Series: Love, Philly, #3
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Release Date: September 24th, 2021
CW/TW: Character with ADHD, infant with Turner’s Syndrome, mentions of past violence and drugs
For Lacey Johnson, a bad decision is not even in the realm of possibility in her world. There’s no room for it. Not with her living her dream as a full-time nurse and not with her mind already controlling so much of her on a daily basis.
For Samuel Rivera, the bad decisions have come to a halt. Returning home from college to take over the family business for his dad, there is no room for anything but clearheaded choices.
Lacey and Samuel, two people who would have never met under different circumstances, meet a second time and once out of their city and into the one claiming itself to be made of sin, one dares the other to make a bad decision and surprising both of them, the other goes through with it.
The thing about decisions, though, no matter how small or big, no matter how good or bad, they change your life forever.
“You could make me your bad decision. I’ll accept under any circumstances.”
Sonia Esperanza excels at writing soft alpha males that will have you captivated from the word go and Samuel Rivera is no different. If you’ve read Hijacked, then you’ve met Samuel. His father, Hector, is the hero in the first book of the Love, Philly series and I have been waiting to see if Samuel would get his own story. And what a story he got! You’ll also recognise Lacey from The Tipoff, as a nurse that works with Lily at the hospital. And the coming together of these two characters is quite beautiful. I also want to add that Sonia’s storytelling is very different and that adds to the element of beauty and love in her writing. It’s the kind of storytelling that I wish I could do too!
As a nurse, Lacey sees a lot of things on a daily basis. But as a nurse with ADHD she’s not always focusing on things the same way as everyone else. I loved how deep we go into Lacey’s condition, getting a proper understanding of what her kind of ADHD is and how it affects her. And it’s not just at work, dating has become harder than she’d like because when she spaces out or gets distracted by something else, the men she’s with think that she’s just not interested in them. For Lacey, her condition is sometimes crippling, but she’s finally getting a handle on it. And Lacey is very good at her job, she’s friendly and kind and generous with all the patients, she’s caring and always there for them. Which is how she ends up meeting Samuel. When Hector comes into the hospital with a knife wound, Lacey steps in to help and Samuel walks into the hospital room and finds her sitting there with his father. Their lives are never going to be the same again. Samuel’s home to take over the family business, even if Hector is changing how he does business and the last thing he wants is to fall in love with a woman at first sight.
“It wasn’t just a hesitant love or a generic love. His love was so specific, tailored to me.”
Sonia’s heroes are always so wonderful. They’re alpha males with strong personalities and protective tendencies; but they’re also soft cinnamon rolls who would do anything for the women in their life. Samuel is not only protective of Lacey, he’s also extremely protective of Annie (Hijacked) and always makes sure that they are safe in every way. And her heroines are *chef’s kiss*. Every single one of them are strong, independent women who know what they want and work their butts off to get there. Lacey, like Annie and Liliana, doesn’t take anything lying down. She’s tough and she’s strong, she puts herself out there even if the results aren’t always great. I loved her so much.
But when Lacey and Samuel meet and their relationship kicks into gear, you’re in for an absolute treat. I loved these two together so much and I don’t even think I can do justice to how incredible their relationship was. Samuel brings out the daring side of Lacey, the side that she’s never been comfortable letting out before. Together, they do things they’ve always wanted to do, but never really explored. And in true Sonia fashion, this relationship is a delicious slow burn. There’s lots of touching and longing looks for a good portion of this book, because the way they fall in love is so different from what you think you’re getting. Samuel woos Lacey and with every date and every interaction, you can feel the love between them and it’s devastatingly wonderful. They are soft, beautiful and sexy together and it’s in the things they don’t say and things they do that really sets the tone for this relationship.
Bad Decisions is a strangers to lovers, secret relationship, slow burn romance that tackles really important topics while also serving you a soft love unlike any other. And we get to meet a bunch of new characters, which makes me very excited. Because now I can’t wait to see where these journeys will take us and how much more of the Love Philly gang we’re going to see!
Thanks to Sonia Esperanza for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
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