First of all, I need to say that I am starting this at 4:45 PM Eastern time, and the Sun has already been done for nearly an hour where I am. I was really tired already, and now my body thinks it’s bedtime. This has nothing to do with the story, I’m just whining. And yawning. A lot. Anyway.
So, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about Livia’s newest book, Expecting It All. This is the latest book from the Passion Pit series, and is the first one that is a standalone. It’s a couple we’ve already seen and gotten to know, Derek and Rachel. He’s a Daddy and she’s his baby girl. They had been basically a 24/7 couple, but she was pregnant in the last book, and this one is all about that.
So, we start with a 8 month pregnant Rachel leaving a cab so that she can go to the Pit. She hasn’t been there in a while, and Master Derek has taken over doing the shows. Rachel is a little bit worried because she’s pretty sure their marriage is imploding. She and Derek are drifting apart, and it has been a while since any happy sexy fun time have happened, so she’s headed to the Pit to see what’s going on and to see if they can get things back to normal. But when she gets there and sees what’s happening, she ends up with a panic attack.
Derek finds out that Rachel is there and that she’s having a panic attack, and he rushes out to take care of her. Then he takes her home, and they have a talk. And it’s an actual talk, not a euphimism for a spanking. Of course, spankings do happen. Rachel and Derek both talk about what’s going on in their relationship and their fears and worries about it.
You know, so often when we read romance books we see the buildup of the relationship and the end of the story is their HEA, when they get together. But really, that’s the start of their HEA, we just normally don’t get to see all the ever after bits. I mean, yeah, we may get an epilogue that shows a glimpse into what’s happening, or we may see them as secondary or tertiary characters in someone else’s book. But with Rachel and Derek, we know that they got their HEA, so now we get to see the actually EA of the HEA. What I like about this is that it’s not something we see often, so when we do get to see this, I really appreciate it.
Rachel and Derek are at a big change in their relationship. Having a baby is going to drastically change any relationship, no matter what. And that’s if you are vanilla or kinky. I think that adding in a kink would make it even harder, especially one in which Mama is also a baby, like Rachel, and one where you are pretty much 24/7. That’s just a lot of change, period.
I really like that we get to see both Rachel and Derek evolve alone and together. They each grow and change as people. Then their relationship grows and changes. To me, it feels so real. I mean, this is stuff that we all go through when we are in a relationship or even when we aren’t. We all grow and change and as each of us change, our relationships change, no matter what kind of relationship it is. Even you don’t relate to the kink part of Derek and Rachel’s relationship, you can relate to the worries and concerns about how changes are going to affect their relationship and the work that it takes to keep that relationship strong and happy. So, massive kudoes to Livia for that.
OK, nothing below the pic today. Go check this one out! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 