Review - - The Summer That Changed Everything

The Summer That Changed Everything

by Brenda Novak

Publisher: MIRA

Release Date: June 3, 2025

Reviewed by PJ

 

She returned to prove her father's innocence, but there's no telling what she'll find…

It's been fifteen years since Lucy Sinclair saw her father. Fifteen long years since she sat in a courtroom and watched him sentenced to life in prison. He murdered three victims—all people she knew—which ruined her life at just seventeen. But now she’s back in Virginia to talk to him, wondering if there’s more to the story of what happened that fateful night.

An old flame, Ford Wagner, makes his own return to North Hampton Beach, fleeing a marriage that seems destined for divorce. He’s wary of Lucy and her digging into the past, but the more time they spend together, the closer they get and the more he finds himself reconsidering the truth behind the death of their mutual friend that summer. Problem is, there are plenty of those in this small coastal town who would prefer things stay quiet…

PJ's Thoughts:

This is one of my favorite Brenda Novak books that I've read in the past few years. It is so well crafted, pulling me into the story and holding me in its grip through a series of twists and turns that I did not see coming. It kept me up reading way too late because I had to know how it would all turn out. 

I love a good mystery and this one was so tightly woven that I had no idea what would happen until the final reveal. Novak outdid herself. Just when I thought I had it figured out she threw in an unexpected twist that sent me careening in a totally different direction. I was thoroughly absorbed in every page, trying to decide where she would take the story next. I love when an author accomplishes that!

The romantic part of the story is no less complicated with Ford and Lucy reuniting after their teenage relationship crashed and burned. There's tension and mistrust (understandable, considering what happened after her father was arrested) but Novak handles it with a deft hand. Their actions in present day feel authentic and their slowly unfolding relationship, with its peaks and valleys, real and organic. 

If you're looking for a well-crafted romantic suspense novel with a cross-class, second-chance romance, a tightly-woven mystery, a hostile community, unexpected twists, and a hard-won happy ending, add The Summer That Changed Everything to your summer reading list. I highly recommend it. 

Review - - The Banned Books Club

The Banned Books Club

by Brenda Novak

Publisher: MIRA

Release Date: September 17, 2024

Reviewed by PJ

She left her hometown following a scandal—but family loyalty is dragging her back…

Despite their strained relationship, when Gia Rossi’s sister, Margot, begs her to come home to Wakefield, Iowa, to help with their ailing mother, Gia knows she has no choice. After her rebellious and at-times-tumultuous teen years, Gia left town with little reason to look back. But she knows Margot’s borne the brunt of their mother’s care and now it’s Gia’s turn to help, even if it means opening old wounds.

As expected, Gia’s homecoming is far from welcome. There’s the Banned Books Club she started after the PTA overzealously slashed the high school reading list, which is right where she left it. But there is also Mr. Hart, her former favorite teacher. The one who was fired after Gia publicly and painfully accused him of sexual misconduct. The one who prompted Gia to leave behind a very conflicted town the minute she turned eighteen. The one person she hoped never to see again.

When Margot leaves town without explanation, Gia sees the cracks in her sister’s “perfect” life for the first time and plans to offer support. But as the town, including members of the book club, takes sides between Gia and Mr. Hart, everything gets harder. Fortunately, she learns that there are people she can depend on. And by standing up for the truth, she finds love and a future in the town she thought had rejected her.

PJ's Thoughts:

I had to let this one percolate a bit before sitting down to write my review because...feelings. So many feelings. It might have a cutesy cover but there are some deeply emotional topics explored in The Banned Books Club. Topics like sexual assault, emotional (domestic) abuse, harassment, a dying parent, and physical violence. 

Novak doesn't pull any punches as she delves into the messiness of these characters' lives, within their families as well as the community as a whole. Her depiction of the division within Gia's hometown, those who support her and those who hold her responsible for the "ruination" of a beloved teacher, is a reflection of small-town dynamics that rings with authenticity. So too, do the divisions within Gia's family. The author does an excellent job of peeling back the layers and exposing unexpected realities. The fear, evolution, and healing of characters and relationships is substantial, realistic, and relatable. The downfall of one particular character, justified and certainly cheer-worthy, also exposes the alive and well underbelly of privilege and the "good ole boy" network within small towns.  

