A review by agrippinaes
Make Me by Tessa Bailey

3.0

This was a fairly light, easy read. There wasn’t really anything complicated about the plot and the final conflict wasn’t dragged out or repetitive. The two main characters had good chemistry and their relationship was sweet. I preferred Abby a lot more as it went on and she developed more of a backbone, and I liked Russell. I liked how protective he was over her (although sometimes it did veer into silly territory). Their scenes together were well-written and hot, and there were some touching moments as well.

I found the plot was quite simple, easy to follow, and moved a long nicely. It benefited greatly from the two of them being friends before. I also liked there was no mutual pining here - Abby, the heroine, didn’t have romantic feelings at the start, she just saw him as a friend, but once she realised the potential, she fell fast, and I thought that made a nice change rather than them both having been secretly in love with one another for a while.

The protective Russell thing got a bit much at some points, but it was part of the story, so I could get over it. The main issue I had was the heroine’s back story involving her parents. It was skimmed over and not really dealt with, when I thought their behaviour was actually awful at points.

Spoiler

Not just the obvious one that kept on coming up, that she would be left alone whenever she displayed emotions - the small detail that her stepmother and father literally paid off her mother to disappear and that they forced her to call her stepmother her real mother - this was like something out of a psychological thriller story. I thought it was awful! But it never came up again and the genuine damage they’d caused for Abby as a person was never really dealt with. I get that this was meant to be more of a lighthearted book, but if that was the case, why give both characters such dark back stories? I don’t know, but it didn’t work for me. She could have made them both her biological parents who were dicks and it would have made more sense.

The rating would have been a 4, but I didn’t like the way her backstory was handled, as it didn’t really have a satisfying conclusion to me.

I would recommend it if you want a friends-to-lovers romance with a hefty dose of angst and some cute bits.

Content Warnings:

Spoiler

Difficult relationship with parents stemming from childhood abuse

Spoiler

The heroine’s father and stepmother are emotionally distant and neglectful, leaving her in the care of others for much of her childhood; they also subjected her to emotional / psychological abuse, such as deliberately isolating her and ignoring her when she misbehaved.

Additionally, her biological mother was paid off and forced to leave her daughter behind and start a new life elsewhere. The heroine was forced call her stepmother her mother, with recriminations in the form of ignoring her if she refused to.

Furthermore, her father suffers a mental breakdown from stress from running a hedge fund off-page before the story starts, and she’s been pushed by her stepmother and the family lawyer into assuming his position as head of the company. The stress forces the heroine into a position where she’s barely sleeping or eating and is constantly working.

, alcoholism, suicide (in past)

Spoiler

The hero found his mother's dead body when he was a child

, death of a loved one, explosion, injuries, depictions of stress / mental illness.

Separate warning for virgin heroine, mild BDSM.