“You like the attention, right?” my husband said.  I almost laughed. Six years, and he still didn’t know me at all.

BARBARA

Every Thanksgiving for six years, I got it right. Down to the last detail.  And on the last one, I watched him comfort his high school sweetheart instead of me.  That was the night he called it “attention.”

I used to think it was one bad night that broke us.  It wasn’t.  It was six years of small cracks, and he just happened to be standing there when the whole thing finally came down.

I told myself it was love — burned hands, shelved dreams, and a little less of me every year so he could shine.  He paraded me like his best asset. He never once called me his equal.

Now I’m done playing the supporting cast in my own life.

NOLAN

I was wrong. It just took me far too long to see it.  I called myself her partner — and left her to fight alone.  I called myself her provider — and never saw what it cost her.

I called myself faithful — and never noticed the line I was standing on.  It took another man buying her painting — a stranger who saw her before I ever did — to finally wake me up.

Whatever it costs me, I will fix what I broke. I will become the man worth coming back to.

Titles in the Begging for a Second Chance series include:  If You Forget Me ~ Talk to Me ~ Stop Taking Me for Granted ~ Stop Treating Me Like a Footnote ~ Stop Showing Me Off Like a Trophy ~

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

Title:  Stop Showing Me Off Like a Trophy
Series:  Begging for a Second Chance #5
Author:  Roselin Brown
Published:  September 15, 2026
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Stop Showing Me Off Like a Trophy is the fifth title in the Begging for a Second Chance series.  Sometimes I’ll discover amazing authors through unexpected ARCs; Roselin Brown was one of those discoveries.  I’ve binge-read this entire series so far, and I am always touched by how human and deeply emotional I feel with each new story.

And Barbara and Nolan’s story, perhaps, hit hardest for me, because this wasn’t a couple determined to tear each other apart when the romance stopped working… no, it’s a love story where somewhere along the line the love part got forgotten by one partner, and he never even noticed it happening.  I don’t mean they stopped loving each other, but Nolan had taken Barbara for granted enough that she was drowning and finally chose herself over remaining unseen.  “Attention”, indeed.  I felt that particular slap like it hit me physically.  That is a word a man uses when he has forgotten he’s in love with this woman, when he believed in her… once upon a time, until he conveniently forgot her worth.

Barbara and Nolan’s romance is well-written and so emotional.  Grand gestures, groveling… yes, necessary, but at the core it felt to me that until Barbara really felt “seen” by her husband, there was no chance for the healing needed to repair their marriage.  I’m glad Nolan could finally get to a place where he felt that way and could show it, so his wife could believe his new truth.  Too many people, no matter the type of relationship, feel like they’re being taken for granted, like they aren’t seen for their own worth.  Stop Showing Me Off Like a Trophy described that to a “T”.  If that sounds like your kind of marriage in crisis romance, then you’d love this one.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the author or the author’s team via Booksprout, and I sincerely thank them for their trust. I chose to leave a review with my personal opinion of this book.*

**I’m grateful to authors who put their work into Kindle Unlimited (no matter how long that run may be).  My book budget only stretches so far, and KU lets me read more of the amazing stories these authors offer.

This title is available on Amazon