A review by telsreadingjournal
Hold My Hand by Cleopatra Margot

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Closed-door romance 

First of all, thank you to Cleopatra Margot for sending me an ARC for this book, in exchange for an honest review.

I was very excited to read this as it had a lot of my favorite tropes, also it was a closed door romance, which seems to be a little difficult to find these days but this personally missed the mark for me. I knew going into this that this was the 2nd book to a series, I thought that even though I didn't read the first one It wouldn't have mattered much as I automatically assumed that this would be one of those interconnected standalones. I can't confirm if it is indeed an interconnected standalone series, but I can say that I think I would have liked this better if I did read the first book first.

It felt like I was missing certain details as I kept reading. There were references to things that probably happened in the first book which were not being explained in this book, which caused me to be confused half the time. There were also multiple POVs, which I don’t normally mind, but there were the MMC and FMC's, but you also get the MMC's dad and step-mom's POV? Which I didn't see the point of, to me it didn't add anything to the story, it just added to my confusion. The ending also ended on a cliffhanger, so I am leaning on the idea that this is a series that would be better read in order. Lastly, while I liked Jordan and Sydney’s relationship, I felt like it moved way too fast. Sydney went from telling Jordan that they can never be a thing when she was showing him the guest house to them practically falling in love when Jordan and Jolene moved in.

I didn't dislike everything, Jolene (MMC's daughter) was the cutest thing ever. Loved any scene that included her. She seems like an adorable little girl, and seems to have everyone wrapped around her fingers. 

If you are going to read this one I would highly suggest reading the first book first then reading this one. You might like it better than I did. There also seems to be a subplot of mystery so if you like that this might be something worth checking out.