I Don't

by Ella Fox

So, this was a little too sweet for my taste, not that it wasn’t good, it was, it all just seemed to be wrapped up with a pretty bow before it even got off the ground and that had me fighting the urge to skip through it at some points.

Ava ran, after the trauma she suffered in Spain, her internal compass seemed to have gone haywire and she was unsure of who and what to trust in her life, lies had been told and feelings were deliberately tramped all in an attempt to score nothing more than points, to drive a wedge between the two of them and to cause them and their families anguish, as if they hadn’t been through enough already.

The one thing that sang out loud and often throughout the story was the fact that trust is the primary component in a relationship, without it you are always wondering what and who you can believe and while Mateo was determined that she would remember and that he had nothing to be concerned about, he couldn’t stop it when Ava took off, when she left him, called off their wedding and fled to America. Luckily for him he had the wherewithal to be able to follow her and watch her from a distance, to not only ensure her safety but for his sanity because for him, he needed to be near her as much as he needed air in his lungs, she was his reason to breath and without her he was a fraction of the man when they were together.

In a scene reminiscent from Pretty Woman, Mateo eventually has waited long enough and is ready to step up and reclaim his runaway bride, he turns up at her workplace and leaves her with no doubt that she is returning home with him.  I loved the fact that it was painfully clear by the words that the author used and the tone of the setting that he was being gentle with Ava, that he was laying claim almost to the time they had lost and refusing to be without her any longer but he did it with a subtlety and an air of tenderness, she genuinely was all that mattered to him.

I liked the secondary characters …well in the main I did but her mother was a reprehensible witch, truly despicable and as for Rafe well my internal jury is still out on that one, I’m not sure what he is all about yet but I am intrigued.

I loved that a large portion of the book is set in Spain, namely Barcelona as they are both a city and a country I adore and that I visit regularly.

The book is the first in the series and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the brothers books, and while I liked Mateo and Ava, I am hoping that the others have a few more skeletons in the closets!