Nothing in My Heart

by Peri Elizabeth Scott

Feeling trapped into marriage, Beckett Kilmer doesn’t hide his disdain for his young wife, although he certainly wants her physically. Grace didn’t deliberately trap the man she loves, but ignorance is no defense, neither in a court of law nor the law according to Beckett. When she loses their baby, he's kind and supportive but remains distant. Grace despairs, also trapped—but by the skeins of love that bind her. Mysteriously finding herself capable of resisting him, she plans to assert her independence when Beckett comes to his senses, recognizing his reprehensible behavior. He strives to make amends and convince Grace to reconsider. Still determined to leave, she then finds out she is pregnant again and he redoubles his efforts to repair their relationship. Can Grace find it within herself to forgive and trust him again?

Genres: Second Chance, Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Marriage Of Convenience, Marriage, Second Chance Romance

151 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 16, 2018

Reviews

[⚔Irunía⚔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unwanted Wife vibes and I liked them so much.
It was so endearing to see how it dawned on the hero that he was acting as an asshole to his sweet wife🥺
Short and sweet

[The Sassy Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read a good grovel book, and I heard this one had that in spades, and it DID. Although, I think the heroine should have kicked him in the balls once every day for the next ten years. Maybe then he would have paid enough for being such a douchecanoe. At least he was faithful!

[Nikki ღ Navareus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was kind of torn on this one. The writing was tight, the storytelling was great, and I absolutely love this author's gift of writing angst.

There were so many similarities in this story to The Unwanted Wife (one of my all time faves), that distracted me from this story.

In both stories, the heroes were forced by the heroine's father, to marry the heroine. Leaving the hero pissed off and taking it out on the heroine, treating her terribly during the marriage.

In both stories, the heroines were neglected and had their self esteem stripped from them by their uncaring, manipulative and controlling fathers.

In both stories, the heroes often go out on the town publicly with other gorgeous women, and get their pictures in all the glamor mags with these other model-like women through the marriage. Rubbing the heroine's nose in the fact that he's not being faithful to the heroine (even though he really is).

In both stories the heroines lose their first babies during their marriage, and then right when they ask for divorces, the heroines find out they are inconveniently pregnant again.

And in both stories, the heroes finally pull their heads out once they realize they have lost their wives, and finally start treating the heroines incredibly wonderful like they should have in the beginning.


Where The Unwanted Wife's ending felt totally complete, the ending to this story felt a little abrupt, but there was a satisfying amount of grovel by Beckett leading up to the ending. I still love this author and still love her writing. Like I mentioned above, this author has an amazing gift of writing angsty stories. The Tattered Bride is an incredible read and another of my all time favorite stories, so I'm not giving up on her. In fact, I have a handful of her other stories downloaded and I'm diving into them next. This story had all the elements I love in an angsty read, and would have been a solid 4 stars (probably more) if I didn't feel like I had read so many aspects in this one before.

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard about this on a Facebook chat about the difference between plagiarism and derivative stories. This was brought up in the the context of The Unwanted Wife. Yes, it is VERY much like The Unwanted Wife, but for me stands well on its own. In part, because while the H in this one is a thick-headed H just like the one TUW, he’s a much more charming rascally jackass. But I hated the hero in the other one.

Familiar story with the H and h in a paternally approved marriage. In this one, the H was a previous manwhore who put his skills to seducing the virginal heroine. She gets pregnant, they have to get married (see bad Dad’s - in this one both Dad’s are interfering poops), and then she miscarries. They’ve been having awesome if unemotional sex since. Now she is done with being unappreciated and unloved by everybody. When I say done, I mean DONE! She’s done about the time that the rascal wakes up to the fact he may not be all that.

What I liked.
We get the hero’s point of view of his bad behavior and his shame over it. He never cheated, but he did parade around with some models because he is head of the clothing line for the company. Unfortunately, the H has all the personality in this one, and the heroine is a little, I hate to say it, boring. She’s more than a little shutdown so whatever, but he does the heavy lifting.

Their respective best friends are well done, but not enough about them.

The heroine is more than a little skeptical over the hero's change of heart, and makes him work like a dog.

