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blandrea_reads's review against another edition
3.0
Popcorn read with a bit of heart
I'm always impressed when a book involving looking after a child seems natural. Fictional children are often very 2 dimensional, but Billy was fun without being too saccharine. And I love any book that subverts what it means to be successful.
I'm always impressed when a book involving looking after a child seems natural. Fictional children are often very 2 dimensional, but Billy was fun without being too saccharine. And I love any book that subverts what it means to be successful.
haletostilinski1's review against another edition
5.0
5+++++ and beyond stars!
THIS WAS PERFECT! Oh man it was so so so good! I can't asfhaksjfh I stayed up superrr fucking late to finish this because I just could NOT. PUT. iT. DOWN.
I loved this so much, I loved it even more than the first book, which was pretty fucking good. But oh man, this...THIS! <333
From the start I was laughing my ass off, and I continued to laugh frequently throughout the rest of the novel. Jude is so freaking hilarious - the reply letter at the beginning of each chapter were a hilarious treat - but also so fucking sweet and kind and good. SUch. A. SWEETIE PIE! I loved him!
And Asa! After his less-than-desirable first impression, and after it came to light just why he treated Jude the way he did, it was understandable and he apologized to Jude and things got better and ahhhh Asa! He was so kind as well - the way he was with his kid, with his friends, with everyone around him - with Jude. *swoon worthy* and he had his moments of hilarity as well. No wonder Dylan had a crush on him before lol (Asa is a fairly well known actor).
And ahhh! Billy! Asa's 5-year-old kid was the cutest, sweetest, most adorable little guy and the love Jude comes to have for him and the love Billy comes to have for Jude was so freaking sweet. My heart melted the world over when Billy would run to Jude and hold onto him tight.
To see this go from its hilarious beginning to these three becoming a family was awesome, amazing, un-put-downable. I was hooked.
Not that there isn't some angst in this, there is. Jude still has some hang-ups, and Asa does for that matter, and Jude reacts to things out of fear and Asa says some harsh things in his hurt, but things work out for the better and these two work it out and become stronger than ever. With the help of Dylan and Gabe, of all people. But perhaps Gabe is what was needed, seeing as he was scared of having a relationship too in the previous book, like Jude.
And oh man, these two together in the bedroom? DAMN! So fucking hot. Their first sexual encounter, SUPER hot! And their first time, really fucking hot, and ever time after that. Their chemistry was soo good, I loved it.
AHHH! I fucking loved this. Honestly, there are no complaints from me. This had a well crafted plot, page-turning scenes that never once made me wander - I just HAD to know what happened next - with interesting, compelling characters, and with every secondary character being written wonderful as well, an adorable kid you can't but fall in love with, and two MC's who fell deeply in love and which you could feel that coming off the pages, with well crafted chemistry.
We got the sweetness but also the hotness, we got the hilarity but also the angst, we got the love but also the hate - there are a few NOT likable characters in this - and really, we got to see a family form.
My love for this book is big, because it was just *happy sigh* everything you could want from a romance book.
I love love lOVED THIS and cannot wait for Henry's book - I'm excited to see who will capture his heart and hold onto it.
HIGHly, HIGHLY recommend! If you haven't picked this up yet, what are you waiting for?? You won't regret it ;)
THIS WAS PERFECT! Oh man it was so so so good! I can't asfhaksjfh I stayed up superrr fucking late to finish this because I just could NOT. PUT. iT. DOWN.
I loved this so much, I loved it even more than the first book, which was pretty fucking good. But oh man, this...THIS! <333
From the start I was laughing my ass off, and I continued to laugh frequently throughout the rest of the novel. Jude is so freaking hilarious - the reply letter at the beginning of each chapter were a hilarious treat - but also so fucking sweet and kind and good. SUch. A. SWEETIE PIE! I loved him!
