Cross My Heart by Avery MaxwellMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
More Than It’s Tag-Line
I’d probably give this book 4.5 ⭐️ if I could.
Lanie has had a pretty bad run of luck throughout her life, with the exception of her best friend Julia and her amazing parents. Lanie’s own mother was abusive and neglectful and hated her so much she wouldn’t let her be taken in by Julia’s parents who Lanie called Mimi and PawPaw. Lanie has spent the last 18 months holed up with Julia and her infant son, recovering from a vicious and life-threatening attack by one of her social work clients. Over the last year, she doesn’t seem to have improved mentally and both she and Julia decide that it might be time to get away for a while, so she decides to move away to North Carolina for a year to hopefully reset herself.
Dex has three children, Tate the oldest boy and twin infant daughters. Dex’s wife left him and their kids before his twins were born and she handed them over after their birth and signed over parental rights to all the kids. A successful businessman, Dex has no family to help and after losing three nannies since his ex left him, he is desperate for help. Lanie arrives for an interview with Dex and like a modern-day Mary Poppins whirls into action, taming the out of hand household in a few moments. Lanie and Dex both need her to take the job, despite their very instant attraction to each other, so they get the contracts drawn up and Lanie agrees to stay 12 months.
I downloaded this book expecting the usual grumpy boss/attractive younger nanny trope and got something much different. I got a book that was filled with damaged people (and children) who were surrounded by people who loved them. This book was all about healing hearts and the way Dex courted Lanie was really beautiful. He went all out to prove his feelings towards her and he worked tremendously hard to win her trust.
The relationship between Tate and Lanie was beautiful. In helping Tate deal with his issues with his mother, Lanie was able to tackle some of her feelings towards her own mother. Watching their relationship as it gradually evolves over the course of several months was so sweet it made my heart hurt.
One of the things I liked most about this book was the slow progress on the relationships. Though Dex was drawn to Lanie very early on, he spent some time working out what he wanted before he went all-in on trying to win her love. Then he spent months proving how he felt.
All the way through this book their friends were supportive, funny and meddlesome. All of the supporting characters were larger than life and entertaining to read about. I believe these friends will get their own books and after reading all about them through this book, I can’t wait to get to those books. All the characters are interesting and most have a depth to them. Some of the characters have less developed personalities and histories, but I think they will be rounded out in future books.
This was a moving and sweet story, with a bit of passion and humour thrown in. It was entertaining and well written. This is the first time I’ve read this author, but it won’t be the last.
Borrow Free From Kindle Unlimited
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.
No comments:
Post a Comment