What I did not like:
As mentioned above, we needed more about the friends as they actually acted like best friends in their limited page time.

The h’s dad got off far too easily. Somehow Peri Elizabeth Scott should have found way to stake him to an ant hill.

The abrupt ending. A.B.R.U.P.T!!! Kaboom and done.

I am stingy with my four stars, but this is one I would have given 4 stars with a little more to it.

[Paula (on hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went in thinking that this would be yet another one that I would easily DNF but surprisingly it was written very well and I loved the characters. Not so much the Hero at first because he really was a douchbag for the way he treated the heroine (at least he didn't cheat), but he ended up redeeming himself and I loved his groveling. One of the things I loved about this is that this was one very strong & defiant heroine! She had backbone and the cahootas to stand up for herself and say enough is enough! I LOVED that about her and that is what I want to read in my romances - not clingy, insecure, doormat heroines who are ruled by hormones!

Safety Note: Hero who is married to heroine, ends up taking other women to business functions but he doesn't have sex with them, so while he doesn't actually cheat in the physical sense, the fact that he did that had me wanting to punch out his balls on behalf of the heroine...

Favorite Line: "I can't promise not to hurt you again, Grace. I'm a guy and stupid at times. But I'll never deliberately treat you badly again. And I won't allow anyone else to either. I'm in for the long haul.

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 3 out of 5]

As commonly accepted, this book is similar to/inspired by The Unwanted Wife.

But I found it be a much paler version of that one.
For one, the angst is heartbreaking in that one.
The H is nicer here but that one groveled long and hard.
So, also comes to the fact that the TUW h was unforgiving for much longer.
This marriage is a shotgun one and the H thought she trapped him while in TUW the marriage is forced on the H.

A miscarriage happens in both and the H is temporarily nice before resorting back to form.
There's forgiveness and bonding over the second pregnancy in both. As are her newly fangled career/business interests.

This H does not cheat but in TUW, the cheating status is fuzzy despite the H's denials. And had an actual ow hovering in the bg -a woman he loved and wished to marry.
Funnily, the h's spine and divorce epiphany comes during the opening (cold, mechanical) sex scene in both the books.

[Debbie "Buried in Her TBR Pile" · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Ok - this was definitely The Unwanted Wife. However, the author did make this different in many ways. In TUW, Sandro was seen through Theresa's eyes - his words and behavior. I could also pick out multiple scenes from various HPs that I've read and loved/hated throughout the years that Anders used in TUW. In NIMH, we are given Beck's POV and most of the time, we see Grace (words and behavior) through his filter. I kept thinking it should have been a little longer to give the reader some time in their meeting/courtship and the early days of their marriage. NIMH is almost a retelling (like fairytales) of TUW. The author did a good job with dialogue. While I kept comparing to TUW, I did like this one. I will try another one by this author.

Thanks to Nikki for the loan!

[Pinky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trigger Warnings: Miscarriage, Neglect of family, emotional abuse, loss of loved one

So I really wanted something similar to The Unwanted Wife. If you know me, you know that I have been obsessing over this book since the day I read it and it has started my love for grovelling. Nothing tops that book when it comes to grovelling and I got so desperate I decided to read this. This wasn’t horrible, I avoided it because the rating was so low, it was oddly similar to The Unwanted Wife. It wasn’t just small bits and pieces, but so many similarities. This review is gonna contain spoilers for both The Unwanted Wife and this book, so I recommend you avoid reading past the spoiler section if you haven’t read either book. But what I can tell you, is that I really liked the writing style in this compared to The Unwanted Wife. The Unwanted Wife had a lot of exclamation marks that didn’t bother me when I first read it, but as I reread the book I find Theresa and Sandro to be very immature. It’s really cringey reading lines with exclamation marks since I just imagine them screaming and stuff. But The Unwanted Wife had me crying from the start, I felt so many things for Theresa and I was also rooting for Sandro even though he was stupid. Whereas with this, it hurt to see what Grace went through but I wasn’t crying and invested, even if I was rooting for her. In The Unwanted Wife, Sandro and Theresa have to give Theresa’s dad an heir. For what? I dunno bro, there was some bullshit excuse. For this, they needed to have a child to unite the businesses of both fathers. Surely a contract and a partnership can do that just fine right? Like, come on bruh. Anyway, Imma get into spoilers soon.


