Who is he if not a hero?Aldo Moretta has always been the hero. The strongest, the fastest, the bravest. He fought for his country and built a thriving business in his hometown. With friends and family never more than a few blocks away, there was just one thing he was missing. The right girl.She’d fallen for the wrong guy. The bad guy. But now that she’s finally free, Aldo isn’t going to miss his … But now that she’s finally free, Aldo isn’t going to miss his second chance. Not until his last deployment goes horribly wrong. He was prepared to give his life, but he wasn’t ready for an injury that takes a piece of him. How can he be her hero now?
Who is she if not a victim?
Gloria Parker walked away from a relationship that almost cost her her life. But the shame clings to her like a shadow. She’s wasted ten long years on the wrong man. When the right one returns home scarred and broken, she sees a kindred spirit. But as Gloria rebuilds her life, brick by brick, she wonders if she’s cut out for love. Real love.
Will they find a way to heal together or will their wounds keep them from the happiness they both crave?
Publisher’s Note: Finally Mine is the companion novel to Pretend You’re Mine, Harper and Luke’s story. It can be read as a standalone.more
This book was worth the wait!
Friends-to-lovers, wounded military hero, heroine starting over, small town, and all the feels in the universe. Great Job Lucy!
Let me say this first, I love Ina Moretta. She is the person we all know in life at one time or another. I know this women. I grew up knowing this women. She’s loud, opinionated, has her own style and loves her son. She just has a unique way of showing it! She stole my heart in this story and made me laugh and love.
Ok now I can move to how this story moved me. Normally, I look beyond the story to see what’s underneath or if it’s relatable. Well in this book there is nothing you have to look for, it’s all there right up in your face. The hurts, the flaws, the good times, the bad times and the beautiful. If you read Pretend Your Mine you were introduced to a lot of Aldo and Gloria’s story. This goes much deeper. This book shows you The Who, What, Where, When, Why and How it developed and happened. It’s not pretty at times and then again it’s beautiful, just like life is.
This author has a way of drawing you in from the first page to the bonus material. Even her notes give you meaning. I don’t know where she gets her inspiration from because each of her stories are so different but she just has a way of connecting with the reader every time. The characters are people with whom you can identify.
You will laugh, cry, be romanced, cheer, swoon and feel those palpitations in your heart and you may get some insight on things that may have never previously crossed your mind or you try to shut them out of your mind. She brings issues to light that are very current and gives you plenty to think about without preaching. You know we all have our battle scars some are just more visible than others and whether you know it or not we fight them everyday either consciously or unconsciously. While reading this book I realized it’s nice to know none of us are alone. Sometimes all you have to do is reach out or be that person that steps up!
This story takes place in Benevolence and it is the perfect description of what this story is all about!
I love everything Lucy Score and I’m so excited for Finally Mine!!
I was very lucky to get early eyes on this beauty and I can’t recommend it enough. This book will rock you to your core. A love story about two survivors who lift each other up, fight for each other, and finally discover the true love that they deserve. Absolutely magical.
This was the first book I’ve read by Lucy Score. Gloria Parker is a 28-year-old young woman who just spent the last 10 years living with an abuser. Barely able to get away with her life, her abuser goes to prison, and Gloria begins to build a life she couldn’t have imagine for herself months before. Set in the small town of Benevolence, friends, and family help her begin to think of herself differently and encourage her to take chances. Aldo Moretta is one of those friends.
Having crushed on Gloria since high school, Aldo missed his chance to date Gloria before she hooked up with her abusive boyfriend. He bided his time by starting his own architectural firm and being the best at everything. But now that Gloria is available, he’s made his intention clear. He wants to date Gloria right after he comes back from his National Guard deployment to Afghanistan. That is until things go south on the battlefield.
When he comes back, Gloria sees someone broken. Someone, she can relate too but Aldo wonders what he has to offer Gloria now that there is part of him missing.
I can see this book was challenging for Lucy to write. The subject matter is so important. Being able to feel worthy of love is something we all struggle with. But for victims of domestic abuse, it is doubly hard to silence the abuser’s voice in their head. As Lucy Score writes about Aldo’s challenges, I began to see how these two were perfect for one another.
I appreciated the additional characters Lucy brought into the story like Gloria’s Mother, Sara Parker, and Gloria and Aldo’s friend, Harper (who has her own romance in Lucy’s book, “Pretend You’re Mine”).
Overcoming one’s demons, facing our fears and intentionally choosing the right life for ourselves is all part of our journey. Some of us get there slower than others, but that’s not the point. It’s recognizing what’s wrong, changing it and taking intentional steps to get on the right path. Only then can we claim real love for ourselves and support others to do the same. Lucy describes this journey beautifully with grit and an authentic voice. I encourage you to read, Finally Mine”. It’s a story that will stay with you for a long time.
