5⭐️/ 3🌶️
Stevie Foster once believed that she would continue married to her husband, Hunter, and yet one day with getting divorce papers, her life changed. Two years later, still adjusting to her new home, job as a teacher, and not completing over Hunter, Stevie was still making the best out of her new life, but not entirely the best as she had hoped. Stevie thought maybe she’d be able to move on soon, but when she came face to face with her next door neighbor, it wasn’t just a face she recognized, but her ex husband’s former commanding officer, Colonel Fletcher Miller. A single dad, a divorced woman, and new circumstances meant Stevie and Fletcher were going to be around each other a lot, especially since Stevie ended up being Fletcher’s son’s teacher too. 

Stevie was the kind of woman who kept to herself, and while she hoped to move on, there were times she wasn’t fully ready for more. As much as Stevie tried moving past the memories of Hunter, sometimes she couldn’t help how certain things brought back memories. Although once she started to take little steps in moving on, Stevie started to reclaim a bit more of her independence. Another thing I liked about Stevie was her compassion and kindness especially working with her students such as, Nicki (Fletcher’s son Dominic). The way Stevie was from her calming yet gentle presence worked well for her as a teacher, and she definitely had a way of making students like Nicki feel comfortable at school. I also loved seeing the early interactions between Fletcher and Stevie. Something about the way that Fletcher and Stevie were around one another was intriguing and I could feel something brewing between that left me wanting more!

Early on, Fletcher seemed like a very stoic, quiet, yet strong presence that commanded the room whenever he walked in which I loved. With Fletcher being a single Dad, I loved seeing how he was with Nicki and you could tell not only just how much he loved his son, but also made sure that despite his struggles, he wanted Nicki to be treated just like any other kid. For some reason, I find myself loving the single dad trope, and while I’m not actively looking for a single dad to date, with fictional men like Fletcher Miller, I’d definitely want him for himself and be ready for duty Colonel Miller! Fletcher may have been a reserved man, but when he did interact with Stevie, he couldn’t help his protective instincts that kicked in or wanting to help her in small ways that actually spoke to a stronger level of the kind of man he was which was, kind and obviously dreamy.

I’m always up for reading about romance, but one of the things I also enjoyed about this book was seeing the way Stevie started to reclaim her independence throughout the book. Even though early on, Fletcher told Stevie that it’s ok to ask for help every now and then, I really admired the reasoning behind why it was so important for Stevie to do things on her own. When Stevie was married to Hunter, everything was taken care of for her, and now being divorced she wanted to embrace not only her independence, but also not having to rely on others to do things for her. Stevie’s growth over the course of the story showed her highs and lows, but through it she was able to learn from it, and see what she wanted in her future, and to to be firm in not letting others knock her down. 

The build up between Stevie and Fletcher had me gobbling up any morsel of details I could get! I would say that this definitely fell under a slow burn romance since most of the story saw the progression of Stevie and Fletcher going from neighbors and something more. I love a slow burn romance, and this was giving me all the little tease and butterflies in my stomach from the way Fletcher was with Stevie to Stevie realizing she liked Fletcher. Fletcher was so understanding, patient, and made it clear to Stevie exactly what he wanted with her (which I loved). Stevie was afraid of losing her independence, but with Fletcher, he made sure to let her dictate the pace of how far they can go or if she wanted to slow down. Fletcher was a man of action from doing little things by helping Stevie out around her house to giving her words of encouragement, Fletcher could do no wrong in my eyes, and I was fawning over that man! Stevie deserved someone who would support her and treat her as an equal and that’s exactly what Fletcher gave her. There wasn’t necessarily hard tension, but more of the small touches and meaningful words spoken between Fletcher and Stevie that had me excited even before they had YET TO KISS! Yeah that says a lot about how much I was loving the build up!

Overall, I really loved this story! The way that B Celeste wrote this story was enlightening and inspiring in the way she wrote Stevie and how Stevie reclaimed her life as her own. Stevie was such a sweetheart and had such a compassionate, loving soul that I truly admired. No matter what, Stevie was always kind to others, but also stood her ground against people like Hunter. Seeing Stevie embrace her new life and move forward was great for her own well being, and it also opened her up to finding love with Fletcher. Fletcher was truly an amazing man, although fictional, HE WAS AMAZING! I loved Fletcher and how he was so strong, caring, patient, and so understanding whether it was with assuring Stevie and working through her fears or even the way he was with Dominic (his son). The romance was a slow burn with all the tension building up between Stevie and Fletcher that ultimately created a firework affect once they finally got together! I was swooning over the sweetest things that Fletcher said to Stevie to down right burning up with the dirty talk and primal way Fletcher couldn’t keep his hands off Stevie! WOO TALK ABOUT HOT UP IN HERE! There were so many amazing qualities to this story that captured my heart and I couldn’t pick my book down! Dominic was such a sweet kid, and seeing him with Fletcher and Stevie was so heartwarming. The ending and epilogue were so touching and lovely, making it a happy ending for Stevie and Fletcher. (Sigh) another fantastic book written by B. Celeste, definitely recommend, and cannot wait to read more books by one of my favorite authors.