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Maria Undone

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𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂

I grew up as the poor, bullied girl from the wrong side of the tracks. But once I had my glow-up, I shed my trailer-trash persona and created a new one. Now, they have new names for me.

Cold. Bitch. Slut.

But they don't know the real me.

All I've ever wanted was to be loved. Adored. Cherished.

Yet, all I have to show for it is a long list of F-boys who only saw me as a good time.

After my so-called best friend betrayed me and I witnessed the man I thought I loved fall for someone else, I was determined to make a change.

But would the complicated charms of a handsome widower derail my growth?

𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏

I couldn't imagine loving another woman as much as I loved my late wife. I was content to spend my days living in the shadow of her memory, occasionally using faceless women to assuage the loneliness I felt.

Then, one rainy, fateful day, I met Maria. For the first time in years, I felt something other than lust for another woman. She floored me and flipped my routinely comfortable existence on its head.

But just when I started falling for her, my left-over loyalty towards my late wife led me to hurt the one woman who'd shone a light into the shadows.

Can I move forward from my past? Or will my grief and guilt threaten my newfound happiness?

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭. 𝘐𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘏𝘌𝘈 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘔𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘔𝘊. 𝘕𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘖𝘞 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘔 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢. 𝘉𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘚𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘢𝘺𝘴, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦.

𝘛𝘞: 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳, 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘮𝘢.

467 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2024

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S.T. Moors

7 books88 followers

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5 stars
53 (20%)
4 stars
93 (36%)
3 stars
76 (29%)
2 stars
21 (8%)
1 star
11 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
Profile Image for Serial Romance Librarian.
1,137 reviews286 followers
December 4, 2024
I enjoyed this angsty read! It had one of my favorite tropes: dead wife. I really enjoyed the character development, how honest and emotionally mature the MC’s were. Were they perfect paragons? No and I enjoyed that aspect, as well as the therapy that validated them.

Sarah, the SIL was an OTT nightmare and I enjoyed that, but I wished that her obvious crush on Brian would’ve been explored further. I’m also wondering how Simon is redeemable in his book. Im obviously late to the party. He really strung poor Maria along!

I usually enjoy romances where the MC’s decide not to have children, but for this couple it sort of made me sad for some reason, especially because it was implied that Brian wanted children. I deducted half a star for that and the other half star was for some editing errors and I felt that this book is too long. Too much time spent on mundane things, imho.

Overall I recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Vintage.
2,702 reviews689 followers
December 17, 2024
Sexual six degrees of separation and a sad, sad backstory. Not a fun romance at all.

The heroine has popped up in previous books (I don't remember her). She and the other characters have slept with various people in all the books which really creeped me out. The H meets two of the men she's had sex with and vice versa. On top of that, the H is a grieving widow who has used sex as a means of anesthetizing his grief since a few months after his beloved wife's death. Trying to keep an open mind., but again, yikes. He really did love her.

The h's backstory is one of abuse, and she too has used sex as a means of getting affection. This was written very plausibly which only makes it all the sadder to see a bright woman allow men to use her for sex.

High in the angst love, I can't recommend it as a romance given the nature of the two main characters's crosses to bear.
Profile Image for ‎‧₊˚✧ storm ✧˚₊‧.
90 reviews13 followers
November 30, 2024
I decided to read this because someone had said that this hero puts her ex in his place and defends her. And I guess that’s true to a point…but not because of how Maria was treated. It was only because he was jealous. So it was a pretty half-arsed attempt at defending her.

I think my problem is this: Every ‘hero’ this author writes is shit. First Barron who cheated for the lamest reasons. Then there’s Simon who is just a piece of shit. And as for Brian, he was so disappointing. The only person worth reading about in this was Maria (heroine). I really liked her character. She got the help she needed, she wasn’t a simpering virgin (aka boring AF), and she knew she deserved better than the douche hero and wasn’t going to let anyone treat her like shit again. She was also mature in the way she handled conflict. Even towards the end, she gave him the benefit of the doubt, something he couldn’t do for her. I also can’t see Maria being a permanent long-term thing for him (epilogue didn’t ring true for me). And he’ll have no problem moving on from her because that’s his thing. I really wish Maria had left town, left everyone behind, and started over somewhere new away from these clowns.

Girl deserved better. I just wish the author thought so, too.
347 reviews
December 5, 2024
This book was not bad, it just wasn’t for me. I wanted to be able to get it 4 stars, because I know this author recently had someone plagiarize her, so I want to support her. (The book Pieces of Us plagiarized her book Barron's Second Chance). But, I won't lie just for the sake of supporting an author, and this isn't a 4 star read for me.

