A review by agrippinaes
Sustained by Emma Chase

4.0

I just really enjoyed reading this. It’s been a long time since I’ve read anything by Emma Chase and there were flaws in this: parts of it felt dated, some of the humour, uses of language, and so on, didn’t really work for me at all, particularly the scene where
the hero, Jake, blames her for nearly being sexually assaulted. I also felt like some plot points were a bit forced, and Chelsea’s character felt underdeveloped compared to Jake.

All that aside, though, I had a lot of fun reading this, and I read it in pretty much one sitting. It was very readable, and I think did a good job combining humour with the more serious elements of the plotline. Emma Chase certainly packed a lot into this book - I don’t think there were any dull or slow moments, the story just tripped along and I barely noticed that I was getting through it.

Having Jake’s POV for the entire novel was a refreshing change, and it was interesting to see things from his perspective. The way he was with the kids was the real saving grace of his character: he was definitely annoying at times, self-interested and arrogant, but the way he was with the children was genuinely sweet. Seeing how his character softened over the course of the book was really nice, coming to a really satisfying conclusion.

As I said earlier, I definitely felt like Chelsea wasn’t as developed as well as she could have been - I liked her, but I didn’t think we really got a sense of who she was. Still, the romance in this was great - they had good sexual tension and the sex scenes were very hot and well-written. I really rooted for them as a couple, and for the little (or not so little, actually) family they were creating together.

Overall this book had good angst, some sweet moments, a lot of steam, and a satisfying ending, and whilst there were a few flaws and things I would change about it, I can’t pretend that I didn’t have a good time reading it.

Content Notes: Single mom.

Warnings:
SpoilerDeath of a sibling, death of a parent, Alzheimer’s disease, scenes of illness, vomiting, traffic collision, bullying, blood, attempted rape, sexual assault, violence, intimate partner violence, victim blaming, mentions of child abuse / child neglect / child death, gun violence (in past).


Other:
SpoilerOn-page sex, unprotected sex
SpoilerNo condoms, both MCs discuss recent STI tests, heroine is on birth control.
, OW scenes
SpoilerNovel opens with him in bed with OW; he goes on dates with multiple OW; he nearly sleeps with an OW and there’s kissing/touching on-page; he goes on date with OW whilst they’re separated.
, OM stuff
An OM heroine had a friends-with-benefits type relationship with shows up and the hero is jealous of him - he later tries to assault the heroine and the hero stops it. Later, heroine goes on date with OM whilst they’re separated.
.