This book is another great small town romance by the phenomenal Lucy Score. In Finally Mine, we return to Benevolence and immerse ourselves in Aldo’s and Gloria’s story. This book is incredibly written with well developed characters and the depth of emotion is just extraordinary. We revisit with our favorite Benevolence residents, all as we watch Gloria’s and Aldo’s second chance at love and life unfold. They both have a lot of personal fears, self doubt and difficult past experiences to overcome, will they be able to let go of the past and become each others future? This book has it all – captivating story line, romance, humor, love, the feels and enough steam to melt your Kindles! I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did:-)
The book is glorious, a road map of pain, damage, scars, healing, and triumph.
Gloria and Aldo’s story, one that I wanted to read for so long, is marvelous. Watching Aldo and Gloria, their family and friends, protect and heal each other is a roadmap to the rest of us on how to survive and thrive, and enjoy every HEA we get to read.
Thank you Lucy Score for dealing with domestic violence, PTSD, and the survival of it all with such respect and love.
This story runs along the same timeline as Pretend You’re Mine which features Luke and Harper. They can be read as standalone books but I highly suggest reading Pretend You’re Mine first. To me, it’s still the best but when you read Finally Mine you will see how Aldo and Gloria were held back in the first book since they weren’t the main focus. Finally Mine shows the struggles that Aldo and Gloria went through that you didn’t get in the first book. Just like the Blue Moon series, it is always wonderful to go back to the small town and revisit beloved characters. I cannot wait for the next book featuring Benevolence’s Lincoln!
Lucy Score does it again ! Fantastic book – elicits every emotion you can think of. Absolutely loved this book. Couldn’t put it down!
My dreams came true with the release of Finally Mine. 2 1/2-ish years ago I had an Amazon book recommendation for a book called Pretend You’re Mine by Lucy Score. I loved the blurb and the reviews were good, so I purchased. As I read Pretend You’re Mine over the next few days, I fell in love with the characters and the town of Benevolence; this story and the characters in it stayed with me. I wanted more and I’ve waited 2 1/2 years for this return to Benovolence. It felt like putting on your favorite PJs and curling up with a warm blanket. This is a novel about Aldo and Gloria, who we met in Pretend You’re Mine, and it’s a beautiful story of hope, vulnerability, true love and trust. I can’t possibly express the absolute joy I felt reading this book. I will be eternally grateful to the author for giving us this book as it’s somewhat based on her readers requests. When I tell you I squealed and jumped up and down when I heard this book was releasing I’d tell you that you were right!
Empowering
If you read Pretend You’re Mine, then undoubtedly you fell in love with secondary characters Aldo Moretta and Gloria Parker. This is their story. Wounded warrior Aldo, battered woman, Gloria. Sounds too heavy? I promise it’s not. For every emotional moment, there are twice as many sweet moments. You don’t know resilient until you read their story, by the end you will be standing up and cheering for this couple! Aldo and Gloria need each other, and they strengthen each other, and it’s a beautiful thing to behold.
Felt all the feels with this one! I loved seeing a parallel side to “Pretend Your Mine” (I am going to have to reread it).
I loved Gloria’s strength and how she persevered. I loved seeing Aldo’s softer side. I loved how these two scarred characters made each other stronger and celebrated the things that they thought made them weaker.
Seriously, I have never read a Lucy Score book I didn’t love. Keep them coming!
Let’s go back a few years – we met Luke and Harper from Pretend Your Mine- in the background were these two characters you meet yet think about once the book is over, insert Aldo and Gloria.
Aldo is a great guy, a soldier, hero and friend. Gloria is a loving woman who feels deeply and has a previous toxic relationship. Aldo and Gloria have circled around each other for years. Never being on the same page. They fight – for their chance, for themselves, for their relationship. I loved that they each lost a part of themselves but in order to feel whole, they had to hold on to what matters that most. Aldo and Gloria’s story is heart-wrenching – it’s not supposed to be easy. Life handed them a second chance, and they jumped. Gloria is the STRONGEST character Lucy has ever written. I shed some tears.
Lucy Score once again proves that she’s one of my favorite writers. She’s not afraid of broken characters, hard times and fight to make her characters lives feel any emotion. With that, Lucy gives us hope and love that life can be anything you want it to be.
A top 2018 book from me.
