GRR Reviews Loving Josie: A Torey Hope Novel by A.D. Ellis

Loving Josie featured no less than THREE sociopaths who made one woman's life miserable. If the author had given some explanations on how they got that way, I'd give this book 5/5.

Josie Decker was never loved. She was an unwanted accident in her parents' lives, and was brought up by nannies who are forbidden to show her any affection. She had no spirit for business, but her parents forbid her to pursue other interests. When she came of age, she was married off to someone who does not love her. When her husband took a hand to her, she escaped to Torey Hope, to seek an uncle she never knew... Kyle Martin looks like a bad boy with too many tattoos and piercings. He met his other half, Isabella, very young, and they planned their life together, having built up a life after 18, gotten married. But five years of attempts got nowhere. On the day they gave up, she died in a car accident... pregnant. Kyle was devastated, he handled the affairs, then uprooted himself and moved to Torey Hope, hoping for a fresh start. Kyle and Josie met, and became housemates, and they slowly fell for each other, neither was ready to love, for Josie's abuse ran deep and she had virtually zero self-esteem, was even told that she cannot get pregnant. Kyle was not ready to move on, not even when the ghost of Isabella appeared to prompt him to. But their passion cannot be denied. Then Josie's ex re-entered the picture...

I personally have problems with villains who are villains "just because" they can. This book has THREE of them... Both of Josie's parents, AND Josie's ex-husband. At least Josie's parents got their karma. But there's no explanation how ANY of the three got that way... utterly heartless. It is as if their entire purpose was to mess with the protagonists. If this made more sense, I really would rate this book 5/5.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot:  Woman unloved all her life escaped to a town to find an uncle and fell for the sensitive bad boy neighbor with his own wounds

Tropes: fling to a thing, evil parents, evil ex, scars, widower

Overall Rating:  4/5