Rating: 3.5🌈

Knowing You is the first in a new series. Words We Never Said, by E.M. Lindsey. It’s a contemporary romance that has multiple core characters with the main characters here each having their own distinct struggles and personal challenges. This includes single dads or guardians as a core group and they have additional layered in issues that arise from their current situation.

Lindsey has developed a story and series that, just from the description, should be immediately relevant and easy to connect with. There’s single parenting, and children of a range of ages. They too have some depth of character, even though they don’t have as much storylines.

I came thinking I was going to have a quick, engaging experience with this book and characters. Instead, I kept questioning why I wasn’t completely convinced by certain characters or aspects of those character’s personality or even engaged by their storylines.

I was consistently made distant from the characters rather than fully invested by aspects of the story that just felt bulky . So many important elements were piled up on so few characters that it ultimately felt like a fabricated issue mountain rather than people who were just trying to make it with real life stuff.

That’s unfortunate because if you strip away some of the struggle floss, these characters work separately and together.

Let’s start with the manny/nanny (it’s an issue), it’s filled by next-door neighbor, Bowen Gallons. Bowen is the meet cute, sort of, when Lane’s 3year old daughter steals his prosthetic leg and brings it home. No spoilers, that’s in the description. He’s former stuntman who had a stunt go horribly wrong. Then got dumped on top of the loss of his leg and career.

Bowen has a lot to bring to the narrative. In this case, his own traumatic backstory as a recent amputee and being dumped by a ex boyfriend. There’s an adjustment to his body image and more. He’s a relatable character. I really like Bowen. His background with child development/education works too because of the personality he’s been given.

It’s Lane and Briar that had me questioning. Not just the father/daughter dynamic but also the label given to Lane for his behavior (four years or more) . DA is a serious topic. But we meet Lane just as he’s in the middle of a screaming match with an absent parent/spouse, Sana. Sana who has been absent for 2 years now on a “forever vacation” with no interest in coming home and had been mostly a visitor when she was younger in the relationship.

For me, she’s the missing link. What we see of her as either in “as told to” by friends or in the tiny scenes of one dimensional caricature of a scheming narcissist. But nothing of any substance or of their own dynamic to support the current situation’s labeling. Had the author given us more of them together, let us see their differences, their dynamics, and let Sana have layers. This would have made the thread a better fit and a little more accurate portrayal of what I believe the author was trying to convey.

But instead we don’t know enough of him and his story. We just see him as he is now. He’s a mess, his daughter is suffering from her own abandonment issues (there’s never any mention of getting her therapy here, although a kid who is stealing to get presents has issues), and he’s not dealing with anything in his real life. A absent spouse and mother. A daughter in trouble as well as a business who needs his attention.

There’s a lot going on here. He’s been a mess for years. So what happens? He “snaps” out of it immediately. From years of being a ‘spineless idiot’ (his words) to a man of action in a day. After years of ignoring advice/input from friends and alienating people and family.

That just doesn’t ring true for me. Then it’s followed up with a bisexual awakening, a new sexual , albeit hidden,relationship with Bowen while both are questioning their commitment to each other. Briar’s emotional issues are only intermittently mentioned here. She has been relegated to a lesser role until dramatically required for a scene. I have a quibble with that too.

Other characters that will obviously have their own stories are flowing in and out of the narrative and this couple’s relationship. Some to act as a Greek chorus, others to throw in a stumbling block or two on their path to romance.

The climax is one strange dramatic moment that drains directly into a birthday party celebration and a weird off page event that satisfies no one.

Knowing You (Words We Never Said Book 1) by E. M. Lindsey has some wonderful ideas and lovely characters. The potential for a great story is there. I just don’t think it succeeds as a whole.

Words We Never Said:

✓ Knowing You #1

◦ Resisting You #2 – Nov 30,2024

Buy link

Knowing You: A Single Dad Romance (Words We Never Said Book 1)

Blurb

“Oh my God, Briar! Where did you get that prosthetic leg?”

Things as a parent Lane thought he’d never say for four hundred, Alex.

But that’s par for the course in Lane Ashbury’s life considering everything is on the verge of falling apart. He not only has a toddler building her skills as a professional klepto, but he’s also on the verge of divorce, and hoping desperately to save his business before it goes under.

Luckily, the owner of the stolen leg might just be an angel in disguise when he offers to be Lane’s new nanny instead of pressing charges.

The whole thing would be perfect if Bowen Galanos didn’t make Lane feel things. If he didn’t make Lane question everything he thought he knew about himself every time Bowen’s touch lingered just a little too long.

And when Bowen offers some no-strings benefits to their friendship to see if maybe Lane’s not as straight as he thought, Lane finds it impossible to say no. I mean, it’s not like he’s going to realize he’s madly in love with his nanny, right?

That would be absurd.

That would be ridiculous.

And knowing him, that would be exactly his luck.

Knowing You is the first book in a light-hearted, single-dads romance series. It features a toddler with sticky fingers, a tired dad who just wants to be loved, a former stunt actor who craves to be needed, Henry Cavill man crushes, a hint of sweet, a twist of angst, a steamy bisexual awakening, and the happiest of happily ever afters.

• Publisher: (April 10, 2024)

• Publication date: April 10, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 257 pages

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