So this book focuses on a broken marriage between Beckett and Grace. Grace wakes up one day and doesn’t wanna do it anymore. She’s been neglected and alone her whole life and she is no longer here for it. Beckett used to love her but after a misunderstanding, he can’t trust Grace anymore. The book focuses on the struggle and pain of both Grace and Beckett, as one tries to save their marriage while the other tries to end it.


Also, I fell asleep while reading their sex scenes.


Now for spoilers


Okay to start off, I really felt for Grace, I loved the girl and I felt bad for her. She went through so much shit, she was done and just couldn’t deal with the horrible treatment any longer. The fact that Beckett treated Grace like shit because she got pregnant was so fucking stupid. You’re telling me that you wanted to go in bare and was angry she got pregnant because she said she was on birth control? Look I get that you’re pissed but when it comes to sex protection little Becky Boi, both parties are responsible. Sometimes birth control doesn’t work, does that mean it’s the girl’s fault? Hell no. I wanted to smack him, the audacity to sit there whining and feeling bad for himself was just stupid. And we find out it’s because the girl’s dad told Becky Boi that she didn’t take birth control. Another stupid explanation, why the hell would you believe the girl’s father on how she has her birth control? It was honestly so stupid and didn’t make any sense. In The Unwanted Wife, I understood why Sandro was upset. He was upset because he thought Theresa took advantage of her crush on Sandro and when her dad wanted to squeeze money outta Sandro’s family, Theresa willingly agreed to the scheme. Whereas here, the whole conflict is because Beckett didn’t believe Grace took birth control when she said she did and got pissed that she was pregnant. And he unwillingly married her because of her pregnancy. And after the miscarriage, he was locked into the marriage and his family expected a child to pull through. Whereas Sando married Theresa for the vineyard and he had to get her pregnant in order to produce an heir for the father, which again is so bizarre.


The similarities and differences were interesting between both books:

The Similarities
- Sandro and Beckett are both pissed with Theresa and Grace because they believe in a misunderstanding.

- The book starts off with Grace and Theresa asking Sandro and Beckett for a divorce, though Grace already talked to lawyers.

- Both Theresa and Grace are virgins when Sandro and Beckett have them.

- Both Grace and Theresa have a miscarriage near the beginning of their marriage.

- Their parents want them to have kids.

- Grace and Theresa poured their love for Beckett and Sandro but gave up after being neglected. Grace used to make meals but stopped and didn’t eat well because Beckett and Theresa didn’t eat well hoping that Sandro would care one day but he never did until later. They both look for housework to distract themselves from issues.

- Both marriages have been for over a year.

- Both Theresa and Grace don’t have solid money of their own and are planning on working to earn enough.

- Sandro and Beckett continue to get photographed by the public with other women with them, they are not home as often and only spend time with Theresa and Grace when they’re eating or sleeping. Mainly sleeping since they go home for sex. Beckett spends more time out though whereas Sandro leaves for Italy a lot.

- Both Theresa and Grace cut their hair short and get a new look

- Both Grace and Theresa lost their moms because their dads made their lives unbearable

- Grace and Theresa both work on projects, Theresa works on jewelry whereas Grace works on maternity clothes. Both of them get help from Sandro and Beckett and make it their job and sell their stuff or are going to sell their stuff.

- Theresa and Grace find out they’re pregnant right when they decide they wanna end their marriage

- Sandro and Beckett grovel in order to prove to Theresa and Grace that they wanna be with them


The Differences
- You get to see Beckett’s POV in this and see how much he regrets his actions. We don’t get to see Sandro’s POV in The Unwanted Wife but you can tell he regrets everything and is trying hard to make things work.

- Beckett and Grace originally dated and had sweet moments before the marriage. Sandro and Theresa didn’t know one another well and only had one positive encounter where Sandro was in awe of Theresa as she was with him

- Sandro believed that Theresa was in on her dad’s scheme of greed and was desperate to have him and went along with it. Beckett thought Grace was lying about birth control pills since she wanted to get pregnant and have him. Both men are arrogant assholes, Beckett is sweeter than Sandro though.

