Start Me Up is the first novel in Nicole Michaels' Hearts and Crafts series. It is a sweet but sexy romance between two very unlikely people but that is one of the things that makes it such an enjoyable read.

Anne Edmonds and two of her friends have a wildly popular blog, she runs a very successful party planning business and she also writes a weekly newspaper column. On the surface, her life seems picture perfect, but Anne is carrying a ton of baggage from her divorce. This single mom is devoted to her adorable daughter, but she has not been on a single date since the divorce and she is teeming with insecurities. So when hot bachelor Mike Everett shows an interest in her, Anne finds it hard to believe that he wants her for anything but a fun, flirty fling.

Mike is instantly smitten with Anne but he has a bit of bad boy past that makes him feel like she is out of his league. He has left his troubles behind him and he owns a lucrative car restoration business but he wonders if he is a little too blue collar for Anne. He does not let his reservations keep him from asking her out, but Mike quickly realizes that Anne is not anywhere near as invested in their burgeoning relationship as he is.

Mike and Anne are a wonderful couple, but their lack of communication and insecurities are quite exasperating. Anne is quick to point out her flaws and her low self esteem keeps her from taking their romance seriously. Anne's preoccupation over their slight age difference comes across as more of an excuse to keep him at arm's length than an actual concern. Both of them are a bit immature at times but Mike's preoccupation with sex is a little juvenile. There is plenty of sexual tension between them and Mike is incredibly understanding when parenting duties interrupt them at a very inopportune moment. Mike is surprisingly patient with Anne and her hang-ups and he refuses to let a misunderstanding ruin their relationship.

Despite a few frustrations with the lead characters, Start Me Up is an absolutely charming and scorching hot romance. It is a very heartwarming beginning to Nicole Michaels' Hearts and Crafts series that fans of contemporary romances are going to love. ( )

2.5 stars

****Full Review****

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Mike thought he would just drop his niece off at her friend's birthday party but when a living breathing goddess opens the door he decides to brave the pink explosion inside and stay a while. The goddess, Anne, sees herself more as a slightly too heavy, on the wrong side of 30, and with the added bonus of being a single mom, not exactly a prime catch. Their attraction is immediate and neither can ignore it but Anne's self-esteem issues and Mike's former womanizing ways threaten to derail the relationship they are trying to get going.

I have to say, the beginning of this book was extremely hard to get into, however, once you get past the insta-lust Mike has towards Anne, the obligatory catty women, cliché gay male friend, and tough female friend, it gets better around the 32% mark as Mike and Anne start to be together. The story really focuses on Mike and Anne living their lives while trying to make a go at a romantic relationship; there is an angst wrench thrown into the mix towards the end that involves scorned/jealous women. I hesitate to call this a character driven story though; Mike and Anne aren't completely developed or flushed out characters. Anne is so gorgeous but just doesn't realize it! All she can see about herself is the extra weight and how she failed at marriage. These are definitely issues that affect women but the character development was very surface level. Along with Anne and her adoption story, Mike lost his parents at a very young age and seemed to have a difficult past but once again I couldn't get absorbed into the essence of his character as the writing didn't delve deep enough.

This story works best when Anne and Mike are together and interacting with all the excitement and nervousness of a new relationship. Mike was charming and did feel real (he goes way too over the top with how perfect Anne is) in the story, the cool, calm, ease, and let's face it, adorable way he interacts with Anne's daughter is pretty sigh worthy. For the calm tone of the story I was impressed with their sex scenes, nothing over the top but definitely have some heat to them. Mike can't keep his hands off of Anne and it leads to some public adventures that were fun to read about.

If Mike's insta-lust had been toned down a smidge and the author had thrown out the check list of what is typically in a contemporary romance, I think the good writing showcasing Anne and Mike's relationship could have shown through more. On a side note, I would also like to mention that Mike's job is fixing up and restoring old cars, so it was fun to read some car porn. It's not focused on a lot but it was a great fun addition, especially when he didn't want to get busy on a car he was restoring because of denting :) It's a mellow, fairly quick read that if you are looking for a story that has a well written charming single guy dating a single mother with daughter involved in the interaction, then this could trip your trigger. ( )

I couldn't wait to read Start Me Up, it sounded so cute. I love the whole idea of the book. In fact, the whole series sounds so good.