This book is primarily women's fiction but there is also danger, suspense, and a romance thread. Actually, two romance threads. I'm still waffling on how I feel about one of them. Let's just say, it's complicated. 

While the end of the book felt a bit rushed to me, overall, The Banned Books Club is an intense, emotional story of family, community, forgiveness, healing, and new beginnings that drew me in and kept me avidly turning pages from start to finish. 

Review - - The Seaside Library

The Seaside Library: A Novel

by Brenda Novak

Publisher: MIRA

Release Date: April 11, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

There are secrets that bring friends together, and others that drive them apart…

Mariners Island is barely ten miles long, but when Ivy, Ariana and Cam were teenagers, it was their whole world. Beyond the pristine beaches and iconic lighthouse lies the beautiful old library that belongs to Ivy’s family. While that bound Ivy to the island as an adult, Ariana could not leave Mariners behind fast enough. The town holds too many…memories. Not only her unrequited feelings for Cam, but the tragedy that left a scar on the community.

When a young girl went missing, a teenage Cam was unthinkably the prime suspect. Ariana and Ivy knew he couldn’t have hurt anyone, and they promised to protect him—even if it meant lying on his behalf.

Now, twenty years later, Ariana returns to Mariners just as new evidence emerges on the case, calling into question everything the three friends thought they knew—and everyone they thought they could trust. What really happened that night? Over the course of one eventful summer, Ariana, Ivy and Cam will learn the truth—about their pasts, their futures and the ties that still bind them as closely as the pages of a book…

PJ's Thoughts:

After reading that blurb, I couldn't dig into this book fast enough. Brenda Novak has always been able to spin a good story and the ones filled with suspense always draw me in. 

What would you be willing to do to protect a friend? That's the question Novak explores in this book about three friends, a tragic event of two decades past, and the consequences decisions made then have on each of their lives today. I enjoyed the shifting dynamics among Ivy, Ariana, and Cam. Things were bound to be a bit awkward after losing touch over the years of separation or, in Cam's case, breaking off contact due to his jealous wife but the discovery of a body and the resurrection of the murder case from that summer long ago have intensified the swirling emotions - and doubts - among the recently reunited best friends. It's an interesting exploration of the ebb and flow of friendships as well as secrets, lies, and the weight they place on one's conscience. 

The mystery of what actually happened that fateful night is tightly constructed and filled with surprising twists and turns, playing out with subtle clues effectively placed throughout the book. I was sure I knew who the murderer wasn't but it took me a while to discover who it was. Though even figuring out the identity of the murderer before the reveal didn't lessen my eagerness to find out how it all would play out. I was not disappointed.

There's also a romantic thread in the story that significantly impacts the dynamics of the three friends. Though it's secondary to the mystery, it's important to actions the friends take. It offers a happily ever after but I wasn't as emotionally invested in the romantic couple as I wanted to be - for reasons - including the fact that I was more emotionally attached to the character who became the third wheel. Others may have different feelings. I will say though that by the time the epilogue (a year later) rolled around I was able to be happy with the couple's HEA and satisfied with where life had taken all three of the friends. 

If you enjoy a blend of women's fiction and twisty suspense with strong threads of friendship, coming home, and friends-to-lovers romance, add The Seaside Library to your summer reading list. 

Tour Review - - Keep Me Warm at Christmas

Keep Me Warm at Christmas

by Brenda Novak

Silver Springs - Book 9

Publisher: MIRA

Release Date: September 28, 2021

Reviewed by PJ

Maybe this Christmas can thaw his frozen heart—and heal hers.

Hollywood starlet Tia Beckett knows one moment can change your life. Her career had been on the fast track before a near-fatal accident left her with a debilitating facial scar. Certain her A-lister dreams are over, she agrees to house-sit at her producer’s secluded estate in Silver Springs. It’s the escape from the limelight Tia’s been craving, until she discovers she’s not the only houseguest for the holidays. And her handsome new roomie is impossible to ignore.

