My heart skipped a beat
5 stars

I’m always on the edge of my seat with anticipation when it comes to a Sarah Ready story - she always writes such fun, sexy and deliciously warming romances. I am so happy to say that this one exceeded even my lofty expectations. I just adored it.

This is the third book in Ready’s Soul Mates in Romeo series. Each book stands completely alone and while characters from previous books do pop up in this one (mainly the heroines as they’re friends with Jessie) this one is complete with its very own HEA. And what an HEA it is - but more on that later.

Jessie has been in love with Gavin since she was 8 years old, so she’s thrilled when the town’s resident love-predictor psychic lady (who has never been wrong about people’s matches) pairs them together. So she puts together a plan to throw herself into the arms of Gavin and make him realise he’s madly in love with her, too. Such a shame that his odious, yet annoyingly gorgeous brother, Will, seems to be there to thwart her at every turn.

Jessie is a delightfully likeable character who I immediately felt a kinship with. Despite her sad childhood, she remained upbeat and I always love a girl that knows what she wants and goes for it full force - even if I didn’t want her to! I liked that she was ultimately honest with herself about how she felt and that the ‘desire’ for Gavin didn’t go on too long or get silly.

But it is Will that stole my heart 100%. William Williams IV is the poster man for my perfect hero. He’s a suit wearing, slightly stuffy, workaholic, closed off hero… with the soul of a broken, unloved little boy who just needs a hug. Catch me - I’m about to swoon! There’s also something else about Will that makes him absolute perfection - but I don’t want to ruin the heart skipping moment it’s revealed in the story. But it’s so my jam that I wonder if Sarah Ready has farmed my brain.

As Jessie uses the lessons she’s learnt from romance novels on how a couple fall in love - catching a clumsy heroine, kiss in the rain, the long stare etc. - we really get to know and love Jessie and Will - individually and together. And we get to see the chemistry and feelings between the two that made my heart skip a beat and those butterflies jump in my tummy. Every time that our couple came closer, I got more and more giddy with excitement and anticipation. And extra points for the throw her up against the wall, must have her now, kiss that was just…well, perfection!

The book is fairly low angst but we do have the misunderstanding that the couple have to overcome to find their way back to each other. While the reason for the estrangement was surmountable, luckily everyone involved quickly realised that they wanted to fix it and took steps to do just that. Which led to the most perfect of endings that was just the right kind for our couple and I was left feeling happy, a little bit sniffly and completely satisfied. Then I turned the page and saw the cute little line drawn graphic on the last page and it was so delightful that I may have cried happy tears.

Sarah Ready has quickly become one of my go-to authors for a wonderful and satisfying read infused with feelings, romance, sex, humour and characters you’ll just adore. Her writing style is light, absorbing and engrossing and you almost forget you’re reading you’re so far into the story. This book is down as one of my best of 2021 and I highly recommend it - I hope you love it as much as I did. 5 stars. ( )