seriously romantic: trophy wife by noelle adams

when allison davies collins decides that she's had enough of being a trophy wife, she totally goes for it. she leaves her older, rich husband behind and only takes the clothes on her back and a few personal items. not even the lure of a big payday set up in their prenup for lasting ten years of marriage is enough to make her stay. alison has dreams that she's shoved aside to be the perfect wife. but being the titular trophy wife is not all she wants to be.

so she moves to fielding, north carolina, the small town where her grandmother had a home that she inherited when her parents passed away. while it's not much, it's a place to stay. and allison means to get back to her feet and learn to stand free without the help of a man. she has big plans, she wants to go to school and get a college degree and she wants to set up a jewelry design business. but first she needs a job that will pay enough to keep her independent.

with no actual experience this isn't something that will come easily. and even though allison is determined to do everything alone, her neighbor, rob west keeps popping up, ready with help. and as much as allison tries to refuse his assistance, soon enough she realizes that sometimes it doesn't hurt to have a little help from your friends. but it's a balancing act. she's terrified of leaning too deeply, of becoming someone else's pretty young thing.

rob doesn't see her as a pretty young thing, though he obviously thinks she's gorgeous. and rob has his own baggage—two failed marriages, a hero complex, a fear of being vulnerable—and often his baggage and allison's baggage combine into a perfect storm of insecurity for the both of them. allison is so set on doing things alone, that even when she succumbs to her attraction to rob she refuses to admit it. rob is halfway in love with allison from the get-go, but he understands that she is genuinely afraid to be in a relationship and keeps holding back his feelings because he doesn't want to scare her off. but all the holding back that both of them do gets in the way of how they actually feel. and at some point the whole thing blows up.

luckily we aren't made to suffer too much while the characters get their heads and hearts back on straight. the book spends more time developing the relationship than tearing it down, so when allison and rob finally hash it all out, the happy ending feels earned. (since this is a romance i refuse to see that as a spoiler).

**trophy wife publishes on december 6, 2016. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/random house publishing - loveswept in exchange for my honest review.