Artist Seth Turner has good reason to keep his distance. Losing his wife after only a few years of marriage has left a deep scar, even if he is still happy to spend a semester teaching art classes at the New Horizons Boys Ranch for troubled teens. Despite nursing her own wounds, Tia finds her curiosity piqued by enigmatic Seth, whom she recognizes as something of a kindred soul. Maybe spending Christmas together could be another game changer for both of them—this time, for good.

PJ's Thoughts:

I love it when an author takes me on an emotional journey and that's certainly what I experienced in this book. Seth and Tia are both complex, layered characters, each with deep emotional wounds and in Tia's case, a physical one as well. I enjoyed how the author skillfully, but gradually, moved them forward toward healing while also creating a friendship between them that gradually deepened into more. The various threads interwoven throughout the book added texture to the personal stories as well as a bit of a mystery that heightened my connection to the characters and my investment in their lives. I enjoy being surprised by both a book's characters as well as their journeys and I'm happy to say the author accomplished both in this instance. Those twists (and there were more than a few) kept me flipping pages, unsure in which direction the story might turn around the next corner, and happily celebrating the hard-won conclusion when it arrived. 

Keep Me Warm at Christmas is the ninth book in Brenda Novak's Silver Springs series. There are a few characters from previous books that have key roles in this one but readers new to the series should have no problem enjoying this new book on its own. 

~~~~~~~~

Buy Links: 

BookShop.org

Harlequin 

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Books-A-Million

Powell’s 

Social Links:

Author Website

Twitter: @Brenda_Novak

Instagram: @authorbrendanovak

Goodreads

 

New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak has written over 60 novels. An eight-time Rita nominee, she's won The National Reader's Choice, The Bookseller's Best and other awards. She runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, a charity that has raised more than $2.5 million for diabetes research (her youngest son has this disease). She considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life. 

 

Review - - A California Christmas

A California Christmas

by Brenda Novak

Silver Springs - Book 7

Publisher: MIRA

Release Date: October 13, 2020

Reviewed by PJ

Up-and-coming TV anchor Emery Bliss can’t imagine anything more humiliating than the sex tape her ex revenge-posted online. That is, until it causes her to lose her job on top of her self-esteem. Seeking solace—and anonymity—in Silver Springs, Emery isn’t looking to get involved with another man any time soon. But when she’s thrown back into contact with Dallas Turner, she sees something that his many detractors have missed.

Being home for the holidays and his adoptive mother’s wedding isn’t where mountain climber Dallas feels most comfortable. Thanks to his troubled childhood, he’d rather be on a rock face alone than trying to connect with people. Emery, however, makes him want to overcome his past…somehow.

Both Emery and Dallas had been planning on a quiet, solitary Christmas, but the sparks between them are lighting a fire strong enough to last—possibly forever.

PJ's Thoughts:

This is one emotional story. Emery's ex-boyfriend/co-anchor has really put her through the wringer, personally and professionally. She's returned to Silver Springs to hide and to heal, not to begin a new relationship. Dallas has returned for his adoptive mother's wedding and isn't interested in a relationship either. Neither his career nor his past are conducive to letting anyone close to him emotionally. Physically, on the other hand...

I really liked these two together. I enjoyed the friendship they formed and the desire between them that threatened to erupt. I could feel Emery's shame and anger over what had been done to her. It was both healing and empowering to watch her regain her strength and dignity with Dallas's help. And Dallas. He's a good guy but so closed off. My heart hurt so much for the pain that little boy inside him had endured. If anybody deserved a happy ending, it was him. 

Both Dallas and Emery were wonderfully complex characters that Novak slowly revealed to readers with a skilled hand. There's also a bit of a mystery woven into the story with a few twists I didn't see coming. There are also other relationship threads that I'm guessing are from earlier books in the series. I haven't read those books yet and at times I did feel as though I would have had a better understanding of Dallas's adopted family and their back stories had I already read those books. Which I plan to do now.

Harlequin Holiday Blog Tour

If you're looking for a variety of holiday romances to curl up with this month, check out these titles from Harlequin! There are stories that will make you laugh, make you cry, make you sigh, and fill your heart with joy.

