Unwanted, A Series by Natasha Anders

About the Series

This whole series revolves around the genre Men You Hate to Love. At the beginning of these novels, these “heroes” are the antithesis of the heroic. To be blunt, they are assholes with a capital bastard.

But throughout each story, Anders contextualizes their behaviour. And, every time, these alpha males realize how truly they messed up. So, the reader is rewarded with a big grovel!

All three novels are emotional, and with each nasty comment and mean dig that these women get, I can’t help but think why they wouldn’t just give up on their men and leave. But the Unwanted series emphasizes that you can’t help who you love; if you love someone, you’re willing to work through the bad parts.

Each of the novels is incredibly turbulent and emotional, and cursing at your book or screen and possibly even throwing said book … oops. But once these men start to realize the error of their ways, a beautiful, angsty romance is built.

If you love angst-filled romances that elicit powerful emotions (both positive and negative), the Unwanted series is for you.

The review of the series includes reviews on each of the following books (listed in order of release):

• The Unwanted Wife (Theresa & Sandro)
• A Husband’s Regret (Bronwyn & Bryce)
• The Unlikely Lover (Bobbie & Gabe)

Note: Each novel in the series is Standalone.

The Unwanted Wife (Unwanted, #1)

Release Date: September 26th, 2012

Rating: 4.25/5 stars

“I’m your husband …”

“No. You are not my husband,” she interrupted in a voice thickened with hatred and tears. “You have never been my husband. A husband loves, honours and cherishes! A husband is a lover and a champion … Look into the next room if you want to see what a real husband is, because you are no such thing!”

Theresa and Sandro’s marriage is in ruins. A thing of miscommunication, Theresa believed they married for love, whereas Sandro married for a deal.

“Chemistry was a terrible thing, sometimes it simply sparked between the wrong people.”

Although Theresa has grown out of love with Sandros and has slowly grown to hate, maybe even detest him, she’s still attracted to him.

“You’re just a few months away from getting rid of your unwanted wife, child and life.”

All Sandro ever wanted was a child, a son, to be specific. So when Theresa discovers she’s pregnant, she also realizes that she’s just that much closer to finally being about to leave Sandro.

I didn’t know what to expect with The Unwanted Wife, but I assumed it would be very harlequin-like, except you know it’s a full-length book. What I mean by referring to a Harlequin book is that the heroes are always obtuse, think they rule the world, their word is the law, and they always screw up, and they always think that they didn’t! So the fact that Sandro was pretty much a big, Italian man who was unsavoury and, the worst word, indifferent towards his wife reeked of a harlequin hero.

The writing was really good because I could practically feel every emotion that Theresa went through: from being in love to falling out of it to betrayal and hurt. The story was told in the third person, so I was surprised by how personal The Unwanted Wife was. I cried–in anger and sadness–multiple times.

A Husband’s Regret (Unwanted, #2)

Release Date: April 29th, 2014

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“And, as I said before, she’s the heartless bitch who abandoned him when he needed her most!”

A Husband’s Regret is the perfect and probably the most tragic case of miscommunication. The night that changed their lives forever, Bryce thinks one thing, while Bronwyn thinks another.

“After four months of constant and inexplicable rejection, I gave up on trying to reach you. By that point I didn’t think that you deserved to have the baby or me in your life.”

This hints at what Bronwyn knew happened… but she doesn’t know why.

“If that’s what you want, Bryce, then I confess to being guilty of everything that you accused me of.”

So, is Bryce right, or is Bronwyn. And what really happened that night that made Bronwyn leave the perfect marriage?

Bronwyn runs into her husband two years after she left with their child; Bryce subsequently blackmails her into living with him. A Husband’s Regret was grossly different from The Unwanted Wife mainly because there was a hint of a mystery to it since all you know is that before, Bryce and Bronwyn had the perfect marriage, and now they don’t.

A Husband’s Regret was even more emotional than the first because Bryce and Bronwyn used to have the love and trust of couples–they got married because they were so in love. It was a sad story filled with anger, betrayal, and mistrust.

The overall pace of A Husband’s Regret was consistent with the story, slowly revealing the different layers of the relationship and the multiple–preexisting and brand new–insecurities. What I found intriguing was that what Bronwyn and Bryce thought of as an ideal marriage quickly demonstrated how many holes they had in their relationship through the event that set everything into motion. Bryce never talked about his past, so Bronwyn would never know what Bryce would find triggering. Bronwyn never went out of her way to understand why Bryce was so reserved. By letting all the little things go–ignorance is bliss, and all that–the couple had a shaky foundation for the event that broke the camel’s back.

A Husband’s Regret was a true testament to a family going through hard times and the realistic idea that marriage does not mean happily ever after.

His Unlikely Lover (Unwanted, #3)

Release Date: June 17th, 2014

Rating: 4.25/5 stars

“How stupid of her to think he would want a proper relationship with someone like her and that she could show the world how she felt about him. How foolish of her to fantasize about actually staking a claim on him and keeping all those annoying blondes at bay by right of possession.”

Bobbi’s been in love with Gabe for the past five or so years. And that would be okay, even great, if not for the fact that it’s completely unrequited. So when Gabe propositions her to add a benefit to their previous title of friends, Bobbi is ecstatic until she realizes it’s supposed to be a casual relationship, underlined and bolded on the casual.

“I need someone else, someone who knows how to dress and handle herself in public, someone who won’t show up at events with questionable bruises …”

Even though Bobbi is happy about finally being with Gabe, she realizes that she doesn’t match what he wants and thinks he needs.

“I can’t possibly fit into your life and you won’t fit into mine.”

A classic case of opposites attract, but how do you compromise when you both need and want your significant other to be exactly like, or at least similar to yourself?

His Unlikely Lover was vastly different from the other two books in the Unwanted series, mainly because the main characters were not married and had never been married. Also, the dynamic of Gabe and Bobbi’s relationship was a larger transition since, for Gabe, it went from friends to friends with benefits to a possibility of more, and for Bobbi, it was a change from her unrequited love of Gabe.

His Unlikely Lover still had the insufferable hero, Gabe, and to be honest, he was probably my least-liked hero because his hold-ups were so superficial and were a testament to the lack of depth of his character. Bobbi deserves an award, though, for so clearly displaying her struggles and realizing, quite naturally, I might add, that she was the one who put herself into the casual relationship. She could have walked away from Gabe, but she decided that something with Gabe was better than nothing, no matter how small.

When Bobbi finally called enough and grew a backbone, I gave her a standing ovation! Her speech was delivered with accurate points and was basically just awesome–go, Bobbi! Also, the fact that Bobbi owns her own auto shop was so cool. Women in a man’s world, for sure.

Although His Unlikely Lover was very different from the previous two in the series, this book, I think, showed a lot more emotional and character growth (since it was a lot more obvious).