BOOK CLUB: RESTORE ME

Author: J.L. Seegars
Series: The New Haven Series, Book One
Edition Note: The limited deluxe edition includes sprayed edges.

Some romances begin with longing. Others begin with history. Restore Me begins with grief, resentment, and years of unspoken truth, then slowly peels back every layer.

Sloane Kent has lived for more than a decade under the quiet disdain of Dominic Alexander, her late husband’s best friend. To her, Dominic is sharp edged, dismissive, and determined to make her feel insignificant. His looks cut past her, his words bruise, and his presence reminds her that she is still an outsider in a life that once belonged to someone else.

Then something shifts.

After one drunken night and an unexpected act of protection, Dominic begins to show up differently. He listens. He notices. He treats Sloane as if she matters. That change unsettles her more than his coldness ever did, because it awakens feelings she swore were buried with her husband.

From Dominic’s point of view, the truth is devastatingly simple. His distance was never hatred. It was survival. Loving his best friend’s wife was a line he refused to cross, no matter how deep his feelings ran or how long he carried them alone. Now restraint is failing, and every promise he made to himself is on the verge of breaking.

Restore Me succeeds because it respects the weight of loss. Grief is not a plot device here. It shapes every interaction, every hesitation, and every choice. The tension between Sloane and Dominic is built on years of misunderstanding, not manufactured conflict, which makes each emotional step forward feel earned.

The dual point of view is especially effective. What appears as cruelty from one side is revealed as restraint from the other. That reframing deepens the romance and transforms anger into longing, turning years of silence into combustible tension.

Just as importantly, this novel centers Black love with intention. Sloane is allowed complexity, softness, anger, desire, and joy. Her happily ever after is not rushed or handed to her. It is claimed.

Readers who gravitate toward emotionally layered romance will find a lot to love here, especially those drawn to forbidden attraction, second chances after loss, and slow burn chemistry grounded in real stakes. Fans of interconnected standalone series will also appreciate the foundation this novel lays for the wider New Haven world.

At its core, Restore Me explores what it means to heal after loss and to accept love from the one person who has always seen you. With emotional restraint, simmering passion, and a heroine who reclaims her future on her own terms, J.L. Seegars delivers a powerful opening to the New Haven series.

This is a romance that lingers long after the final page.