Facing West: A Forever Wilde Novel

I love this book! I love Nico and West together. I love the whole Wilde clan. I love this author and everything she writes because this story and all of her other stories make me so stupidly happy when I read them. The heroes are always so sweet and wonderful and sexy but still real, still flawed. In fact I wanted to shake West for a good portion of the beginning of the story. Yet, while wanting to give him a good shake and growl at him a little, I still thought he was great. And the way he came to not needing to be shaken anymore just made him that much more wonderful to me. (I know I'm vague but I'm not giving anything away haha) I always fall in sappy ewy gooey love with her men and I find myself smiling, even when they're going through something heavy and sad because someone, whether it be the love interest or a family member, is going to help them through in a tug your heart strings kind of way. And I laugh. Boy do I laugh. Because the antics and banter are just so much fun and so well done.I don't usually go into the actual story itself because the synopsis does that and I don't need to be redundant or risk changing your reading experience somehow. What I will say is that I adored this book. I will read this book again. I will buy the next book just as fast as I bought this one, immediately, because this is the eighth book I've had the pleasure of reading by this author and she hasn't disappointed me once. She's been consistently good, funny, sweet, sexy (in fact this is the hottest book yet IMHO) well developed, etc all things good. And I have to say, although it's weird for me to say it, but I feel like this story showed some growth for her as an author. Now if anyone were to ask me how could a Lucy Lennox book be better, I'd look at them in wide eyed shock, and say absolutely nothing. I loved the Maid Marion series and her collaboration with Sloane Kennedy in Lost and Found. I don't want her to change anything because she has been so consistent and so good and I don't want to lose that. These are my go to books for a guaranteed good fun read. Yet, somehow this book was the same quality as the others but still managed to just feel a little "more". The slightest bit more honed. The first year of writing is completed and now this is year two and a bit of a step up. I'm super excited for the rest of this series and for anything else that is brewing and I really hope to even get more of the Maid Marion series as it was awesome to catch up a bit with a certain someone from the Marion bunch.Would I re-read? If you somehow missed it in the review then absolutely yes! hahaWas it worth the money to me? I received a free advanced copy but still paid for it as soon as it was out.Did I fall in love? That I did.Were there moments sweet/sexy/funny/daydream inducing that I still think about? Yes, I'm especially driving my SO nuts laughing over something in particular and as I mentioned this, in my opinion, is the hottest book so far.

I liked the characters, mostly the Wilde family (grandpa and Doc <3). However, I wished West had been less judgmental and mean towards Nico. *THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AHEAD*West’s attitude towards Nico on the first half of the book didn’t make sense to me at all. West knew the probable cause of Nico leaving Hobie and knew Nico was a kid when he left. Also, his sister was three years older than him, why would he, a kid, have any responsibility towards two (including his mother) grown adults? Nico’s mother also was a horrible mother, she didn’t report him missing when he left, and did not go look for him, much less cared about him. She was more preoccupied with her relationship with a man, who obviously didn’t want her children, and was a misogynistic bigot. Instead of looking for her missing child, she remarried and continued her life like she never even had a child, the same with his sister. She knew where Nico was, and even knew his phone number but never contacted him. It’s not his fault that they didn’t care about his existence, and his sister only remembered he existed after her relationship with her “stepbrother” didn’t work. It looks like they both (his mother and sister) wanted him gone so they could start their lives with their respective men. I don’t see how Nico wronged either of them, when they clearly didn’t care about him. He should be the one resentful towards them, not the other way around. Also, who the h is West or anyone in their town to judge him for running away from a negligent and broken family? It just really pissed me off. No matter how I looked at it, it all was a cluster f of victim blaming. I really didn’t enjoy that part. I enjoyed even less the fact that West never actually apologized to Nico about how he treated him. He only apologized once after mentioning Nico’s dead “mother” (to me she doesn’t deserve to be called a mother) during an argument where West was being an royal A hole.It’s not that I hated West, I just found it annoying how the author tried to paint him as this kind, and genuinely good guy, but then he would turn around and behave like a jerk and an A hole towards Nico in every oportunidad that he could. It was like witnessing a toxic and abusive relationship. The only reason why I don’t completely hate that West and Nico ended up together, is that it says that they’re both going to therapy, and working on their relationship. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to believe that their relationship would work. Nico deserves someone who accepts, and loves him and not judge him for the things he went through in his life, and helps him work on the issues and psychological scars that all that has left as a result, and West didn’t look like the best candidate for that. At least not on the first half of the book. That’s why I deducted one star, I read the entire Made Marian Series and I wanted Nico to end up with someone better. It’s not that the Wilde family and even West are horrible, I actually like them and will continue reading the series, but I feel like Nico, after all he’s been through, deserved a lot better.

What a powerful story of caring, self sacrifice, survival, and the twist of fate to find the a life that is well deserved. There is Nico and West in all of us. But the power of family, and friends, pull it all together to make a story that defines love. Such a good book, and so well worth the read.

This was book 1 in the "Forever Wilde" series. This book has been on my tbr list for awhile. We first met Nico Salerno in the "Made Marian" series he has been back to his hometown in 15 years his sister Adriana has died and he learned that she left him custody of her newborn baby. Dr. Weston Wilde was Adriana's best friend. I didn't like the way West treated Nico he didn't know why Nico left or what he has been through. I didn't like the fact that his mother didn't stand up for him against the bullies A man who people said wouldn't marry her because of him. I loved that West started seeing Nico for the man he was when he lets his guard down. I loved that each one of them wanted the best for Pippa. These two started hooking up it was hot and heavy neither one of them wanted a relationship but feelings happen. I loved that West has a big family like the Marian's that showed up I loved that Griffin and Rebecca showed up to help Nico. I loved West grandfather's and I can't wait to read there story. I love reading books with loud large families who were very supportive of each other. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. I also liked the narration of this book. I am looking forward to reading and listening to the next book in this series.