An excellent read. Hardy Cates is excellently written. The bad taste he leaves in your mouth at the end of the first Welcome book is slowly washed away by the way he loves the Haven. A wonderful literary journey that takes you not just through the romance of these tow interesting and complicated characters but also through what brings them to each other. I really enjoyed this book. Warning though; the descriptions of Haven being abused are very graphic and struck a cord with me. I would throughly enjoyed this book and think it is a great addition to any book club.

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A sequel to Kleypas's first contemporary romance, "Sugar Daddy", we have recurrign characters but if you haven't read Sugar Daddy this one will still make perfect sense. I REALLY enjoyed this book and polishd it off quickly, I love her historicals but her voice is so different and unique in contemporaries but just as well done. Our heroine is a sheltered (but not spoiled) rich girl who marries quickly against her fathers wishes.

This book does contain a fair bit of domestic abuse, both physical and emotional- if you only enjoy fairy tale romances, this is not for you. It's taken seriously and not dealt with as if meeting a new man will magically fix things, which was great. This book is a great romance but also a wonderful character journey and contains realistic relationships between family members. Unlike most I still enjoyed "Sugar Daddy" more, but this is still a wonderful must read!

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This is fiction that also tries to do some educating about narcissistic personalities and domestic abuse, and in this aspect the book does very well. In my mind however, it set up Haven's character in a way that the sex scenes brought the story down for me, but I am suspect I'm in the minority on this and in skimming past them. Otherwise, it was very well-written (particularly the first part. I was heavily involved with Haven's experiences in her marriage), had engaging characters so all in all, I thought it was very good.

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I really liked this book. I loved Hardy but was somewhat conflicted over Haven. I just wasn't sure if her victim image was accurate. However, when you recall that she grew up with parents who were too into themselves to instill self-confidence, self-worth or give her love, it helps you to understand how she could fall for a narcisstic husband the first time around. Her mother tried to make her into what she thought she should be by degrading her to the point she controlled her which would explain how easily Haven fell into the victim role with Nick. Her father was too busy making money and trying to make wifey happy to help Haven develop these strengths or to even show he loved her. He even held her inheritance over her head to try to make her do what he wanted. After I thought about this part of her story, I realized I have known people like her and she became much more realistic to me. I really appreciate the way Kleypas wrote this real life situation into the book and admire Haven for overcoming the abuse and becoming a strong individual who could love again. Great story!

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An excellent book! This is the first book by Kleypas in the first person -and the first one set in the present day, as well- that I've read, so it felt a bit unique for me. Haven was a very vivid personality, though oddly enough I ended up forgetting her name more often than not. The bad guys were nasty, the overbearing jerks who loved her got shown the light, and if I felt she flip flopped a bit between being damaged and as desperate to jump Hardy's bones as he deserved, having never been in an abusive relationship, I can't judge the accuracy. I can say that I teared up in places, and that the end thrilled me.

All in all, I finished it in a day, and liked it extremely.

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loved it!

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This is the 2nd book in the Travis series. "Sugar Daddy" was really good and very well written. I enjoyed hearing more about Liberty and Gage in "Blue-Eyed Devil", however, the romance in this book was a little over-the-top for me. "Sugar Daddy" was a bit more classy, while "Blue-Eyed Devil" was kinda trashy. Gonna give book 3 (Smooth Talking Stranger) a try since I already have it but, I like my romance novels more story/plot than sex and romance.

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another great story from Lisa Kleypas!!Good characters continueing from "Sugar Daddy". Loved all three in the series, lovable steamy lead men and caring versatile women. All three a must read!!"Smooth Talking Stranger" is the third in the series and equally as enthralling!

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Made me want to read the series

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Mediocre story. Heiress escapes from abusive husband and meets up with old flame.

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I actually think it was one of Kleypas's better books. I have only read her historic romance before this one.

I think although the story had romantic elements it was really about Haven's experiences of being a victim of domestic abuse and breaking her own cycle in life. In many ways, Kleypas showcases how Haven's life growing up kind of set her up to be in an abusive relationship with Nick. Not only did she have get to her life back by leaving Nick but learning to stand up for herself with her family, work, and other relationships.

I agree with the review that some of the sex scenes with Hardy did bring the book down a bit but Kleypas is known for her "romance" and that was what this book is marketed as. So I will forgive those scenes. They weren't bad just didn't seem believable or fit in well.

Good read. I had a hard time reading about Haven's relationship with Nick than with Vanessa. It made me cringed but it was good.

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