A review by loverofromance
Forever After All by Catharina Maura

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 Forever After All is a marriage of convenience standalone. I was really intrigued by this due to the setup of the story and this trope is my catnip. And even though I love this author, something that drive me bonkers is the way she handles the grovels. I am SO not a fan of how she drags it out and the heroines treat the hero's so awful in their grovel. It really rubs me the wrong way. So this story was solid for the most part. I enjoyed the angst, I enjoyed the whole hero is so emotionally constipated and the heroine trying to make her husband fall in love with her. So the first 2/3 of the story I really enjoyed. But then we get to the third act where the heroine breaks it off with the hero but when the hero tries to show how much he loves her, she spurns him completely and even has him dragged out by security and it just doesn't make sense. Throughout the whole book she wants him to love her, and when he finally is open with her and admits his feelings, she treats him like a criminal for it and his whole family acts like he is the enemy when there is obvious reasons why he doesn't open his heart easily. Basically, we just get to see the heroine emasculate the hero (which is not sexy) and it just wasn't super enjoyable when the rest of the book was so solid.