- Beckett continues to persist in sharing a bed with Grace and even hugs her at points. He doesn’t manipulate Grace with sex, even when they were both clearly horny at one point. He does try to seduce her but he doesn’t push her for sex until she gave the okay. Sandro manipulates Theresa with sex and he doesn’t persist in sharing beds after one night.

- When Theresa had her miscarriage, both Sandro and her dealt with it on their own. Sandro uses Theresa’s miscarriage as a way to hurt her in an argument by saying she isn’t capable of even getting pregnant properly, which results in her hating him and hitting him and he apologizes instantly. Whereas Beckett was there for Grace on the night of the miscarriage and was super sweet but turned back to being cold once they got home.

- Theresa has her cousins Lisa and Rick while Grace only has her friend Charity.

- Beckett was involved with other women because he wanted to use the girls as marketing for his clothing line and he didn’t wanna bother Grace with it (bullshit excuse). Sandro just wanted to piss Theresa’s dad off so he brought other women but they both didn’t sleep with ow.

- Beckett's parents were into the marriage and baby-making whereas Sandro's whole family hated Theresa at first since they thought she was in on her dad's plan.

- Sandro has another girl he loved and was thinking of going back to her, Theresa finds this out and it adds to her doubts.

- Sandro struggles to communicate with Theresa and Theresa misunderstands a lot of what Sandro is tryna say. Theresa doesn’t forgive Sandro easily and has to give in every time. Beckett makes his feelings clear and says everything properly, Grace doubts him but she is more mature and forgiving, making the book less dramatic.

- Sandro continues to tell Theresa he wants to be involved in the pregnancy but he isn’t fully dedicated. He was gonna miss an appointment cuz of work and was even planning on going to Italy. Even when Theresa was nearing her pregnancy due date, Sandro went to Italy for his father’s funeral and stays there for a literal month. He stopped calling often because Theresa would become distant. He did keep in contact with the housekeeper but still. Beckett never left the house and if he did, it was very infrequent. He tried to stay home and be by Grace’s side constantly. He checked up on her and was involved with everything Grace had going on.

- There are a lot of time jumps and separations in The Unwanted Wife but with Nothing in My Heart, there aren’t many and the characters are never separated.

- Sandro cared if the gender was boy or girl because of the contractual agreement he had with Theresa’s dad, whereas Beckett just needed to have any baby with Grace in order to satisfy their parents.

- Beckett and Grace’s book ends abruptly, right when the child is born whereas Theresa and Sandro have an epilogue, a second marriage and a more conclusive ending.


I’m probably missing some but you get the gist. The books are very similar but some details are different. I found it stupid how one night, Beckett can suddenly sense that something is different about Grace and talks to his friend. And then his friend is like yea, I noticed this for like a year but didn’t say anything because I knew you wouldn’t listen. It was just stupid, like why a year? And the fact that Beckett knew that Grace was crying into her pillow every night is just messed like what the hell. Especially cuz this was the girl he actually liked, he was being some pouty child because she got pregnant. I loved how Grace just went straight to the lawyer’s office without even talking to Beckett because she’s like fuck it, I’m done.


It was interesting seeing Beckett’s perspective, I know a lot of people would have liked to see Sandro’s perspective in The Unwanted Wife but I personally liked it the way it was. I liked how with Beckett, he can see Grace trying not to cry/crying and it hurts him and he feels ashamed. I also loved that he got straight to work the second he realized he was wrong. He said the right things and wasn’t too toxic so I was rooting for him but I wasn’t as invested in the story as I was with The Unwanted Wife. It was interesting to see the friend meetups and stuff, it was cute. I also loved that Charity was willing to move in with Grace and how Beckett said he would help her with that but not with the divorce. I really loved that Beckett was a lot sweeter and understanding. I didn’t like that he brought their dads into it but I could tell he was desperate. I also loved that he didn’t manipulate Grace with sex, even when they woke up pressed against each other. And even though his reasoning for having women with him when he was photographed was stupid, it made more sense. But the fact that he was rarely home and was with other women most of the time kinda had me sus still. I also liked how supportive the doctor was in this book, he was just really sweet. I shipped Charity and Beckett’s friend, I honestly already forgot the names of characters, I even forgot Grace’s name, which shows this isn’t one that’ll stick with me. But it was nice to see Beckett go all in for Grace, even though Grace doubted him, she noticed a change in him. And with Theresa, it was the same for her but her doubts continued because Sandro kept giving her mixed signals by going to Italy or her overhearing his conversations about Francesca (to her father and to his sister). I still adore The Unwanted Wife but it felt like this book took all of the criticism readers had for The Unwanted Wife, and changed it in this to make it better. In the end, it just seemed way too similar and which didn’t make it feel like it was original.



