Bryce and there's two sisters. And Melanie's our female main character, but then there's also a sister, Ashley. Melanie and Ashley are very close. Ashley goes to Harvard. Melanie wants to make sure she gets through.

But the family fortune is kind of teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. And she's worried that Ashley's not going to get to finish school. So this is a big stress throughout the story. Nathan's dad makes a deal with Bryce because Nathan's dad used to know Bryce's dad and Bryce's dad was a good guy. What's in it for Nathan's dad is guaranteed grandchildren and if you'll remember, he doesn't believe in love anymore. So he's arranging a marriage between Melanie and his son. So what's in it for Bryce is that the James family name is being tied to them and guaranteeing investors in the family company. Bryce will be playing the part of the evil Viz. Ellen, as we mentioned. The good part about this is that Melanie and Nathan are both extremely attractive and are attracted to each other. So this is not always the case in an arranged marriage. Yeah. Can you imagine if she was a dog? I mean, it happens all the time. The dad conversation with Nathan where he convinces Nathan to like go into marriage of convenience is like probably my worst

part of this book. I really did like this book. But him basically saying you're never going to fall in love and you need grandchildren. You're the only son I have of the five who I think can do this. And like they're all close. So it was a very odd thing I thought for the dad to basically say, you're my last hope, and he has four other sons who he really likes. And there's no, there's no animosity on the James side. But they all have some sort of. They have their own issues. Yeah. He doesn't think he's getting grandkids unless this guy. He's like, I need you to basically bring on my legacy, right? Yeah. Absolutely. But she also went to school with some of the brothers. Like they remember her from high school. So they've been orbiting each other. Oh yeah. They're in the same social. circles. And they remember how hot she is, the brothers. Yeah. Oh, yeah, she was hot. This doesn't not make sense. I mean, it really does seem like a good match. And so they do agree to the marriage. I mean, Nathan is actually really cute and romantic about courting her and their banter is really adorable. But I think, like, Nathan agreed to it for his dad for somewhat of his own reasons. Melanie agreed to it to make sure that her sister could go, keep going to school. She's really

forced in some ways into this. And so that plays into sort of their romance, the story throughout, is that she's in the vibe. Yeah, Nate's doing it for convenience. He doesn't want a day anymore. He's over the scene. He just wants to produce grandkids, get the dad off his back and do his own thing. Yeah. She's in it because she is out of options. Her brother's gotten rid of all the money. She has no access to the money. And she's really concerned about her sister. And she's made a career for her. off as a man. She doesn't use it. As a veterinary nurse, I mean, she doesn't need this. She, if it was just her, she would never have done it. Yeah. About the money. She's not materialistic. And Nathan knows that going into it. This isn't what she's after. And I think that's part of the

reason he agrees to it. She doesn't even read the prenupt. She's like, she doesn't care. I don't care. I don't want your money. And I'm not going into this marriage with it doomed to fail. She's like, if I'm doing this, I'm doing this and we're going to be married. And that's all there is to it, which is not how her brother is seeing it. Right. And Nathan, too, I mean, I was actually considering a marriage convenience. They're both very committed to making a marriage work. Mm-hmm.

Which I would have thought, okay, let's get married. We can each have our own flings or, I don't know. I was expecting more of that from Nathan. And Nathan was like, no, no, if I'm going to marry you, you will be my wife. We will be in a marriage. Well, and he's attracted. I mean, he courts her. Yeah.

Before the marriage happens, he takes her on dates. he starts doing very thoughtful things. Some of it's for the media. Some of it's for the media. Yeah. A little. But like there are times where he does things and the media is not there. And she's like, where's the media? And I will say like a lot of times with these Marriage of Convenience books, there's a lot of, oh, is this really real? And there wasn't too much of that in this book. There was a little bit which made sense. But I didn't think she overdid the whole does he really like me thing, like which I appreciate it. It was so obvious they really liked each other. Yeah. But I think it was because they were so open and talked the whole time, which I thought was cool. They really did. How she wrote it. Their thing, like right away, date one, she calls him Ice Man because she's done some research on him. And that's like his nickname.

