This was a mixed bag, for me.

On the one hand, this was NOT a good second chance romance. The best ones, imo, have:
▪️ on-page falling in love (usually dual timeline), and/or
▪️ some angsty grovel-y reckoning of why they were pulled apart in the first place.

But this had neither? Confusingly? No on-page falling—the romance plot both based itself very strongly on the off-page first chance (they’ve been in love and pining for each other for years) and completely disavowed that first chance (they hardly knew each each other back then). Like, did you know and love each other for years or not?

But also that weakass grovel/apology for the screwed-up first chance made me feel nothing. It was just (and I’m paraphrasing):
“I’m sorry…”
“We didn’t trust each other [back then].
*unspoken acceptance of the apology, I guess?*
“Willa—“
“We’ve spoken all there is to say, Dom. Take me to bed.”

??? Especially considering how we nonsensically backtracked this discussion in a following chapter, and then backtracked that backtrack, this apology sucked.

On the other hand, there was so much heart-squeezing earnestness to most of the dialogue that scenes, taken individually, still managed to pack a punch? Especially narrated by the incomparable Mary Jane Wells.

I also feel conflicted about the BDSM in here. On the one hand, I loved how switch-y these two were being, especially when books about couples who like to exchange D/s roles are so rare.

On the other hand, we Good Girled a hoyden, which… pretty sure it says “Don’t Do That” right on the tin. And the BDSM was about as sudden (and random) as it gets. The much-lauded cabin scene just felt majorly tacked on to me.

So… three stars?