I just wish I could say that I loved this story. No, I didn't hate it either. For me it wasn't good or bad. It just was...

Yes, that sounds wishy-washy. I don't know how else to say it. It's not like I didn't like the book but in no means did I love it. I'm not even sure I liked it enough to read another book in the series. It will all depend on if one day I change my mind.

Part of my problem with the story is that I just didn't feel like I really got to know the characters, they felt one-dimensional. At times the way they thought or talked made them sound much younger then they are. She's in her thirties and he's in his late twenties, but they sounded young twenties.

I can forgive a lot in the books I read but the one thing I can't, characters that I don't relate to. It's not like I didn't like them...

Reviewed for Romancing the Readers Blog:
http://romancingthereaders.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-club-thursday-reading-chall...

Romancing the Readers Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/RomancingTheReaders/ ( )

Nothing beats coming across a great book written by a new to me author. This is one of those times. It's wonderfully written and has a great group of characters. I am hoping this is the beginning of a series because a couple of the secondary characters definitely need their own story. I definitely recommend this book to everyone. ( )

I confess that in the past couple of months I have been falling away from adult romances, but I am slowly forcing myself to come back to them. I realize that I limit them myself enough just sticking to the romance genre, so I’m making it my mission to not limit myself to one age group or sub-genre. I don’t want to miss out on great books but I sometimes get stuck in one genre when I know how much I enjoy them. Change causes me anxiety, so I tend to be more stubborn about branching out, but I am trying to correct that issue (and hopefully without some Xanax), which is why I asked the publisher for the opportunity to review.

One of my missions is to accept more review requests this year and reach out to more publishers whom offer books that I know I could potentially enjoy. By reaching out to St. Martin, I received the opportunity to read and review Start Me Up. While it is no means my favorite story of the year, it turned out to be surprisingly fun to read regardless of the few problems I had with the characters. Start Me Up is the perfect fluffy book to read in-between those emotional roller coasters that leave us dazed and confused.

The Bad

While I was making my way through Start Me Up, I aimed a few not-so-pleasant thought’s Anne and Mike’s way. They both had a lack of confidence in themselves that did a god job of complicating their relationship a whole helluva lot more than any other outside force could. Did I like these two characters? Yes, I liked them very much … eventually. In the beginning, Mike is so insecure about his “blue-collar job” (dude you restore classic cars for rich old guys, not sure I classify that as blue-collar no matter how much grease is involved) that he wound up feeding Anne’s age and weight insecurities when he continued to reject her – even though he was the one who started the heavy flirting first! I swear, peer-pressured teenagers have self-confidence than these two.

The Better

Thankfully, they both really do improve as the book goes on – we’ll call it some subtle character growth – and I warmed up to them enough to eventually love them. It makes me so glad I didn’t give up on Start Me Up because the book became a fun ride close to halfway in.

Mike becomes more confident about himself and eventually he knows that Anne and he would be good together, no matter how different they are or how much “classier” she is than he. Once he gets over his silly self-doubt, he becomes this hottie with a dirty mouth and a talent for naughty shenanigans that had me fanning my face and Anne fanning her … well. Not only is he sexy, but he’s so cute with Anne’s kid and his niece. He would make such a good dad. ❤

I was attracted to Anne from the get go, even while I was rolling my eyes at her. She’s a crafty, DIY kinda gal whom owns a successful “mommy blog” as she calls it. She uses her crafty ways to plan parties (mostly for kids), decorate her house and do special things for those around her, especially her kid. It makes my heart sing because, well, blogger. And I love crafty stuff too, so of course I connected with the lady. We could be great friends if she weren’t a fictional person.

All-in-all, I enjoyed Start Me Up far more than I expected I would. There was even some naughty public displays of affection. *wiggles eyebrows* I plan to continue the Hearts and Crafts series when the next title, Win Me Over comes out and will keep up hope that it only gets better from here. I recommend this book to fans of Contemporary Romance looking for a fluffy story to sigh over. I guarantee much sighing indeed!

If you enjoyed this review, please consider up voting it on Amazon. ❤ Thank you!

Sarah @ One CurvyBlogger ( )