And so the best part of that is we get some really cheesy lines, which I wanted to share with you guys. So there's a part in the book where he says, she calls me ice, but all I feel is fire in my veins when I'm with her. Ooh. I imagined him saying it differently than you just said it, but sure, when I read it, it was better. It was better than when you just said it. That wasn't better. All right.

I'll work on it. I also listened to it on Audible and it was better. Hold on. I think I'll do better this stuff. Okay, okay, go. If I ever did actually have ice in my veins, that smile would melt it faster than ice cream in the sun. Buh? No.

Nope. Nope, it's not a better. Yeah, all right. But there's a whole top gun sort of undercurrent here. It is cute. It's Melanie and her cousin. She lives with her cousin, their roommates. They call each other Mav and Goose.

And now he's Iceman. There's that top gun connection. They start to have things in common, which obviously helps their romance. She's charming. She's so cute. Sadie knows how to write a female man character that you really can connect with and enjoy. And relate to. You can relate to her characters.

Lynn, you always say this, I want to be in the room. I want to be that person. It's because we can relate to them on some level. She's a great writer. And you're rooting for her. Yeah. Always. Yeah, you are.

So the buildup and the sexual tension is excellent. But I'd say it went on probably two chapters too long for me. Oh, not me. There was a lot of times when they were just about to have sex and his phone to ring and it would be like, oh, I got to go to work. I felt like that happened too, too many times. We've seen books that do the angst better, but I was okay because I felt like their relationship needed time to blossom. Like going from a marriage of convenience straight into we're loving the sex and we love each other. Like I felt like they needed a bit of that push pulled. He doesn't want to be here. He just wants to be at work. Like they needed a bit of that conflict to make me believe. leave the rest of it. I agree. They were growing the relationship and it had to be like, it had to be like a marriage. You're in the middle of a conversation. Your husband gets a call and has to go to work. And she had to feel that. And you're pissed about it. And you're pissed.

You're like, she did get to do this. And it got ruined again because you're working too much. Is this how it's going to be? You know, what's their dynamic? They're trying to figure out how's this going to work. And am I not your priority? If I'm not your priority, I need to understand this. Like I just want to know. Right? Yeah. And for him, he's like, shit, I haven't had a living girlfriend ever. I forgot.

I have to call you and tell you what I'm doing. So they're learning, like, how each other reacts and, like, what their relationship is going to be like. Definitely. I did think their first scene was interesting, but it was still part of the lead up in the ink. They have this moment in the kitchen. I don't know if you guys remember, but he wants to go down on her and she's, like, really embarrassed. She's showered that morning, but it's been a long day. And then she's due for a way.

and she's really insecure about it. And he tells her that her see you next Tuesday is so beautiful that he wants to put a picture of it on his desk in his office. But then someone would see it and they can't do that because it's all of his. I thought that was so sweet. I was in for it. I've never had a man say that to me. But let's be real. What's real?

We've all been there where we're like, nah, I'm not going to shave today. And that's the day. That's the day. That's the day they want to get all up in there. And you're like, what the fuck? I know. But this is also so typical of these books where the first time the girl's like, no, no, no. And the guy's like, I can't wait.

You taste so good, dirty and sticky. And of course, Nathan is so good at going down on his new wife. And she has such an amazing orgasm. She literally splashes. Splashes. Squirt. No, it said splash. On to the kitchen island, onto Nathan's clothes, and onto the floor. Clearly, she's been hydrating. It landed a slab. It squirted out and landed everywhere. But it sounded like a tidal wave based on. Well, I mean, it happens.

You know about that. It does happen. This is a lot. Do some research. This has happened. I have read that it can be up to a pint. Like a waterfall. Yeah. That is what I have read. But you have to be hydrated. Like drink your, you know, electrolytes, ladies. Well, she's, of course, like mortified and he's, like, feeling like a stud.

But I will say once the spice got going, it was incredible. Sadie, listen, I, you know. She knows how to write a book. Can we go back to the splash? Because one of my favorite lines. that I remember about this was him saying, don't ever apologize for any part of you being on me. And I was like, sign me up. No, I love it. I loved that too. Because she stained his suit, which was probably really expensive with her splash.

