What I've Been Reading
Hello everyone! How are you guys? I've been doing my fair share of reading as of late. I finished The Cousins earlier this week, review on my blog, and have now read enough romances to add to my What I've Been Reading series. I'm definitely someone who every couple of books has to switch up what genre I'm picking up. So after a brief mystery novel dive, I decided to switch back to romance for a few books. I ended up finding some pretty cute romantic comedies which are sorely neglected on my tbr.
Stay turned for my mini-reviews below.
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Title: Make Me Yours
Author: Melanie Harlow
Genre: Romance
Description: He’s my brother’s best friend.
The hot single dad next door.
And one accidental sext later, my massive crush on him is no longer a secret.
It’s my own damn fault. I’m thirty years old, for heaven’s sake. I’m a kindergarten teacher and a (reasonably) responsible adult. I should know better than to get tipsy and draft a fake text listing all the dirty things I wish Officer Cole Mitchell would do to me.
I wasn’t supposed to hit send.
He wasn’t supposed to see it.
And he definitely wasn’t supposed to text back telling me to go on . . .
Because after that, things escalate quickly.
Cole is everything I’ve ever wanted. He’s sexy and protective. A devoted father to his little girl. A dedicated cop the whole town adores. The kind of guy you can trust to keep his hands to himself, even when you’re desperately hoping he won’t.
I’m not the girl he thought he’d end up with, but after all this time, I might finally get the chance to say the words I’ve always dreamed of . . . make me yours.
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Make Me Yours is an adorably hilarious romance novel. It is the epitome of everything the genre should be and I hope it will be in the future. I found myself cackling hysterically and/or blushing during almost every chapter. It played a lot on the embarrassing aspects of situational humor. From the accidental sexting to unfortunately timed circumstances there are plenty of laughs to go around. It leaves the reader feeling effervescent and bubbly along with the characters who are navigating the story.
I was pleasantly surprised by how Make Me Yours in particular approached a lot of serious topics amid the hijinks. It addressed mental health in general, and the stigma surrounding seeking help. Loss was another important topic that was discussed as the love interest is a widower with a daughter. In truth, I hadn't expected it to even mention these things in great length let alone appropriately confront them, but the book did exactly that. I can say I cried as much as I laughed and there was a plethora of both.
Title: Irresistible
Author: Melanie Harlow
Genre: Romance
Description: I’m a full-time single dad to three daughters and CFO at Cloverleigh Farms. I don’t have time to fall in love—I’m too busy trying to run a business, keep the red socks out of the white laundry, and get the damn pillowcases on without owing a dollar to the swear jar.
Sure, Frannie Sawyer is beautiful and sweet, but she’s twenty-seven, the boss’s daughter, and my new part-time nanny—which means she’s completely off-limits. It’s bad enough I can’t stop fantasizing about her, what kind of jerk would I be if I acted on the impulse to kiss her?
(Exactly the kind of jerk you’re thinking.)
Actually, I’m worse than that—because I didn’t stop with a kiss, and now I can’t stay away. She makes me feel like myself again. She reminds me what it’s like to want something just for me. She’s everything I ever needed, but nothing I ever imagined.
I’m a former Marine. I should have had the strength to resist her from the start.
But I didn’t. And now I have to choose between the life I want and the life she deserves.
Even if it means giving her up.
Rating: ★★★★ (4/5)
I hopped straight from one Melanie Harlow series to another by starting Irresistible, a small town romance novel. There is no doubt that the book is trope laden as it showcases a single father as the love interest among numerous other cliches. What this book had in tropes, it also contained utterly incomparable cuteness on every level. There was nothing more adorable than seeing the dad-daughters relationship as Mac, the main love interest, struggled his newfound singledom. And Frannie's relationship with the girls was too sweet for words. Seeing this unconventional family come together was a great pleasure for me.
Irresistible also didn't spare on the angst, which everyone knows I do enjoy in my romance books. It had a similar setup to Make Me Yours in terms of development and progression of events. The key difference was that I found Irresistible to take a panned out view of the drama as opposed to the microscopic view of Make Me Yours. Neither is really better than the other, it just comes down to personal preference.
If rom-coms are generally your cup of tea than I'd say there's a Melanie Harlow book out there for you.
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