Book Review: Tie Me Down

I thought yesterday was Friday and now I think today is Friday and no. Today is Thursday. I'm so over this not being Friday thing already. Just super over it. I don't know why I'm all hardcore about it being the weekend, we really don't have any plans despite it being Memorial Day and all but ugh... I need a life. That's what I need. A life. 

Tie Me Down - Melanie Harlow

Just friends.

That’s all Beckett Weaver and I have ever been.

Sure, he’s a hot cowboy who left Wall Street behind to take over his family’s ranch. Yes, I’ve had a secret crush on him since we were seventeen. And who wouldn’t appreciate those strong hands, that massive chest, and the way he fills out a pair of Levis?

He makes a girl sweat just looking at him . . . and I look. A lot.

But I’m a single mom trying to move on with my life, and he’s running that ranch single-handedly while taking care of his elderly father. We don’t even live in the same state. I only returned to my hometown of Bellamy Creek to sell my late mother’s house, and he just invited me and my son to stay with him because he’s got a big heart.

That’s not the only big thing he’s got--which I discover the night I finally sneak across the hall to his bedroom and shed my inhibitions right alongside my pajamas. And once we give into each other, we can’t stop.

The hayloft. The bed of his truck. The dock by the pond.

Nothing has ever felt so right, but his past has taught him not to believe in happily ever after, and every perfect night I spend in his arms brings us closer to goodbye.

First off, I have been anxiously awaiting Beckett's story because I absolutely KNEW I was going to love it and Melanie Harlow didn't let me down. 

She nailed it. *snicker*

I am a fan of friends to lovers trope, which is kind of the theme to this series as a whole. I also love the single mom getting it for herself- I'm here for that. If I had to rank these books, this one isn't at the top, it's maybe the bottom but please good lord don't let that steer you off! This entire series is so dang great and I hate to even rank them because they were all really great for their own reasons. The great thing about this one is that all of the little story lines and pieces from all of these books come together in this and it feels like it's a nice little bow at the end of it. 

This is a second chance romance and it goes back and forth to present day but also their friendship/chemistry from 15 years ago. There isn't a lot of steam in this one between Beckett and Maddie, but in the place of that it feels like a deeper love but also mutual respect, which is sometimes missing from other romances, so I did really like that. The only thing about this that made my eye twitch is one of my big pet peeves is when there is a commitment fear. He wants Maddie, it's like all of the things are lining up and the stars are perfect and then he's like, "Nah girl, this can't work" and it's ALWAYS for a totally stupid reason and it drives me crazy. It's kind of a theme in these books and knowing that going in prepared me a little more for it in this book. 

It doesn't make me hate it less though. 

Overall? I did love this one, I had all of the feels, and I'm sad to see Bellamy Creek go. This is definitely a series I would re-read, and I wouldn't hesitate to grab the next Melanie Harlow I'd see. 

A huge thank you to Melanie Harlow and Social Butterfly PR for having me on this tour! Have you read this series yet? It's a perfect one to add to your summer reading list for sure!

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Book Review: Make Me Yours

It feels like it  has been forever since I've been on my own blog but I feel like I really needed the break. I just feel overwhelmed with life right now in general and sometimes I need to just admit that and do something about it. 

So I took a mini break. Did I get rest and relaxation? No, but I was able to take a few things off my plate for a few days and in the life of a mom, I guess that's the same thing as rest and relaxation, am I right?

Make Me Yours - Melanie Harlow

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.

If you remember way back in August, I reviewed Drive Me Wild, which is book one in this series so this is book two. We pick up where Drive Me Wild leaves us (though this can be read as a stand-alone, don't worry), Blair and Griffin are getting married. Griffin's younger sister Cheyenne is a local elementary school teacher, living at home to regroup after a series of terrible breakups. Practically next door is Cole, Griffin's best friend, who is a single dad after his high school sweetheart wife died during the birth of their daughter, and is living at home to also regroup. 

Cheyenne babysits for Cole's daughter periodically so they've grown quite close and though Cheyenne adores her, she really adores Cole. She has since she was 13 and just never acted on it because it wasn't the right time and frankly, she's a bit of a chicken. What she doesn't know is that Cole is starting to see her differently but he feels like she's completely off bounds because he's best friends with her brother but also, he isn't sure if he's ready to move on from his wife and is hyper-focused on being the best parent he can since he's the only one his daughter has left. 

