Man, I really wish I’d written my review right after I read this book because obviously four star reading that is unheard of for me lately because eveMan, I really wish I’d written my review right after I read this book because obviously four star reading that is unheard of for me lately because everything I’ve been reading has been utter crap but this book was refreshing. I really like the character of men she was just real and flawed and relatable and enjoyable. She wasn’t flighty. She wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t boy crazy or man crazy she was just who she was And the relationship she had with cow was just so fun to read and their banter was highly enjoyable. I’m really really trying to remember more details about the story and specifics that I liked, but I do remember liking it very much obviously four star rating I stand behind that, even the characters were enjoyable they supported each other. They were there for each other and they weren’t overly obnoxious or annoying. They kind of added to the care to the story now her one best friend the one not the one who is like the snow White Cinderella type girl the other one you know it was, bordering on annoying the way that she kept injecting herself into the relationship between men and cow. I think it had gone any further than it would’ve probably ruined the story some and the details are coming back now so of course them interacting with one another family that’s always like a huge huge thing I mean they’re obviously getting to know each other she’s bonding with his nephew And then there mutual diners with other families were so fun. I love those kind of dynamics because they have this opportunity to have each other back and it’s just very romantic and especially the way men was at dinner with his family like she was just going for it and it was just super, enjoyable to read if I recall there was eventually some conflict at the end oh yeah like she told him she knew about the bet but then he got pissed because she knew about it or some thing was something like that I mean, that was a bit of a stretch. I know I’m not a fan of third act breakups but You know I guess it’s inevitable and the majority of these romance books but fortunately it didn’t totally ruin it and I kept expecting it because she kept acknowledging like oh I need to tell him I need to tell him so we knew it was coming, but then him getting mad at her was kind of likeyou know come on people just communicate with one another don’t fly off the handle...more
Oh man Calliope Dean, you know she wrote these two books and they were the first of hers that I read about the rock climbing guy with the single mom aOh man Calliope Dean, you know she wrote these two books and they were the first of hers that I read about the rock climbing guy with the single mom and I really enjoy those two so much but then every subsequent Calliope Dean book I’ve read has been a super super disappointment Including this one I honestly do not take my one star lately, but this one is absolutely one star. I couldn’t even finish this book. It was a DNF. There was just nothing about the writing. The characters were unappealing. The connection between the two of them was just very forced and weird and nothing was doing it for me, but the idea the concept is so great but poor execution...more
But I really read this book 2 stars. I’m surprised so the idea of it is appealing otherwise why would I read this book but Kia? Dean is letting me dowBut I really read this book 2 stars. I’m surprised so the idea of it is appealing otherwise why would I read this book but Kia? Dean is letting me down again with the way she tries to execute these stories so we have these two people younger man trying to get her pregnant, but they end up forming a connection, if you want to write a story that’s just about sex write a story that’s just about sex. Don’t try to add depth to it. That’s what he tried to do here but we didn’t see or witness really any of them getting to know each other we’re just being told. Oh yeah, we learned about each other‘s past, don’t tell and then the only scenes we had together they were busy having sex, but don’t try to camouflage yourself or not camouflage but don’t try to dress yourself up as a romance when that’s not what’s happening here it’s just crazy that you randomly the two of them are at some farmers market together and there’s paparazzi. I mean he’s with a publishing company. I’m sorry. OK there’s not gonna be paparazziand some punk remote place of a publisher like no these these people are not like Paris Hilton OK so that is totally fetched and unbelievable and then she has this accident and you know it was just really stupid...more
So this book was pretty good three stars. I feel that is a decent rating for me. I like the two main characters a lot although I have to admit the begSo this book was pretty good three stars. I feel that is a decent rating for me. I like the two main characters a lot although I have to admit the beginning really kind of threw me for a loop because she slept with this other guy and I’m like second who is her love interest like I actually had to go back and double check after I started reading because I’m like what the hell I mean I have to know who I’m rooting for here like don’t make me fall for another couple When They’re gonna end up with other people once Gabe and really started interacting more and then once they got together which man it is killing me that it’s been so long since I read this book and I cannot remember the circumstances about how they finally hooked up, but once they did, I mean it was great. I really like the two of them and kind of the journeys that they went on with, their growth and self-awareness and acknowledgment about their flaws. I did enjoy their story now I was kind of annoyed with some of the characters I like his cousin, but then her friends I was not really so crazy about especially the one that was married to the older man I don’t know what you’re saying about her. I didn’t like so I honestly I ended up skimming through some of the stuff about her friends like her one friend who had the deep freezer in her basement it was just I don’t know not really interesting to me. I was more interested in Nell and Gabe....more
