On the surface, I have it all—a career I adore, a loving family, the Nixon metabolism but not the Nixon ears, and a salary that supports my lavish taste in designer shoes, fine wine, and lacy lingerie…but I have no one to share it with.
Until the day I run into him—my one night stand from college with the cocky smile, let’s-get-out-of-here eyes, and dirty, dirty mouth.
Levi Brooks is six feet four inches of hot bearded fantasy. A sexy single dad with broad shoulders, strong hands, and a fantastically big…heart. (I mean, it’s massive. And generous. And it pumps so hard… um. Sorry. Lost my place.)
But he lives for his son, and he’s keeping me at a distance because he thinks I deserve someone better—a man who can give me more time, more attention, more of himself. He doesn’t believe he could ever be enough.
But he’s wrong.
He’s everything.
*****5 You Are Enough Stars*****
Melanie Harlow’s Happy Crazy Love Series has been one of my absolute favorites to read and fall into over the last few months. These books are just so good, and they remind me again and again why Melanie Harlow continues to be a favorite author of mine. I have completely loved each and every story in this series to pieces, and I have loved falling under the charismatic, charming, and completely enchanting spell that the Nixon Sisters and their swoonworthy leading men have cast.
Suffice to say, I was so beyond ready for this last book in this series. Not because I wanted it to end, because I really don’t want these books and these character’s stories to end, but because I was practically salivating for more of Melanie Harlow’s vibrant and sparkling writing. This book gave me that once again in spades, and it also gave me so much more.
It gave me a new couple to fall head over heels for. It gave me the perfect balance of fun and heat, with meaning and feels that had my heart squeezing and melting more times than I could count. It gave me Jillian and Levi, their amazingness, their vulnerability, their honesty, and the enormity and all-feeling pull of what those two shared together. This book gave me their enrapturing story, and it let me fall in love with them in the most authentic and mesmerizing way.
I loved this book. So hard. I could not get enough of Levi, Jillian, and the intense connection those two shared. Some Sort of Love allows you to go along with the two of them as they reconnect, as their feelings grow and intensify exponentially, and as they try to figure out what they can really offer to one another if they actually allow themselves to have and feel it all.
Some Sort of Love has the perfect blend of sexy, sweet, and fun, and it balances the feels, the meaning, and the moments that make your heart race and melt and squeeze in the most fulfilling way.
What I absolutely loved about Some Sort of Love:
- Who can resist a meltworthy man and his kid? (The answer to that question is no one.) So there really is no resisting a single dad and his kid. Throw in a beard and a man who is guaranteed to melt your heart and among other things I might add, and then you get one Levi Brooks. That man is completely irresistible, and on top of that he is an honest to goodness good guy who is giving it his all in order to be a great dad to his son Scotty, even if that means he puts his wants and desires last. (*major sigh there*) He is one of the most selfless characters I have ever read, and the events of this book definitely put him to the test a bit because he has to try to find a way to balance being the dad he wants and needs to be, with also exploring his relationship with Jillian. Add to that years of guilt from things outside of his control, and you will be feeling and loving and caring for Levi with all you have in a nanosecond. Trust me. You can’t resist that man, or his sweet child, or what he does for Jillian, or all that he does in this book to give everyone, including himself, the all that they so truly want and deserve. Need I say much more? Levi is everything.
- Jillian’s search for more. Jillian was a character that was so beyond easy to connect to. She was real, and funny, and I myself could relate to so much of what she was feeling in this story. Jillian seemingly has it all. The job, the house, the family that brings her joy, but she’s still looking for that more. She’s looking for that great and all-consuming love to take hold of her heart and never let go. She’s also ready for people to stop asking her when she’s getting married, since she’s the oldest of the Nixon sisters. She’s ready for that more, and she literally smacks into when she runs into Levi at her sister’s wedding. The two of them had a wild fling years ago, and their connection sparks right back up in this book. Soon Jillian starts to see the edges of that more she’s craved and longed for, and it looks a lot like one Levi Brooks. Jillian’s search for that more in Some Sort of Love is real and messy and raw, but it is oh so worth it all the way through.