He didn't seem to mind. He's also a billionaire, so who cares? So there is also a really heartwarming found family trope, which I thought was really endearing part of the book. And again, Sadie does pull you in with some, it's not all sex. You're kind of growing to love these characters. I thought this was really cute. Like the first time she meets the brothers, they're having this argument about mashed potatoes and what they're going to serve for Thanksgiving. She walks in, they're just meeting her, and the brothers are all fighting over whether

they're going to do lumpy with the skin on or smooth with butter. So, I mean, what do you guys think? Which one should we do? If you're going to. I'm trying to. I'm Irish. True Irish style. Skin on.

You got to do lumpy. Skin on. They're Spanish though. Yeah. But it's the mom's recipe. Right. Which we find out. So the Nathan is all about the lumpy because it's his mom's recipe.

The brother's like the smooth. And she does the test. So she has to turn around. She can't face them. And she has to pick. And she picks the smooth. And Nathan's all upset with her. And the dad comes in and says, I don't give a fuck what you guys are doing.

We're doing the lumpy. That's your mom's recipe. That was great due to the moment. Yeah, it's cute. Also, like, in addition to speaking Spanish and being really good at everything in the bedroom, Nathan was also an incredible cook. Yeah. Like, he would make these meals for her, and it was just so hot. Yeah, he was hot.

So the main conflict in this plot revolves around a honey trap. And had you guys ever heard of that before? Yes. Oh, okay. I was, this is a weird to the honey. Also just apparently swerting and a honey trap. Splashing. It's been a whole day for you.

I mean, Zad we introduced you to Zaddy. Like, serious. Hey. Hey. I need a dictionary. I was there for that. So Bryce put a clause in the pre-up that if Nathan cheats on Melanie, he has to pay $50 million to the family. Solid.

And the problem is that Nathan isn't a cheater. And he's also crazy about Melanie. So Bryce ends up having a bartender drug Nathan and take some scandalized photos that were staged. Part of this is like Melanie knew what Bryce was planning. And Melanie said to him all along, this is not going to work. You are wasting your time. Do not do this. And then he said, whatever, you don't know what you're talking about.

Talks down to her, right? They are starting to really kind of fall in love. And she goes back to Bryce and says, not only will it not work, I really, really don't want you to even try. like please promise me you're not going to do this. He promises her. He's not going to do it. She also says to him, if we need help with money, all we have to do is ask. He's going to do it.

I don't want my marriage to fail. I'm in this. And he promises. Yeah, they make fun of her. Oh, you think you're in love. And she's, you know, she doesn't know if he loves her. But she never tells Nathan that she knows all of this is happening. Because she trusts her brother and she's in it.

And she doesn't want to kind of cause weight. Well, she's embarrassed. Like, what a douchebag of a family member. Much like the Purple Pie Man, he cannot be trusted. And Cinderella's stepmother are sitting in the arms here. They're cats. Not helpful. They're cats.

Don't like it. That's Cruella. But anyway. Corrella had dogs. So she had the Siamese cats. No. I don't remember. Who am I thinking of?

I will. Siamese, if you please. That's a totally different. Oh, you're right. Corolla had the Dalmatians. 1001 of them. Never a lot. Was that Corolla with the Dalmatian?

Yes. Remember the black and white hair? Like a Dalmatian? I'm going to find a picture of Cinderella Stub Mother Freedom. She has one cat and it's a horrible cat. It's a horrible cat. Oh, is it hairless? No.

It's mean. It tries to eat Gus Gus. Yes. Oh my God. I'm just going to send you a picture. It's fine. Let's keep going. All right.

It's fine. Okay. Can't believe. No, you're Disney. I had boys. He talked about them. We did Pixar. Okay. So.

I quit. Okay. Keep going. When Nathan tells Melanie what happened, he's expecting her to be horrified. But she admits she knew that her brother had this dumb idea. But she didn't think he was going to go through with it. But Nathan still feels betrayed. And this is the reason for our third act to breakup.

This is actually like, heartbreaking because he ends up in the bed with the woman. He's panicking. He is not a cheater. He feels awful. He feels awful that he's a cheater. He goes home. He talks to his brother.

He's like going to work it out. He's like, I have to tell my, she's got to forgive me. And she's like, oh, my fucking brother. And she says, like as soon as he says this happened, she goes, it's Bryce. And she doesn't even try to pretend like she didn't, she knows what happened. And I actually hate that he, Nathan, reacted this way because she didn't do it. I just felt like it was a extreme reaction considering she very immediately said this was my dickhead brother. I agree.