OK, it definitely can’t be a good sign. If I can really hardly remember anything about this book I mean when I do remember is her ex was a complete doOK, it definitely can’t be a good sign. If I can really hardly remember anything about this book I mean when I do remember is her ex was a complete douche she had to like cover all of the presents and the costs and everything and she was working as a bank teller and lost her job and how she gonna make into me and everything was super stressful. Meanwhile, there’s this interesting dynamic with her and her neighbor you know her yard put lights on her house it just kind of a little interesting. They ended up getting together and I guess you know this is a Christmas story which OK fine but I just feel like in a book. You have so much more time to tell a story Compared to like a Hallmark movie so if they’d really been kind of building this dynamic overtime like don’t just prefer back to it I don’t know. I’d rather see the things play out. I know I wanna see a building. Don’t tell me a built I wanna see a building outside of that I mean, they did a bunch of stuff together and go get a Christmas tree together and spent time with the kids and did they go skiing together or something man I can’t even remember that’s really I know he was dressing up as Santa, is this elf on the shelf presents adult presents OK it’s starting to come back to me now but again I mean I was reading it. I wasn’t squealing like oh my gosh they’re so cute or anything. It was just very average almost below average....more
Oh man, this book was weird and I like the age of the characters, but am I really supposed to believe that these two almost have sex in the bathroom? Oh man, this book was weird and I like the age of the characters, but am I really supposed to believe that these two almost have sex in the bathroom? I mean it’s just weird and then she calls into this crisis helpline I don’t know there was just too much going on with the male main character was just weird. He was a former rockstar. He works at a helpline he repairs, cars, or restores cars or whatever, it was just an there was too much going on and for them to be in their 40s I don’t know I mean sure people have their baggage and so if he really was a rockstar and he had all these drug and alcohol problems or whatever and had to go to rehab and all this shit and yeah, you know I would expect him to be doing a little bit more the whole crisis helpline I was just I don’t know the whole time just so it’s not that it was poorly written. It’s just the story something about it the way it was organized all the different plot devices and aspects of the story did not work for me....more
So this book was OK, but it violated one of my rules or whatever you wanna call it. I really dislike the enemies to lovers troop because I’ve failed tSo this book was OK, but it violated one of my rules or whatever you wanna call it. I really dislike the enemies to lovers troop because I’ve failed to find it executed properly. Enemies means you start out hating each other, hating each other, not hating each other with thoughts of attraction no I mean I’m sorry that’s not what enemies are. That’s not what enemies are Personally enemies to her relationship and it started out. There was no attraction. It was heat. It was not like red hot like how I hate animal abusers, but it was like I have less than zero interest in this person. There were no thoughts of attraction I mean, that is true enemies to lover so kind of turned me off right from the beginning that, you know this person is a huge pain in my ass, but if she’s super hot or he’s super hot, it just cheapens the whole trope and some parts of the story. We’re just a little weird. I mean these two people were living in this town, she grew up there with her sister and then they left and then she came back a few years ago by herself, I can’t remember what her reasoning was but she did her sister dies and she becomes a guardian for her niece now it really really really did pull on my heartstrings reading her perspective of her niece wanting to live with her dad and just making those choices and wanting to meet the whole family, I mean it was a right thing to do and that’s what anyone would want I just totally empathize with her and feelings of being left behind and feeling alone and isolated like I totally get all of that so that was very heartbreaking. Was maybe a little ridiculous that was just a scheme by her to get her aunt and her dad back together whatever, she was like trying to trap or something I do remember liking parts of their relationship, but it clearly wasn’t enough for me to read it more than two stars...more
DNF for me I thought it was so bizarre like right from the beginning and the characters are so like crazy or the top and you know I’m all about going DNF for me I thought it was so bizarre like right from the beginning and the characters are so like crazy or the top and you know I’m all about going against common tropes and here we have the premise of a man wanting to have a kid and looking for a surrogate But you know I have to be hooked from the beginning and instead I was just like who the hell are these people? I was immediately turned off and I figured life is too short and stuff reading....more