I liked that this book was super short and it did help me pass time. I was constantly interrupted while reading this and was usually tired after a long day which also might be the reason why I fell asleep reading half the time but yea. That is all, stay safe folks!

[Mairi Swan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short novel with a neglected wife and a husband that had an epiphany simultaneously with his wife asking for a divorce. It had good grovel and I liked that the wife got a backbone but I expected more. The end felt quite rushed and I believe if there wasn't a pregnancy she would have made him grovel more

[Cheesecake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reread this yesterday and it was just the angsty yet fluffy combo I needed.

......................................
As other reviewers have pointed out, this is a near clone of Natasha Ander's "The Unwanted Wife".
I didn't mind and still enjoyed it.
It isn't as good as The Unwanted Wife, but it is also a bit less angsty or 'softer'. So it was different enough that I enjoyed it.

Beckett's ill treatment of his wife lasts less than a year unlike the other book that was 1.5 years. And yet I found his excuses less understandable. He was basically taking a long whinge.
Still it was a cute fluffy read and I wasn't expecting anything deep anyways.

Safety is good like the other book, he goes out to events with models but never sleeps with them. She was a virgin.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. Deja vu all over again!

I found myself anticipating what scenes were coming up next - not a good sign in an "original" work. I did like the angst, so three stars it is.

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I hated the H at first but he quickly changed. This entire book is a grovel. He did it so well, I got annoyed with the h for a few pages because she was still pushing him away. I am so glad he never slept with anyone else and I really liked his friend Karim and I am glad he brought the guy to his senses. I wonder if there is a book about him an Charity. The ending was wonderful and I would definitely recommend this book. I didn't really cover the plot but I will later.

[♡Tonya♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 "It needed an epilogue" stars....

This story had a lot of potential to have a high rating from me. However, I will never be ok with a married hero taking other women out to events while he treats his wife horrid. Beckett found the error of his ways but it felt like it was too late. He did grovel tremendously which helped a bit.

-no ow/om drama in the story but he took models and other women to events instead of his wife which brought this down a lot for me
-no violence of any nature
-lots of pushing away
-no epilogue which was another reason for a lower rating- I NEED an epilogue in my stories

[Lu Bielefeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ⭐⭐⭐ - OK decent reads.
======================

And whatever colored her thoughts, it would make no difference to their relationship. She didn’t have the spunk, nothing to force him to deviate from the path directed by bitterness and resentment.

“You are continually photographed in public with beautiful women on your arm. Women who aren’t your wife.” Beckett shook his head. “Smoke and mirrors, Kamil.” “As you say.”

The number of dinners she’d prepared, only to learn he hadn’t planned to eat them, coming home to change and leave again. To take other women out. The callous disregard by the two men in her life had been her lot, but that was all in the past. Something had changed deep inside of her and she welcomed it with a fierceness she’d never experienced.

Willing back the images of all those beautiful models she’d seen with Becket on the ’Net and in magazines, she studied herself. She’d never measure up, but she looked okay.

She’d clearly stopped cooking when he ignored the meals.

Facing her friend, she said, “He’s never home because he works long hours and then dates other women.” Charity didn’t look surprised and Grace—flinched. “Did you know that, Charity?” “Honey, I’d have to be blind not to know it.

That’s because he rebuffed every effort I made to connect with him, talk with him, anything. And when I persisted… He’s so skilled with words. Like my father. No lectures, just abrupt, derogatory comments that cut me off at the knees. Dismissed.” It was true that people you loved had the ultimate power to wound.

