Source: KindleUnlimited.
Forever Never by Lucy Score
You don’t fall for your brother’s high school sweetheart, your boss’s daughter, or your ex-wife’s best friend. Especially when they’re all the same woman.
Under Brick Callan’s mile-wide chest beats a loyal heart with a few cracks in it. He’s the steadfast, overprotective type. Especially when it comes to the one woman he can never have. It’s a long, complicated history punctuated by fights, friendship, family, and an attraction that strains his iron willpower.
When Remi Ford returns to Mackinac Island in the dead of winter with a secret, Brick makes it his mission to find out what put the shadows in those green eyes. Even if it means breaking down the walls he’s built between them. Even if it means falling for the one girl he’ll never get over.
The free-spirited artist just needs to lay low for a few weeks so she can figure a way out of this nightmare. She’s definitely not staying. Not when the man who broke her teenage heart into splinters keeps showing up at her parents’ dinner table. Remi doesn’t need broody, bearded Brick riding to her rescue…again. Not when it will put them both in danger, costing them much more than their hearts.
Author’s Note: Frenemies-to-lovers. Opposites attract. Slow burn. Girl in danger. Glorious, glorious banter. Fighting as foreplay. Small-town shenanigans. Big, grumpy, pining, overprotective hero. Wild-child, trouble-finding heroine who keeps on pushing the hero’s buttons. Steam Level: Lava. Suspense: Nail-biting. Feels: Big time.
*Available through KindleUnlimited!*
There were a few things that this book did very well. First was the premise: the lively, lovable woman come back to town with a big problem and the burly guy who pines after her forcing himself in to help. It was a slow burn, which I love. And there was an angst factor that I was in the mood for.
Second was the characters. Lucy Score is so good at writing interesting characters. They're fun and quirky but also realistically flawed. Take Remi's sister, for instance, and her marriage--flawed but in a way that was real and not the end all be all. It was just...like life.
Third was Remi and Brick together. I LOVED them together. I loved how Brick wanted her. How he cared and watched and helped and was solid and always there for her. And Remi, I really loved Remi. She'd loved him forever and I felt so much for her as they slowly found their way together.
Fourth, this book did a fantastic job of hooking me. I love me a chunky book, but the way I flew through it last weekend was awesome.
All that said, there were some aspects of Forever Never that didn't quite work out for me. Most of them can be summed up by my adoration for Remi--I don't feel like she got what she deserved. She took a lot of verbal hits in this book, which I respect because that's the name of the angst game, but I don't feel like anyone (particularly her sister and Brick) gave her the apologies she deserved. The only one who tried hard enough was AUDREY, of all people, and even that I'd have liked a little more--but it didn't bother me nearly as much since in the grand scheme Audrey shouldn't have mattered.
I was especially disappointed by how little groveling Brick did. He married her best friend. When he'd clearly loved Remi all along. (Not a spoiler, he's obviously head over heels from page 1.) And instead of Brick winning Remi over, we get Remi trying to win him over. Remi is always the one who has to be understanding and I just wanted better for her.
Overall, Forever Never was a good story that I had a good time reading, but it could have been better. And I'll definitely be picking up another Lucy Score novel (lol since originally writing this review I have and it was very enjoyable). If she can get me THIS into a second chance romance (aka not one of my favorite tropes at all--so take this entire review with that grain of salt), I have hope that I can find another novel in her backlist to love.
3.5 stars - Not a favorite, but I really liked this one & the main couple was so perfect for each other!
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