**spoiler alert** I’ve read this book twice. The first time was closer to when it was originally published and then I just did a recent reread. I am s**spoiler alert** I’ve read this book twice. The first time was closer to when it was originally published and then I just did a recent reread. I am surprised as I was reading it at how much I remembered while I was reading it if anyone had asked me some of these details Before I sort my reread I don’t know how much I would’ve been able to relay but as I was reading, I was just like oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah so I’m reading this book again and I must’ve liked it when I first read it and I held onto the book all these years and I really could’ve swore that this was on Oprah‘s book club list but I just checked and it was not so I must’ve gotten this through one of those mail order things where you can get a bunch of books for cheap or some thing anyway All of that is material. I wanted to reread it because I remembered liking it and I remember that it had some romantic aspects to it, but it wasn’t like the chocolate that you read today and all that remains true my memory on that was very accurate, but as I’m reading the story, I’m finding Maddie is not really a character, I empathize with or even like very much I wasn’t really ever rooting for her. She seemed like a terrible person. Let’s think about that a little bit her family meaning her father and brother are all atheist but she finds God so she’s a believer. she’s a churchgoer and all of that, some of the things that she thinks terrible things I can’t sit here and say I’ve never thought a nasty thing in my life. I don’t know there’s just some thing about how the character is written that to prevent me from empathizing with her and perhaps it’s because I do identify with her a great deal I mean, I don’t have my kids or anything like that but I have parents who are getting older I think about them dying like all the time I think about someone who doesn’t have kids what’s gonna happen to me all of those things resonated with me And it was all very sad. Very very sad but she just seems to behave a bit selfishly. I mean the fact that she kept sleeping with her ex-husband and then her best friend who she in love with he’s going through something and she just can’t keep it to herself and has to tell him how she feels. I didn’t like that And then she did him. She’s kind of like complaining about him and she’s gone through therapy herself before so all I kept thinking was you need to go back to therapy? You need more therapy and her kid Harry is like a freaking jerk I mean, I don’t know I was reading it and I’m just like what am I supposed to take away from this is it just meant to be like a slice of human life? I mean it all seems very relatable. It all seems very human like these are things that what happened in real life, and the trauma that her father went through and the trauma hand inflicted on someone else I mean, that is all really fucked up, but I don’t know. I’m not smart as I think I am or is intellectual or analytical. I think I am because I’m hard-pressed to really understand what I’m supposed to have gotten out of this story, incredibly well written, you know I would rather read more books than some of that crap that I’ve read so that makes it worth it but the story itself. I mean it borders on depressing and I’m not asking for some hearts and rainbows and unicorns at the end, but I don’t know I just, guess I need it a little bit more like my take away is it that we’re never gonna be we’re never gonna have everything that we want or when we get the things that we want they’re not gonna be what they thought we were or thought they were similarly with the book normal peoplea beautifully written and crafted story but what is the take away like help me help me understand what I’m supposed to get out of this. This is what I miss about English class lol...more
**spoiler alert** Like so many of my reviews before I’m gonna start this one out the same way, which is that I really really had high hopes for this b**spoiler alert** Like so many of my reviews before I’m gonna start this one out the same way, which is that I really really had high hopes for this book and thought for sure I would like it, but I should know by now to go into any book with no expectations because as soon as you have expectations, you will inevitably be disappointed The elements were all in place for this to be a really great story. We have a woman who is starting over in her life we have a man who is in his early 40s with a kid. It’s for proximity grumpy Sunshine, but the author didn’t stop there. I can’t quite put my finger on, how the author wasn’t able to execute this but she failed to. For instance, the female main character has an ex-husband and a terrible ex mother-in-law and they treated her poorly and then she also has this other extended family and but she also previously lived in this town in Colorado and then her mom also died mysteriously And so she has a connection to this place and she comes back there because she wants to do the hikes. Her mom went on and really just reconnect with who her mom was but that really gets lost in this whole story it’s kind of brought up at the beginning and then again at the end and in between there’s really just like a whole bunch of nothing like there’s really not that much going on and this book is really freaking long, but we really don’t see a lot of her renewed friendship with Clara. We just get cursory type things we get tons of wasted pages on her going on these hikes where she continues to have to be rescued and I’m sorry it is really not that difficult to go on a 1 mile hike in fact, 1 mile is not considered a hike unless you’re hiking up straight up and scaling a rock or something like that, but it just made me feel like the author didn’t know what she