The writing was fine, I did like the heroine, and you might like this if you like romances where the hero and heroine both get therapy, work on themselves, and have a LOT of conversations about their boundaries. I’m not knocking that, it’s all good stuff to do in real life. I just find it boring in fiction.

This is a small town read about Maria (I think she’s in her early 30s) and Brian (34). She’s cold and aloof, and she’s had a difficult life. She’s been treated poorly by men, and she’s always their booty call, never their serious girlfriend. She’s tired of that, and she’s looking for a serious relationship. Brian is a widower, his wife died 4 years ago, and he’s been only doing hookups since then, but he wants something more with Maria, until he screws it up.

I really liked Maria. She knew her worth, walked away when Brian didn’t treat her how she wanted to be treated, didn’t cave to him when he tried to apologize. I also like a cold standoffish heroine who isn’t too sweet. I’m so tired of sweet gentle doormat heroines, or timid virgins. Maria is refreshing, since she's none of that stuff.

But, they don’t interact that much before Brian ruins it and Maria walks away for a while. They don’t truly get together until VERY late into the story. They spend most of the story apart. It feels weird that they both acknowledge their relationship was hardly anything before it got screwed up. It feels like there should have been more to their relationship -- more substances, more interactions – before a wedge is driven between them in the first third of the book. I think we were supposed to buy that their connection was just SO strong that they were both fixated on each other despite barely having a relationship. But instead, it felt juvenile - like how when you're a teenager, you obsess over very minor interactions with your crush and blow it up in your mind. That's how their relationship felt, but not in a good way. It just seemed odd.

It felt like 90% of their conversations were about their relationship, and establishing their boundaries. That’s fine to have SOME conversations like that, but this book was more interested in showing us endless conversations ABOUT their relationship than actually showing us their relationship.

The plot was also strung together by too many coincidences. Like, Brian kept on realizing that random acquaintance had some kind of painful past with Maria. This was fine the first time he realized it, but by the THIRD time we got that kind of “reveal” scene, I was like, “does this author know how to write any other type of plot than, Brian discovers that a person in his life has a past with Maria?" It got repetitive and tedious when that kept happening over and over.

I dislike "hero has a dead wife" angst, but I'm occasionally willing to read it if it feels like a story shows that he loves the heroine more. This story didn't show that enough. It felt like he only really committed to Maria once his dead wife gave him "permission" through a letter. Maria deserves better than that.

Anyway, if you want a small town angsty read where the hero wrongs the heroine, she knows her worth and sticks to her guns, and they both do a lot of “therapy speak,” you may like this.
Profile Image for Tmstprc.
1,258 reviews156 followers
March 31, 2025
This popped up in one of my FB groups—definitely not a happy find.

The heavy and emotional undertones of the story are more geared to women’s fiction than romance. She has been emotional, physically and sexually abused since she was a child, he’s a broken widower. Both have been living a hook-up lifestyle—neither are happy. It’s depressing and sad and takes too long to get to their being in a relationship.

2 depressing stars
Profile Image for Dara.
842 reviews52 followers
February 15, 2025
A paean to therapy in the guise of a small-town romance between two people who I believe were the OW/OM in a previous book. Both are emotionally closed off and use sex in unhealthy ways.

She's learned since a far too young age that men value her looks and her willingness to have sex with them, but otherwise treat her like shit. (My heart seriously broke for her in the prologue

The hero is a widower whose wife died four years prior to to the start of the novel. He's been coping with the grief and loneliness by engaging in a series of brief sexual 'arrangements' that leave him feeling even more empty and guilty when they end. (His guilt is also

They have a rom-com meet cute in a coffee shop and feel an intense instant attraction. The hero's been pondering moving on and trying to find a real connection, while the heroine has decided not to engage in sex without a commitment to an exclusive relationship. It seems like they're both on the same wavelength until he (devastatingly) asks her for a no-strings FWB thing instead.

Cue a loooooong period apart in which both get some good therapy, and confront some things that have been holding them back emotionally. Yay therapy!

A bit overlong and very slow burn, but otherwise a sweet and cozy love story between two broken-but-working-on-it people.
179 reviews14 followers
November 5, 2024
4.5 stars. This was a really good book. Here is why I deducted .5 stars before I get into the review.

