Things We Left Behind by Lucy Score
Publisher: Bloom Books
Pub Date: 9/5/2023

Thank you to Bloom for the free ebook copy on NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lucian Rollins, a driven mogul seeking vengeance, crosses paths with the determined small-town librarian, Sloane Walton. Despite their initial dislike for each other, a passionate one-night stand ignites a complicated relationship, but Lucian’s fear of endangering Sloane keeps them at an impasse.

Things We Left Behind, the third book in the Knockemout series and it’s a continuation in the series so I recommend reading the other two before you get to this. Lucy’s writing always draws me in and I was thrilled to revisit familiar characters like Naomi, Knox, Lina, Nash, and Stef. My favorite aspect of this book was the flashbacks that provided insights into Lucian and Sloane’s teenage years and how they’ve evolved over the years. One of the highlights was finally getting answers to the mystery surrounding Hugo. Though I loved Sloane in the first two books, I was disappointed in her character in this book. Her character seemed to undergo a drastic transformation and she came across as a somewhat desperate heroine in an unfavorable light. Lina remains my favorite FMC. As for Lucian, he was as grumpy and possessive as I assumed he would be, but I didn’t like his complete switch in character towards the end of this book. There was an additional legal case introduced in the story that I didn’t find as engaging. While the book was fun to read, I couldn’t help but feel that it could have been shorter by about 200 pages. Overall, I had mixed feelings about this one and it was 3 stars for me. Nevertheless, the Knockemout series as a whole is great and I loved the characters.