Lucy Score knows how to write HEA’s! Aldo is just beginning to rekindle a relationship with Gloria before he is shipped off to Afghanistan. Gloria is just coming out of a long term abusive relationship and needs time to put her life back together. When Aldo comes back an injured war hero both he and Gloria have obstacles to overcome. Their story is beautifully written as they struggle to put the past behind them and find their HEA. This is another Lucy Score MUST READ!
This book was such a wonderful surprise from Lucy! I was very excited to get Gloria & Aldo’s story. You don’t need to read the first book Pretend You’re Mine to understand this one, but I would highly recommend it. So you know more about the town of Benevolence and the other characters (plus is awesome as well!).
Gloria is amazing! Her personal growth is beautiful to watch as she finds her real self deep down. Glo really becomes quite kick a$$. Aldo is everything you’d want and expect him to be! A great alpha male who’s witty, hilarious, and has a heart of gold.
Great humor as always with Lucy, personal struggle and growth. Love and happily ever after!! Read it now! You won’t be disappointed!!
There has never been nor will there ever be a book to reach the level of perfection that Lucy Score has achieved with Finally Mine!
Gloria’s character and her story touched me on such a deep level that I had trouble separating her story from my own. And I bet that I am not alone in this thinking because unfortunately, Gloria is so many of us. Reading her story was hard at times. I had to step away before the anxiety became too much but it was also a wonderfully beautiful reminder that women like Gloria do deserve a happy ending, that we are ENOUGH, that we have something to contribute. Her growth from “poor Gloria” to “Gloria” is exquisitely written.
Speaking of exquisite…..Ohhhmaaaaguuud…..Aldo Moretta…..Can I just say SWOON! Aldo’s character just turns me to mush. I have adored this guy since Pretend You’re Mine and his story has only intensified those feelings. His journey of overcoming and moving on from tragedy to find love and happiness will forever be etched in my heart. This book has made its way to my most favorite read of all time! I suggest reading Pretend You’re Mine first, but hey, whatever floats your boat. This book is the absolute best no matter how you go about it.
I fell in love with both Aldo & Gloria when I read Pretend You’re Mine. I was so excited that Lucy Score finally shared with us their story. I absolutely love these characters! Simply amazing!
I’ve been a huge fan of Lucy Score’s writing for quite some time now, but I have to say, this is absolutely one of her best books yet! I FELT every single page, every word of this story. It was everything I hoped for and so much more. That’s saying a lot since I’ve had years to wait for it!
Ado and Gloria are special. If you’ve read Pretend You’re Mine, you already know that they have both had so much to overcome. Love was something they had to truly fight for. The way Lucy wrote their stories was perfect. I feel like there was such honesty in the way they were written, but also such grace. I fell 100%, totally, completely, head over heels in love with them all over again. I love that while we always say the hero and the heroine, they took turns being the hero throughout the whole story…sometimes for each other and sometimes for themselves. They were both strong and resilient, but they also both struggled and learned to lean on one another.
Aldo and Gloria will both have you swooning. The romantic gestures in this book are some of my favorites. They weren’t always huge and over the top, but they did have my heart bursting at the seams! Watching the friendships between Ado, Gloria, Luke, and Harper develop throughout this story brought all the feels. I fell harder for Luke and Harper seeing them through Aldo and Gloria’s eyes!
This is a story about true love. It is a story about second chances, and not just in love, but in life. It is a story about friendship. It is a story about being your own hero, and a story about supporting those you love. It is a perfect story. This is one of those books you close knowing you are coming back to reread it over and over. If you haven’t read Pretend You’re Mine, you can definitely still read this and love it, but I would imagine you will be running to read Luke and Harper’s story the second you finish! Whatever you do, you do not want to miss this story!
FINALLY MINE by Lucy Score is book two of the Benevolence series about the town hero, Aldo Moretta, and his high school crush, Gloria Parker. Gloria has ended ten years of a toxic, dangerous relationship and find that life doesn’t always take the straight path. When Aldo’s deployment is cut short by an injury, and it’s Gloria’s turn to be the hero for them both.
This is a second chance troupe where Gloria and Aldo will make you laugh, cry, and cheer—with the help of an evil rescue kitten and Aldo’s four-letter-word-loving mama, Mrs. Moretta, an unforgettable character who takes bribes of cookies. FINALLY MINE, is one of many Lucy Score’s fabulous romantic comedies about how her characters overcome hard times to have their happily-ever afters.
I adore how this book interconnects with Pretend You’re Mine! It’s so flawless. Most books end up hashing the same overlapping parts to death, but not here! I love that we are able to see the same scenario, but from different perspectives.
The characters in this story are so real and authentic. I cried, I laughed, I wanted to throttle them both. As a Survivor myself, I related to this plot hardcore, especially all the insecurities.