Name: Damaged Goods
Rating: 4.08 (25 reviews)
ISBN: 9781916404311

Talia Hibbert

This companion novella to the popular Ravenswood series makes a heroine of a previous villain. In book 1.5, Laura escapes her abusive husband to protect her unborn child-and stumbles across her first love under the moonlight.

Damaged Goods

Indiana Hurlock

Second chances shouldn’t feel so sinful. Laura Burne‘s husband is a monster, her diamond ring is a trap, and her pregnancy is the push she needs to finally escape. She runs away seeking safety… and finds Samir Bianchi, her long-lost teenage sweetheart. With his kind eyes and dirty smile, Samir’s still hot as hell—and he still treats Laura like a goddess, baby bump and all. The wild boy she spent one magical summer with is every inch a man, and he’s more than ready to care for her tiny family. But Laura’s been keeping a secret Samir might never forgive. When she finally confesses, will he remain by her side? Or is this fairytale ending too good to be true? Please be aware: this book contains depictions of domestic violence that could potentially trigger certain audiences.

Flavia Louise

I mean Talia Hibbert writes great romance and this one was good too.

Tanja Hoffmann

Šárka Vomelová

I'm not in the mood to rate for few more weeks, but this was soo much fun

Michelle Xu

5 stars. I have no complaints.

This is honestly the best romance novella that I've ever read. Most of the time, I feel like there's something missing in a romance novella, where either characters, their relationships, or the plot isn't fleshed out enough in the short amount of pages. This really wasn't the case in this novella. It felt like a complete story that was compacted into 100-some pages. I was attached to both the characters and invested in their stories & backstories. 

Summary:
Laura finds out she's pregnant and decides to leave her abusive husband. She travels to a sleepy beach town she visited as a kid and reunites with Samir, a man she briefly dated back when they were 16. Samir hasn't seen Laura in nearly 15 years, but he is just as infatuated with her as he was back then. As Laura deals with her pregnancy and pulling her life back together, her and Samir get to know each other better and ~fall in love~. 

I loved both the hero and heroine so much in this book. Laura was so strong despite going through hell and back. She had to find herself again after being abused for so long, with no one who believed her or support her. Samir was just such a wonderful character who was respectful and genuine to as well as supportive and protective of Laura. I was so in love with him. The scene where he first takes Laura to a prenatal appointment and gets so excited over her ultrasounds was so cute. I loved how excited he got over it. He never once thought of her pregnancy as being a hindrance to their relationship and was just incredibly supportive through everything Laura was going through. 

I also liked how Talia Hibbert depicted the sometimes very real effects of pregnancy, describing Laura's stretch marks and her fatigue. I think in books and also on social media, pregnancy is often glamorized with perfect women in perfect bodies just with little baby bumps. 

Moreover, despite the short nature of the book, it still had angst and conflict that honestly still broke my heart. Seeing how Laura's ex-husband treated her and her own family as well was heartbreaking. 

Lastly... I'll just say, I initially wasn't planning on reading the other books in the Ravenswood series, but this novella was so good that I'll definitely be picking up the rest of the series! This was my first Talia Hibbert book, so now I'm also even more excited for her Brown Sisters' series as well.

Stray observations:
- I forgot Talia Hibbert is British, so at first I was so confused by some of them saying "bloody" in sentences LOL
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Maybe the best romance novella I’ve ever read?? It felt like a complete story compacted into 100-some pages. Honestly so in love with Samir. Full review to come

Damaged Goods

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