This story is exactly what it promises to be: sweet and tender. It’s the kind of romance that wraps itself in domestic moments, soft healing, and a grumpy‑meets‑sunshine dynamic that slowly melts into something warm and steady.
We follow Javier, widower, NBA star, and full‑time dad to four‑year‑old Aleesa — a little girl so adorable she practically steals the book. Enter Octavia, who’s interviewing to be Aleesa’s nanny and arrives with equal parts competence, sass, and emotional scars of her own. Javier thinks she’s too much; Aleesa thinks she’s perfect; and honestly, Aleesa wins.
Both Octavia and her sister Davina carry heavy pasts, so neither woman walks into life expecting joy to stick around. But Octavia’s bond with Aleesa is instant and precious, and watching Javier’s infamous “GG — Grumpy Giant” exterior soften is one of the book’s quiet pleasures.
The romance itself is a slow, simmering attraction that keeps trying to behave and absolutely fails. There’s jealousy, a hilariously disastrous crashed date, and that moment when the grumpy one finally admits he doesn’t want anyone else near her. Sparks, meet gasoline.
The story does wander — sometimes deeply — into daily routines, parenting rhythms, and emotional processing. But it also offers genuinely tender moments of support, especially when past traumas resurface or when life throws unexpected challenges at Javier and Aleesa. Octavia becomes the steady presence he didn’t know he needed, and he becomes the safe place she never believed she’d have.
By the end, what stays with you isn’t the drama but the gentle, family‑centered sweetness: found love, found safety, and a man who realizes his purpose is to protect the little hearts entrusted to him.
Lovely and heartwarming — not groundbreaking, but definitely comforting.
Purchase links
Amazon: https://a.co/d/eaAnfix
Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/5W9H2
Audible: https://bit.ly/3Lz12n1
Narrated by Andre Santana & Aure Nash
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/453QuE0
About the author
As a self-proclaimed “mood writer”, Shanora has never believed in boxing herself in. Her desire has always been to take risks and challenge herself. If a plot is relentlessly on her mind, she will try her hand at it.
When she isn’t writing, she’s deep in family life, binge-watching shows and movies, working out, gaming, or getting cozy with a book. She lives near Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband and three sons.
