From Ashes to Flames by AM Hargrove

​CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Publication date: 05/01/2018
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No

I have mixed feelings about this one. There was some stuff I really liked about this story, and I can’t say that I wasn’t invested in seeing this couple get their HEA. I also read the whole book, which is not to be taken lightly, as I’ve DNFd several others lately. But put together as a whole, the good alongside the bad, it ended up being more “meh” read than I would’ve liked.

​​Here’s what I liked:

1. The heroine is a take-no-shit kind of girl. She never fails to stand up for herself, and pretty much always thumbs her nose at those who would look down on her. She’s a heroine that I think most women can relate to on some level.
2. The kids are ridiculously cute. I hate reading romance where the kids are written by someone who obviously knows nothing about kids. These kids were age appropriate and served more purpose in the story than simply moving the romance of their father and their nanny along.
3. It was a nice, slow-burn romance. Neither the hero nor the heroine fell into instalove/instalust with each other, and I thought that was a nice, refreshing change from so many other nanny/brooding single-dad romances I’ve read. (PS: I LOVE slow-burn romance and brooding single-dad romances)
4. It’s a well-written story. Low on errors, full of realistic-sounding dialogue, and just enough detail about what the cardiologist hero does everyday to make me think the author did her homework about the topic.        

And now for my gripes:

1. For many chapters, I thought the heroine was about 19. Come to find out later that she’s 26. Now, I really liked her as a 19-year-old. But as a 26-year-old, she seemed SUPER immature. Her reliance on her parents, her failure to find her own job (or look for a suitable job, really), her emotional outbursts, her assertion that the 44-year-old hero was REALLY old...all that stuff would seem fine for a 19-year-old, but for 26, it irked me. (And, I’m sorry, but no 26-year-old in her right mind would look at a fit, handsome doctor as “super old”.)
2. Grey, the hero, was a real stick-up-butt type. He struck me as being ZERO fun whatsoever. And the way he treated his son was deplorable. (Yeah, I know he’s been through some stuff and has trouble getting attached to people, because, well, REASONS, but this is a child in your care, dude. You can’t just ignore him because you’re going through some emotional crap.)
3. I won’t give anything away, but at one point, I feel like Marin made a fairly minor mistake (she forgot to do something Grey asked her to do), and Grey completely freaked out over it for no good reason, in my opinion. Again, I think he acted like a real dick and blamed it on his “trust issues” because of everything he’d gone through. Develop some coping mechanisms other than acting a fool when things don’t go your way, Grey, or you’re going to be pretty lonely for the rest of your life. (Rightfully lonely if you ask me)
4. I feel like the drama in the catacombs when the hero and heroine were in Italy was totally unnecessary. I hate drama for the sake of drama. And how the hero treated the heroine after that event? It was shitty. I don’t care what he MEANT to say to her, what he actually said was nothing short of shitty. I wouldn’t have forgiven him if I was her. He deserved a nut-punch several times throughout the book, in my opinion.
5. I didn’t like that the heroine, Marin, didn’t continue to pursue her writing. She had one bad experience in the workplace and let it crush her dreams. And by the end of the book, I saw no evidence that Marin would continue on with her writing. Instead, it looked like she planned to be a stay-at-home mom. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mom. It’s a noble profession. But it wasn’t Marin’s dream profession, and I hate that she let one bad boss ruin her dreams. She gave up way too easily.     

So, long-story-short, I’ve read worse, but I’ve read better, too. I probably would’ve LOVED it if the heroine had been 19 and the hero would’ve been less of a stick-up-butt type. (And maybe the hero could’ve been younger, too, because a 44-year-old falling for the 19-year-old nanny would’ve been kinda gross.)  

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
It’s a little stigma-y, but not too bad. I’m betting a 30-day stint in rehab would clean it up nicely.    

Other reading suggestions
If you’re looking for a good nanny-falls-for-hot-brooding-single-dad romance, try Kendall Ryan’s The House Mate.

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