Overall Rating: 3 Stars
Title: Before I Ever Met You
Author: Karina Halle
Format: Physical Book
♡ Age Gap Romance
♡ Forbidden Romance “Lite”
♡ Father’s Coworker/Friend
♡ Sunshine hero
Review
I’ve absolutely loved some books by Karina Halle (The Forbidden Man and Love in English), I’ve felt indifferent about some (The Pact), and I DNF’d one (Darkhouse), so I wasn’t sure where I would land with this one.
To be completely honest, I don’t remember much about this book, but from the notes I took while reading it, I really liked it LOL!
The book opens with the hero in a crappy marriage. His wife has just told him that she’s pregnant – something that was entirely unexpected because he had a vasectomy, however, he’s still excited. He’d gotten the procedure for her, even though he wasn’t sure about it. It turns out, though, that it isn’t his baby. (This isn’t a spoiler, it happens in the very beginning of the book.)
Fast forward several years, he’s divorced and doing fine. You’d expect him to be this grumpy hero, but he’s actually the opposite. The heroine, who is several years younger than him has left a terrible relationship and is now a single mom. She moves in with her parents and gets a job at her father’s work as his partner’s assistant. The hero is her father’s partner.
I love, love, loved how protective of her she was without being overbearing and the fact that his nickname for her was “Dream Girl” is SO swoony.
Aside from being slightly forgettable, though, I didn’t understand her father’s character AT ALL. Her relationship with him and how he handles their relationship was just weird and inconsistent. Also, there is a trope that I was absolutely expecting in this and was SO disappointed when it happened. Ugh.
Anyway, overall, I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. I had to take away an extra star because of the ending. If you’re going to read Karina Halle, I’d still recommend The Forbidden Man or Love in English.
Trigger Warnings
Because of potential spoilers, trigger warnings are listed in white. Please highlight to see the list of trigger warnings.
Surprise baby, talk of past abuse/toxic relationship, pregnancy
Butterfly Rating: 3 Stars
Re-read Worthiness: Nah
Bookshelf Placement: Already there
Book Boyfriend Rating: 4 stars
