Imperfect Match, a sexy friends to lovers standalone romance, from New York Times bestselling Corinne Michaels & USA Today bestselling Melanie Harlow, is available now!
Amazon US | Amazon Worldwide | Paperback
Synopsis
Rule number one for a professional matchmaker?
Don’t fall in love with your client.
I screwed that up when I fell for my best friend, Reid Fortino. He’s gorgeous, successful, and sexy as hell. I figured it would be easy to find him a match—and save the family business at the same time.
But the more time I spend attempting to find the perfect girl, the more I realize how much I want him for my own. What’s the harm if we give in for just one night?
I should have known that would never be enough.
Now I’m on the verge of losing my job and my heart.
We were an imperfect match from the start, but I don’t know how to let him go.
Review
“This is crazy, but I don’t care. It’s right. It’s everything that finally makes sense. I wondered what it would be like and now I know – it’s fucking perfect.”
4.5 stars – So freaking cute!
I loved this book! It’s funny, sweet, sexy and emotional with a gorgeous friends-to-lovers romance. Michaels and Harlow are such a fantastic writing team and this book is pure easy entertainment.
Willow and Reid are neighbours and best friends. Since they met three years ago they have pretty much become each other’s worlds – they hang out every night, they share their lives, she cooks for him, they shop together, and they tell each other everything. They are both completely happy with what they have, and despite being teased about their romantic status, they are completely platonic and happy that way, and OMG they are fantastic together! They laugh and joke, they accept each other exactly as they are, and their banter is freaking hilarious!
Everything starts to change between them when Willow is put to the test by her mother. In order to take over her family’s match-making business, she needs to match Reid, the eternal bachelor, with his perfect woman – and she realises that she wants that woman to be her.
This is Reid. Reid, my stupid best friend who I cuddle on the couch with. The one who makes weird faces and eats my food. He’s not the guy that makes my heart race.
He’s never been that guy. Not even shirtless.
But right now, my chest is tight and my pulse is through the roof.
This romance is so freaking cute! As soon as Willow realises her true feelings, Reid also decides it’s time to make his move, and it’s all on. The chemistry starts to build as their friendship shifts in a huge way, and it’s so awesome! There is a bit of back and forth as they figure it all out, but I loved watching them find their way to each other, and it’s hot, sweet and swoony as they easily and naturally embrace all that’s happening between them.
“What do you want, Reid?”
“You, this, everything.”“I will never forget last night, not in a million fucking years. It meant everything to me.”
I love that even though things change between them, they maintain the sense of fun that developed during their friendship. I laughed at their banter, and loved the easiness between them.
He stirs behind me, and I feel a little tap-tap-tap on my ass. It makes me snicker, and even though I try to smother it, he hears.
“Are you laughing at my erection?” he asks, his voice gravelly.
“I would never,” I say, putting a hand over my mouth.
“Good, because there is nothing funny about my dick. It is a very serious, very large, very important thing.”
I burst out laughing. “Is that so?”
But even though things between them are blissful, they both want different things – Reid’s hard family life means that he is happily single and determined to stay that way, but Willow wants marriage and a family so badly that she’s been looking into having a baby on her own, something that Reid is not happy about. And neither of them are willing to compromise. Will they be able to hold on to the love that they’ve found, or will they be better off as friends – if they even go back to that?
“We’re just getting started, Wills. Stay with me, right here in this moment, and let’s just enjoy it for a while.”
It’s an emotional journey for them, but it’s handled beautifully, bringing a bit of drama to what is otherwise a fun romantic comedy, and I love the feels that come as they figure out what they truly want.
His forehead rests on mine. “I don’t know how I ever lived without you like this, Wills.”
The story ends in a great place, and don’t miss out on the chance to read the bonus epilogue, because it’s absolute perfection!
Such a gorgeous read, I loved it.
They say guys and girls can’t just be friends, but we were – until we weren’t. I don’t know when it changed, but I thank the Lord that it did.
