Review: There With You by Samantha Young

“…I already regret you. I regret every kiss I ever gave you, every piece of my heart … because as precious as every kiss and every piece of me is … you threw them away like I was nothing.”

There With You is the delightful and steamy second book in the Adair Family series by Samantha Young.

When Regan Penhaligon’s impulsive behaviour finally catches up to her there’s no better place for her to run to than her sister at the exclusive Ardnoch Estate in the remote Scottish Highlands.

Determined to make amends for her mistakes, Regan plans to repair her relationship with Robyn, while also hiding out from someone who has grown dangerously obsessed with her. Widower Thane Adair needs to new nanny housekeeper for his two young children and after seeing how quickly they bond with his soon to be sister in law, he offers Regan the job. But as time passes Thane and Regan struggle with their growing attraction neither of them can deny their attraction.

But things soon take a turn for the worst when someone from Thane’s past threatens his family, and his inability to trust Regan threatens to destroy their future… and the person who made Regan run away to Ardnoch threatens the chance for her to have any future at all.

“But we agree it’s just sex... We’ll go on as before, friendly in front of the kids, so Lewis knows everything’s okay, but nothing more. And then at night I’ll sneak in here so we can have more of the best sex of our lives … and that’s it. Agreed?”

While it is the second book in the series, There With You can be read as a stand-alone although I do recommend checking out the first book Here With Me that tells the story of Regan’s sister Robyn, and Thane’s brother, Lachlan.

I really, really enjoyed There With You and absolutely adored Regan and Thane’s journey so much that I stayed up till 4am reading it in one sitting.

I will say that I did struggle a little bit to get into it at the beginning. I found the writing seemed to be a little clunky, but as the book progressed and things really started to get underway I really started enjoying it.

If you’ve read Here With Me, you know that by the end of the book you know there is a bit of a divide between the sisters and it was great to get to see them work through that and get some closure in There With You.

I love angst in books – when its’ done well – and this book had the perfect level of angst for me. The tension between Thane and Regan was spellbinding and their relationship was unexpectedly steamy. I was honestly not expecting Thane Adair to bring the level of heat that he did.

“Go wait for me in the annex,” he demanded. Her eyes widened slightly. “Clothes off. Keep your underwear on because I want to take it off. And lights on so I can see you. When I get there, I expect you on the bed with your legs spread… Don’t touch yourself until I get there. Your orgasms are mine now.”

I loved getting to see Thane and Lachlan interact with each other. Samantha Young really captured that good-natured badgering between siblings, and I loved that Lachlan didn’t hesitate to tell Thane to pull his head out of his ass when he was being stubborn & obtuse about his feelings for Regan.

“You’re angry with yourself, you hardheaded prick.” Lachlan cut him a dark look. “A decade of happiness is better than a lifetime of emptiness.” Thane tensed, remembering those words. “That’s what you said to me,” Lachlan pushed. “Not even eight months ago. When I came to you about Robyn... Not very good at following your own advice, are you?”

There With You was a charmingly enjoyable novel and I highly recommend giving it a read.

Content Warnings: This book contains mentions of an attempted sexual assault and shows a PTSD flashback.