10 Signs You Need to Grovel

Bower Boys, Book 2

By: Kelly Siskind

Narrated by: Julian Durant

A grumpy bartender learns he’s a dad in Kelly Siskind’s latest Bower Boys romance full of second chances, small-town charm, and steamy, slow-burn heat.

For the last ten years, I’ve been living a lie in witness protection. But the drug cartel that put me there isn’t a threat anymore, so I can have my life back. I should be thrilled, right?

Wrong.

The last thing I want to do is go back home and show everyone how far I’ve fallen. I’m not the high-powered lawyer they all expect me to be. I’m just a guy who slings drinks and scowls at the world.

But then I hear about Max, my ex’s ten-year-old son. My ten-year-old son.

I have to go back now. Figure out how to be a dad. Face the love of my life. Make things right with Sadie and earn her trust. Will she have me—or is it too late to reinvent myself as the man she once loved?

©2023 Kelly Siskind (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“This emotional second-chance romance delivers both a solid plot and a charming lineup of supporting characters. Readers will eagerly await their next visit to Windfall.”—Publishers Weekly

“Siskind does an excellent job developing a detailed story line, while staying true to the heart of the love story. Readers can pick up this second installment in the series without having read book one.…Suggest that fans of Colleen Hoover, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Lucy Score add Siskind’s latest to their to-be-read piles.”—Library Journal

Loving the Bower Brothers

I’m enjoying getting to know the Bower brothers. it’s quite touching how deeply the brothers love their high school sweethearts. I would’ve enjoyed, however, hearing the females voice. It would’ve been nice to get their perspective and to see how they really felt about the boys.

I didn’t quite care for the narration at times. The voice was too gruff and harsh at times, and too loud.

I’m looking forward to getting to know the rest of Bower brothers.

A+ Storyline / D+ Narration

I gave this book five stars because the storyline was great.

However the narrator sucked. If I hadn’t broke my glasses I would have just went and read the Kindle version instead.

It would have been fine if the narrator would have just read it in his normal voice instead of growling the words of the character.

He also over dramatized the characters thoughts. Almost like he was making fun of the more “mushy” words.

I swear my brother used to steal my books and read just like that when he was making fun of the romance novels I read when we were younger.

I wish she used the same narrator from the first book. He did an amazing job!

If you want to read a good book with humor, charm, and all the feels, pick up the Kindle version and just read it yourself.

Hopefully book 3 will have a better narrator!

Oof, so much to love!

I am loving the Bower boys, and we're only on book 2. They all have such different personalities, it's been fun getting to know them. Although in the first book, 50 Ways to Win Back Your Lover, we didn't get a chance to really know Desmond, he was the brother we thought didn't want to do anything with his family. But in 10 Signs You Need to Grovel we find out that wasn't really the case. There was so much more to Desmond than I expected and I really felt for him.
I hated that he and Sadie were apart for so long, and that he didn't know about his son. It makes me wonder if Sadie would have been able to join them in witness protection, if somehow her pregnancy had been discovered soon after they were whisked away.

I loved seeing these two find their way back together, and I really adored seeing Desmond embrace being a father. Gah, the way he was with Max, my heart! He stumbled a bit at first, but once he found his grove, he was all in. There were a couple scenes between them that really tugged at my heart and had me tearing up. As much as this was a heart tugging romantic second chance love story between Des and Sadie, it was also a wonderfully endearing love story of a father and a son.

The conflict towards the end had the potential to derail things, but I liked how everything worked out.

While I had a feeling this was going to be another 5* read from Ms. Siskind, but when she threw in a mention of October Sky, well, that 5* was guaranteed.

I'm giving the narration 3.5*. I like Julian Durant's voice, but there were times it felt like he was channeling Christian Bale's portrayal of Batman, especially in the beginning, As the book went on his voice grew on me, and I thought he did a good job with all the secondary characters.

Beauty in the Breakdown

Desmond and Sadie’s story hurt my heart. These two have been through so much. I loved the glimpses of their shared histories and also seeing them discover each other again after more than a decade apart. I did feel that things progressed a little too quickly once they started to date, but I loved how all in Desmond was. These Bower men are so gone for their ladies!

I also appreciated how much care was taken with Max and his feelings about moving, meeting his father, questioning his sexuality, etc. I actually wish Max's character would have been further explored. 10 Signs You Need to Grovel is a love story between father and son, just as much as it is about romantic love. Olivia and Mirielle were hilarious and they helped break up some of the heavier moments in the book. The pacing of the story was a bit slow at times though, which made the book feel too long. I also didn’t love the final conflict, but the ending and epilogue were so sweet and perfect for these two.

I both read the ebook and listened to the audiobook of this one. Julian Durant’s narration was good, but unfortunately I didn’t love it. He used a variety of voices so it wasn’t a problem differentiating between characters, but he voiced Desmond so gravelly that it made my throat hurt.

Audiobook Review
Overall 4 stars
Performance 3 stars
Story 4 stars

I’m not normally a fan of the secret baby trope, but this second chance romance won me over. It was set up really well in book 1, which made it easier to accept and allowed me to focus more on Desmond and Sadie reconnecting. The book can be read as a standalone if you want to jump right in, but I think it’s a much more gratifying experience if it’s read in order.

Tropes: Forced proximity, second chance, childhood friends to lovers, secret baby
CW: MMC was in witness protection for the last 10 years, mentions of money laundering and threats to safety, grief, MMC engaged in destructive behaviors/would go missing for stretches of time (past), secondary character mentions parental infidelity, plotline involving secondary character questioning their sexuality, toxic parental relationships (past)

loved it

I really enjoyed reading this author.  I look forward to reading more books by this author in the near future.