I feel like my three star review is definitely the minority of the reviews here. It seem most people are rating this one higher. I think it’s one of those cases where it’s best to consider the fact that much of my review is based on my personal likes and dislikes, and, while there are some criticisms of the actual book, definitely take into account personal tastes.

This is the second book in the Love Hurts series. We met Sara and Travis in book one (thank you for that. I am a HUGE fan of already knowing both characters before we get to that interconnected, second book) Sara is Nick's sister, and Travis is one of Nick's best friends. Sara is a single mom to the very cute, very funny Kyle. I love all of the interactions between Kyle and the adults in this books. Writing kids in a book can be tricky. Kyle was a realistic eight year old.

I did feel this book was a bit too similar to the first in the fact that, in the first, Paige and Nick end up getting to know each other so well because Nick breaks his arm. In this book, it's Travis who severely springs his ankle. While Sara doesn't play nurse to him quite in the same way, she starts off their friendship by going and checking on him, and running some of his errands for him (Kyle's idea, because he is putting off doing homework, and has a bit of a hero worship thing for Travis)

Sara has had bad luck with men in her past (we really only hear about Kyle's dad a bit). Travis is shy, and doesn't know how to talk to women. But, because Sara is Nick's sister, and therefore not someone Travis sees as available, even though it's clear he is attracted to her, he has no trouble talking to her. Sara finds out about Travis' issues and decides to help him by going on a few "fake" dates with him.

I found this book to move even slower than the first, which was really slow. And, I don't really understand books that have profanity, talk a little about sex, use innuendo, but then have completely fade to black sex scenes. Like, um, no, all of that build up and then we get "the sex was great"? I just find it odd. The flow was weird.

We also had the part of the story with Sara trying to forgive her father, and include him in Kyle's life. We learned in the first book that Sara and Nick's dad has dementia, and is in a nursing home. Nick has been taking care of everything, because Sara has been unable to forgive her dad for the years of abuse she suffered at his hands. I guess the author is trying to teach forgiveness, but Sara was beaten by her dad for nothing more than reminding him of her mom (who Sara looks like) and we are supposed to root for her to just forgive him and be in his life? No. I think she could have forgiven him, but been like, he doesn't need to see me or my child for me to have that forgiveness. Forgiving and forgetting do not have to go together. It's also shown that their dad still has some bad days, so why subject a child to that?

I did like that Paige's Nana is still around causing trouble. I missed Nick, who is by far the best character thus far in this series. (Sara comes in a close second)

There's one book left in the series. While I haven't loved the series thus far, I have it on my Kindle already, so I probably will read it, but I doubt I blow through it. I think it will be one of those that I read a few pages at a time (thus eventually finishing the series) while I am also reading something that I'm actually enjoying much more.