A review by joreadsromance
The Trouble With Love by Claire Contreras

4.0

Great cover, great story, great book
4 stars

I read and enjoyed [b:The Consequence of Falling|42351725|The Consequence of Falling|Claire Contreras|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546118080l/42351725._SY75_.jpg|65999609] by Ms Contreras and then became a firm fan when I heard (then read) her story, [b:Fake Love|42397505|Fake Love|Claire Contreras|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542898750l/42397505._SY75_.jpg|66079653] on the Read Me Romance podcast.

This particular book is a standalone - however our heroine, Morgan appeared very briefly in [b:The Consequence of Falling|42351725|The Consequence of Falling|Claire Contreras|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546118080l/42351725._SY75_.jpg|65999609] as she’s the best friend of the heroine of that novel. For those looking for an update from that book, both Nate and Presley do appear in this book, but separately. (Don’t worry - they’re still together!) So, the gist is that this book does stand alone!

This book ticks lost of boxes for me in what I love in a romance. Brother’s best friend. Tick. Office romance. Tick. A fun and lighthearted read with banter by the boatload. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Despite it ticking the boxes from many tropes, Ms Contreras manages to give things enough of a twist to keep things fresh and interesting. The initial meeting. The second first meeting. And especially the dating app. It all added something a little extra to a simple story told very well. I especially like the way that the story takes what could easily be an everyday situation and turn it into something magical. Sometimes you can read a romance and while you enjoy it - you can’t ever imagine it happening to you, or someone you know. This is a story that could happen to you - and I liked that.

Not only is the writing fun and fresh - and as I said, the dialogue and banter especially sparkle - but the author has cleverly chopped the story into 51 short and sweet chapters. It means that you’ll be justifying ‘just one more chapter’ until you realise you’ve finished the book in record time!

I worried that Morgan would be too young for me to enjoy as a heroine when we’re first introduced (she’s 23 at the start of the book) - but that wasn’t the case at all. Regardless of her age, she’s a smart, strong woman who knows what she wants and what she deserves. How could you not root for her?

And Bennett. Oh, Bennett. He’s perfect. He’s at times grumpy, very alpha, very cocky and he definitely knows what he wants. However, what I liked best about him was that there was no game-playing with him. Once he realised what he wanted he went after it and was not ashamed to admit his feelings. The scene with Bennett and Morgan’s brother was an example of Bennett’s character - and the bit where he appeared in Las Vegas was the perfect swoon moment.

And nicknames! I love, love, love it when our hero and heroine have cute nicknames for each other. For some reason it rings my bell right good.

***This next bit might be a slight spoiler so be cautious…

Spoiler

I feel like I need to address the ‘cheating’ in the book. I am not for reading that in my romances and it’s never, ever okay or justifiable in my eyes. However, there is a little bit of a grey area about whether there is cheating in this book and that completely depends on where you draw your lines. Sure it’s a fact that Bennett slept with someone else (once) when he was married BUT, the marriage was over at this point and both parties knew that. And this incident happens before the proper story starts. If you feel this crosses a line for you then that’s fine - but cheating is a hard limit for me and I wasn’t bothered by it so I feel that does say something.

Potential spoiler over. ***

This is another enjoyable book from [a:Claire Contreras|6655354|Claire Contreras|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1544066533p2/6655354.jpg]. She manages to spin stories that suck you in and keep you reading. I liked the characters, I liked the banter and I liked the storyline. A great book with another stunning cover to boot. 4 stars.