Asylum is raising his stepdaughter and providing security and shelter for others when his wife in name only disappears. But he barely has time to process that when he hears that his first love is in trouble. He runs to the rescue, just in time to save Dauterive's life. The love is still there, but with her fresh out of a bad marriage and his wife in the wind, can they really make it work again?

Okay, so I think this author shine brightest when she writes a straight up love story, with the relationship twists and turns we love. This was a wonderful story. I love to see first loves get a second chance and it was refreshing to see both Doe and Sy take accountability and own their dormant feelings for one another. The way they moved into family mode was lovely and Asylum's honesty with True was admirable. I love the way he took care of her, fought for her, stood in front of her. He battled the monsters gladly, for Doe and True and it made him sexier. Dauterive's fight and courage set a great undertone for the book; she was able to support Asylum the way he did her, and that balanced their relationship. Supporting cast was great. I loved it.

This was a cute, relaxing second chance romance with minimal to moderate drama, likable main characters, and of course a satisfying ending. The premise is that over a decade after breaking up, ex-cop Asylum is called in to protect newly-divorced Dauterive whose ex-husband has decided if he can’t have her no one will and has become a threat to her. Instantly, old flames are rekindled as the couple find their way back to each other.

I liked almost everything about this- the emotions portrayed around loss, abandonment, forgiveness, and the maturity of the conversations Dauterive and Asylum had felt very on point and realistic. The plot moved along at a good pace and I never felt bored with the pace or like things were rushed. I can’t quite put my finger on what felt a bit off with this… I think it could be that sometimes, it felt like a series of really good scenes missing linkages… like there was a lot of “2 weeks later”, “a month later”- type timing cues that made it feel a little choppy. And that also made it seem hard to believe that the entire story happens in 4 months. I think the other challenge I had with this was partially my fault for not doing my research. Even though this is a standalone, and the start of a new series, there were lots of character names dropped that clearly demonstrated that this was an established world and indeed Asylum’s and Dauterive’s friends have books of their own already. I sometimes found it a little difficult to keep up with the friends and could tell that there was background I was missing with the way the friends were spoken about.

Overall, I found this a good enough read and would certainly read more in the series.