If Tessa had taken Bethany's obvious mental health issues down a notch, I'd have found it a bit more believable that she was comfortable enough to be herself around Wes while building on her self-confidence and trusting herself more. However, that was not that case. It just felt like Tessa was trying to push that love is the cure for everything, when that is never ever ever the case. Bethany didn't need to be dicked down. She needed therapy. She touched on why she was the way she was, but it never got really deep. Tessa does that. She keeps her stories at just below surface level to make you think she's writing these deep messages within her romance novels, but in all honesty, there is no depth. And that's fine. I don't read romance novels for depth. I read them to escape from reality and swoon over swoon worthy guys and get hot and flustered over steamy sex scenes.

I will say as much as I hate the whole "been in foster care my whole life, foster care is bad, look at how broken I am" trope, Wes was a believable character. His attachment issues felt real, but you could see that he was trying very hard to overcome those automatic thoughts and work on being stable for not just Laura, but for himself as well. Even the storyline with his half-sister, Becky, was realistic, and I say that because I see it every day with the families I work with. Mom leaves the child/ren with a relative and disappears. Here's what wasn't realistic at all and made me believe that people should stick to writing what they know: there will never be a case of a social worker/investigator having to do a home check and say that because it's too immaculate that it's not appropriate for a child. NEVER. How do I know this? Because I'm a goddamn social worker, and if I had a house that was a quarter as clean and safe as Bethany's when finding placement for children, I'd considered that a goddamn win. It was basically used to create conflict for Wes and Bethany, when they literally had 1000 other things that could have thrown a wrench in their very fast relationship (I love yous in 3 weeks? No thanks). So I don't understand why Tessa needed to go this route.

I also didn't think it was capable for Tessa to do this, but I found myself disliking Travis and Dom a little more than I did in their stories. I love alpha men. I also love agency, and it felt that Rosie and Georgie had none without their respective partners in tow. I just hate when couples become a single entity, and that's exactly what Tessa did with her characters. I still love Georgie, though. I think she'll always be my favorite.

Also, Stephen and Kristin will never fucking sit right with me, and I don't understand why Tessa continued to bring that sham of a marriage as one long giant joke. Then to bring kids into it. WTF, no.