A truly FANTASTIC, outlandish, and romantic back half more than makes up for the slow start on this one. We’ll talk about that slow start in a minute, but I’ve gotta talk about my love of Tyler and Muffy first. These two are the quintessential quirky couple, and their love story is SO FUNNY, offbeat, and smile-inducing… plus it’s got some stellar sexual tension. Once I got a better feel for the story, I really fell for these two, and the back half was so, so good. It’s low angst, playful, and 100% unique. Prepare to laugh often while reading this heartfelt rom com, because there’s no way you won’t fall for this couple once you get to know them.
How do I explain the plot without sounding like a crazy person? I don’t think I can. Essentially, the story follows Muffy and Tyler, two semi-friends who had a not-so-sexy hookup a few months ago. While they had started to get close in a semi-friendly, semi-flirty way before the encounter, the hookup had our playboy hero running scared. Tyler’s got way too many sisters to ever want a real relationship (he doesn’t need one more woman in his life), so hooking up with someone he genuinely enjoys spending time with complicates matters. So does the fact that he hasn’t been able to “get excited” ever since, whether he’s alone or with someone else. When Muffy needs a plus one to a vaguely described event, Tyler jumps at the chance – he’s hoping that figuring out where he went wrong will make everything right in his world again. But he’s got no idea what he’s in for.
So let’s talk about that slow start. There are two things that kept me a little detached at the beginning, so it took longer than usual to love this. One, the book opens with Tyler trying (unsuccessfully) to hook up with a puck bunny or two, and I wasn’t sure that I liked him for awhile. That was definitely NOT an issue later on. Two, this isn’t as much of a standalone as it thinks it is. I’ve read pretty much everything she’s written in the last couple of years, but this connects to a series from 2018-2019, and my memory of that is foggy. I felt like maybe I missed the start of Tyler and Muffy’s love story, and if you’re not at least vaguely familiar with the characters from her older series, then you might get overwhelmed at times. Once I settled into the story a bit, that was no longer a problem.
So how does this still get 5 stars from me? Because the rest of the book was that good.
I absolutely LOVED Tyler and Muffy together after around the 30% mark, and then it was just a fantastic read from then on. Tyler is positively SWOONY, and I loved the way he lifts Muffy up. There are some great moments of building up Muffy’s self-esteem, connecting on a deeper level, and realizing that you need to love yourself before you’ll be ready to accept love from someone else. That’s what makes this such a great read. Yes, the comedy is plentiful and I laughed frequently, but it’s those heart-melting moments that sealed the deal for me. This is also pretty steamy later on, with lots of sexual tension and so much chemistry. I’m ready to dive back into the series now, and look forward to what looks to be happening next. I received an early copy (then purchased it for my collection), and am voluntarily leaving a review of this very quirky comedy.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3dEyT9o
Blurb:
You know those stories where an adorably misunderstood clumsy girl needs a fake date to a wedding so she asks her brother’s best friend and they accidentally fall in love?
I wish that was the kind of life I lead, but it’s not.
I don’t need a date to a wedding. I need a date to a funeral.
Clumsy sometimes fits, but then, that’s true for all of us, right? But adorable? No. Misunderstood? Nope again. I’m just your average girl, standing in front of a funeral invitation, asking it to be a winning lottery ticket instead.
And I don’t have a brother, or a best friend with a brother available, which means I’m stuck with Tyler Jaeger.
Sure, he’s a professional hockey player who also knows advanced calculus, but let’s say we’re not compatible and leave it at that. I should know. I am a matchmaker.
Not a very good one, but that’s beside the point.
I know a mismatch when I see one.
Still, Tyler’s what I’ve got, and I am not going to this funeral solo, so he’s what I’ll take.
After all—what could go wrong at a funeral?
I Pucking Love You is a hilariously wrong romantic comedy about the world’s worst matchmaker, a hockey player with a problem he doesn’t want to talk about, and an awkward date-of-convenience that everyone would prefer to forget. It comes complete with a cat working his way through his nine lives, all the sexy times, fish and chips, and a swoony happily-ever-after.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3dEyT9o
Excerpt:
Tyler
We all have to be at practice tomorrow morning—check that, this morning, as it’s shortly after midnight—but I don’t want to go home.
