Sophie was actually napping. Like, genuinely asleep. Not fake napping where she sings to herself for forty minutes. Real nap. And I had ninety glorious minutes to fold laundry and listen to Sara McMillan make questionable life decisions.
I'm not mad about it.
When Your Book Boyfriend Has More Red Flags Than Your Toddler's Art Project
Look, I read the first book in this series during a particularly chaotic week when Lucas had hand-foot-mouth and Emma was going through her "I only eat beige foods" phase. Escapism was necessary. So when Being Me popped up as the sequel, I grabbed it faster than I grab the hidden chocolate when the kids aren't looking.
Sara's still searching for Rebecca—the woman whose journal started this whole mess—while simultaneously falling deeper into whatever complicated thing she has going on with Chris Merit. The tortured artist with secrets. You know the type. I've seen that archetype done well in From Dead to Worse, where the brooding factor actually serves the plot. This book doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is: steamy romantic suspense with a heroine who's working through her own trauma while also trying to figure out if she's in actual danger or just really attracted to danger.
And honestly? Sometimes that's exactly what you need.
Grace Grant Gets It
Here's the thing about listening to romance audiobooks while folding tiny princess underwear and superhero socks—you need a narrator who can sell the emotional moments without making you feel weird about it. Grace Grant does this. She gives Sara this vulnerable but determined quality that makes you root for her even when she's making choices you'd never make. (Though let's be real, I married my college boyfriend and now I drive a minivan. My risk tolerance is low.)
Each character sounds distinct. Chris has this intensity that Grant captures perfectly—you can hear the walls he's built. The other characters don't blur together, which matters when you're pausing every seven minutes because someone needs a snack or can't find their left shoe. I came back after multiple interruptions and immediately knew who was talking. Survived 47 pauses and still made sense. That's the real test.
The Mystery That Keeps You Pressing Play
The Rebecca storyline threads through everything, and I appreciate that Lisa Renee Jones doesn't just drop it for the romance. There's genuine tension about what happened to this woman, and it creates this undercurrent of unease beneath all the passionate scenes. That same layering of mystery with emotional stakes reminded me of How to Stop Time, where the past keeps bleeding into the present in ways you can't ignore. Is Sara in danger? Is she projecting? The book plays with that uncertainty in ways that kept me pressing play instead of switching to a podcast about organizing your pantry. (I have a lot of pantry organization podcasts saved. Don't @ me.)
The pacing works for my fragmented listening life. Chapters end at natural stopping points. Scenes build but don't require you to remember seventeen plot threads from three hours ago. Car time approved, nap time approved, hiding-in-the-bathroom-for-five-minutes approved.
Fair Warning: This Is Not a Closed-Door Situation
I should mention—and this matters if you're listening in carpool line—this book has heat. Like, real heat. The kind where you might need to skip ahead if your seven-year-old gets in the car early. I learned to pause preemptively around certain scenes. The content warnings are accurate: sexual content, dark themes, emotional intensity. If you're looking for sweet romance, this isn't it. If you're looking for something that makes you feel things while you're scrubbing dried oatmeal off the high chair, well. Here you go.
Who's Going to Love This (And Who Should Skip)
If you devoured Fifty Shades and wanted something with a bit more mystery woven in, this delivers. If you like heroines who are messy and complicated rather than perfect, Sara's your girl. If you need books that work in short listening bursts without losing the thread, the pacing cooperates.
Skip it if you need resolution—this is book two of a series, and it ends with threads still dangling. Skip it if explicit content isn't your thing. Skip it if you're looking for light and fluffy. This has weight to it, emotional and otherwise.
Nap Time Well Spent
I finished this during nap time. High praise. It's comfort food with an edge—predictable in some ways, surprising in others, and exactly the kind of escapism that makes folding the seventeenth load of laundry this week feel almost bearable. Grace Grant's narration elevates material that could feel generic in other hands, and the mystery gave me something to actually think about between listening sessions.
My book club would love this (if I ever have time for book club again). For now, I'm adding book three to my queue and hoping Sophie keeps up this napping streak.