Coming Home for Christmas
by RaeAnne Thayne

Hearts are lighter and wishes burn a little brighter at Christmas…

Elizabeth was trapped in a tangle of postpartum depression and grief after the death of her beloved parents and she couldn’t quite see the way back to her husband and their two beautiful kids…until a car accident stole away her memories and changed her life.

And when she finally remembered the sound of little Cassie’s laugh, the baby powder smell of Bridger, or the feel of her husband’s hand in hers, Elizabeth worried that they’d moved on without her. That she’d missed too much. That perhaps she wasn’t the right mother for her kids or wife for Luke, no matter how much she loved them.

But now, seven years later, Luke finds her in a nearby town and brings Elizabeth back home to the family she loves, just in time for Christmas. And being reunited with Luke and her children is better than anything Elizabeth could have imagined.

As they all trim the tree and bake cookies, making new holiday memories, Elizabeth and Luke are drawn ever closer. Can the hurt of the past seven years be healed over the course of one Christmas season and bring the Hamiltons the gift of a new beginning?

This book has all the feels! RaeAnne Thayne engaged just about every emotion I have with this story, ripping my heart apart then putting it back together stronger than before. I've read almost her entire back list and I think this is some of her strongest writing ever. What this family has endured is heartbreaking, leaving all of them dealing with strong emotions when they're finally reunited after seven years. I found all of their reactions to be realistic and understandable. Thayne doesn't give them any quick fixes, instead flawlessly guiding them through the peaks and valleys of grief, anger, fear, and forgiveness as they all begin to deal with their new realities. I couldn't stop reading. I cried for what they'd been through and I cried with joy for what they'd found. This one is a keeper. 

An Alaskan Christmas
by Jennifer Snow

If there’s one gift Erika Sheraton does not want for Christmas, it’s a vacation. Ordered to take time off, the workaholic surgeon reluctantly trades in her scrubs for a ski suit and heads to Wild River, Alaska. Her friend Cassie owns a tour company that offers adventures to fit every visitor. But nothing compares to the adrenaline rush Erika feels on being reunited with Cassie’s brother, Reed Reynolds.

Gone is the buttoned-up girl Reed remembers. His sister’s best friend has blossomed into a strong, skilled, confident woman. She’s exactly what his search-and-rescue team needs—and everything he didn’t know he craved. The gulf between his life in Wild River and her big-city career is wide. But it’s no match for a desire powerful enough to melt two stubborn hearts…

Sometimes, you really can go home. I so enjoyed this journey to love between two strong-willed people: a workaholic, city surgeon and a small-town, search and rescue leader. Talk about opposites attracting! Snow packs this first book in her Wild River series with lots of sizzle, heart, action, adventure, and complicated family dynamics. Her characters are complex and multi-layered. I became invested in them quickly and fully engaged in the issues surrounding them and standing in the way of a potential HEA. Snow's descriptions of Wild River bring the small town to life as well as the people who live there. I'm already looking forward to many more stories set there and hoping Cassie's will be next. 


A Wedding in December
by Sarah Morgan

In the snowy perfection of Aspen, the White family gathers for youngest daughter Rosie’s whirlwind Christmas wedding. First to arrive are the bride’s parents, Maggie and Nick. Their daughter’s marriage is a milestone they are determined to celebrate wholeheartedly, but they are hiding a huge secret of their own: they are on the brink of divorce. After living apart for the last six months, the last thing they need is to be trapped together in an irresistibly romantic winter wonderland.

Rosie’s older sister, Katie, is also dreading the wedding. Worried that impulsive, sweet-hearted Rosie is making a mistake, Katie is determined to save her sister from herself! If only the irritatingly good-looking best man, Jordan, would stop interfering with her plans…

Bride-to-be Rosie loves her fiancé but is having serious second thoughts. Except everyone has arrived—how can she tell them she’s not sure? As the big day gets closer, and emotions run even higher, this is one White family Christmas none of them will ever forget!

