Down but not Out

by B. E. Baker

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When life has taught you to hide, can you ever spread your wings in the light?

Writing songs has always been the way that Beatrice Cipriani processes the world around her, but as a painful introvert, none of those songs are ever performed. She excels at being invisible—she’s the best server in a fancy restaurant. Sometimes, though, it feels like she’s dying a little more with every passing day.

Easton Moorland has finally made it big, but with a public company comes a board that has demands. As the chairman of a luxury brand, all eyes are on him, and they want him to look the part. That means he needs a girlfriend, or better yet, a wife. Only, Easton’s never had time to date, much less to develop any kind of relationship.

When the board insists that Easton sign up with an exclusive dating agency, he takes his first match to the nicest place in town. Only, he can’t remember his date’s name—he’s too enthralled by their server. It’s a woman he’d met before—it’s his sister Elizabeth’s new sister-in-law, in fact.

But can a dating newbie like Easton coax a painful introvert into the limelight at his side? Or will old fears destroy their chance at a happily ever after before it can even begin?

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Book Details

Genre

Contemporary Romance

Subgenre

Billionaire, Celebrity / Rockstar, Inspirational, Office / Workplace, Small Town

Series

The Scarsdale Fosters • Book 4

Audience

Adult

Bell Peppers

🫑

Profanity

1 None

Violence

1 None

Drugs, Alcohol, Tobacco

2 Mild

Publication Date

July 6, 2024

Language Versions

English

Narration Type

Human

Fiction Form

Novella

Sensitive Themes

Body image struggles

Representation

Adoption or foster-care representation

DNF

This wasn’t for me. It had a fine premise but overall, the characters just seemed childish. Also, one of my pet peeves is characters throwing food. This book lost me when the CEO of a company threw a scallop. Sigh. Give me a break.

Sweet Clean Romance

This book is book 4 in the Scarsdale Fosters series but if you wanted to you could easily read it at any point (though I do think it’s best in order). I loved seeing the dynamics between the foster siblings and of course I loved the tension between the humor (I laughed out loud at parts) and the drama (yep, I also cried). I definitely recommend adding this book not only to your TBR pile but your have read pile!

A beautiful love story

If you want a book that has love, inner turmoil, past background baggage, acceptance of yourself, betrayal, but mostly love, this is the book for you.
Even though this book is the fourth one on The Scarsdale Foster series it can be read as a standalone, with a little caveat that there will be some details you won't be fully getting.
On this book we focused on the story of Beatrice, the girl that was left behind by her addicted mother at Seren and Dave's Inn. Now Beatrice is a grown up woman, who's a musician who prefers to be always in the background and as inconspicuous as possible. That's why her job as a waitress is the best one for her, costumers don't really "see" their servers.
Easton is a millionaire who's made his money from scratch thru hard work, he's also Beatrice's foster brother brother in law. He falls in love with her but she doesn't want to have nothing to do with him, or does she?
Reading this book felt like having a warm embrace, it gave me such a well being feeling.
The ending of the book sets up an intriguing beginning for the following and last book of the series that I can't wait to read.

Heartwarming clean romance.

I enjoyed Bea's story. As someone who is also an introvert, I could relate to some of what she experienced in this book. One thing I appreciated was that she found a way to do what she loved without letting anyone push her into doing it in way that she wasn't comfortable with. She got out of her comfort zone just enough to grow, but not so much that she wasn't being true to herself or her personality.

I also enjoyed Easton's part of the story. Like Bea, I found Easton easy to like. I liked the way his romance with Bea came together, despite some obstacles. One of those obstacles was Bea's foster brother, Jake. I have to say that Jake had to grow on me. He threw up some red flags for me in the beginning with the way he behaved around Bea and other men that entered her life. Fortunately he ended up getting called out on his behavior and he took a look at himself and realized some things. I liked that he grew as a person and began to change. I'm not sure if I like his personality yet, but the next book will be about him, and I'm sure I will like him by the end of it.

This book, like all the others in this series, had some really heartwarming moments and one in particular was when Bea's foster mom, Seren talked with her about all the grief in her past including not being able to have children, and how she didn't yet know that her children were already out there. She just had to find them. These moments are what make this series good.

If I had any kind of critique, it would be that sometimes I wish this series didn't include people coming into wealth, connections with famous or wealthy people, and brand name dropping so much. I also wish the book titles reflected the more heartwarming aspects of the stories instead of wealth or money because they are about so much more than that. Bridget has a real talent for weaving serious topics into her stories without them weighing the story down too much. Her stories focus on the good that can come of things instead of lingering on the bad too much, and I appreciate that. There's also always humor injected into the stories that keep them light and I enjoy that aspect of the books as well.

DNF

This wasn’t for me. It had a fine premise but overall, the characters just seemed childish. Also, one of my pet peeves is characters throwing food. This book lost me when the CEO of a company threw a scallop. Sigh. Give me a break.