A review by justmevictoria
Runaway Love by Melanie Harlow

4.5

Turns out interviewing for a nanny job in your wedding dress could just be the answer…

Moments before walking down the aisle, Veronica Sutton finds that her soon-to-be husband has been cheating on her. It’s the final straw for a relationship that has resulted in Veronica losing so much of who she is. So, still dressed for saying “I do”, she hightails it out of the wedding venue and finds herself at a diner in Cherry Tree Harbor. The locals welcome her with open arms, going so far as to offer her a job - nannying for single dad Austin Buckley. Unfortunately, Austin isn’t about to hire a woman with zero childcare experience who rocks up on his doorstep wearing a wedding dress. But with his sister heading off on an archaeological excavation for the summer, an inability to let his dad do all the work in their business, and literally zero other prospective nanny’s lining up, he agrees to hire her, especially once he learns that she literally has nothing now that’s she’s left her fiancé. There’s an undeniable attraction between the two of them, but neither are going to cross the boss/employee line. Until the kids are off visiting their mother for a week and suddenly all bets are off. With Veronica heading back to New York at the end of the summer, they have to make their time together count and figure out if this is truly for forever, or just a casual summer fling. 

There’s something about the single dad/nanny trope that I just ADORE, and Melanie gave it her all with this introduction to Cherry Tree Harbor and the Buckley family! I’ve never read any of Melanie’s books before but I was instantly sucked into the lives of these characters and could not put this book down - had it not been 3am and my sleepy eyes betraying me, I 100% would have finished this in one sitting! 

Austin and Veronica had instant chemistry that really just oozed off the page. I loved their romance from the get-go, with all the forced proximity and the grumpy dad who melts for his children. Their relationship is sweet, spice and all things nice, all wrapped up in a nice grumpy/sunshine ribbon! The swoon was swoony and the spice was spicing, and there was plenty of little feet kicks!

One of the things I love about the single parent/nanny trope is watching the single parent fall more and more in love with the nanny as they watch the nanny fall in love with their children. Veronica had such a fun relationship with Austin’s 7-year-old twins from the moment they met, and getting to see their connections grow throughout the book was just as fun as the romance. 

And obviously, this whole series centres around the Buckley family, and we got a nice little introduction to the rest of the siblings, especially Mabel and Xander, who will be getting the next book. Definitely excited to continue exploring all that Cherry Tree Harbor has to offer and get to know more of all these characters - the personalities of Cherry Tree Harbor are certainly interesting!

For all my small town romance girlies, this is certainly one to add to your list, especially if you LOVE single dads, the nanny, and grumpy/sunshine!