Sandy M’s review of A Heart Restrained (Scarred Hearts, Book 3) by Jennifer Wilck
Contemporary Romance published by The Wild Rose Press 27 Mar 23
This is my first book by Jennifer Wilck. I like the premise of the story and I enjoyed Caleb and Fiona as they get to know one another throughout the book, starting as adversaries and slowly making their way toward a happy and satisfying relationship. Unfortunately, it’s Caleb who has problems getting to the same place Fiona is.
And, for me, it takes way too long to get there, Caleb’s back and forth wanting to let his emotions go to locking them up tighter than ever before when he, first, just doesn’t want Fiona in his life because he’d have to go through too many changes, and, second, when he tries to protect her wears any small amount of forward momentum we get. Either way, he runs, and that got pretty tiresome after so long.
When he does let go, Fiona is in heaven with this handsome, tatted man who pushes her buttons in the bedroom as well as outside of it. She’s a happy, colorful, peaceful individual, and wants the man of her dreams to treat her like those romance heroines she reads about. Too bad Caleb is the man of her dreams who just can’t go that far in a relationship.
He’s been protecting his mother and sister for years, and now wanting Fiona only makes him realize he can’t take on protecting someone else and keep them in his life. So he tries to let Fiona go. She eventually has had enough from him, as I did, so groveling is in his future. And I have to say he does a pretty good job of that.
But then the ending is much too rushed. After spending all that time and all those emotions with Caleb, I wanted much more to happen than Fiona does. Heck, even an epilogue would have worked, but a chapter or two would have been better. So that’s what keeps my grade in the average range. All in all, this book is not a lot different than a lot of other romances out there.
Grade: C
Summary:
Caleb Zeno, a wealthy and successful media mogul, refuses to allow emotions into any aspect of his life, especially his entertainment corporation. When his company’s lifestyle website runs into competition from a small boutique company, the most logical solution is to buy out his rival.
Fiona Hamilton’s lifestyle website succeeds due to her loving and caring treatment of her clients, who have become like family to her. She has no desire to sell to anyone, much less a tattooed, muscled, automaton.
At odds professionally, Caleb and Fiona come together as a favor for Caleb’s sister. Sparks fly and sexual chemistry abounds. But Caleb can’t let go of his abusive past and be the man Fiona needs, and she is unwilling to risk independence and financial security for anything less than a perfect happily ever after. Can they put their differences aside to find a viral kind of love?
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
