Too Hard to Forget
(Romancing the Clarksons #3)
by Tessa Bailey
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: April 25, 2017
Genre: Romance
Rating:
This time, she’s calling the shots.
Peggy Clarkson is returning to her alma mater with one goal in mind: confront Elliott Brooks, the man who ruined her for all others, and remind him of what he’s been missing. Even after three years, seeing him again is like a punch in the gut, but Peggy’s determined to stick to her plan. Maybe then, once she has the upper hand, she’ll finally be able to move on.
In the years since Peggy left Cincinnati, Elliott has kept his focus on football. No distractions and no complications. But when Peggy walks back onto his practice field and into his life, he knows she could unravel everything in his carefully controlled world. Because the girl who was hard to forget is now a woman impossible to resist.
This book was a little hard to get into at first. As the synopsis points out, Peggy returns to her old college for an alumni reunion and for the chance to flaunt herself in front of her old lover. While I’m all for that line of thinking, the story started off a little rocky for me. We get both past and present scenes between these two characters and they were less than savory.
The hero is very religious and knows that having a relationship with a student (he’s in his thirties and she’s on her last year of college) is wrong. So while they are doing the deed, homeboy is praying! PRAYING!! He goes full-blown “Hail Mary” during it, and I just couldn’t. I almost put the book down because of that. If he’s not praying, he’s pulling out his rosary, verbally damning himself, and/or calling her his “sin”. I just couldn’t handle the way he treated her. So, I was really hoping that when these two catch back up, that she was able to slam it all in his face and walk away. Instead, we got to watch history repeat itself all over again, and I was not really on board for that.
While I hated the way Peggy allowed herself to be treated, I couldn’t help but admire her. She was such a strong character. She carried so much on her shoulders. She had her own demons, and yet she was the first one there to help someone out. The fact that she’s emotionally broken because of the way Elliot treated her three years ago, made me love her even more. She’s so screwed up from him that she can’t wrap her head around who she even is.
Even though I had a hard time with this one, I stuck with it… and I’m glad that I did. It took a long time, a very long time, for Elliot to get his head out of his butt. When he finally does, that’s when the story took off for me. Once he realizes how wrong he’s been, and how he’s treated everyone around him for years, that’s when he started to gain some weight with me. What made me really enjoy this story was the fact that in the end I was actually rooting for him.
I really didn’t think I was going to enjoy this story but I did. Maybe it was because these two characters had such a huge struggle to overcome. They both had to reflect upon themselves and their lives in order to move forward. Elliot does not win any awards, but I appreciate that the author gave him a real roadblock. He’s not standoffish because of some sort of abuse or relationship problem from his past. Instead, he has a hard time coming to terms with his feelings when they go against his morals and religious beliefs. So for that, I can’t overly fault him. However, this isn’t my favorite novel by this author.
Favorite quote…
“A fool is the kind of man who pushes away someone who makes him laugh. Makes him think. Makes him want to try harder and love harder and live harder. Live at all. That’s what Peggy Clarkson did for me. Twice in my life. Twice more than I earned. And this heart she woke up inside me loves her. It’ll beat for her until it stops altogether.”
Well I think I would have been so annoyed by this one. I think I’ll pass, I know it’s not for me.
There were parts that drove me nuts and turned me off, that’s for sure.
Bailey is 50/50 for me. I’ve LOVED her stuff and meh with some books. Good to know in advance that I need to hang int here a bit for this one.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
I think that’s how it is with me, too. I wasn’t a fan of the first book in this series. This one was tough to get through but I enjoyed it in the end. I do plan to read the next one and I really hope I like it. I’m not sure if it’s this particular series for me, or just some of her books work for me and some don’t.
Yeah, I don’t think I could get into a book where he’s acting like that.
It was SO hard. I kind of understood his internal battle, but it was just so weird.
Oh yeah the hero would drive me insane! I have a ton of other Tessa books I think I’ll get to before this one. great review!
He was a tough cookie to swallow. This series doesn’t seem like it’s for me. I’ve enjoyed her other stuff, but this series has me struggling.