And Asa! After his less-than-desirable first impression, and after it came to light just why he treated Jude the way he did, it was understandable and he apologized to Jude and things got better and ahhhh Asa! He was so kind as well - the way he was with his kid, with his friends, with everyone around him - with Jude. *swoon worthy* and he had his moments of hilarity as well. No wonder Dylan had a crush on him before lol (Asa is a fairly well known actor).
And ahhh! Billy! Asa's 5-year-old kid was the cutest, sweetest, most adorable little guy and the love Jude comes to have for him and the love Billy comes to have for Jude was so freaking sweet. My heart melted the world over when Billy would run to Jude and hold onto him tight.
To see this go from its hilarious beginning to these three becoming a family was awesome, amazing, un-put-downable. I was hooked.
Not that there isn't some angst in this, there is. Jude still has some hang-ups, and Asa does for that matter, and Jude reacts to things out of fear and Asa says some harsh things in his hurt, but things work out for the better and these two work it out and become stronger than ever. With the help of Dylan and Gabe, of all people. But perhaps Gabe is what was needed, seeing as he was scared of having a relationship too in the previous book, like Jude.
And oh man, these two together in the bedroom? DAMN! So fucking hot. Their first sexual encounter, SUPER hot! And their first time, really fucking hot, and ever time after that. Their chemistry was soo good, I loved it.
AHHH! I fucking loved this. Honestly, there are no complaints from me. This had a well crafted plot, page-turning scenes that never once made me wander - I just HAD to know what happened next - with interesting, compelling characters, and with every secondary character being written wonderful as well, an adorable kid you can't but fall in love with, and two MC's who fell deeply in love and which you could feel that coming off the pages, with well crafted chemistry.
We got the sweetness but also the hotness, we got the hilarity but also the angst, we got the love but also the hate - there are a few NOT likable characters in this - and really, we got to see a family form.
My love for this book is big, because it was just *happy sigh* everything you could want from a romance book.
I love love lOVED THIS and cannot wait for Henry's book - I'm excited to see who will capture his heart and hold onto it.
HIGHly, HIGHLY recommend! If you haven't picked this up yet, what are you waiting for?? You won't regret it ;)
bookish_notes's review against another edition
5.0
This story is so adorable and makes me laugh. I also noticed that I read these books out of order? So, it looks like I’ll be reading Dylan and Gabe’s book next! ❤️
liza5326's review against another edition
4.0
I loved Jude in Rule Breaker, so I was thrilled to read his story! And this book is equal parts hysterical, heart-warming, frustrating, and sexy with a dash of heartache thrown in. Asa is the perfect match for Jude, an older man who balances him. And Billy was just adorable! I loved seeing Dylan and Gabe, too. My favorite things though are the little letters at the beginning of each chapter. You never know how outlandish and ridiculous each one is going to be!
mrseapm's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
iam's review against another edition
4.0
Happy to say I enjoyed this more thoroughly than Rule Breaker which is loosely tied to Deal Maker.
Reading the two books back to back it's obvious how similar they are in many ways. The main characters share a lot of similarities, and the love interests have some of the same attributes, but it's the overall formula of the romances that makes the two books alike. The center piece here is that one half of the couple is convinced he can't do a relationship, but is unable to resist the other, leading to "just sex" that obviously isn't just sex followed by a crash followed by a happy ending.
Deal Maker's crash is rather short, which I appreciated, but it still made me roll my eyes a bit, though overall it was alright.
One thing I didn't like about Rule Breaker was how the last third of the book seemed to drag, and luckily Deal Maker doesn't have the same problem. Overall, I just liked the two main characters a little bit better, but what I really adored about his book was Billy. Billy is the love interest's five year old son, and he's a delight. I love how present he was throughout the book, never getting shoved back for the main relationship to take center stage. A lot of romance novels with present child characters have the child be surprisingly and maybe unrealistically wise for their age, even giving relationship advice - I don't necessarily mind that, but this is not the case here anyways. Billy reads very much like a small child, wholly engaged in typical small-child things and being responsible for a lot of the book's humor.
