I couldn't quite decide how many stars to give this book. I enjoyed it and I loved that it filled in blanks in the "Restrained" series by Patricia Eddy. This was the book I had missed. I started reading Ms. Eddy's books last year and originally thought I had read them all, and in order no less. Of course, I'm usually wrong about those things, and found out that I'd missed a couple, this book being one of them.
This is a novella that fills in some characters that we met briefly in the Restrained Series of books. This story is about Devan, who runs the Artist's Grind, a coffee shop that sells the best expresso on that side of Boston combined with items made by local artisans. We met Devan in the other books of this series. Her shop is where Elizabeth has gone to buy Alexander his Christmas gifts, it is where Milos begins to court Elora, and this is where Devan meets her love, Mac.
This book is just plain sweet. Mac, broken by an IED and nearly always in pain, has kept himself away from society for years. A chance Quad Americano sets them off on a path to love. Mac's protectiveness surfaces when Devan is being attacked and her shop vandalized, and Devan quickly acknowledges her feelings for Mac, even though she doesn't know if he can reciprocate.
There is absolutely nothing to dislike about this book. To the one or two reviewers on Amazon I saw write something about porn, I'd have to say you were reading a different book. In fact, this novella is about love being discovered between two people that life had been treating unkindly. The steam is well done and there's not enough of it to complain about, in my opinion of course. I tend to want steamier bits throughout a book, but in this case, this novella was written perfectly. Ms. Eddy was attuned to what the characters owned and needed, and the two halves made a perfect whole.