Yes. But I also feel like I get where he's coming from. She knew about it. She didn't warn him. And she just kind of accepted it. Like, oh, it was Bryce. Okay. I'm so sorry that happened.

I didn't understand why she didn't warn him. She was worried he'd be mad. Well, Anne, I think she was afraid. I think she was embarrassed. And like Bryce was threatening her, threatening cut off Ashley, threatening her. Like, she was scared of him and how he would, the brother would react too. Because she was still mixed up in the whole family thing, trying to be a good daughter because she felt so guilty about the dad's death, right? Because Bryce was really giving her shit about that.

You killed, you killed him. You killed him. And no one's going to love you. And so I think she also was still kind of unsure about Nathan. Like they were still a marriage of convenience. They hadn't said he love each other yet. They'd only been together three months. She doesn't want to be a gold digger.

Bryce should be taking care of Ashley, and he said he would. I think she was just put in a really awful position. I get where Nathan coming from. Why didn't you tell me you knew you could have warned me? But I also get where she's coming from. Granted, he almost got sexually assaulted, which isn't great. Well, I was going to say he was also like he thought he was violated. So he thought he was violated.

I would have been mad too. Sorry. He really punished her. I struggled with this one On whose side to be on? But that's a beautiful writing of Sadie Because like you feel for both of them You can see both sides

And you're like I get why he was mad And I get why she was Now the reason they get back together Is because he comes over to deliver divorce papers And basically hate fucks her And gets her pregnant I was so sad She's sad

You guys almost cried I'm the crier For the first half of the book Like, I know what's going to happen. This is pretty standard. Like, okay. You were kind of like, all right. And he drags out even giving her divorce papers.

He, because he's fallen in love with her. He's not quite ready to let her go. His dad and his brothers are like, listen, should her get off the pot? So he comes over on what, like, New Year's Eve. He comes up. He kisses her. They have hot, passionate, passionate sex. It was cruel.

And he drops her and says, I want a divorce and walks away. Fuck you. I would never have taken him back. Fuck you. It was awful. Heartbreaking. I was not expecting that. She realizes a few weeks later that she's pregnant. She goes to his office. She tells him, listen, I don't want to die out of you. She signs the divorce papers, which gave her nothing. Here you go. I just want you to know this child exists. Fine. If you want to be a part of their life, you're welcome to do so. If not, I am happy to do this by myself. Fuck you very much. I'm a to leave now. And he insults her. Are you sure it's mine? He's being a dick on purpose. He's hurt and he's trying to hurt her. Yeah. And it works. She walks out of there. So she decides, I'm going to do this on my own. I'm ready to do it. And he starts stalking her. We'll talk about this later, but we get some cameos in the book from some Sadie Kincaid, like previous book characters. And one of them is a hacker. And she figures out where Melanie's doctor's appointments are. And he shows up because she won't answer his calls.

She won't answer his text. And she's going to this first appointment without him. She's a little nervous. So she's a high risk pregnancy. And so she's getting some early ultrasound. He wants to be there for that. And he shows up and starts basically stalking her. Through this process, that whole protective vibe comes back.

He's still calling her his wife. Like, I actually love that. Well, he hadn't signed him yet. They were like in the safe. Yeah. This was so funny. He shows up to her job at the veterinary clinic. And the receptionists are like, your dick had husbands here. I love that. Yeah. And they're staring at him. And they're all glaring at him. And he's standing there with like a bag of lunch. And he's just mortified. But he does it anyway. Because he wants to see her. And it's worth it to him. So they through this process start falling in love again. Kind of like she's still keeping him in arms length, I think. They're treading water is what they're doing. I mean, he's making sure she's taking her vitamins and doing everything for her.

Gives her the ginger cookies. He's starting to go, I can get over that. But he investigated what really happened to him, which I love because you were talking about the cameos. I love that they brought in Lorenzo. I was like, and there's the mafia. Yes. Just Sadie Kincaid style. He's the lawyer.

He's the mafia lawyer. Yeah. But I was like, who's Dante? You know, before all they come in. Well, he's trying to figure out what happened to me. At their hotel. He goes the Merenzo. It was Lorenzo's Hotel in Chicago, and that was the Chicago Ruthless series.