There were a few editing issues but one really bad one was the use of the wrong name when referring to someone. The worst being when Sarah finds Maria at Brian’s. Instead of Sarah the author uses Hannah the dead wife’s name. Example “their shoulders brushed and Hannah cried out….”
Hannah was used 3 times in that one paragraph when referring to Sarah when she was trying to leave. So .25 stars deducted. Second I loved the fact that an author had a couple not want kids. Just because you are a woman does not mean you want to be a parent. That being said in this story I felt like it did not fit. From the undertones of Maria’s therapy and Brian’s history I felt like they would be a couple that would want kids so for me that point did not fit them or their relationship.

Now as for the main story I really thought it was not only well done but real, honest, and heartbreaking at times. It was not just a love story it was a story about two people healing from trauma. We have seen flashes of Maria in previous books but here we really see her. Her life had been ugly and difficult growing up which lead her to some missed up decisions including some bullying on previous bullies of hers during high school. I loved her journey from using sex as a way to feel and to try and hold on to something that was not good for her to realizing her worth beautiful. She was devastated when Brian asked for a pure sex relationship but she took a stance and what a great thing to see. She owned up to her mistakes cut out her toxic best friend and was not going to settle.

Brian’s journey came from losing his wife. The grief was handled with sex with women and he finally felt ready to date when he met Maria. Then he was confused and felt guilty with SIL Sarah brought him letters written by his dead wife Hannah and he made a huge mistake with Maria in asking her for sex only. He had a lot of guilt to work through but just about wanting to move on but the sex with others so soon after she passed. His SIL Sarah was a nightmare and was always guilt tripping him about Hannah.

They both start therapy on their own each working on themselves. It was raw and honest.

Brian does get jealous when he meets someone Maria had been with sexually and he almost sleeps with the ex bestie but stops it when he sees Maria’s picture at her place. He stops hooking up and focused on himself. They slowly find themselves back towards each other and start to date. The SIL causes a scene and tries to break them up but they work through it. They both focused on communication.


Overall very well done but also honest, raw, and mature. I don’t mean mature as in age but mature in how they handled things. Brian almost made a knee jerk reaction from jealousy but ends up not. Which was honest and he was honest with her. I would recommend this book 100%
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for T Rojo.
751 reviews18 followers
Read
December 14, 2024
DNF this was way too jumbled for me.
Profile Image for Raffaella.
1,931 reviews280 followers
January 4, 2025
I didn’t like it as much as I expected.
There’s too much ow drama.
The heroine is ow in another book of this series, she’s the easy girl every guy wants to have sex with but no one would commit.
She’s now at a point in her life where she understands that using sex as a means to keep men and to gain affection is wrong.
She’s had a bad childhood with a neglecting mother who had dubious men around.
She was not only neglected but also molested, not raped but she learned to cope with situations that no child should.
She’s a strong woman now, with a successful hair stylist saloon and some real friends.
She decides to go to therapy and to give up sex until she finds herself a man who’s interested in a commitment.
The hero is a widower, and this is the real issue in the book because he really hasn’t moved on and never will.
He’s hung on his dead wife and wants only casual sex.
He is always going to lunch to his mother in law and his sister in law is interested in him and would like to replace his wife, and if she’s not able she is there reminding him of her time and again.
Not safe.
So when he meets charming heroine and he manages to have a date with her he offers a sex no strings relationship that she promptly refuses.
He has feelings for her that are not the usual he has for his previous lovers.
He tries to move on and almost has sex with her ex bff, that btw had sex with her ex boyfriend, so this is not good for him.
He stops, and nothing happens.
After that he decides to try again with her and goes to therapy, finally.
The sisters in law creates drama again.
In the end all is well.
Not for me.
What I liked.
- the heroine is mo virgin and no doormat. She doesn’t pine for him. She falls for him later.
- he’s the one who pursues her and who falls in love with her first.
- finally we have a story of a heroine who is not a loser. She’s a beautiful, sensual, confident woman, who has to overcome trauma and is able to become a new woman.
- they both go to therapy, and it takes a bit, which is very realistic and consistent.
What I didn’t like.
- the therapy sessions were a bit too detailed, it wasn’t necessary to know everything that happened during every session.
- too much ow drama. The dead wife was the third in the couple and imo she will always be. I can’t feel a real moment when he doesn’t remember his wife and is not moved by some feelings for her. It was too much. He was still crying for her four years later, to me it’s too much. Ok it happens but it left me a bad taste, because all he did in the end was compared with what he did with his first wife, thank god not the sex. There should have been a moment when he didn’t think about his late wife anymore, he was very young and he had decided to move on. It’s not that he should forget about her, but he should not feel emotional every time someone talked about her. If this is how things stand, he should have stayed alone. Maria deserved someone who put her first after all her life she wasn’t put first by anyone. She made a great change and she grew up to be an amazing young woman, I felt she deserved more.
Both were celibate after meeting even if the hero almost has sex with another woman, the heroines ex bff.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Meggi.
129 reviews4 followers
January 2, 2025
Possibly my favorite of the series

