She hates playing second string to his ex. Stella spends the latter part of the book freaking out about this. Matthew is hesitant to tell his ex about Stella, which leads to her walking in when Stella is at his apartment – there is awkwardness and such. He has two young daughters with his ex-wife and she still drops in all the time and there are not a lot of boundaries. Matthew is recently divorced and Stella is the first person he has dated/slept with since his separation. I think the author does a nice job with letting us really feel Stella.
Her frustration over trying to raise a moody, head-strong teenager fighting with how much she loves him comes across so strong. Stella has issues–so many issues– but it felt real. This book is messy and complicated and I love that about Hart’s voice. From here, the story unfolds as she comes to know Matthew and to face her past and try to move forward with her life. She feels too revealed as “Stella” and is nervous and hesitant to go forward.but she also really likes Matthew so they do sleep together. But Stella is not her usual confident, sexual self. One thing leads to another, and she finds herself at his apartment. Because it’s a business trip she isn’t in disguise, and surprises herself by giving Matthew her real name. One weekend she actually has to travel for business, and gets stuck in the Chicago airport and meets a man named Matthew. She sleeps with a priest and a married man among others – so beware of that if you think you would take offense. We see this for a good part of the first half of this book. She goes by different names and different personas to lose herself. The flirting and seduction dance follows and then sex tops off the evening. She lands, goes to the airport bar and picks out the man she wants to sleep with that night. Every few weekends, she dresses up, dons a blonde wig and flies to whatever city fits her fancy that day. Because of this tragedy and grief that followed, Stella finds a way to act out. He is your typical moody, sloppy, hungry teenager, and she loves him to death. She has a sixteen year old son name Tristan who splits his time between her and her ex. She thinks if she can control every detail in her life, nothing else bad will happen. Her marriage cannot survive this, and now years later, Stella still tries to have control over everything.
I don’t want to spoil too much, but I will say Stella gets divorced because of a tragic event in her life. Stella’s ex-husband is the CEO of an airline, and as part of the divorce settlement, she gets free flights whenever she wants them – and she craves them a lot. I crave this author’s voice and it satisfied me this time. Flying gave me feels, but annoyed me a little bit too. And sometimes she writes books that don’t work for me. Sometimes Megan Hart writes books that make me have all the feels – for example here and here.
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