And we covered Dante in season one. Lorenzo is Dante's brother. And he shows up, and they interrogate this bartender and get her to admit what she did to Nathan. And then Nathan's a little nervous about what Lorenzo's going to do. do this woman. He's the mafia guy, right? He basically is like, what's your plans with her? Because now he's feeling kind of guilty. I brought you in and now, you know, this person wronged me and I'm kind of scared of what you're going to do. And he's like, I'll just make sure she can never work in this town again. And he was like, wow, he really went easy. Great. Well, I think he says something like family life is

mellowing you out, right? Like, like, getting back to like the love store, Lorenzo's love story. Lorenzo's evened out because of his family life. But I liked that. And it's a It's not just because he wrong Nathan. Like, this girl's been running traps in their hotel and casino. The whole time. Yeah. For a year. Oh, that's true.

He's been blackmailing her. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. Even though our boy, Napen, is pissed off as at Melanie, the brother, Bryce, comes to, like, smack her around. She's lost the family this $50 million because she told Nathan that it was a scam. And he comes to confront her and hits her. They have a history of abuse.

I mean, ever since the dad done. when she was 13, he has been very abusive and the mother turns a blind eye to it. And so she's grown up with this abusive brother. You might as well be an abusive parent because the mother turned a blind eye to it and she's scared of him. It was awful. But Nathan's brother happened to be there to deliver a piece of mail to her and the brother sees it, stops it. But he does tell Nathan. So Nathan never talks to her but goes to Bryce's office, stads a letter opener through.

his hand and says, if you ever touch her again, I will fucking kill you. And I'm like, you aren't even with this woman anymore. I'm still. They weren't even speaking. They weren't even speaking. And I'm like, still is why. Still is why because they are still technically married. So it's really sad because she ends up losing the baby. And she says at that moment, she thinks she's broken. And he is there for her. Oh, the ways he is there for her in these moments, he moves her into his apartment. But he wasn't there for her when it happened. And that's why I saw at this part in the book.

And I don't cry in books. And I was just like, oh, she's by herself. It just broke my heart. And then the way he came back and felt because he wasn't there for her when it happened was just, oh, it was so sad. Yeah. The losing the baby scene is really hard-breaking. It was written. with a lot of hearts and emotion, and you just did, you did hurt for both of them.

Before this all happened, she had sold her wedding ring to pay for her sister's college tuition because the minute she lost the $50 million, Bryce cut the sister off, which he knew what upset Melanie. So Nathan finds out that she sold the wedding ring because the jeweler called him. And he buys a truck. It's a huge ring. He only gave her like a third of what it was. his worth, which was 162,000 is what she got. And he bought it back. He goes and buys it back immediately. He isn't sure what he's going to do with it, but he doesn't want it to end up in

anyone else's hands. Well, they end up healing. They end up falling back in love. And he says to her, Mel, will you be my wife again? And she says, I never stopped. Not for a single second. No. You guys, this was just like a heart wrencher. So he kicks the sleazy brother out of family company and they hire a female CEO to fix the company, which I'm like, let the women do the work. I love everything about this girl power. And then they put the mom on a fixed allowance, which I think she got more than she deserved in that situation. And he tells Melanie, I promise you forever and a day, Corazon. And they end up having a son a year later. And another one was on the way as the book closed. And it ended in a sweet, heartworm. And it ended in a sweet,

heartwarming moment. We got our H-E-A. So I was going to talk about the cameos that we had. So we had Lorenzo came in and Jesse Ryan. So Lorenzo was from the Chicago Ruthless series. And then we had Jesse Ryan was our hacker. And she was from the Ryan Ruthless series. And I read that series, which is like five books. I have not read it, but I want to now because I'm like, oh, she's married to four brothers. I want to know how that works. Yeah. And she's a ginger. She's like a fiery redhead.

It is so good. I'm not kidding. I read it in one weekend. Like I read the first one on a Friday. I was done by Monday. Like it was that good. Wow. She's good.

I did after the book go through, you know, at the end of the books where it says, here are all of her books. I was like clocking them because she really is like such a good writer and they're fast to read. It was an emotional book. He, I felt like held on a little too long to something that wasn't really her fault. But he got there in. But it did take losing a baby, you know, for him to. I felt like he had his head up his ass.