I don’t want to drink. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to screw.
I want—
Dammit.
I want a bucket of greasy fried fish and chips, because it’s what my big brother used to take me to get every time he came home on leave from the Marines and got annoyed at being hen-pecked by the four sisters between us.
My car’s cold, thanks to the early November weather, and no, I’m not telling you what kind of car I drive, because yes, it very much feels like compensationtonight.
It gets me where I want to go.
That’s all that matters.
That, and getting my ass to Cod Pieces before they close for the night.
Could I stay at the bunny bar and get fried fish and chips?
Yes.
Will I?
No fucking way.
I’m still stewing in my own misery when the bright neon sign with the armored cod and the storefront that looks like a medieval castle comes into view at the edge of a strip mall four miles the wrong direction from my downtown condo. I roll the window down, letting in a blast of chilly air and the scent of fries.
Just in time.
I holler my order over the sound of my engine, then pull around to the window to get my fish.
Debate calling my brother in Miami.
It’s one AM. He and his wife recently celebrated their kid’s first birthday, and I think they’re working on baby number two.
If I call him in the middle of the night to bitch about how I can’t get it up, he’ll probably hang up on me, then tell our sisters.
And Mom.
She’s a professional comedienne with her own popular Netflix special. There’s no damn way I’m bothering West in the middle of the night for this.
I’ll talk to the fried fish and call it even.
Has as much personality as West had before he married Daisy.
The window swings open. “That’ll be fourteen seventy-three, please.”
My car lurches forward before I remember to put it in park, and I gape up at the woman staring down at me. “Muffy?”
My brain is playing tricks on me.
It has to be.
Because there’s no way the curvy, clumsy, smart-mouthed goddess who’s haunting my dick is standing there wearing a Cod Pieces polo and hat.
But she is.
And I swear to god, her long brown braids are recoiling in horror as her whole face twists, her lip curling, her left eye squeezing shut, before she snaps herself together. “For the hundredth time today, I have no idea who this Muffyperson is. My name is Octavia Louisa Beaverhousen.”
Fuck me.
There are two of them? She looks exactly like Muffy. I’m not seeing things, and I’m not projecting just because I want my dick to work again and the bunnies made me think about screwing Muffy in the walk-in fridge at the bunny bar.
“Fourteen seventy-three, please.” She turns away as she holds out a hand, twitching her fingers like she’s waiting for cash or a card.
And that’s when I see the tattoo.
Rufus.
Her cat’s name. It’s on her wrist.
Octavia Louisa Beaverhousen, my ass. This is Muffy.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3dEyT9o
Start the series today!
The Thrusters series is classic Pippa Grant, featuring many of the beloved characters that made her the all-star rom com author she is today. It’s been a few years since I read any of them, but I do remember that Beauty & The Beefcake was my first ever Pippa read, and it got me hooked!
While you don’t NEED to read the rest of The Thrusters series to enjoy I Pucking Love You, doing so would definitely enhance the reading experience. Or at least kinda-sorta remembering the books from back in the day would enhance it, lol! That’s where I was at. Regardless, it’s a great series.
The Pilot & The Puck-Up: https://amzn.to/3t6OIwg
Royally Pucked: https://amzn.to/3mzsHUj
Beauty & The Beefcake: https://amzn.to/3mDdphy
Charming as Puck: https://amzn.to/3dPlEms
About the Author:
Pippa Grant is a USA Today Bestselling author who writes romantic comedies that will make tears run down your leg. When she’s not reading, writing or sleeping, she’s being crowned employee of the month as a stay-at-home mom and housewife trying to prepare her adorable demon spawn to be productive members of society, all the while fantasizing about long walks on the beach with hot chocolate chip cookies.
AUTHOR LINKS
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Website: http://www.pippagrant.com
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