Pipe Dreams

I didn't like Lauren at all in the other novels, but reading about her story with Mike, I understood better her attitude.I was so happy for them when finally they ended up together and they had their HEA.Thank you Sarina Bowen for your stories. I love your books.

What a beautiful second chance love story. Amazing to read. Great characters. Love Lauren and Mike together. Can't wait for the next instalment of Brooklyn Bruisers.

I loved, loved, loved the male character in this story, Mike Beacon! He made a huge sacrifice for his family but came back to his love 2 years later.

Sarina Bowen has out done herself again! I could not put the book down, I had to finish it. ❤️

I’ve liked quite a few of Sarina Bowen’s books. Her characters are specific and compelling, and she knows how to design a good story arc. Unfortunately, this one needed some more work.***SPOILERS***Before the book starts, Mike dumped Lauren and was unnecessarily cruel about it. He wasn’t trying to be cruel, he was just so tightly focused on his wife and child that he ignored how his actions affected Lauren. When we begin, Mike proceeds to do his best to make it up to Lauren.The problem is that for this to work as a romance, Mike has to show that he has changed. We need to see that he sees that he was unaware of his cruelty, that he sees how he does this, and he demonstrates that he’s operating differently now.Instead, by the end of the book he’s so focused on Lauren that he’s unnecessarily cruel to his daughter. It was painful to watch him rush into trying to get Lauren pregnant without even helping his daughter to have any kind of relationship with the woman who will be her step-mother. Who will be having a new baby as soon as possible. Because there’s not enough stress already.Not to mention the fact that his daughter is, understandably, struggling with rage at her mother’s death. Though Mike has brief thoughts that maybe counseling would be helpful for her, it makes him uncomfortable, so he ignores the idea. He’s leaving her to flounder in grief on her own.There is one scene where the daughter and Lauren have a little breakthrough together. But it’s one tiny moment that is not strong enough to make a huge difference in their relationship. Mike, just like at the beginning, is paying so much attention to his own needs, he does very little to bring his daughter into this new family he’s creating. She’s likely to feel even more rage and begin acting out in more and more destructive ways.The last part of the book felt like a slow-motion train wreck. I wanted to tell Lauren to run, very fast, in the other direction.I hope Sarina Bowen writes many more books. She’s a wonderful writer, generally. But my suggestion to her would be to add someone like a therapist to her early review team. Everyone has blind spots. We’re all only human. But someone who has some training in the psychological arena could help avoid a similar problem in the future.