Buff dudes being cute with little kids, the ultimate combo.

Sloan Copeland is a young African American mother of twin girls and also a badass surgeon. When her previous nanny quits halfway through her shift (leaving her six year olds in the house alone for hours) Sloan finds herself at the end of her rope, needing a nanny to replace her ASAP. Enter Rafe, a longtime nanny for different families who is between jobs. Through mutual friends, Sloan and Rafe are introduced and agree to work together, while also acknowledging that there is a mutual attraction. From that moment their lives spiral into caring for two young girls, navigating their new secret relationship, and dealing with the ramifications of a pathetic ex-husband. 

This book has been on so many best of romance/new adult lists ever since it’s release, so I was excited to dive into it. I think it absolutely lives up to the hype. Sloan is an especially interesting character who fought her way to the top of her field and refused to play second fiddle to her ex. Thus, she is a woman who knows what she wants, but isn’t sure if she should take what she wants, the hunky Rafe. Their chemistry was organic and their relationship was fun to follow. The sexual part of their relationship is also a big factor, and the book does a great job with the sex scenes. They didn’t feel forced or over the top, just organic and worked well with their relationship.

The only thing that this book suffers from is a bit of a lack of tension. The build up to their relationship is great, their sex scenes are awesome, the kids are well written; there just wasn’t really enough dramatic tension in this. Everyone and everything is sorta tightly wrapped up. Even the issues regarding Drew, Sloan’s ex-husband, come into the book so closely to the end it’s hard to read it and feel like he was ever a true threat to their relationship. It was sorta like reading a dream state you’d like to live in with the man of your dreams, but no life is this clean cut.

That being said I loved the book, I’d definitely read more of the author and the minute I finished this one I checked online to see if the second in this series was out yet. It’s not. I was bummed.

This book also wins the award for best cover blurb I’ve ever seen: “Gimmie!” – People you know on Twitter.

Title: Rafe
Author: Rebekah Weatherspoon
Format: Paperback
Pages: 257
ISBN: 9781724106506

Three Descriptors: Steamy, Hopeful, Accessible