The banter-filled, playful vibe had me hooked from the start, but my enjoyment took a nosedive somewhere along the way. It’s a bright, cheerful, opposites attract romance that showcases how life doesn’t always go according to plan. I loved that our sunshine heroine shows the grumpy hero that he’s been missing out on the best things in life, and their unpredictable misadventures were so fun to read. They’ve got great chemistry from the start, and the strangers to lovers situation was a definite win. However, our hero is trying to get his girlfriend back for most of the story, so there were some uncomfortable undertones of cheating along the way. Sure, they broke up, but as Nathaniel says, “Gertrude may be mating like a rabbit with Raphael, but I still consider myself in a relationship.” And he doesn’t necessarily back that up with his actions. It still probably would’ve been a 4-star read for me if the final act had gone very, very differently.
The story follows Nathaniel, a financial guy who has his life all planned out. But when his longtime girlfriend breaks up with him just before he planned to propose, all of those carefully crafted plans go out the window. Nathaniel’s girl claims she’s already in love with someone else, but Nathaniel is determined to get her back – because there’s no way she could’ve fallen for someone so quickly… right? When his seatmate on the train causes one problem after another, Nathaniel isn’t sure what to think. The whirlwind of a woman is like no one he’s ever met, but Izzy is happy to help him get his girl back. As the two spend time together, Izzy’s lessons on love start to blur the lines between them, and Nathaniel suddenly isn’t sure what he wants at all.
Josh and Gemma Make a Baby was my introduction to Ready’s work, and I loved it, so I was excited to check out another one of her books. I had no trouble jumping into this series without reading the others first, it feels like a complete standalone. And things were going so well at the start! It’s a short, easy, palate cleanser of a read in many ways, with low angst rom com vibes. I loved the humor. I didn’t love feeling uncomfortable about some of the situations, even/especially if Izzy and Nathaniel were clearly meant to be together. I was leaning towards a 4-star rating until the final act, at which point things really started to unravel. I get what Ready was trying to accomplish, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it, lol. It completely changed the tone of the whole book, and honestly extinguished the warm and fluffy vibes. Maybe if this was a little longer, I don’t know, but it left me feeling underwhelmed after such a strong start. So this gave me plenty to laugh about, but wasn’t a total win. I received an early copy and am voluntarily leaving a review of this opposites attract romance.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3v6qMNk
Blurb:
Opposites clash in this wild, unpredictable rom com, where two strangers team up to stop a wedding at all costs.
Nathaniel Barry is monochromatic, meticulous, and uptight. Izzy Harris is wild, unpredictable, and free-spirited. Nathaniel has a trendy apartment, a successful career, and a girlfriend he’s about to propose to. Izzy has no home, no career, and nobody special to hold her down.
They’re polar-opposites in every way.
So when they sit next to each other on the train to Romeo, New York they clash from the very start. Naturally, Nathaniel decides he wants nothing to do with Izzy. And Izzy…well, she has a different opinion.
No matter how much Nathaniel protests, Izzy knows it was fate that brought them together. Nathaniel’s girlfriend just ran off to marry another man, and Izzy swears she’ll help Nathaniel win her back. They have three days to stop the ill-advised wedding. It should be easy. It should be simple. But when two polar opposites team-up to stop a wedding, there’s only one guarantee – that nothing will go as planned.
Married by Sunday is Book 5 in Sarah Ready’s Soul Mates in Romeo Romance Series.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3v6qMNk
Excerpt:
“Excuse me, I think my boyfriend is under your table.”
I hold extremely still and crouch in a little ball under the round wooden table. The white tablecloth nearly touches the floor, but I can see the tip of Gertrude’s high heels and Raphael’s brown wingtips behind her.
“If you don’t mind, I’m just going to look.”
I close my eyes. How did my life come to this? How did I go from an incredibly successful, well-respected businessman to a disaster covered in cake crouched under a table? It’s embarrassing.
I wait for the tablecloth to lift up, but it doesn’t.
I move back but the woman at the table kicks me. I grunt and then hold still.
Wait a minute.
I recognize those shoes.
“Don’t you dare,” a woman with a southern drawl a mile wide says. “My husband is under this table giving me the French tickle, it’s our honeymoon, and I always wanted a little tongue bath in public. Ah ah. Back away from the tablecloth, missy.”
A grin spreads across my face. She’s absurd, she’s obscene, she’s the best.
I could kiss her.
“If you lift this tablecloth, this whole restaurant and all them old ladies will see my hoo-ha. That’ll ruin their appetites. Or it’ll make ’em jealous. Either way.”
“Uh…uh…what?”
“My treasure,” Raphael says, “the lady says the man you saw is her husband.”
“But…but I swear I saw Nathaniel. I don’t know why he’s here. I told him not to come,” Gertrude says.
“Well, that settles it. You couldn’t have seen a Nathaniel. My husband’s name is Devon.”
I stifle a surprised laugh and Izzy kicks at me again.
“Now, if you’ll please excuse us, I’d like to get back to it. We only live once, ya know.”
Wow.
She’s crazy.
She’s perfect.
She rescued me.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3v6qMNk
About the Author:
Author Sarah Ready writes contemporary romance and romantic comedy. Her books have been described as “euphoric”, “heartwarming” and “laugh out loud”. Her debut novel The Fall in Love Checklist was hailed as “the unicorn read of 2020”. She loves to write fast-paced, emotionally compelling romances about quirky, smart women and the men who love them.
Before writing romance full-time Sarah had lots of fun teaching at an Ivy League. Then she realized she could have even more fun writing romance. Her favorite things after writing are adventuring and travel. You’ll frequently find her using her degree at a dino dig site, crawling into a cave, snorkeling, or on horseback riding through the jungle – all fodder for her next book. She’s lived in Scotland, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland and NYC. She currently lives in the Caribbean with her water-obsessed pup and her awesome family.
You can visit her online at www.sarahready.com
Connect with Sarah
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