- A romance that builds and explodes perfectly. The connection between Levi and Jillian is instantaneous, and it just continues to build and build throughout this book. Their chemistry and the depth of what those two feel for one another came to the page in the most mesmerizing and all feeling way with the best level of heat, passion, and meaning. I felt like I was feeling and experiencing every bit of what Levi and Jillian shared. I fell with them, I connected with them, and I got every romantic, heated, and heart tugging moment with them in Some Sort of Love because Melanie Harlow gave me that with her writing. She built their relationship so vibrantly and in a way that just made sense for them and their story, and when all that build and all that feeling exploded, it was one of the most enrapturing and intense things I’ve experienced. Levi and Jillian’s relationship and its evolution made me melt and swoon and think and hope with all I had, and I couldn’t have asked for more from the two of them.
- All the honesty and vulnerability. The events of this book push Levi and Jillian to fight for what they want, and to realize how far they’re willing to go for that more they both so desperately crave with one another. Their story forces them both to face some hard truths, to be honest with themselves and each other, and to make themselves vulnerable and open to what they could share. It wasn’t always easy for these two, in fact it was downright hard at times because of the reluctance and fears that threatened their relationship, but through it all Jillian and Levi kept being open and honest and pushing for that more they both wanted. He’s riddled by the demons of his past, and she wants his future and the love it could bring with all she has, and experiencing those two give it their all to make it all work had me loving them even more.
- The three best sisters around. Like I said, I love this series to pieces, and one of the main reasons I love these books is because of the Jillian, Skylar, and Natalie’s characters. The relationship they all share with one another is amazing. They’re there for one another. They get each other. They love each other with all that they have, and you feel that through every page. Their bond as sisters completely warmed my heart while reading, and it had me loving every single moment I got to experience with them all. Those three never failed to make me smile or laugh or love them even more. Jillian, Natalie, and Skylar are kind of the best, and Some Sort of Love just highlighted that again and again. It also had me very envious of the heartfelt relationships those three had because they truly were everything, and they made this book even more wonderful to experience.
Some Sort of Love was the perfect, and I mean perfect, conclusion to this series. It captured the literal magic that this series, these characters, and Melanie Harlow’s writing so brilliantly created. I think I read most of this book with a huge smile on my face because I was so in love with everything that I was reading. I was so encapsulated in the world of this book, with Levi and Jillian as they tried to figure it all out and make a future together that they both wanted and craved so badly. Even in the moments when what those two were going through hurt my heart, I loved what I was getting from them because it was real, honest, full of vulnerability and meaning, and it revealed so much about them both.
Melanie Harlow’s effervescent writing brought every word of this book to life in the most vivid and vibrant way. She allowed me to fall heart first into everything that Jillian and Levi were sharing, and she let me experience every moment of this book that they did. I laughed with them, I connected with them, I melted and swooned like crazy with them, and I even hurt a bit with them, and in the end I loved every bit of what she so phenomenally gave me with them. She continues to be one of my favorite authors, and I can’t wait to read whatever else she writes.
Some Sort of Love was so fulfilling, so enjoyable to read, and it gave me such an all-around outstanding reading experience. Levi and Jillian’s story was real, consuming, all-feeling to say the least, and it had me believing so much in their characters and what they shared together. I loved those two with all I had, and their story in this book gave me it all. It truly was everything, and that everything was the best.
So please, read these books, fall in love with these mesmerizing characters, and let them win you over with all that they have. You’ll love them and every minute you get with them. Trust me!
“So.” I glanced out the windows to the patio. “You want to go back out there?”“Not really,” she said.
“You want to get out of here?”
She grinned. “Yeah. I do.”
I watched her rush up the stairs to get her things, and as soon as she was out of sight, I adjusted myself in my pants. My dick had jumped to life the second she said yeah, I do, as if the question had been you want to get naked and fuck? rather than something much less suggestive. Not that I didn’t want to get naked and fuck—hopefully I’d last a little longer than I had in the broom closet eleven years ago—but I didn’t want to make her feel like that’s what I expected. She wasn’t a horny nineteen-year-old college student anymore; she was a doctor, for fuck’s sake. She was beautiful and smart and mature and sophisticated, and a woman like her did not want some Neanderthal who probably needed a haircut and a new pair of shoes to throw her up against a wall for a five-minute fuck.