was talking about when it came to hiking because these hikes were really not that bad as far as distance is concerned and then she goes into these hikes like not really even wanting to do them or enjoying them and not really even fully researching things And pages and paragraphs of her complaining about how and how much pain she’s feeling all that make me a terrible whiner not her to me whatsoever. She didn’t read any of her other mothers journals. There was just too much going on because the focal point really seemed to be about her ex and the music and that’s how she know there’s and then she has these music, famous musician, friends, and it was just there was too much and so, the author was doing like a surface level version of everything and it did not work for me at all. It was just a bunch of telling me things of things for a long and in this particular medium, you do not get away with telling me things you have to show me things And the nicknames buddy kiddo angel and they just come out of nowhere. They were creepy. They were awkward. They took me out of the story immediately. Oh, I’m gonna call this girl. I’m attracted to buddy after the elf now I mean if anything you call her Sunshine and it just is a huge factor for me as someone who is totally into nicknames. There was nothing natural or organic about the incorporation of these nicknames. I hated it, and then the fact that she had millions of dollars I mean, why did that need to even be in the story and then she tells off her ex mother-in-law and then her ex shows up to like enough alreadyit was just really really stupid ...more
**spoiler alert** I really wanted to like this book, but I was just not really into it. I mean I was into it enough that I finished it and I was kind **spoiler alert** I really wanted to like this book, but I was just not really into it. I mean I was into it enough that I finished it and I was kind of invested in Maggie and Aiden to see how things turned out for them, but there were 20 things that just weren’t for me Examples include the ages of the characters myself in my 40s so I was stoked to find a book with older main characters however I felt that they did not act age appropriate full disclosure of maturity and mental health however they really were just written more like people in their early 30s And I am fine reading stories with characters who have kids I am also not a fan of parent who pushovers and the way that Maggie and her son were written at the end of the book was not at all in line with how they were throughout the rest of the story it was very inconsistent and what he did to her Was not cool at all and I’m not saying Maggie should hold a grudge or anything like that, but it was just too neatly wrapped up and what was the point really of any of that I feel like we had to suffer through a lot of Aiden‘s toxic family shit and we had to suffer through a slow burn which I am OK with. I’m totally fine with a slow burn, but then to have everything wrapped up in the last like five pages I am never OK with that. I am never OK with that and I just thought it was really really weird that a 50-year-old man is learning these things about himself like in this day and age with the Internet And read it you’re telling me it never occurred to him to do a little research. His storyline read something more likes something out of the 80s and I don’t know. I am a straight female so maybe I am too far removed from people with different sexualities, but it just didn’t feel very authentic that he would learn about what he was for Maggie, but then we never witnessed him really doing any research on his own and then suddenly he’s just telling everyone about it. I mean it’s great. It’s great that he embraces who he is, but it just didn’t feel natural. I felt very forced and, what did that really add to the story I don’t feel that it added anything to the story similarly her ex showing up at the end and of course he’s got a new wife and who’s pregnant it’s all very stereotypical. What did it do so what we’re supposed to follow these to who clearly have baggage and shit that they need to deal with and suddenly they deal with everything, kind of off page and very neatly and then they’re married and a very typical hetero relationship it just really I feel like too hard, which is a shame because the story was just simplified and focused on the two older people who had sworn off love and relationships and found each other that would’ve been cute enough on its own with all all this other stuff...more
**spoiler alert** This story was so cute. Amy and Thomas had a very adorable meet cute and I love that they were both older and that they both had kid**spoiler alert** This story was so cute. Amy and Thomas had a very adorable meet cute and I love that they were both older and that they both had kids. It was really enjoyable to see these blended families. There wasn’t as much pressure because the kids were grown and Amy son was getting ready to go off to college so it’s like they had a young children that they need to raise together coparent or anything like that and I was really fine. I don’t know that that would’ve made the story any better or worse, I thought it was interesting. His daughters kind of reverse their roles when it came to him dating at first one daughter was totally chill and the other one was freaking out and they kind of reversed rolls and they just seemed a little too spoiled. I don’t like reading about spoiled children. I don’t enjoy that at all, and I do like the amount of time that the place over six months although I do feel that they got together really kind of fast and then things kind of slow down and more time was passing off page, which was OK I didn’t necessarily like the unnecessary drama of him interviewing for a job and not telling her about it