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Review

4.5 stars!

A fantastically fun, sweet and emotional standalone romance between a young single mother and the “manwhore-next-door”, this slow-burning friends-to-lovers romance is full of chemistry and swoon, and completely captured my heart.

Carys is a 24 year old single mother to a 6 month old baby girl. Like any mother of an infant, she cherishes her sleep, so when her manwhoring neighbour consistently wakes her up with his headboard-banging activities night after night, she decides to politely speak to him about his night-time habits.

Deacon takes the news surprisingly well and, horrified that his overnight guests have disturbed his neighbour, he tries to make it up to her. It starts with coffee and conversation, and then when Deacon immediately calms Carys’ screaming daughter one night, his apparent baby whispering skills enfolds him into their little family.

Their conversations are funny, witty and flirtatious, and they slowly become an important part of each other’s lives. They both acknowledge that there is an attraction there, but Deacon doesn’t want a relationship, and he certainly doesn’t want to be somebody’s father, so they remain friends. Until they take things a step too far one night, and everything changes.

I love these characters so much. They are smart, funny and sensible. They’ve both faced hardships, but they’ve pulled through and are making the best of their lives. Their friendship is wonderful and so entertaining, and those scenes of Deacon with little Sunny absolutely melted my heart.

And their romance is so good! Ward strikes the perfect balance between humour and emotion to give us a book that had me laughing out loud at the teasing and banter between these two (their text messages in particular), and swooning over their slowly developing love story.

But their road to love is not straightforward. Sure, the attraction and the feels are there, but it takes a little while for them to get on the same page, and we are treated to a deliciously teasing back and forth as they wrestle with everything that’s building between them. And then when they decide to take that jump and go all in, it’s just magic. Sexy, swoony and intense, but still loads of fun, even after all of that build-up, it still feels organic. It’s such a beautiful love story.

Knowing Ward’s books, I was waiting for the twist that she likes to throw into her stories, and I actually thought this one was a little weak. It works to create drama, but didn’t really feel believable to me, and I didn’t think it was necessary. But, of course, the story ends well, and I finished this book with a happy smile on my face.

Narrated by Andie Arndt and Sebastian York, this is just the kind of story that they do best, and I really enjoyed listening to this one.

I loved it – 4.5 stars.