A woman like that deserved attention all night long. She deserved someone who would undress her slowly and delight in each new inch of her skin as it was revealed. Someone who would run his hands all over her body and find out where she liked to be touched, how she liked to be touched, what she wanted to hear whispered to her in the dark. Someone who would wrap those gloriously long legs around his neck and use his tongue until she begged for his cock, then use his cock until she begged for mercy.
Fuck. I could be that guy.
Except I couldn’t be. Not tonight. Because I wasn’t a horny college student anymore either—I was just a horny single dad who didn’t have the luxury of taking a woman home and lavishing all my time and attention on her the way I wanted to.
As soon as I had the thought, I felt guilty. Scotty was the love of my life and always would be, and whenever I felt the slightest bit resentful about something I couldn’t do because of him, that resentment was immediately crushed by shame. He didn’t ask to be born wired differently, into a terrible relationship, to a mother who would decide she couldn’t handle being a parent, to a father who wasn’t prepared for any of it. He was completely innocent, and he needed me to be a better man.
Running a hand through my hair, I exhaled and wondered if I should ask Jillian for a raincheck on a night when Scotty’s usual sitter could be there. If he woke up again and I wasn’t home yet, he might never get back to sleep. We’d be up all night, tomorrow would be miserable, and the whole start to the week would be off.
But she was so beautiful. And I hadn’t been this attracted to someone in so long.
“Fuck,” I muttered, checking my watch. What was the right thing to do? If she were a different sort of woman, if her brother-in-law weren’t my friend and client, if we lived three states apart…if any number of circumstances were changed, I’d grab her hand, drag her out to my car, and spend the next thirty minutes fucking her brains out in the back seat. It would feel so good to take control that way, to lose control that way, to release some of this fucking tension. But was that fair to her?
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
“Hello?”
“He’s up again.” Monica’s voice was strained, and in the background I heard the familiar keening of a nighttime meltdown. My chest hurt, the way it always did when Scotty was upset.
“Shit. OK, I’m on my way. Twenty minutes, OK? Thirty at the most.”
“OK.”
“Tell him he can play on his iPad.”
“That’ll just rile him up more. He’s tired. He needs to go to sleep.”
I clenched my fist. “Just do it, OK? It will help calm him until I get there.”
As I ended the call, I heard footsteps above, and then Jillian appeared at the top of the stairs carrying a small suitcase. I watched her descend, the tightness in my chest growing. Also the tightness in my pants. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said, her face concerned as she reached the ground and saw my expression. She set down the suitcase. “What’s up?”
Sighing, I put my phone back in my pocket. “I have to get home. Scotty woke up and he’s upset.”
“Oh.” She tried to hide it, but I saw the disappointment in her eyes.
“I’m really sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
“That’s OK. I understand.”
“Can I call you?”
“Of course.” She smiled, and her lips looked so soft and inviting, I took a step closer.
If you kiss her, it will be that much harder to leave.
I knew it was the truth, but I couldn’t help myself. One kiss. Just one. And then I’ll go. I moved even closer and took her head in my hands.
The curve of her smile deepened. “What are you doing?”
“I’m thinking about kissing you.”
“Stop thinking.”
I lowered my lips to hers and let them rest there, fully intending the kiss to be short and sweet, just a goodnight.
But I couldn’t break it off. I wanted more—I wanted to taste her. Slanting my head, I changed the angle of the kiss, teasing her mouth open with mine, slipping my tongue between her lips. A little sigh escaped her, and my dick jumped to life again.
You have to go, you have to go, you have to go.
But her hands were moving up my chest and my fingers were sliding into her soft brown hair and I could smell something sweet and citrusy on her skin and it mingled with the taste of whiskey on my tongue and oh God, I wanted my tongue everywhere on her body. I wanted make her come with it just so I could hear that little sigh again and again and again. And I wanted to feel my hands in her hair just like this while she got on her knees and took my cock between her lips, looking up at me with those big blue eyes…
Groaning, I forced myself to take my lips off her before I completely lost my senses. “God, I wish I could stay,” I said, resting my forehead against hers. “I wish a lot of things.”
“I know.” She played with my tie again. “I wish I was taking this tie off you, not straightening it.”
“What a coincidence, that’s one of my wishes too.”
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 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.
The Never Ending Book Basket 