She limits her moments of weakness for Nicholas to just her birthday, but she’s worried she will crack under the pressure of seeing him daily now that she’s home for good. She’s spent the last ten years wandering around the country guest-starring at different tattoo parlors and working on rebuilding her own self-worth. Livvy took her riches-to-rags moment in stride, but what really hurt her was the loss of her family (especially her twin brother, Jackson, and her older brother, Paul) and the love of her life. Secretly, the two meet up every year on Livvy’s birthday so she can blow out her candles, if yaknowwhatImean. Nicholas broke things off with Livvy right after, and the two haven’t seen each other in ten years, or, at least, that’s what their families think. In her grief, Livvy’s mom sold her shares of the company to Nicholas’s conniving father, and that left their family practically penniless overnight. But when our couple were young adults, Nicholas’s mom and Liv’s dad died in a car accident– together. To understand the context: Livvy and Nicholas’s grandfathers, who were like brothers, started a grocery store chain together. Livvy and Nicholas have known and loved each other their entire lives, and their current situation isn’t so much a meet cute and as a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am-see-you-next-year. Normally I’m not into real people on book covers, but these models actually look like the diverse characters they portray! Hate to Want You (Forbidden Hearts #1) I love that the first cover featuring Nicholas shows him all “buttoned up” (to go along with his uptight nature), but the others (featuring slightly more bad boys) are displaying some perfectly well-crafted chests. The beautiful flowers-and-vine tattoo on Livvy’s arm is actually what drew me to this cover and, subsequently, the series, in the first place because: pretty! It’s a nice touch that they all have their tattoos prominently featured as the designs play into books multiple times. Lives were ruined and lost, but no matter how much the next generation tries, they just can’t stay away from each other. How do two families who once shared a business, friendship, and absolute trust become so utterly broken? TERRIBLE choices, that’s how. What to Expect: Lots of pining for what you can’t have, major family drama, angst, secrets and lies, tasty business

From modern day to historical, we’ll get down and dirty with one series each week, and we hope you’ll join us for the ride. Friends, lovers, dukes and duchesses, welcome back to FYA’s Grown-Up Guide to Romance Novels, a four-week series during the horniest month, in which we’re exploring bodies…of work of some of our favorite romance authors.

Hate to want you forbidden hearts