Rowena’s review of Sometimes It Lasts (Sea Breeze #5) by Abbi Glines.

Cage York has to choose between a love of the game and a love of the girl in this sultry Sea Breeze novel from New York Times bestselling author Abbi Glines.

After waiting for his big break, bad boy Cage York is finally called up to prove his worth in the college baseball arena. But when Cage’s girlfriend, Eva, mourns the sudden loss of her father, it’s not Cage’s comforting arms she runs to, but those of her former fiancé’s twin brother, Jeremy.

Torn between his baseball dream and the girl of his dreams, Cage must prove he’s worthy of Eva’s love, or risk losing her to Jeremy forever.

I’ve been meaning to try this series out for a while now but I’ve been scared to pick up another Glines book because I disliked Fallen too Far so much.  But, I’m glad that I pushed through those fears and picked this one up because holy hot damn, I loved Cage.

This is the fifth book in the Sea Breeze series and throughout the series, Cage and Eva have been featured.  Cage is Low’s best friend and Cage was in love with her until she moved on to Marcus and he found Eva.  Eva’s first love died in Afghanistan and she’s in a better place now that she’s got Cage in her life. Their love is real and it’s strong and they can survive anything…except pictures and video of a drunk Cage in a compromising position. It’s when that goes down that things start to really pick up. The feels come out full stop.

Not having read the other books in this series (yet), I missed a lot of the history between Cage and Eva. I missed the falling in love bits but I didn’t think that my enjoyment of the book suffered any for it. I still, really liked getting to know both Cage and Eva and even Jeremy in this book. Was this a perfect read? Oh, no. But I didn’t care. I still ate it all up.

My main issues with this book are placed right at Eva’s feet. When the book starts, Cage and Eva are already in love. Eva is it for Cage and their love is strong and real and supposed to be able to withstand every and anything. But when Cage is brought up on those compromising texts and videos, Eva is hurt and rightly so but for someone who loved Cage so much and had so much faith in him, when she wouldn’t let him explain himself, I was annoyed. I think, if Cage was guilty, I would have felt differently but because I knew that he was innocent, I felt for him. Don’t get me wrong, I was annoyed with Cage too for not making Eva listen to his side of things. He should have fought for them but I forgave him much sooner than I forgave Eva because he was the one that began fighting for them again. Eva was going to move on from Cage without ever knowing the truth and that annoyed me.

And goodness was Cage sexy when he was in fight for his family mode. The way that he just bulldozed his way back into Eva’s house and told her how things were going to be, knowing Eva the way that he did and fighting for their love was just out of this world sexy.

The romance was steamy, the struggle was real and I ate everything up. I thought Glines did a great job of telling Cage and Eva’s story and she really put them through the ringer and by the time the book was done, there was not a doubt in my mind that they belonged together and that’s my favorite thing about reading romances. That happy ending to an emotional adventure, that confidence in the knowledge that these two characters have finally found their happy place with each other. It’s the best and I got that with this book so I’m glad I started reading Abbi Glines again.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Simon Pulse. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.