I’m not sure if there are more books planned for this series, but if this is the end, it was a fitting ending. I absolutely adore Maria. I always kind of felt bad for the way everyone used her. Simon was a jerk to her and that always sat poorly with me. I loved reading her story and I loved seeing her growth and seeing her start to respect herself and realize her worth.

Brian was intriguing and I enjoyed his grovel and his persistence with Maria. Sarah was an evil witch. I may dislike her more than Lissa and that is saying a lot. I kind of thought that she may be interested in Brian, but I’m glad Brian didn’t have to deal with that. The way Sarah manipulated his grief was truly evil, though. I’m glad he finally saw through her actions. I also loved the way he pursued and cherished Maria. She needed that. While he screwed up a lot, I love he’d seeing him work on himself as well as Maria and how he took her advice and got into therapy like her. I loved how healthy their relationship was because of that.

The only thing missing from this book was Lissa’s comeuppance. While I always kind of felt bad for the way everyone, including Lissa, treated Maria, I never felt any sympathy for Lissa. I did not wish her well for all the people she hurt. I think she did it all deliberately and in my head, I believe she ended up a drunk and alone. Her and Sarah, I did not wish well.

I was so looking forward to this conclusion after starting it on Wattpad and it did not disappoint. S.T. Moors is one of my favorite authors that I will always read and I can’t wait to see what comes next from her! I loved this book and series so much! I could not recommend it enough! It is definitely one I will revisit multiple times!
Profile Image for maryanne.
66 reviews5 followers
November 6, 2024
I discovered S.T Moors on Wattpad, Barron's Second Chance and Simon Says are two of my favourite re-reads.

Maria Undone is the third instalment in this series. We had glimpses of Maria in both prevous books and I must say, I wasn't a fan. She was Lissa's bff, a mean girl and, by her own admission both her and Lissa are total


Getting to know Maria in this book was literally one gut punch after another.


Her story is equal parts heartbreaking and uplifting - she changes her life even when the odds are stacked up against her.

I REALLY REALLY REALLLLLLLLY wanted to see what happened to Lissa longterm, that's the only reason I've taken a star off my rating... I want to SEE that karma dammit!!!!

Loads of ups and downs, my heart literally sank with all Maria has been through in her relatively young life.

Triggers: mentions of child neglect, abuse, attempted assault, attempted SA and bullying.

Thank you to S.T. Moors for the ARC - Love this series.... I am curious to see what happens to Lissa... can't see her being redeemable at all though.. so vile.

I don't want to post any spoilers as the twists are pretty epic, you deserve to be surprised!
59 reviews
January 10, 2025
OMG

I have loved this entire series, but Maria is definitely my favorite fmc! She went through so much trauma, made so many terrible decisions, and never gave up on her goals to be successful. I loved Brian at first, then, when he got mad about Maria sleeping with Logan, and felt that she had played him because he hadn’t gotten a piece of her yet, I have never been so furious with a fictional character in my life, lol!! I actually had to put the book down and take a break; that’s how emotionally invested I was in the characters! The break did no good, since I couldn’t get the story off my mind and couldn’t wait to resume and see what happened next, lol. Brian did redeem himself, and I was happy to see their HEA. I disliked Sarah from her first appearance and was not at all surprised that she turned out to be such a horrible person. I wish she’d had more of a consequence for her past behavior, but I loved that Brian chose and protected Maria. This book didn’t shy away from any heavy topics; abortion, child abuse, bullying, death, trauma, infertility struggles, therapy, and promiscuity. I devoured this book in one day (leaving my chores and studying unfinished, lol) because I couldn’t not know how it ended! The growth and development of both characters was beautiful, and sometimes painful, to watch, and I loved their journey. Keep these stories coming please!!!!!
154 reviews3 followers
January 3, 2025
I really loved the FMC and enjoyed reading her journey. Did feel the book focused a little too much on therapy and everything inbetween there wasn’t much interaction between the main characters until about 70% which is why I couldn’t really connect with their love. When the MMC said that she was “the love of his life” I just didn’t buy it. Why? How? More focus on their budding relationship and maybe less on their personal journey through therapy to find one another would have been good.