“The worthless me.” “Are you kidding?” Her friend somehow shouted in a whisper. “Are you saying he … that he set out to deliberately make you feel worthless?”

“Lord, Grace. You’re lucky you didn’t end up with a disease as well as a baby.”

“I think I reached my saturation point, however it came about and despite how long it took. The final straw, whatever.”

Though the recent picture of the sparkling brunette on his arm, the one gazing up at him like he’d hung the moon and the stars, had really shaken her. They’d been photographed together a number of times and Grace wondered if this woman would be the one he’d throw her over to pursue.

“Nothing.” “And he’s screwing around?” Incredulity and concern laced her friend’s tone. “I asked him to use a condom and he … well, he was convincing against it.” She couldn’t force herself to confront him with all the other women. Pride before a fall. So stupid. 

[vee · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2.5) dnf @ 70%

lemme start this off by saying, this book wasn’t bad at all. it was well written & all that, but just way too similar to The Unwanted Wife. I mean, i loved that one, and i’ve been looking for smth that has similar tone w/ it, the angst especially. but not the literal story. u get? it felt like reading the same story over & over again, which kinda got boring.

and by same tone i mean for example : reading this book made me feel the same way i felt when i read this book (personally for me). their stories are different but they both had asshole heroes, satisfying as all hell groveling, loads of angst and managed to gripped me from start to finish.

[Izzie d · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. 💓💞💕
Reconciliation of a marriage is one of my favourite genres along with a Hero who behaves badly and has to work for redemption.

Grace and Beck are already married when this book starts and Grace, almost at the beginning decides to stop being a doormat and develops a backbone. Much to Beck's shock.
I really liked that it starts at this point as although I like the Hero seeing the error of his ways troupe, it can be painful to read all the ways he hurts her before he changes.
This is done in retrospect. We start at the point where the Hero realises he may have made mistakes and the heroine has decided she's had enough.
Grace developing a backbone is amazing, she stays strong and really lets him have it.
One of Beck's faults is his arrogance and I loved that though he tries to fix things his arrogance is still there which leads to him making mistakes and I thought the fact he doesn't have a personality transplant was really good.
I found the explanations for their situation and misunderstandings realistic and at times quite heartbreaking.
It is told so you get both POV.
It's well written and an excellent story.

There is the elusion of cheating, there are no intimate scenes with o/w or o/m and no actual physical cheating though he spends time with other women for business events and the heroine believes he is unfaithful.

💔💕💓

[Lacey (laceybooklovers) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5! It's like a lesser The Unwanted Wife but it still delivered with the grovel so I'm happy.

[Jac K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve had this on my list since I saw an online discussion saying the author plagiarized it from The Unwanted Wife … I was intrigued.... I love to read, but bore easily, so I’m drawn to books that enrage my fellow readers enough to rant. So, let’s address that first, both of these books fit solidly in the “Arranged marriage with angry resentful hero” trope. N.A. didn’t invent this genre; it’s been around for decades; you can find similar themes in many regencies and Harlequins. I personally find this one more similar to Separate Beds. (forced to marry due to pregnancy) *If you love TUW, you could try The Unfaithful Wife or The Greek's Forgotten Wife… both are blackmailed to marry…. moving on…

I liked this one; it wasn’t very long, and it held my interest. Famous designer Beckett Kilmer (26) knocked up Grace Langdon (19), and their fathers force them to marry. He is bitter and pissed, and goes out of his way to ignore his young wife… except for nightly sexytime. The book starts with Grace deciding to give up, and ask for a divorce…meanwhile… Beckett is deciding to make a go at a real marriage. Beckett is no Sandro; he’s a much nicer asshole. All the “mean stuff” happens prior to the book starting, so other than a few pretty tame reflections…he’s a nice guy. It isn’t a heavy emotional read, but there is plenty of groveling. Not a lot of angst; he doesn’t cheat, and she doesn’t punish him the entire book. My only complaint is that it needed an epilogue.

Bottom line- This one is safe for everyone. It’s a bit vanilla, but kept me invested-no skimming. It’s free to read on Scribd.