4.5 stars.
An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Excerpt
What would it be like to have her that way? Skin to skin? Breathless and begging? My body inside hers?
I want answers, I think as I open the door to our building.
No, I need them.
I take the elevator up to our floor and go right to her apartment. Using the key she gave me, I unlock her door, smiling that she still hasn’t changed the lock, and head inside.
“Reid?” She jumps off the couch and I freeze.
Jesus, she’s fucking beautiful. I’ve seen her a million times like this, but I don’t know what it is—I can’t breathe.
Her hair is piled up on top of her head in some sort of nest, the glasses that she swears she doesn’t need are on, and her legs … God, her legs. Long, sweet, slender … they would look perfect around my neck.
“What are you doing here? If this is about …” She stops talking and looks at me, her eyes full of confusion as I watch her chest rise and fall.
I walk toward her, unable to stand still. My hands grip her cheeks, and I pull her mouth to mine. Her gasp is swallowed by the searing kiss. Her fingers wrap around my wrists and I don’t know if she’s trying to stop me, but I’m going to keep going until she does.
Yet she never does. Instead of pushing me away, her hands move to my hips.
Willow kisses me back.
She kisses me like this is the only option.
She kisses me harder and more passionately than the last time.
She gives as much as she takes and I fucking revel in it.
This is crazy, but I don’t care. It’s right. It’s everything that finally makes sense. I wondered what it would be like and now I know—it’s fucking perfect.
“Reid.” She says my name and then pulls my mouth back to hers.
I kiss her, loving how our mouths fit and the way her tongue feels against mine.
“Tell me to stop.” I give her an out that I pray she won’t take.
“What?”
“Tell me now, Wills.”
I’m desperate for her. Seeing her tonight, knowing she was spying on me, did something to my heart that I can’t explain. It was the answer to the question that neither of us was willing to face.
There’s something here.
Maybe it’s new. Maybe it’s always been there but we didn’t see it. Maybe Willow and I needed to be pushed. Whatever the reason, the outcome is this.
She touches my face. Her fingertips are soft, and she moves her thumb to my lip. “I can’t. I don’t know what’s happening, but I don’t want it to stop.”
“Good, because I don’t think I could.”
My mouth is back to hers the second the words are out.
She giggles against my lips and I drink it in. Everything about Willow is sweet. Her mouth, her laughter, her heart. They all make her irresistible. I don’t know how I never saw it.
I break the kiss and scoop her into my arms, bringing her back to the bedroom. She doesn’t say anything, and I’m glad for it.
We’re both always in our heads and I’m very much ready to be in her instead.
I lay her down and crawl over her, loving how she looks at me with lust-filled eyes. “Tell me what you want, Wills.” She shakes her head and I know what she’s doing, but I’m not having it. “Don’t think, baby, just tell me.”
Her lids fall, closing me off to what she doesn’t want me to see, and I take a beat to really look at her. Lips swollen, shirt falling off her shoulder, hair fanning out on the bed. She looks like an angel.
“I want you to kiss me,” she whispers.
About the Authors
New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Corinne Michaels is the author of nine romance novels. She’s an emotional, witty, sarcastic, and fun loving mom of two beautiful children. Corinne is happily married to the man of her dreams and is a former Navy wife.
After spending months away from her husband while he was deployed, reading and writing was her escape from the loneliness. She enjoys putting her characters through intense heartbreak and finding a way to heal them through their struggles. Her stories are chock full of emotion, humor, and unrelenting love.
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Melanie Harlow likes her martinis dry, her heels high, and her history with the naughty bits left in. When she’s not writing or reading, she gets her kicks from TV series like VEEP, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, and Homeland. She occasionally runs three miles, but only so she can have more gin and steak.
Melanie is the author of the AFTER WE FALL series, the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE series, the FRENCHED series, and the sexy historical SPEAK EASY DUET, set in the 1920s. She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and pet rabbit.
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