I also dislike when authors over explain things, this book didn’t need to be that long. There was like half a page of information on a side characters IVF journey and how she suffers from endometriosis, it didn’t really need to be shared and stuff like that happened a lot. Lots of repetition too.

I prefer when reading dead-spouse trope that you can tell the MMC really loves FMC and would chose her even if dead wife somehow came back. Didn’t feel that with Brain, too much love between him and dead wife. How kind she was, how pure their love was etc. not that every book couple needs to have a family but that petty part of me wanted Maria to be the one who gave Brain kids cos that’s something new he would have got to share with her that he never done with his ex-wife.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for mspepesilvia.
386 reviews
November 27, 2024
4.5 stars! I really enjoyed this one and you will too if you like angst and character growth. Read the trigger warnings beforehand.

I never thought that I would enjoy a book about "the OW" but S.T. Moors really gave Maria a very rich backstory and gave her the confidence to become a character to root for. Like others, I started the story on Wattpad and eagerly awaited updates so I was ecstatic to finally have a full ARC. I LOVED Simon Says and Maria is kind of "the OW" in that so I was really intrigued.

The interesting thing is that Brian is also kind of "the OM" in Simon Says and comes across as a typical "nice guy" but when seen through the perspective of Maria, he's actually a jerk! He messes up big time and has to grovel a bit before he can get a second chance with Maria. I love that S.T. Moors writes very imperfect characters. They make mistakes but put in the work to become redeemable.

I was very very frustrated with Brian at certain points, which is really the main reason it loses a half star. But I still highly recommend this! And definitely read Barron's Second Chance and Simon Says to get a full appreciation of this POV.
210 reviews4 followers
December 6, 2024
Ok Read

Some round about spoilers: This was just an ok read. This was a book more about the journey versus the romance. For me, the thought life was a bit too long and repetitive. I wish the two main characters had more scenes together. I felt the dialogue could have been more. Readers want to be drawn into the into action between characters, not a few words, then more thought life. I did not like how the author stepped away from Maria's boundaries and wanting to be wanted for her on a deeper level but when the first time she becomes intimate with him, the author turns the story to dirty sex like ahe gave all the other men. I was hoping it would have been, that first time, of a heart to heart. Profound intimacy she hadn't had before. I felt the author kept her in her past lane a little bit there. Also, even though, not every one has a child, that Maria would have healed enough and known she was a better person than ber mom.
Profile Image for EnemmaWatson .
32 reviews1 follower
November 27, 2024
this is my favorite of all her books so far. it was actually so refreshing to read about a FMC who saw both her own and the MMC’s red flags, did not put up with any mistreatment, and worked internally on herself.

maria and brian are such a realistic couple it’s nice to see. without spoiling anything, i was not a fan of maria in any of the previous books but she’s now my favorite bc the author just has a talent for redeeming the unredeemable. brian’s character development as a widow and letting go of his past and leaning into something new, was also really beautiful. he did some pretty good groveling and i’m a sucker for that.

the relationship development was well paced and the main characters had good chemistry.
hea was well earned. anyways this book was another slay i cant wait for the next💗💗
Profile Image for lu_betweenthecovers .
144 reviews1 follower
December 2, 2024
So, I started reading it on wattpad and I loved it. It's Maria and Brian's story from Simon Says and I was so happy to discover she also had a book coming. I loved Maria's character and who she was a round character, she changed so much fron the beginning and she became this strong willed, put together and beautiful version of herself. She made a huge effort to become a better and a healthy person, who was able to create healthy relationships, friendships and emotional connections. I really enjoyed reading about her journey towards her new self. It was really a wonderful character growth.
Brian on the other hand made me furious more than once. He also had a lot to unpack and even if it took a little bit to much, he also had this wonderful character growth.
I really enjoyed this book and loved the characters growth so much. I think it was well done and beautifully written.
33 reviews
December 3, 2024
Loved Maria and Brian's story!

