After All: A Romancing Manhattan Novel

Oh, swoon, I adore Kristen Proby, her characters are always an entertaining mix of smart and sassy as well as being a bit frayed and endearingly flawed. I was besotted with this couple, they were swoon and smirk-worthy with a sweet and steamy yet well functioning boss/employee relationship. The painfully handsome single-dad boss was lost without his plucky assistant - during and after hours. Written in my favorite dual POV, the engaging storylines were fresh, amusing, and relatable as well as hitting all the feels between the sizzle, clever banter, and the heavier and more volatile family issues. I had not read the previous installments in this enticing series and didn’t need to, although I am definitely feeling the pull to delve into them as well.

Kristen Proby has definitely saved the best for last. This story was filled with so much emotion. Nora has been Carter’s assistant for over 10 years. It was always professional until things started to change after one night being snowed in in the office. Feelings started to get in the way but Nora wasn’t sure if Carter felt the same. Once they both admitted that there was something there their relationship started to grow. But not everything is easy. First there was a HR manager that didn’t like Nora because she had her own fantasies about Carter, the no-frat policy and most important a twelve year old little girl. Nora was used to taking care of her for Carter but being in a relationship with him sort of changed things in her mind. This story has a lot of ups and downs but so worth it. Carter now is moving on from his loss of Gabby’s mom. Something he never thought would happen, and Gabby must realize that her dad is also moving on. Not forgetting Darcy but opening his heart to love again.

4.5 stars--AFTER ALL is the third and final instalment in Kristen Proby’s contemporary, adult ROMANCING MANHATTAN erotic, romance series focusing on business partners and attorneys: Finn and Quinn Cavanaugh, and Carter Shaw. This is forty year old, attorney, widower and single father Carter Shaw, and thirty-four year old, divorcee and executive assistant Nora Hayes. AFTER ALL can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Told from dual first person perspectives (Nora and Carter), and a final chapter by Maggie, AFTER ALL follows the forbidden, workplace romance between forty year old, attorney, widower and single father Carter Shaw, and thirty-four year old, divorcee and executive assistant Nora Hayes. Nora Hayes has worked as Carter’s executive assistant for close to ten years, and in the five years since the death of his wife Darcy, Nora has become babysitter, caretaker and friend to his daughter Gabby. Married to the job, Nora’s divorce one year earlier finds our heroine working fourteen hour days to keep her boss and the office running smoothly but the sexual tension between Carter and Nora is growing exponentially, and it is only a matter of time before Nora and Carter cross the line into full blown romance when an unexpected snow storm strands our couple at the office, over night. Carter Shaw knows there is a work place rule about fraternizing with fellow employees, but as the boss and owner, Carter begins to push the boundaries with the woman with whom he will fall in love. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Nora and Carter, as our couple traverse the employee/boss / single father minefield, and a personal crises of which Carter will fail. Both Carter and Nora struggle with their parental relationships destroyed by issues of control. Nora is about to get a crash course in restraint when Carter’s twelve year old daughter Gabby begins to push the child-parent boundaries, and Carter battles between head and heart as it pertains to his relationship with our story line heroine. The relationship between Carter and Nora is a forbidden boss/employee affair but Carter finds himself intrigued by the woman that is currently running his professional life. Having remained single for close to five years, Carter’s partners Finn and Quinn push our hero to take the next step toward his future, and a relationship with Nora Hayes. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. The colorful and strong secondary and supporting characters include Finn and London (All the Way #1), Quinn and Sienna (All It Takes #2), Carter’s daughter Gabby, and Finn and Quinn’s mother Maggie; Nora’s bestie Christopher, as well as the head of HR Mary, who may or may not have it out for our story line heroine. AFTER ALL is a story of second chances for our leading couple. Both have love and lost, and are about to discover that love is better the second time around. The premise is heart warming, emotional and energetic ; the romance is sassy and provocative; the characters are playful, spirited and dynamic. AFTER ALL is my favorite instalment in the Romancing Manhattan series with a little bit of everything for the romantic in all of us.