Not Over Yet (Hot Under Her Collar Book 2)
Publication Date: July 26, 2016
Contemporary Romance
Self Published

Reviewed by Kini

Blurb

Some people aren’t meant to have it all…

Three years ago, nanny Lily Yee enjoyed a passionate fling with her boss, the recently divorced and extremely eligible Eric Roche. Then the sexy surfer/CEO wanted more than she could give, and she fled to pursue her one true calling—the priesthood.

Eric learned how to love from Lily and wanted to build a happy family with her. But she walked away without explanation, leaving him angry, confused, and…fine, he’ll admit it, occasionally a little desperate for her.

When a crisis in her church leads Lily back into Eric’s arms, his heart calls to her as strongly as the priesthood. He’ll do anything to win her back, but she knows she’s not cut out to juggle a family and a career. She needs to let him go again soon, but she can’t deny they’re not over yet.

This is second in a series and can be read as a stand alone. Book one, Not a Mistake, is really good, so it wouldn’t hurt to read that if you haven’t already. The heroines from both books are priests, but this is not at all Christian inspirational themed. There is sex, shopping for a vibrator, and cursing. Lily, the heroine wears her collar with the phrase “you’re a motherfucking priest” written on it. It is meant as a reminder to her that she can do this. And it works.

I’ve talked about it before, but I like my romances mostly based in reality, not all the way because this is an escape. But in that somewhat real world, people go to church, they have messy and not always easy relationships with their parents or ex-spouses, they have money woes, they fall in love with the father of the children they nanny, they struggle with the balance of family and a career. All of these are issues that Lily and Eric faced. This book worked for me on a lot of levels because it felt very real. At times I was incredibly frustrated with Lily because she is very stubborn and it took her a long time to come to the realization that it’s not magic and takes work, but she can have it all.

Eric is a good man and father. He was firmly divorced when he hired Lily as the nanny. After a respectable amount of time, their relationship developed into more and they were in love. Eric and his ex adopted two daughters from China. His ex-wife is kind of the worst. There may have been some redemption of her character at the end, but it felt a little too easy. I also felt like that Eric and Lily enabled her behavior for a little too long. There was some recourse to be had, but again this is romancelandia, so things don’t always get resolved in the most logical of ways.

Lily is Asian-American, her mom coming to America from China in her twenties. Eric’s daughters are Chinese. Although never voiced or thought by Eric, Lily had doubts about his feelings for her because she worried he was using her as an easy filler for his family. Some of Lily’s parishioners have a racial bias. Race is a theme in this book, but not huge one, just the right amount in my opinion.

After three years apart, Lily and Eric reconnect when she turns to him for financial help. He has the means to assist her, so he does without question. They both still feel drawn to each other, but Lily is determined to stay clear of him.

The attraction between them was not over yet, which made it unwise to see him. But she’d chosen to have a career, and now she needed his help to save it.

She is wary of becoming reliant on him. She left him to go to seminary and fulfill her calling to God. As they work together to help Lily keep her job, they rekindle their romance. Lily remains wary of him and the truth of their love. That she could love him and his daughters and still be the priest she needs to be is a real challenge for her. Although she offers a solution to a problem that puts her beliefs to test. Not so much her religious beliefs, but her belief in herself. Her solution involves a trope I adore, but I won’t spoil it. I thought it was handled well.

Overall I enjoyed this story. I loved the way that Eric loved her and wanted to support her without taking away from her. I loved that the children weren’t plot moppets, but didn’t overwhelm the story. I wanted to give Lily to be a little less stubborn, but she wasn’t unlikable. I wanted Eric and Lily both to be clear with their feelings for each other a little sooner. These are little quibbles when overall it was a solid story of two people reconnecting and finding their love for each other and finding the path to make it work.

Grade: B-

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