seriously romantic: without words by delancey stewart

when dani hodge first approaches roberto derosa in without words, she's convinced he's giving her the brush off. what she doesn't know is that roberto is recovering from a traumatic brain injury he suffered in the line of duty as a fireman. and one of the more difficult aspects of his new normal is that words don't come easily to him. other than his aphasia you wouldn't be able to tell he suffered any trauma, physically, he's as strong as ever.

but he's also depressed and moody. his injury ended his career in fire-fighting. now that he's able to get on with his life, what is he supposed to do with it? dani is a girl with dreams. and with the recent passing of her grandmother, she now has the means make her dreams a reality. she wants to open a bookshop/café/wine bar. she has the perfect space for it. she just needs help renovating it.

when roberto comes upon her while she is attempting to complete a project, he realizes she needs help. and he knows something of construction and decides to help her. he'd only rebuffed her earlier because he didn't know what to say. but remodeling work will not require that much talking. and he has the time to help her.

the more dani understands roberto's situation the more impressed by him she is. she'd always found him incredibly attractive, but his strength and resilience makes him even sexier in her book. i mean, he is pretty dreamy. it's always so interesting to read books where the characters have difficulty communicating with the world around them, because as a reader you know their thoughts and feelings so intimately. most problems in romance novels are solved with a little effort at communication, so when communication is difficult for other reasons, it almost means more to see how the characters work things out.

**without words will publish on may 22, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (select contemporary) in exchange for my honest review.