The book is written in first person from Jude's POV, but there are a few scenes written from love interests Asa's perspective as well. It didn't necessarily throw me off, but I wondered a bit about the purpose of the POV switch, since it overall seemed kind of pointless. I didn't feel like I got any new insights or knowledge from his parts, as he was rather easy to read through Jude's POV.
One thing that made me bristle was a conversation (or rather argument) between Jude and one of Asa's exes. They threw a lot of words around the likes of "whore" or "slut", but the way they talked to each other as two men who both slept with a lot of people, painting each other's behaviour in a bad light made, was frankly appalling and me extremely uncomfortable.
Another minor thing I kept wondering about:
Reading the two books back to back it's obvious how similar they are in many ways. The main characters share a lot of similarities, and the love interests have some of the same attributes, but it's the overall formula of the romances that makes the two books alike. The center piece here is that one half of the couple is convinced he can't do a relationship, but is unable to resist the other, leading to "just sex" that obviously isn't just sex followed by a crash followed by a happy ending.
Deal Maker's crash is rather short, which I appreciated, but it still made me roll my eyes a bit, though overall it was alright.
One thing I didn't like about Rule Breaker was how the last third of the book seemed to drag, and luckily Deal Maker doesn't have the same problem. Overall, I just liked the two main characters a little bit better, but what I really adored about his book was Billy. Billy is the love interest's five year old son, and he's a delight. I love how present he was throughout the book, never getting shoved back for the main relationship to take center stage. A lot of romance novels with present child characters have the child be surprisingly and maybe unrealistically wise for their age, even giving relationship advice - I don't necessarily mind that, but this is not the case here anyways. Billy reads very much like a small child, wholly engaged in typical small-child things and being responsible for a lot of the book's humor.
The book is written in first person from Jude's POV, but there are a few scenes written from love interests Asa's perspective as well. It didn't necessarily throw me off, but I wondered a bit about the purpose of the POV switch, since it overall seemed kind of pointless. I didn't feel like I got any new insights or knowledge from his parts, as he was rather easy to read through Jude's POV.
One thing that made me bristle was a conversation (or rather argument) between Jude and one of Asa's exes. They threw a lot of words around the likes of "whore" or "slut", but the way they talked to each other as two men who both slept with a lot of people, painting each other's behaviour in a bad light made, was frankly appalling and me extremely uncomfortable.
Another minor thing I kept wondering about:
Spoiler
Jude gets to know Asa via Asa's step brother Dean, who is a fuck-buddy of Jude's. Later it's revealed that Asa was kicked out by his stepfather, Dean's dad, for being bisexual. Never once during that conversation Dean is mentioned, and I kept wondering how it was for Dean who is very obviously attracted to men as well, growing up with a father who threw out Asa for being bi, but Dean's relationship to his parents is never mentioned again.marureviere's review against another edition
5.0
This was so lovely. I adored this book. I loved Jude, Asa, Billy, Peggy, Dylan, Gabe, even Dean and hell, even the sourly Amos. I'm not really the type to remember names but I remembered them all, even the minor characters. The humor had me in tears, the narrative was very engaging. I loved the overall tone of the book. And the mutual love, understanding and affection between Jude and Asa was just...sighs. That ending was wonderful. I'll be sure to read the rest of the books in the series as well as Lily Morton's other books. I think I just found another favorite author!
robazizo's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. While I did enjoy this one, the other two books spoke to me more. I could see why these two would fall for each other, but somehow Asa and some of his past behaviour just didn't really gel with me. Jude's relationship with Billy was a real highlight of the book though.
stephreviewsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This book is hilarious and full of witt. Typical English humour so may not appeal to everyone. This isn't a steamy book despite having sexy characters and lots of sexual chemistry, it is a slow burn. The humour made it for me, genuinely laugh out loud parts. I just wish the sexual tension had broken sooner.