Cross My Heart by Avery Maxwell - Book Review

Published: 1 July 2021
Series: Broken Hearts #1
Pages: 344
Warnings: Language, violence

My life has never been easy, but after tragedy strikes, I need a new beginning.

Becoming a nanny was not in my life plan, but after one chance encounter nearly destroyed me, this one could set me free.

I’ve given up on the idea of love, so living with a stranger shouldn’t be a problem. My past broke me beyond repair, and I’ve learned to accept that. What I’m not prepared for is my new boss to be the unbearably sexy single dad, Dexter Cross. He exudes a confidence I’ve never known and brings out a sass I didn’t know I had.

Teasing him comes naturally, but the more time I spend with him and his children, the harder I fear it will be to leave. And I must leave.

I promised him one year, but all too quickly Dex sets his eyes and heart on me. He thinks I can choose them and stay, but he doesn’t understand my kind of damaged. My scars run deep, but apparently so does his determination.

With the help of our crazy friends, he sets out to make me his, one grand gesture at a time.

But the question remains: Am I strong enough to let go of my past? Or are some hearts too broken to heal, even for Dexter Cross?

A page-turning emotional rollercoaster; can Lanie learn to accept love? Click the BUY NOW button to enter the world of Broken Hearts and find out!

*Cross My Heart is a HEA stand-alone that is book 1 in the interconnecting series, Broken-Hearts.

Book links: A mazo n | Goodreads |

Cross My Heart starts with a flashback to two years ago involving Dex, our main man. Our first introduction to him is with him involved in a tragic situation that leaves him heartbroken. Within moments we are there with him when he is faced with a second tragic development, which leaves him suffering through two traumatic losses in the same day.

Flash forward to the present and now we are at home with Lanie. Through conversation with her friend Julia, it becomes apparent very quickly that she too has had a hard time with a traumatic event. We learn that Lanie also hasn’t had an easy life, with a less than perfect home life, but that she had been taken under the wing of her best friend’s family. It is apparent though that Lanie hasn’t escaped her past without some emotional scars, and struggles with some after effects from recent events.

And while we’re being introduced to Dex and Lanie, as a by product, we also get to meet the important people in both their lives at the same time. Each of them have people that rally around the pair and become important parts of their story in their own right. Lanie’s friend Julia was a favourite for me – she sounds like a total nutcase, but she’s the friend everyone wants to have on their side.

Lanie decides that in order to move forward and continue to recover, she needs to move out of Julia’s house where she has been staying. After considering her options, she chooses Vermont as her new home. And that’s where she first meets Dex, when she applies to be nanny to his three kids.

Keep an eye out for the reactios of Dex and his assistant Molly when Lanie arrives at his house for the first time. I could totally picture them both with their jaws hanging open! It’s a very amusing introduction.

Dex is a family oriented man with a very strong romantic side that he really puts to good use. He is drawn to Lanie immediately, but I think it is seeing her with his kids that really hooks him. And I totally LOVED his plan to get Lanie. It is silly, and funny, and super sweek. And as a side bonus, their involvement in Dex’s plan really gives us an insight into all of Dex and Lanie’s friends, which I’m sure will come in handy in future installments of the Broken Hearts series!

Lanie is such a great character too. She’s got such a big heart and her interactions with the three kids are lovely (and Tate is sweet little boy in his own right). I really felt for Lanie and her struggles, as there was nothing about her that caused a disconnect for me as a reader. (It’s unusual for me to find a character without SOMETHING about them that annoys or repels me, but I found such a character with Lanie.)

There is violence in this story, and while it is handled with some delicacy, it is still there. So, while the actual descriptions of the violence itself aren’t graphic, the topics covered are enough in themselves that I’ve given this book a 4 Hatchet violence rating based on the subjects themselves, rather than the depiction of them.

This book was a really easy 5 Thumbs Up for me. Keep an eye out for more reviews of Avery Maxwell books and the Broken Hearts series to follow, because I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Thank you to Avery Maxwell for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Avery Maxwell is an American Romance Author who loves wine, sexy stories, pizza, and her family.

Avery is a hot mess of a mom to four wildly sweet mini-humans and two fur babies. She spends far too much time in her pj’s and trips over herself multiple times a day. Accident-prone is probably a fair assessment.

Having grown up in small-town Vermont, Avery often jokes about being the most naïve person in the room. Luckily, she’s used that small-town charm to write character-driven contemporary romances that have you laughing one minute, and crying the next.

When she isn’t refereeing (three little boys require a lot of whistle blowing), or cuddled up with her real-life Prince Charming, you can find her tucked away with a bottle of wine (because those steamy scenes don’t write themselves!), or coaching her daughter’s basketball team.

Avery now lives in North Carolina where she brings life, love, and a happily ever after to every character she writes.