A lovely blend of women's fiction and romance, Sarah Morgan's A Wedding in December will have you laughing, sniffling, and sighing with delight. There's such a wonderfully real, and complex, family dynamic going on here that's fully explored along with each of the three romantic relationships. Bride and groom to be, Rosie and Dan are young, in love, and I couldn't help but be in their corner. While both of them seem to be easy going and uncomplicated at first, I liked the bite Morgan puts in each of these characters and enjoyed their evolution through the book, especially Rosie's. Katie, the over-protective older sister has perhaps the greatest amount of growth throughout the story. My heart ached for her and, though I didn't care much for her at the start, she ended up being one of my favorite characters by the end of the book. But it's the parents who stole the show, at least for me. Their hilarious, complex, and poignant second chance romance, set in motion because they lied and told everyone they were on their second honeymoon, was the highlight of the book for me. I enthusiastically recommend adding A Wedding in December to your holiday reading. 

Cowboy Christmas Redemption
by Maisey Yates

Cowboy Caleb Dalton has loved single mom Ellie Bell, and her little daughter, Amelia, for years. But since Ellie is his best friend’s widow, Caleb’s head knows Ellie will always be strictly off-limits. If only his heart got the memo. So when Caleb discovers that Ellie has a Christmas wish list—and hopes for a kiss under the mistletoe—he’s throwing his cowboy hat into the ring. If anyone’s going to be kissing Ellie and sharing this magical time with her and her daughter, it’s him.

Ellie has dreaded the holidays since losing her husband. But this year, she’s finally ready to make some changes. She never expects the biggest change to be the heart-stopping kiss she shares with Caleb. For almost five years, Caleb has been her best friend, her rock, her salvation. This Christmas, can Caleb prove he’s also the missing puzzle piece of Ellie’s and Amelia’s hearts?


Friends to lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes and this newest addition to Maisy Yates' Gold Valley series brings all the feels. Though Caleb and Ellie have been best friends for years, the mass of intermingled emotional baggage they both carry has kept them from moving beyond friendship. Until Ellie finally decides to move forward with her life...and Caleb isn't about to let her move on with anyone but him. It makes for a complex, emotional journey that made me laugh, cry, and tingle in all the best ways. 

Yates does a great job of bringing her characters to life and immersing me in their journey. I could feel all the doubts, desire, and guilt that Caleb and Ellie have to wade through. My heart ached for the pain caused by the secrets Caleb has kept from his family, and Ellie, and rejoiced in the forgiveness and acceptance that follow when he finally shares them. 

Ellie and Caleb have been tested by the flames of emotional fire, from which they emerged stronger and wiser, with a solid foundation of friendship and love. I turned the final page of their story confident in the strength of their bond and their future happiness as a family. 

I can't wait to return to Gold Valley for more Dalton family stories!

Christmas From the Heart
by Sheila Roberts

Olivia Berg’s charity, Christmas from the Heart, has helped generations of families in need in Pine River, Washington, but this year might be the end of the road. Hightower Enterprises, one of their biggest donors since way back when Olivia’s grandmother ran the charity, has been taken over by Ebenezer Scrooge the Second, aka CFO Guy Hightower, and he’s declared there will be no more money coming to Christmas from the Heart.

Guy is simply being practical. Hightower Enterprises needs to tighten its belt, and when you don’t have money to spare, you don’t have money to share. You’d think even the pushy Olivia Berg could understand that.

With charitable donations dwindling, Olivia’s Christmas budget depends on Hightower’s contribution. She’s focused her whole life on helping this small town, even putting her love life on hold to support her mission.

When Guy’s Maserati breaks down at the edge of the Cascade foothills, he’s relieved to be rescued by a pretty young woman who drives him to the nearby town of Pine River. Until he realizes his rescuer is none other than Olivia Berg. What’s a Scrooge to do? Plug his nose and eat fruitcake and hope she doesn’t learn his true identity before he can get out of town. What could go wrong?

I can always count on Sheila Roberts for humorous, heartwarming, holiday romance. This year, she's bringing readers a new, feel-good story that gives a nod to the classic tale, A Christmas Carol. Once again, I found myself delightfully immersed in the lives and loves of the citizens of a small, Washington town.  