I think he was just stuck in his own head. That's the only bad part. I think that Sadie writes these alpha guys so well. One thing that I've loved about this character was and most of her characters, right? Like, they are always protective. It doesn't matter if they're pissed off at you or whether. Possessive control for you. Yeah.

He handled the mom and the brother at the end where he said, stay out of her life. Oh, I'm so good. You want to see your grandchild. Don't. If for any reason you want to come over and do this, you're not going to. Or I will make sure you disappear kind of thing. And I just felt like that was so endearing and he's so protective, alpha male, gorgeous. All right.

So ratings. Kim, do you want to start with this one? Oh, I guess I could. Let's see. I gave it a five star, as I typically do. Sadie, because I wanted to be in most scenes, not all scenes, but those scenes. I laughed, I cried, I was all over the, I was pissed at some of the characters. I felt connected to the cameo characters too.

I'm like, ooh, yep, there you are. You know, I just sort of wave at them when they come into the book. And in typical Sadie style, I got my mafia, I got dogs. Puppies, they were puppies. I got babies. I got the whole thing. So yeah, five stars for me, for sure. Len? I'm four and a half, so it was close, so close to a five. And I did love it. Some of the little quirks about sort of the relationship, him taking so long to forgive her. The fuck you and go was just like I just did not like maybe mad at it. It was, but it's an alpha being an alpha. No, I want him to be not a jackass though. I mean, that's like hurtful. I don't like it. I don't like it.

If he had just done it differently, it would have been a five. But that really made me insane. Other than that, four and a half I wanted to be in every scene, except for the one where he fucked her and left. This is five for me too. I read this six months ago. I put this on RTBR right away because I loved it so much and I wanted you guys to read it too. And then I read it again and loved it again. This is all my tropes.

Found family, like big billionaire. Possess of alpha. Yeah. Yeah. Check, check, check. Yeah. It was there. And then the spice, I'm going to say four, because I didn't like how long they took to get to. The angst was a little bit too long. Too much. Two hairs too long. It was just like, okay. Really, your phone's ringing again. Like, this is the third time. You almost had sex. And now your phones are going it again. So like that part, I would have liked it to be pushed along a little. And that's, not every Sadie book. Like sometimes you're in chapter three and it's happening. But for this one,

I thought it was a little delayed. Lynn? Fair enough. I would give this a five on sex. I, it did take a long time to get there, but once they got there, it was so hot. He was so obsessed with her. I loved all the scenes. It didn't feel like just sex for sex sake. It felt like sex to promote their relationship and to like make their strong, like make their relationship deeper and more connected. And it felt real to me the way she wrote it. It didn't feel contrived. And I wanted to be in all of them. Get me and Nathan. I hit it with a four because although they were super spicy scenes, like some of the cheesy lines for me took me out of the scene. Yeah, so four for me on spice. It was good. Awesome, because marriage of convenience is one of my favorite trips. And I've read a very

similar book that I wanted to recommend called Mint for Love by Natasha Madison. So also a billionaire. They accidentally get married in Vegas. And I literally read this entire book in one day. How do you accidentally get drunk? Well, you're drunk. Yeah, you're drunk in Vegas. You get married. You wake up. You're like, oops. Yeah. So that one was really fun. I want to recommend. And if you like this one, I think you'd like that one. And another really popular book called Played Along by Liz Tom Ford is about a professional baseball player. And it's like a fake dating marriage trope that is really, really fun to read. So I read all of these in about around the same time and just kind of fell in love with this trope because

of it. So recommend all of them. I haven't read either of those. I put them on the TBR. All right. Very good. I've had meant for love on our TBR for a while now. So I mean. Look, if you get bored this summer, you're going to pick it up and you're not going to put it down. It's very, very good. Fair enough. Let it. All right. But you can't go wrong with Sadie.

And once again, thank you. This is always really fun to talk about her and her books. I appreciate you guys recapping and reviewing this one with me. If you have not already, please find us on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok. And send us any of your book recommendations. You can email me at Jen at boozy bookgasms.com or email is right from our page. DM us from any of our socials. And until next time, happy reading.

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