Title: Endeared
Author:  J.S. Scott
Publisher/Year:  Amazon Publishing 10/6/20
Length:  256 Pages
Series: The Accidental Billionaires #5

Overview

After finishing a hard-won medical residency, Owen Sinclair now lives his dream as a family physician. The windfall that brought him newfound wealth has also made handsome Dr. Sinclair the town’s most eligible bachelor. But Owen’s eyes are on Layla, his onetime best friend, his clinic’s dedicated nurse practitioner, and the one woman in Citrus Beach who has no interest in either his body or his billions.

In high school, Owen and Layla were always there for each other. Layla could confess almost anything to him. But wanting more than friendship was a confession too far, and Layla’s teenage longing was crushed in a heartbeat.

Two buried hurts are now in need of mending, and Owen has a proposition—if Layla is game. It’s a matter of trust as they discover so much more about the past, each other, and themselves. It’s not too late. Maybe they can make up for lost time. A love this true is worth the wait.

My Thoughts

After reading Andie’s story and seeing how wonderful Owen was, I think that it was more than necessary to see how his own life adjustment would play out. I forget all the time that it’s only been perhaps a year since they’ve all come into money, meaning that their struggle from the past years is all for naught given that they are now in a different situation. Owen had pushed himself so hard to get through school since he knew that his family had sacrificed everything to make sure he could get to school, and now he’s living the results of that labor. owning his own practice, back home with his family and being able to reconnect with friends from the past.

Layla on the other hand, she’s a tougher one. We know that she’s part of the threesome that they had in high school, and we know that there’s a rift between her and Owen for reasons unknown. AT least unknown to him and Andie, so it’s a matter of time until we get to the bottom of things.

Owen is persistent, and that’s something that I think is quite wonderful here since there’s really a need to push Layla to reveal more of herself than she’s comfortable. Throughout this story we see that she fights every step of the way, with a deep rooted hatred, and I think that she constantly uses that as a crutch when she’s in front of people so they don’t see to far into who she is. The only person that she seems to open up to is Dark, a guy that she’s connected with via Noah’s new dating app, and being behind a phone with no personal information shared, well that helps really allow her to be a bit more free.

What’s nice about this story that we see in some of the others is that JS Scott shows us that our main characters negotiate some type of arrangement to get to their end game. We saw that with Riley in the past and it comes to a head here when Owen uses his attraction for Layla and her guilt over the past to get her to date him.

Their story is a sweet one yet one that’s so troubled. They clearly enjoy one another but they won’t cross those boundaries for fear of what will come of it. Owen is beyond attracted to her and Layla him, but Layla thinks that if he were to know know what happened in her past, then he wouldn’t want her.

What we find is an interesting ally in another character that we’ve met in this series, and one that I hope to find a spin off book for since I think that person is really intriguing. The friendship, chemistry, trust, all those factors make this another great read from our author. So on that note, i’m going to do some investigating and see what else I can find to read. Enjoy!