I love Sheila Roberts' characters. They're so delightfully real, with all the flaws and quirks we find in ourselves and those around us. I like that even though they may have good intentions, they don't always make the best decisions. I enjoy how they evolve, often taking two steps back for each step forward as they move toward their happily ever after, wherever, and with whomever, that may be. I love the spirit of kindness, love, sharing, and forgiveness that she weaves throughout this story. I also turned the final page with a smile on my face, joy in my heart, and the conviction that, once again, two deserving characters have found the person they're meant to share life with. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you read any of these titles yet? I have Brenda Novak's Christmas in Silver Springs on my Kindle so watch for my review of that soon.

One person who comments before 11:00 PM, December 17, will receive one Kindle copy of their choice from the six titles shown in the header. 

Review - - Right Where We Belong

Right Where We Belong

By Brenda Novak

Publisher: Harlequin / Mira

Release Date: October 31, 2017

Reviewed by Janga

  

 

Savanna Gray’s life as an ordinary, small-town wife and mother ends when her husband is charged with a series of rapes and arrested. At first, Savanna refuses to believe that he is guilty, but as evidence against him mounts, she is forced to accept his guilt. Even then, she is not prepared for the way people in Nephi, the Utah town where she has lived for the nine years of her marriage, turn on her. After a confrontation with one of the rape victims in a supermarket leaves eight-year-old Branson and six-year-old Alia fearful and filled with questions about their father, Savanna decides that she must forge a new life for them and for herself. With her lawyer’s assurance that her divorce will be final soon, she, Branson, and Alia move to Silver Springs, California. All Savanna knows about the town is that a ranch her father bought before his death is located there. With no mortgage payment or rent to worry about, she can create a home there.

Gavin Turner knew that Savanna and her children needed help as soon as he saw them. For starters, the only bridge that provides access to the ranch where she plans to live has been washed out. A part-time musician who also works with his adopted mother at the New Horizons Boys Ranch, Gavin understands what it is to need a helping hand, and he eagerly offers his help to his sad-eyed neighbors, whether it is to build a bridge, literal or metaphoric, to restore a house in desperate need of repairs, or to listen to Savanna’s traumatic story.

The isolation of their neighboring ranches and the time Savanna and Gavin spend together working on the house quickly fosters an emotional intimacy that is accompanied by a strong physical attraction. Gavin also bonds with Savanna’s children. But Savanna has trust issues, and her past is not as finished as she had hoped. Gavin has some demons of his own, and a complication from his past threatens to end his relationship with Savanna. Can these two overcome these obstacles and claim the happiness they deserve?

Novak’s fourth Silver Springs novel is part small-town romance, part suspense. I give the romance high marks. Savanna is a mix of strength and vulnerability. Her strength is clear in the decisions she makes to divorce her husband and to move to a place about which she knows little. Her vulnerability shows in her concerns about her children and in her doubts about her own judgment. Branson and Alia are sweet and sad, but still very much real kids with decided charm. Like all the heroes in this series, Gavin has a troubled past. He was abandoned at a gas station when he was five, but his experience at New Horizons--and more particularly as one of Aiyana Turner’s adopted sons—gave him stability and a family. He has become a sensitive, responsible, and caring man. It doesn’t hurt that he is also a sexy, tattooed musician. Readers will find all these characters appealing and root for their happiness.

Readers should note, however, that this book has definite triggers, including abduction and murder as well as rape. Even though the crimes lack the level of detail found in the typical thriller, some will find them disturbing. Some readers may also find that the relationship between Savanna and Gavin develops too quickly. Others will feel that Savanna’s wounded heart needs Gavin’s healing touch.

I’m a longtime Novak reader, and one of the things I most admire about her is her willingness to take risks in her storytelling. I prefer my contemporary romance without the darker edges this novel has, but that is a comment on my taste, not on the quality of Novak’s writing. This is another skillfully crafted book with engaging characters. Readers who like suspense thrown into the mix will likely appreciate it without my reservations.

Review - - Until You Loved Me

Until You Loved Me

By Brenda Novak

Publisher: Harlequin Mira

Release Date: July 25, 2017
Reviewed by Janga

         

