Talia Hibbert is a new to me author this year that I had seen quite a few people talking about and they were not wrong. This is my 4th book of hers that I’ve devoured and she is quickly becoming an autobuy – I have 2 or 3 others of her books bought and ready to read because her writing is just that good. Her heroines are interesting and strong, vulnerable as well as able to stand on their own, while her heroes are both genuine are empathetic and not at all overbearing. But if they have a moment of that her heroines would not hesitate to put them in their place. YES, PLEASE!
The heroine, Laura, made an appearance in book 1 of this series. If you haven’t read it – A Girl Like Her – you really, really should. The heroine, Ruth, of that book may be in my top 10 favorites ever. But Laura is actually a wife in that book to a complete and utter asshole so I was dying to see what the author was going to do with her here. The book opens to my utter joy with Laura *not* with the asshole. She’s essentially on the run from him, and pregnant with his baby. But it’s not as angsty as it sounds, I swear. Hibbert pulls this off by having Laura being extremely capable and while she is overwhelmed with things, she also was making plans for herself and the baby. This is exactly why I love this author – I was both sympathetic to Laura but in awe of her being able to put one foot in front of the other in such a crappy situation.
When she reconnects with first love Samir Laura isn’t exactly sure what to do because…complicated! Samir is a Moroccan-Italian who owns a cafe that doesn’t have anything Italian on its’ menu (which cracked me up the entire way through the book). Also, Samir is ridiculously hot for a million reasons. The main for me being how he handled everything with Laura’s ex. He was able to both let Laura handle things on her own but step in when she needed him to.
This author writes the steamiest scenes – not light at all and I am SO HERE FOR IT. This couple is sweet and sexy and incredible together. Overall I felt that this book was incredibly well balanced considering it’s book 1.5. It’s not exactly short – it has some weight to it but not too much. It definitely deals with heavy topics since Laura is running from an abusive husband but Hibbert does not shy away from that at all which is what I love about her so much. By embracing the issues the book shines even brighter.
I am usually a fan when a book is a stand alone, and this definitely can be, but I am such a hardcore fan of A Girl Like Her that I feel strongly you should read it first. Plus there is a major Ruth sighting in this one so you will be even more excited when you get to it! Oh and side note because of my cover love, how gorgeous is this cover!? It’s virtually glowing!!
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Reviewer: Melinda
Title: Damaged Goods
Author: Talia Hibbert
Release Date: June 12, 2018
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