Third Knightly brother, Reid Knightly, the smart mouth, always joking around with his younger brother, Brig, and had dreams of opening up his own restaurant. Reid had a lot of things on his mind, but one thing he wasn’t looking for was love, and yet it seemed like he couldn’t get enough of his best friend’s twin sister, Eve. Eve was also a fellow Port Snow resident, and had known Reid all her life since her twin brother, Eric was best friends with Reid. Same humorous vibe, great banter, the lovely small town of Port Snow, the Knightly clan appearing of course, and romance, this was another story I was happy to dive into. 

Two Knightly brothers down, two more to go and in this story it was centered on the third Knightly brother, Reid Knightly. In the previous books, we got to see Reid but not much was told other than his restaurant business had failed upon finding out his business manager took all his money from the business and ran. Reid, living back in Port Snow had a chip on his shoulder as he had envisioned his life differently, and wasn’t entirely happy with the things panned out. Three years later, which is when the story takes place, we see Reid working to make ends meet and hoping to one day make his restaurant a possibility again… or at least make something of himself. Meanwhile, Eve, was still living and working in Port Snow, and similarly had hoped to make her future great. Eve was determined to use her business degree to help the businesses in Port Snow, and that way she’d be able to make a name for herself as well as take her life in the direction she had always dreamed of. I found both Eve and Reid to be relatable in that, they both had hoped to make their dreams possible, but also imagined their lives to be more significant like they once imagined. In that regard, I felt a similar way to what Reid and Eve experienced feeling in this book. While Reid and Eve’s circumstances were different, I still felt a kinship to them in that they spoke to a level of understanding I immensely recognized while reading. 

In the previous books, there was a little glimpse into the kind of dynamic that Eve & Reid had which was sassy, funny, and Reid going back and forth pushing Eve’s buttons and straight up hitting on her. With the way Reid was with Eve, he was super attracted to her, but as it turned out had been secretly crushing on her since they were kids?! omg! Enter another trope, it’s always been you! I thought it was sweet how despite on the outside Reid acted all flirty and casual win Eve, internally to himself he always thought about Eve and tried figuring on ways to tell her how he felt about her. Again, Reid was a flirt with Eve, but I loved seeing how Eve would tease Reid back and would sass him right back. Eve wasn’t a meek girl by any means, she was the type of woman to stand in charge and was confident in herself. Safe to say that Reid was head over heels with Eve despite his insistence in the beginning that he wasn’t interested in finding love.

I was initially expecting for Eve and Reid to get together later on in the story, but it seemed like they couldn’t wait anymore and took their chance at the first opportunity. Once Eve and Reid got together, it was like finally taking the next step in their relationship from friends to lovers, things definitely changed between them in terms of relationship status. Eve and Reid still had their fun, hilarious banter while Reid still managed to squeeze in multiple innuendos at all times haha. With the new beginning of their relationship, it seemed like not only were Eve and Reid truly happy, but my goodness those two could not keep their hands to themselves! Side note, it had always been an on going joke in the previous books that Reid was the most shall we say… well endowed among the Knightly’s as well as voracious/ had an appetite for all things…intimate especially when it came to Eve. Whenever Reid spotted Eve, he was always trying to find ways to get her alone to do as Reid called it, “naughty things”. No question that Eve and Reid had a sexy, fun filled, all steam ahead sexually relationship that was all kinds of hot and included dirty talking curtesy of Reid! OMG! 

For all his humor and lighthearted personality, Reid definitely had his moments of vulnerability he revealed to Eve. While it was nice seeing Eve and Reid finally get together, it was also good to see Reid start opening up a bit about himself… albeit it was brief and he usually resorted to joking right afterwards. Reid’s biggest hurdle in this story was finding his way back to his original aspirations of opening up his restaurant, but also learning to be more open and honest. Reid had a tendency to using his humor and sarcasm as a defensive mechanism to ward off talking about his feelings or acknowledging some of his own issues. Eve knew Reid, and how he worked, and despite wanting to help him to work out his feelings, she also felt like if she kept pushing, it would result in losing Reid entirely. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Reid’s fun personality, but I also felt like he didn’t need to resort to innuendos/ jokes when Eve was trying to have a serious conversation with him. That being said, it was something that Reid had to work on throughout the story to better himself and come to terms with his feelings on everything. 

Reid and Eve’s story had its share of ups and downs, and it was by no means easy for them. Reid and Eve had to learn how to navigate their relationship, as well as the issues that kept coming up between them. Reid learned that he needed to forgive himself for his past mistakes, and truly fight for Eve as she deserved. Eve, for all her heads she spent taking care of her parents and sacrificed her dream was finally given the chance to make them a reality which was great. At times, I felt like the constant back and forth of Reid being hot and cold with Eve was a bit much, especially with Eve then feeling unsure of whether she should give Reid another chance, but ultimately it made sense considering what prompted their momentarily “break”. With some amazing tropes of, brother’s best friend, small town, hilarious dialogue, it’s always been you, and a bit of groveling with Meghan Quinn’s twist on it, I yet again fell in love with the characters. I had my fair share of laughs while reading, and loved the idea of Reid and Eve having secret crushes on each other since they were kids. The whole story was great, and with the epilogue, I’m finally ready to read Brig’s story and see even more of my favorite Knightly’s and their lady loves.