Ellie Fisher is an intelligent woman with an important job, but in the aftermath of finding her fiancé in bed with his best friend since college, she ends up in bed with a stranger. She thinks it was a one-night stand and the best sex of her life, but that one night will change her life forever. Ellie, a bookworm since childhood, holds a PhD in biomedical engineering from Yale and is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Banting Diabetes Center in Miami, a premier site for diabetes research. Her ex and his lover also work there. Ellie’s social experience lags far behind her intellectual accomplishments. She has been with only two men, one of them was her fiancé, and both long-term relationships. She is not the type to frequent nightclubs, but she is reeling with the realization than the man whom she expected to marry and with whom she expected to rear a family was only using her as a cover to hide his sexual orientation from his conservative, religious family. When her best friend urges her to join her for a night at Envy, a ritzy South Beach bar, with the intent of meeting someone, Ellie agrees. However, Ellie is just about ready to leave when she meets a big, incredibly handsome man who is clearly interested in her. She has no idea that he is a superstar athlete; she only knows he makes her feel like a different woman, someone very different from the pathetic, deceived fiancée who is the focus of gossip at her workplace.

Hudson King was found abandoned under a hedge in an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood and named for two intersecting streets in the area. He grew up in foster homes, most of which cared little about the unwanted boy. Getting sent to the New Horizons Boys Ranch in Silver Springs, California, as a young teen proved his salvation. It was there his talent for football was developed, a talent that led him to UCLA and the Heisman Trophy and to his current position as starting quarterback for the LA Devils. He has fame, fortune, and a few good friends, but he does not trust easily. He is particularly wary of women because so many have been more interested in his wealth and star status than in him. He finds Ellie’s failure to recognize him refreshing, but his interest in her is cut short when she disappears before he awakens the morning after their night together without leaving a note or a phone number.

Seven weeks after Ellie’s night with the hunk she knows only as Hudson, she discovers that she is pregnant. She is preparing for life as a single mother when during a Super Bowl party, a familiar face appears on the television screen. Since Ellie now knows who Hudson is, she feels morally bound to tell him that she is pregnant.  She is nervous, but she is unprepared for the anger, suspicion, and accusations that her news provokes. She wants nothing to do with this man who seems so different from the man she met in that club. But once Hudson believes the child is his, he is determined not to expose a child he fathered to the abandonment that shaped him. He pressures Ellie to move to his home in Silver Springs so that he can be actively involved from doctor’s visits through delivery, the first months of the child’s life, and beyond. Ellie eventually agrees, but she has reservations about her decision and about Hudson. Hudson still doesn’t fully trust Ellie either. With the combination of distrust and a chemistry neither can deny, the future promises complications that make an HEA seem remote.

One of the things that has kept me reading Brenda Novak over many years is her ability to take the tritest conventions of romance and give them twists that make them seem fresh and intriguing. Both the pairing of brain and brawn and the unplanned pregnancy are common tropes in romance fiction, but Ellie and Hudson emerge not as types but as distinctive individuals with specific histories that account for the baggage they carry. Ellie is the more sympathetic character, but she is also less damaged than Hudson. Their story is engaging with unexpected turns. And the added thread of Hudson’s quest to discover his origin adds its own twist.

Novak is also a writer who takes risks. Here she risks showing the hero behaving like an out-of-control alpha jerk in a key scene. Readers will draw their own conclusions about whether he redeems himself. I had some doubts initially, but after his reaction to the nursery, I began to believe that he would prove his violent response (not directed toward another person) in the hotel an aberration. His feelings for his unborn child, his mentoring of boys at New Horizons, and ultimately his love for Ellie weigh more heavily in defining him. Hudson is not the only one who behaves like a jerk. Ellie’s ex does as well. His jerkiness is a matter of character and is unrelated to his being gay. He uses Ellie, and his self-absorption afterwards compounds his error. But he too has finer moments.

Until You Loved Me is the third book in in the Silver Springs series, but it is only loosely related to the first two books. The New Horizons Boys Ranch and its founder serve as the primary connection. This book can be read easily as a standalone. If you like your romance novels with a high degree of emotional intensity and a realistic world where flaws are the norm, I suggest you add it to your TBR.