[Shaikha]

Dnf @44% wayyyyyy too many similarities between this book and The Unwanted Wife by Natasha Anders. The author didn’t understand the assignment 😃

[Beeg Panda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A watered down version of The Perfect Sinner by Penny Jordan.
The H, Max, in that 👆🏽book was a true walking talking gaslighting piece of trash who only changed because he had a personality 360 knocked into him (literally - he was KO’d by a bunch of hooligans) and had a hallefuckingluja.

This hero here, Beck, was simply a pouting man child until the end of the first chapter. No long winded clumsily written flashbacks. Rather, we get to hear about his previous state of assholishness throughout the book.

Then he grovelled.
And grovelled.
And grovelled.
He redeemed himself quite satisfyingly but not before our heroine, Grace, makes him work for it. And boy, does she dig her heels in; she’s very genteel about it, though. Mostly living up to her name.


So my low rating of 3 stars is a “me not you” situation because it’s supposed to work for me, but doesn’t AT THE MOMENT. When I’m in the right frame of mind perhaps it’ll be a 4 star. 🤷‍♀️
Everything I want in a hero and heroine is there, but it’s still lacking somehow.

The angst is more me having a harder time coming to terms with my apathy for the book than the book itself.
Perhaps because I’m finding the atmosphere of the read too similar to historical romance? And the writing, for the most part, to be a “language of the past” kind of style? But then again the author’s words are so well put together in other places. Brilliantly so.
Ugh
I just don’t know

[Juniper · Rating 4 out of 5]

‼️SPOILERS‼️SPOILERS‼️SPOILERS‼️

Safety Info: I consider this safe. H was a manwhore before meeting the h but hasn’t been with anyone since. h was a virgin. No OW/OM drama. Assumed cheating but it wasn’t true.

Hero: Beckett, 26 yrs old, CEO of his family’s fashion company

Heroine: Grace, 20 yrs old, Housewife/Fashion Designer

OW Drama: Not really. Beckett is photographed with women that he takes to events and Grace assumes he has cheated with them but he has not. He hasn’t done anything with the women but it’s hurtful to Grace.

OM Drama: None

3rd Act Breakup/Separation: No physical separation but Grace pulls away and shuts him out emotionally.

HEA/Epilogue: HEA with the birth of their son. No Epilogue but I felt satisfied with the ending.

My Thoughts: This book was recommended to me as something similar to The Unwanted Wife by Natasha Anders. I definitely see the comparison though I would call this a lighter version. We don’t get to see the majority of Beckett treating Grace badly so it’s not quite as intense. I think I prefer this over The Unwanted Wife as it has dual POV and I much prefer to be in both MC’s minds.

Beckett was definitely a bastard to Grace for the first year of their marriage and I didn’t want her to forgive him. He did redeem himself enough to satisfy me in the end though. His saving grace was that he never cheated even though he took some models to events instead of Grace. I hated him for that.

I liked Grace. She had a backbone for a good part of the story and really made Beckett sweat. I kind of wish the book had been a little longer and she had gone a little further with pushing him away, like actually moving out of the house, but she definitely wasn’t a pushover once she made up her mind that she was done with him. I also wish she had maybe gotten some attention from OM that Beckett had to contend with as retribution for being photographed with OW.

The spice was decent enough, nothing too descriptive but in such a short story that’s ok with me. I’m glad it wasn’t filled with them having sex to fix their issues. Grace only gave in once she was ready to forgive him and stay in the marriage.

Grace’s father was an asshole and it pissed me off when Beckett seemed to push her towards reconciliation with him at one point, but he also stood by her in whatever she chose to do.

Their best friends, Kalim and Charity had a little side story with them hooking up. Kalim caught feelings but Charity sent him on his way which was a little karma for him being such a manwhore. I thought maybe there would be a book on their story but it doesn’t seem so. It was kind of a weird and unnecessary piece that didn’t really go anywhere and didn’t matter to the story.

Overall I really enjoyed it and would recommend if you’re looking for something a little angsty but not totally heartbreaking.

Page Length: 141

POV: Dual first person

Purchased Kindle Edition for $3.99

[Corandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Demasiado parecida a The Unwanted Wife de Natasha Anders. Podría haber sido una muy buena historia

[Bookish.Midnight. and. black · Rating 3 out of 5]

HEA, Marriage rising from ashes
This could have been amazing, but it wasn't. It seemed dull and I had trouble trusting the hero, when he changed overnight, from a dou**he to a cute and sensible guy. The heroine was like a little mouse for 13 months *yeah, 13 months* but also, overnight, she decides to take a step forward and she asks for a divorce.

