My brother Dallas had given me a bunch of advice on how to deal with the worst parent of the year, but somehow that had never covered what to do if you accidentally paid them for a lap dance.
This was such a sweet story. I loved being back in Goose Run. I’m a sucker for a single-dad romance, and John Wilder was such a great dad to little Gracie. The poor guy was working so hard to provide for his daughter and hold everything together now that he had full custody of Gracie. He had the full support of his housemates, his chosen family, but it was still hard. So it was no surprise that Avery, Gracie’s kindergarten teacher, got the wrong impression of Wilder the first few times they met. But once he saw how hard Wilder worked and what a good heart he had, there was no stopping the crush that developed. The only thing standing in the way was the fact that he was pretty sure Wilder was straight. Right?
With Avery, I could let go completely and relax. I hadn’t felt this safe in a long, long time.
Was it asking too much to hope it’d last forever?
I liked Wilder’s sexual awakening; it made sense, given the way he grew up, that he would have never considered the fact that he might be attracted to men, too. I tend to be a fan of “teach me” moments in these types of stories, and I thought it was done very well here. Avery was a great teacher (in both contexts), and he was so patient with Wilder and happy to go at whatever pace Wilder was comfortable with. Seeing these two go from a casual sex only arrangement to more was really sweet. There was only a minor, frustrating moment of miscommunication, but it didn’t last long at all. And I was glad the other bit of angst was also short-lived.
I’m also a big fan of the found family in this series, and it was on full display throughout this book, too. The way Danny, Chase, and Cash came together to help Wilder with Gracie when he needed them was great, and Wilder was always there for them, too. And I loved seeing Avery become a part of that family the same way they welcomed Danny’s boyfriend, Miller, from the first book. The relationship between Wilder and Gracie’s mom was also really wonderful. The two of them made the best of a difficult situation, and I loved that they were a united front when it came to raising Gracie, even while Cassidy couldn’t be there in person. Gracie is one lucky little girl to have all those people looking out for her!
Maybe I wasn’t everything I was supposed to be, everything everyone had expected, but I was doing my best, and I was doing right by Gracie and the family I’d chosen for myself, and that wasn’t nothing. To the right people, that was everything.
The Book Boyfriend Addict 