So so good!!! This book touched subjects so close to me and I liked ved how the author handled sensitive moments and the important impact therapy brought to the characters.
Like Maria, I think many of us have wondered at least once "why not me?", "why am I not enough?", and boy are those harsh questions to work through! I loved how strong Maria grew and her character development through her self love and self discovery journey. I'm so proud of her!
Brian had his own journey to go through and his feelings and actions felt so real!
The book had funny moments too and the spice was top notch!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💕💕
Profile Image for Nicoline.
358 reviews
February 14, 2025
This book had so many words in it… ohhhhhh lord, were there a lot of unnecessary words. Like, this book could easily be cut in half without anything important to the plot being removed.

Look, I enjoyed the slow burn, and I appreciated the mental health and therapy representation… but it did not need to be this long. It just dragged and dragged and dragged.

So yeah, I ended up skipping/skimming the chapters that were heavily focused on side characters, like that annoying-ass Sarah character and Maria’s friend Linda, or the chapters that were heavily focused on their careers and work. It just wasn’t interesting to me, and I wanted to be done with this book already.
2 reviews
November 5, 2024
I had started reading this on Wattpad and was lucky enough to receive an arc for the rest of the book. I really enjoyed the storyline, a follow on with Maria a character from her previous books. Maria had lots of self esteem issues, chose the wrong men, childhood issues, but had a lovely heart. Brian is a still grieving widower which brought its own issues to the table, coupled with a troublesome SIL. I would definitely recommend this book to read, I had a year in my eye a few times and smiled a lot too. Maria is a strong woman…..
Profile Image for Nikki ღ Navareus.
1,060 reviews19 followers
April 11, 2025
I really enjoyed this entire story, even though it's kind of brutal and sad in many parts. I was happy that Maria finally refused to let men take advantage of her, and did what she needed to to feel good about herself again. It was awesome to experience her getting a really nice guy and the HEA she truly deserved.

ALSO, I wasn't a fan of Barron's Second Chance by S.T. Moors at all. I was amazed at how much better Maria's story was.
3 reviews
May 13, 2025
Maria and Brian

I enjoyed the book. My only complaint… and it seems so freaking small, but I’ve read both Barron and Eden and Sofia and Simons book, and I couldn’t get over the fact that in this book Lissa is working for Maria, but in Barron’s book, she had her own salon that she took over from her mom. It seems like such a small detail, but if you’re going to do books in order, at least have them match. Besides that it was awesome and I loved the character growth from both of them.
Profile Image for Gia Marie.
150 reviews3 followers
March 18, 2025
The intimately intwined relationships of every character in this book was overwhelming and a little off-putting.

I did like the character development of Maria and what’s his face (oh brother I just finished the book and I can’t remember his name), but as a whole I didn’t like the characters (literally didn’t like ANY of them).

I wouldn’t pick up another book of this interconnected series because truthfully, they all piss me off and I can’t pretend to be interested.
Profile Image for Yames Bond.
888 reviews14 followers
March 3, 2025
4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoy this author’s style. I loved the tropes and how much I liked Maria, who I thought was a girl I wouldn’t like.

Second best, OW drama with the cray cray sis-in-law, small town romance.. it was the perfect mix.

I also enjoyed getting updates of our favorite couples and I cannot wait for ST’s next story.
Profile Image for Libby.
419 reviews23 followers
July 7, 2025
Widowers are usually not my jam but I have read this one several times. The very first explanation for a grieving bed hopper I’ve seen presented that I found reasonable. I was happy for Maria when she sought help when she became dissatisfied with her life choices. Loved that the epilogue was an adult holiday and not a backyard bbq with all the previous characters and their dozens of offspring.
Profile Image for Samantha Thomas.
45 reviews
January 19, 2025
I enjoyed the story but just felt it was a little long at some points. Great personal growth with both characters and highlighted how useful therapy can be!

I did not read any of the previous books so no past knowledge of Maria as the OW.
980 reviews2 followers
July 1, 2025
4⭐️’s

“𝓨𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓶𝓮, 𝓜𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓪. 𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓼, 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓯𝓵𝓪𝔀𝓼, 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓲𝓻𝓮𝓼, 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶𝓼…𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶 𝓪𝓵𝓵."

Tropes:
❤️‍🩹Small Town
❤️‍🩹Slow Burn
❤️‍🩹Widower

⚠️Please check for triggers before proceeding to read⚠️
Profile Image for Wadzi.
37 reviews2 followers
December 23, 2024
Therapy in a book. Nah! I would give it 2.5 stars
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