[t malik · Rating 2 out of 5]

the way i wanted to smack myself for reading this because the guy was the trashiest thing ever. it was nice when he realized what he did but he annoyed me so much.

[chaity · Rating 2 out of 5]

Major wattpad vibe.

[Serial Romance Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** Book Q & A***

* How did the book make you feel?: I enjoyed this angsty read!
* How do you feel about how the story was told?: As others have pointed out, this story is so similar to TUW, it can’t be a coincidence, but it was still good. Things like TUW: It started with the MC’s having sex and the h realizing she was done, the H is seen publicly with OW, the h’s father uses her as a pawn, they suffered a miscarriage, the H knows nothing about the h, the h gets a makeover, she gets pregnant again, the H realizes his wife was innocent of deception and he must grovel, etc.
* What did you think about the main characters?: The h was a fairy-like person who always forgets to eat (I wish I did that) and she was rather pathetic IMO. The H was very macho, but at least he was capable of feeling guilt and showing remorse.
* Which parts of the book stood out to you?: I enjoyed the groveling. Wasn’t as good as Sandro’s groveling, but it was good.
* What themes/tropes did you detect in the story?: unwanted wife, h accused of deception
* What did you think about the ending?: It was predictable, but good
* What is your impression of the author?: I enjoy this author. Free on Scribd!



Triggers: miscarriage

[reeder (reviews) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book specifically because the synopsis reminded me of Natasha Anders' The Unwanted Wife, which in turn is an homage to the 1990s HPs by authors like Lynne Graham and Jacqueline Baird.

Nope.

Nothing in My Heart falls short of the angst classics for the simple reason that the hero is a jerk. Yes, he mistreats the heroine, but that's not why he's a jerk. He's a jerk because of his motivation to mistreat the heroine: he blames her for getting pregnant, which in turn obliged them to get married. It. Takes. Two. Even though he thinks she was lying about being on birth control, that does not excuse the guy who didn't use a condom. Dude, you have some personal responsibility here. He comes off as immature and undesirable.

Anyway, his anger at being forced into marriage leads him to ignore his wife (except for sex) and hang out with models (because fashion is his business) until our spitfire doormat can't take it anymore and decides to seek a divorce at the exact same moment that her louse of a husband decides to turn this marriage around and start treating her right. Send in the clowns.

His motivation for treating her badly in the first place is weak. His motivation for changing is non-existent. And to make the angst that much more limp and unaffecting, the author softens the history of abuse by informing us the hero was kind to the heroine when she miscarried the first baby (which makes little sense, if he's nursing that "you deliberately got pregnant to trap me" grudge) AND by stating that the whole pseudo-OW models thing was him trying to relieve the heroine of the burden of attending work functions, which he knew she hated, but he had to go and he had to have arm candy. This waffly behavior from the off-page past doesn't really match the clear line of demarcation the book establishes between "treats her like a jerk" and "ready to change now." (I'm sure there are very good romances where the hero treats the heroine coldly for some imagined wrong while simultaneously doting on her because he is hopelessly in love. That sounds like my booknip. This is not one of those books.)

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread 10/19/24. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My reading experience is heavily shaped by my mood, outlook, vibe…

Because my first review of this book was 2⭐️, I’m going to hazard a guess that my whole vibe in 2019 was almost certainly Cranky Perimenopausal. 😂

I enjoyed the reread! I would have loved a bit more time with the rebuilding phase of their marriage, but we can’t have everything.

[Skt · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is definitely copied from The Unwanted Wife. Character are not well defined. No depth in plot. Most conversations in this book are so inconclusive & sometimes superfluous. I will suggest don't waste your time.

[Izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very similar to The Unwanted Wife but if you liked that book, you will like this. It had everything— Angst, forced marriage, jerk hero who misunderstood everything, the awful villanous fathers, and the sweet heroine.

Perfect for a fun read on a lazy day!
4⭐️