Review: I Want You Back by Lorelei James

I Want You Back
(Want You #1)
by Lorelei James
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: April 2, 2019
Genre: Romance
Rating:

Former NHL star Jaxson Lund has returned to the Twin Cities, but he’s at loose ends, unsure if he belongs at Lund Industries, or where he stands with Lucy, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his daughter, Mimi. Despite the signs she’d like to leave him in the penalty box, the attraction burning between them reinforces his determination to prove that he deserves a second chance…

Lucy Quade is in a good place with a steady job, a nice apartment, and a well-adjusted daughter, which is why she’s hesitant when Jax insists on co-parenting. It’s not that Lucy doesn’t trust Jax…she’s just unconvinced he can handle multiple responsibilities when he’s been singularly focused on playing hockey. But when issues arise with Mimi, Lucy’s shocked at how levelheaded and paternal he acts, giving her a glimpse of the Jax she used to know, the sexy, sweet man she fell for years ago.

Once Lucy lets her guard down, Jax goes all in to show her how good they are together, but will their past remain too large an obstacle to ever overcome?

Lucy has been raising her daughter alone while Mimi’s father plays in the NHL. However, now that he’s retired, he’s back in town and wants to connect with his daughter more, and reconnect with Lucy. Now, I’m all for hockey players. I’m also a sucker for second-chance romances, but this one just didn’t work for me and I found myself not finishing it.

For one, the pacing on this novel is extremely slow. Like, excruciatingly slow. Normally I like getting the behind-the-scenes look at characters lives, but I don’t need to see every little mundane part of it. Which, is what it felt like while reading this novel. I found myself just really bored the majority of the time because it seemed like the story wasn’t really going anywhere. I was just watching a single mom live her life the best she could while trying to play nice with her baby daddy.

There’s also cheating in this story, and I can’t stand cheating in my romances. It’s the #1 turn off for me. Granted, the cheating happened in the past, but the whole reason these two aren’t together anymore to raise their daughter as a cohesive team is because he couldn’t keep it in his pants while she was at home pregnant. Another blow came when during the rehashing of their past, it’s revealed that she knew he was cheating since pictures were surfacing on social media, and she just shrugged off it off since it was the first time and it was bound to happen due to his career. WHAT?!? Then, the kicker… (and spoiler alert!) homeboy gets a STD from his philandering ways, and not just any STD, but genital Herpes. So, let’s recap, not only does the hero cheat on his PREGNANT girl friend, but he gets Herpes from it… and they still live happily ever after? Oh hell no!

So yeah, this was not for me. It sounded like a win for me since it dealt with a lot of things that I like, but there were a lot of issues I had with this story. A lot.