like a man of his age immaturity level just would not pull shit like that so that felt kind of pointless and that was just for the sake of drama. I think it would’ve been more compelling story if he had been upfront with her about it before things had gotten so serious between the two of them because I feel like regardless of how she felt it will, and regardless of her baggage, she would’ve encouraged him to pursue it And I think demonstrating a healthy relationship where people communicate is so much more sexy than dealing with unnecessary drama similarly with her ex like do we really need to know that he’s some tattooed guy because I don’t know I mean really what was the point of that and I realized after the fact that there’s a second book in the series that’s about him and I don’t care about him it was kind of weird and the way they explained the reason for their marriage breaking up was kind of weird like I think they could’ve the author could’ve written it that they decided amicably to divorce instead of her, leaving him but overall it was cute and I thought Amy and Thomas were really good together And when their kids weren’t being selfish assholes, I enjoyed seeing them start to blend their families. I wish we’ve gotten more of that instead of it happening at the end, but it turned me onto another....more
**spoiler alert** Even though it’s been about 10 days since I finished this book it’s kind of difficult for me to remember more specific details of wh**spoiler alert** Even though it’s been about 10 days since I finished this book it’s kind of difficult for me to remember more specific details of what happened but I do remember liking it and I like that the main character is younger. I like that he’s a doctor I like that the female character is independent and her dog, and I do like that. These two took time to really become friends, but I was honestly surprised that this was an old Harlequin book because I don’t know my idea of Harley Quinn books is that it’s like nonstop sex when really there was hardly any which I’m OK I just found it surprising and what that allowed in the story is again for these two really to focus on each other and on becoming friends and getting to know each other is my favorite trope in real life friends lovers so even though that instant attraction and chemistry was there it was just important that they explored it and a healthy way without it just being about sex and I do like that. We got to see them together as a couple, I was kind of interesting how the mail main character, tried to give her what he thought she wanted because it’s what she had before but I like how they communicated with each other without a bunch of drama and I really like her climbing and his window a couple of times and how his brother was like OK I’m out of here and he just knew it was so great. I love those scenes and I just thought that they did really well communicating with each other....more
**spoiler alert** This book was so good. I would say definitely a solid 3 1/2 stars which for everyone else is like 4 1/2 stars I love Mimi so much an**spoiler alert** This book was so good. I would say definitely a solid 3 1/2 stars which for everyone else is like 4 1/2 stars I love Mimi so much and what I enjoyed about this book is that it was really all from her perspective so even though she interacted with all of these characters, it wasn’t a bunch of kind of hopping around, which is what it was like in the previous book by this author that I read and you’re the author executes that pretty well so it’s not like I’m having a seizure or anything because she switching POV so frequently, but I very much should get attached to a character. I wanna hang out with that character and getting to do that with Mimi. It was really a treat because I thought Mimi was a great great character now Mimi and cow you know it’s kind of interesting because the way they need you can tell right away that he’s the love interest, but then he’s married and then this tragic thing happens and it happens to both of them, it was interesting to see how the author was going to develop this and how aware the author was going to take us part of or rather a drawback of getting just one POV as we never knew how cow felt we got very very vague indications and so that is probably the main critique that I have is that we know going into it that they’re going to end up together we know that’s going to happen It’s going to happen. We don’t know that Mimi has these feelings and she’s had these feelings for a while. We get very obvious clue from about how he feels because he seems to be this charming person with everyone and Mimi even comments on that so there’s no way for her to interpret that and that’s kind of frustrating because it’s obvious these two just keep crossing paths that’s the title of this book, you know he’s with someone and then she’s living abroad for work and she comes home and is there for only a day before he leaves again you know they constantly just crossing crossing paths with each other like that but we never get any kind of indication from him that he has kind of feelings for her until the very end until the very end when he suddenly reveals that he’s in love with her And it’s very it is romantic. The two of them are romantic. It’s very sweet, but I was really just left Jones for a book where the couple gets together much much sooner because I wanna enjoy it with them. I don’t want 350 pages of buildup of slow burn buildup at that With all of that being said I still enjoyed this very very much and really like Mimi’s character. I love her relationship with Marcus her stepdad and I love her friendships like with Lois and even Patty and how she is with Cora I mean, Mimi, I think is probably one of my favorite characters that I’ve encountered in a book....more