A hoot with heart
5 stars

Sarah Ready is a new to me author but after reading this book, I suspect she will soon become a firm favourite of mine. I already can’t wait for the future books in this series - although this one stands alone with it’s own HEA.

The story starts off with a very grumpy, very angry Nick tied to a chair in the middle of Chloe’s birthday party. And while she’s happy that he’s not happy - she’s not very happy that he’s there either. This kicks off a story that I devoured from start to finish and it never once lulled or lost my interest.

Chloe is a die-hard romantic and determined to find her soul mate. Yet she’s not the sweet small-town girl that I think I expected. She’s was smart, sassy and gave Nick as good as she got. However, she also revealed an inner turmoil and a deep complexity to her character that made her ridiculously relatable. I adored her.

And Nick - well, he was my kind of hero with bells on. He’s grumpy, cynical and is so over Chloe and her infernal optimism. Even though he ultimately agrees to go on a cockamamy search for a soul-mate road-trip with the girl that drives him nuts. But it was in his quiet, sweeter moments, when he lets his emotions show, that I fell hard for Nick. I ached for him and so desperately wanted him to get what he’d always wanted.

Together, Nick and Chloe were divine. They bickered, argued, bantered and, throughout the road trip, ultimately grew closer and discovered themselves, each other and what they really wanted.

That road trip was something else, too - abso-freaking-lutely hilarious! Actually laugh out loud funny. I almost couldn’t continue reading - especially about Matt the Doctor - because it was too much. Yes, it was all kinds of silly and far-fetched but I loved every second of it. What an absolute hoot. If I don’t see this book made into a mad-cap romcom movie then I’m writing several strongly worded letters of complaint! Each situation outdid the last and yet it married well with the more tender - and at times sexy - moments in between each of the Matts.

In terms of those sexy moments - there were a couple and they were nicely naughty. Not very frequent but still a good bit of heat. I also think I’m right in saying that there’s not a jot of swearing in the book, in case that’s important to you.

As I mentioned, I whizzed through this book. The story was excellent and the writing was top-notch, too. First person, present tense from both Nick and Chloe’s perspectives, you’re right there in the action but still with that hint of not knowing how - or even if - it’s all going to turn out okay. But this is romance so of course it does. And delightfully so. I was laughing and smiling and clapping in happiness. This is definitely a 5-star read for me and one of my best of the year so far. I’ve subscribed to Ms Ready’s newsletter, followed her on all the socials and very much look forward to reading more from her. ( )