SAVE THE DATE is a part of the Square Mills Rogues universe but can easily be read as a standalone. Neither Oliver or Peter really want to participate in a reality matchmaking show, but somehow they find themselves trying to remake themselves and find that their imperfect match may be just perfect.
From the blurb:
Peter Felton
If there was a meme for being a total cliché?
That would be me.
It wouldn’t even need a description, just a pathetic snapshot of me in my threadbare pyjamas, standing at my filthy kitchen table, staring into the wall like a loser.
Because that is exactly who I was. The middle-aged widower caught up in his very own hell of a midlife crisis. The guy who wasn’t over his dead wife. The single dad. Pathetic, Peter. Utterly pathetic.
The guy who thought… I didn’t know what I’d been thinking. Because if someone had told me that at forty-five, I’d willingly go on a reality-TV dating show?
Yeah. You get the picture. The memes were brutal. Every single one of them was bouncing around the internet like a contagious super virus. The internet was forever. And so was love.
It wasn’t not who I was, this…this joke of a man I’d become. It never was, and now? Now I was standing here wondering how I would ever leave the house again.
Oliver Jacobs
When I was a kid, I thought I was invincible. Turns out…sometimes I was. Sometimes my confidence took me places, and anyway. When I fell? I got up. Made a plan, organised my options and ran with the obvious solution. I was good like that.
But I hadn’t counted on…this one plan going so very, very wrong. So terribly, awfully wrong.
Because my requests were simple and easy. Youngish, around my age. No facial hair. Nice. No kids, no baggage.
Also gay.
And then? They gifted me…Peter Fenton. Everything I hadn’t asked for. And now he is all I want.
So…should I save the date? Or just swallow down the fact that Oliver Jacobs…just made the biggest mistake of his life.
Save the Date is a standalone novel set in the Square Mile Rogues universe. Content warnings for death of a partner, violent grief and finding out that love…really matters.
SNik's review:
Fourth in series (Square Mile Rogues), but can be read as a standalone. Widower single dad. Arranged reality TV show relationship. Age gap. Only one bed. Found family. Very slow burn. Mostly dual POV, some secondary POV. Heed content warnings.
A reality show that matches Peter, a widowed dentist with two grown sons, and Oliver, a younger gifted finance manager with a drug problem. The chaos and stressful environment of being filmed for a TV series was hard to read at times, under the pressure cooker Oliver and Peter become close comrades quickly as they struggle though together.
There is a lot of the storyline that doesn’t get revealed until much later in the story and I did struggle at times to see any kind of romantic connection for the first part of the book. However, this author always comes through with flawed characters that are struggling but fight for their happiness and a chance with their special person. Overall, an entertaining story with two broken men finding love and support as they settle into an HEA with some very supportive secondary characters.
P.S. I wasn’t sure how the parallel side romance connected to the main story, but it comes full circle in a really sweet way, and I enjoyed George and his best friend figuring out their own HEA.
Molly Otto's review:
Two complex individuals getting their chance at something real with the help of reality TV of all things. Peter, a widower with two grown children is paired with Oliver, a younger finance manager with a drug problem, in an arranged reality TV relationship. These two both have a lot of demons that need to be conquered before either should or even could enter a healthy relationship. Both men grow and learn to lean on the other in this beautifully messy slow burn romance. Will not lie, wasn’t sure how these two could work as a couple, didn’t feel their energy together, but Sophia does what Sophia does and proves why they are so right for one another. The interactions with Peter's children show how great of a man he is even when he was lost in his depression of losing his spouse. Sophia is one of those authors who just knows how to write beautifully broken men and fully immerse into their lives, showing us as readers how dedicated they are as an author to make this the most authentic story they can write. Yes, this isn’t a fluffy romance by any means but it is worthwhile reading.
Save the Date is currently available as an e-book, hardcover and paperback and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription
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