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Review

4 stars!

Book #5 in the True North series brings us the story of May Shipley – a character that has intrigued me since we met her in the very first book. She’s already been through so much in this series, and I was so excited for her story, which brought all the feels and had me hooked from start to finish.

May considers herself to be a bit of a hot mess. A recovering alcoholic and recently outed bisexual, she has been in a relationship with her girlfriend for a year when she discovers her openly kissing another woman in the middle of a bar. More shocked than devastated, it is bar owner, Alec Rossi (Zara’s brother) who comes to her rescue, sweeping her out of the place, packing her up and delivering her to her family home.

Alec is a sweetheart. He’s fun, confident, always quick with a joke and is the life of the party. He’s serious about his business, with big plans to expand his bar but little means to do so, but he takes pride in his bar and he works hard to make it a success. What he is not, is the settling down type, so when May Shipley needs his help he’s only too happy to dive in, and he continues to offer his support with jokes, text messages and fun flirting, and as the perfect rebound – providing comfort and a whole lot of sexy time as their new friendship suddenly develops all kinds of benefits.

“Will you think less of me if we do this?”
“Will you think less of me if I beg you to?”

I love these two together! May is treated as fragile by her family, but along comes Alec who sees her and accepts her for the strong woman she is, supporting and encouraging her, while joking around and allowing her a shoulder to lean on, somebody to be open with as she figures out who she is and what she wants. Neither of them expect anything more to come of their ‘arrangement’, but with their sizzling chemistry and their easy, natural friendship, of course it’s only a matter of time before feelings develop, and it’s something neither of them saw coming.

Love is messy, unpredictable, and occasionally loud. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s a path with ups and downs, twists and turns, as they navigate their way through it all, but it’s natural and realistic, and I loved watching them figure it all out. Alec in particular, stole my heart. He is just such a gorgeous guy, and seeing him fall for May was all kinds of awesome. And while they’re working through their feelings, their individual journeys to figure out their lives, their goals, and how to get what they want, add a nice amount of depth to their story, which I really enjoyed.

The rest of the True North gang are all a part of the story and I loved seeing them all happy and together, and I loved the dynamics between them, May and Alec. There are some really interesting relationships there, and seeing these characters together is a definite highlight of this series.

I listened to this as an audiobook and loved the narration! Seraphine Valentine and Lance Greenfield do a great job bringing this story to life with a lot of heart and an edge of fun and humour, and it was great to listen to.

I loved this book, a gorgeous friends-with-benefits-to-lovers romance with just the right amount of drama and a hero that absolutely melted my heart.

4 stars!