This is a trope I sometimes struggle with because it's a taboo/out of reach romance, they decide to get together, something happens to jeopardize it all, and then happy ever after. It's too cookie cutter and I just... I get bored. While this one almost had me bored, the fact that these characters were so... normal, I guess, really helped. They felt like real people, with real feelings and responses, and I could understand Cheyenne's feelings on not wanting to be the one to push. I could also understand Cole's fears about being alone, or going through the pain of loss again. 

Overall? I really liked this one, it was an entertaining read while on an airplane, though the guy next to me was CLEARLY reading over my shoulder and was pretty uncomfortable during the phone sex pages and serves him right. HA! I loved coming back to this greater cast of characters, I can't wait to see how the other relationships play out (I have an idea of what book three has in store and THAT is the one I'm excited for!), but I also love that this had real emotion in it, it made the ending so much sweeter. 

Thank you to Melanie Harlow and Social Butterfly PR for having me on this tour! I am so glad this is what I had as my traveling read, it made the ridiculous layover a little more bearable. 

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Book Review: Drive Me Wild

Happy Tuesday! I feel like I've really slowed down on books lately, but I have goals to really make September a crazy reading month so I need to just really buckle down and make the time to read. 

How do you make the time to read? Are you setting a specific time every day? I'm starting to think maybe I should start doing that. 

Drive Me Wild - Melanie Harlow

When Blair Beaufort literally crashes into Bellamy Creek wearing a ball gown and a tiara, I should have towed her car, said goodnight, and sent her packing.

I’m a mechanic, not a hotel manager. I've got enough on my plate trying to keep my shop from going under, my overbearing mother off my back, and my baseball team in contention for the league championship. I don’t have time for a former debutante with zero street smarts and a cash flow problem, even if she is crazy beautiful.

Problem is, she’s stranded in my small town, and I’m hiding a protective streak underneath my broody exterior that runs deep. So I offer her a place to stay and keep my hands to myself.

For exactly one night.

If only she weren't so gorgeous. So funny. So eager to please. She’s a disaster behind the wheel, but she drives me wild without even trying--at work, at home, in the back of my truck . . . I can’t get enough of the way she makes me feel.

But I know better than to think it can last. She wants a fairy tale, and I’m no prince.

So when it comes time for her to leave, there’s nothing I can do but let her go.

No matter how much it hurts to say goodbye.

I have to be honest with you and just say, I love Melanie Harlow and at this point I will read anything she gives me. I had no idea what this was about and once I started reading I had to hunker in basically and do it in one sitting. 

Needless to say, I loved this book. Right off the back this kind of felt like that Disney movie with Amy Adams in it... do you know what I'm talking about?? ENCHANTED!! I mean, I didn't like the movie so much myself but my girls do, but Blair reminded me of her. She's just clueless, kind of helpless, she comes rolling into the story in a debutante dress and a tiara, and Griffin is just a tough exterior, unwilling to fall in love, but you know he has this completely soft spot in him. Fortunately, Blair brings it out and during the time she's in town that exterior is slowly starting to crack but then it comes time for Blair to leave and yes.... no more for you! 

I loved Griffin so much, he's everything I like in the hero. He's a little bit edgy, tattoos, former Marine, works with his hands, and he's roughs around the edges. Blair... she was kind of a toss up for me but honestly, it's kind of hard not to like someone who is so helpless. LOL!! Blair though is seriously looking for romance and big feelings and Griffin isn't any of those things. Oh, he's giving her big feelings, but he thinks he can't ever fulfill what she's looking for. To say they are opposites is an understatement, but they make a great couple and its fun to see them bicker, come together, it's funny, it's hot, it's all of the things. 

I highly, HIGHLY recommend this one if you are in a reading rut and need something to jump start that, keep you smiling, and wanting more. Trust me, Melanie Harlow gives us fantastic stories and I'm dying for the next one. I'm kind of hoping this becomes a little small town series because 1. I love those and 2. Griffin has some single friends and those will be really fun. 

I have to say THANK YOU to Social Butterfly PR for having me on this tour and getting me an ARC for review. I should have been getting my fitness on this weekend but meh- I read this instead and I have zero regrets. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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