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A review by hmmreads
Ignite by Melanie Harlow
3.0
3.5 stars
Dex was an ex-SEAL now firefighter who just divorced last year. He had his daughters over three days a week during his off-duty days and was going to move into the townhouse next to Winnie's. Winnie was the daughter of book 1 couple. She was engaged before and now decided to be in a "love rehab" because she falls in love too easily.
Dex's daughters were cute and funny, they got along with Winnie well and were always dragging her along to their activities. On the first night at Dex's new home, he heard Winnie's smoke alarm blaring so he burst into her house and was greeted by the sight of her with only a hand towel covering her as she tried to turn off the alarm. Winnie was shocked when she saw him, the addition of his daughters running in wasn't helping either. She fell on her ass and embarrassingly crawled to safety. The whole ordeal was pretty funny, and Dex's daughters occasionally mentioning Winnie's bum as if they caught her and Dex together was hilarious.
After a mutual party, Dex went to her patio to apologize for bursting in like that. Before he left, Dex impulsively kissed her and apologized for it. This was the start of my irk with Dex lmao. Throughout the book, he kept mentioning how young Winnie was from the way she dressed to the way she even walked. I get it, he was apprehensive, it was a big gap, she was 22 he was 38(?). But then he went on sexualizing her, sometimes right after commenting on how young she was. Like, bro, can you please not incriminate yourself like that? It was unsettling.
Not to mention Dex's "grumpiness". I suppose that the book wants us to see his grumpiness as endearing? I can't get on board with that. Dex had a short fuse and couldn't hide his annoyance to save his life. Because of this he had to constantly apologize to the people around him. It got tiring quickly. The next day after Dex and Winnie kissed, Dex quickly "reassured" her that he wasn't attracted to him like that. Winnie was hurt and he had to apologize. Then Dex was being grumpy because of his ex-wife's nagging and let it spill over to Winnie-- he had to apologize again. Then he was being a jerk because of his absent but also dying dad wanting to see him, he apologized again to Winnie. Then Winnie got a job and had to move out. Dex didn't feel right asking her to stay and dismissed the relationship he and Winnie had as a casual fuck. Which, wasn't wrong and that was what they agreed upon when they started but still, he ended up apologizing again. You see my point, this book was 80% Dex apologizing and not just to Winnie.
Winnie as a character was fine. She didn't have an identifying personality. She was your typical easy-going next-door neighborhood girl who loves kids and was a joy to be around. She admitted her stupidy of ending up falling in love with Dex even though that wasn't her plan, which was a refreshing take because I cannot handle MCs whining about falling in love, or a "how could this be?" moment when they got themselves in that mess.
Dex did a "grand gesture" because Winnie mentioned it before. This part was pretty endearing, he ended up declaring his love to the wrong house and the whole neighborhood was there to bask in his mistake. Winnie moved back and dropped her dream job and they got engaged in the epilogue.
Oh, I also appreciate that Naomi the ex-wife was realistically disappointed in Dex and dissed him in a way that wasn't bitchy but understandable.
Overall, the book kept me til the end. Didn't like Dex and was impartial toward Winnie. The kids were great. The funny scenes were funny. Writing in the beginning was a bunch of exposition dumps though.
Dex was an ex-SEAL now firefighter who just divorced last year. He had his daughters over three days a week during his off-duty days and was going to move into the townhouse next to Winnie's. Winnie was the daughter of book 1 couple. She was engaged before and now decided to be in a "love rehab" because she falls in love too easily.
Dex's daughters were cute and funny, they got along with Winnie well and were always dragging her along to their activities. On the first night at Dex's new home, he heard Winnie's smoke alarm blaring so he burst into her house and was greeted by the sight of her with only a hand towel covering her as she tried to turn off the alarm. Winnie was shocked when she saw him, the addition of his daughters running in wasn't helping either. She fell on her ass and embarrassingly crawled to safety. The whole ordeal was pretty funny, and Dex's daughters occasionally mentioning Winnie's bum as if they caught her and Dex together was hilarious.
After a mutual party, Dex went to her patio to apologize for bursting in like that. Before he left, Dex impulsively kissed her and apologized for it. This was the start of my irk with Dex lmao. Throughout the book, he kept mentioning how young Winnie was from the way she dressed to the way she even walked. I get it, he was apprehensive, it was a big gap, she was 22 he was 38(?). But then he went on sexualizing her, sometimes right after commenting on how young she was. Like, bro, can you please not incriminate yourself like that? It was unsettling.
Not to mention Dex's "grumpiness". I suppose that the book wants us to see his grumpiness as endearing? I can't get on board with that. Dex had a short fuse and couldn't hide his annoyance to save his life. Because of this he had to constantly apologize to the people around him. It got tiring quickly. The next day after Dex and Winnie kissed, Dex quickly "reassured" her that he wasn't attracted to him like that. Winnie was hurt and he had to apologize. Then Dex was being grumpy because of his ex-wife's nagging and let it spill over to Winnie-- he had to apologize again. Then he was being a jerk because of his absent but also dying dad wanting to see him, he apologized again to Winnie. Then Winnie got a job and had to move out. Dex didn't feel right asking her to stay and dismissed the relationship he and Winnie had as a casual fuck. Which, wasn't wrong and that was what they agreed upon when they started but still, he ended up apologizing again. You see my point, this book was 80% Dex apologizing and not just to Winnie.
Winnie as a character was fine. She didn't have an identifying personality. She was your typical easy-going next-door neighborhood girl who loves kids and was a joy to be around. She admitted her stupidy of ending up falling in love with Dex even though that wasn't her plan, which was a refreshing take because I cannot handle MCs whining about falling in love, or a "how could this be?" moment when they got themselves in that mess.
Dex did a "grand gesture" because Winnie mentioned it before. This part was pretty endearing, he ended up declaring his love to the wrong house and the whole neighborhood was there to bask in his mistake. Winnie moved back and dropped her dream job and they got engaged in the epilogue.
Oh, I also appreciate that Naomi the ex-wife was realistically disappointed in Dex and dissed him in a way that wasn't bitchy but understandable.
Overall, the book kept me til the end. Didn't like Dex and was impartial toward Winnie. The kids were great. The funny scenes were funny. Writing in the beginning was a bunch of exposition dumps though.