book blurb:
She's the one night stand I never forgot.
And now her dad is about to marry my mom.
It has to be some kind of cosmic joke, right? For once, I feel like I’ve got my life together—good job, great friends, a fresh start in a new place. I’ve been on my best behavior for ages. At last, everything’s coming up Javier.
Until the moment I walk into my stepdad’s house and meet his daughter.
I should say: I meet her again. Madeline and I have already met. It was one night, two years ago. A quick, casual hookup that had no right to be as mind-blowing as it was. I haven’t stopped thinking about it–or her–ever since.
But our parents are getting married, so under no circumstances should we sleep together again.
Or… again. Or one more time after that, just to get it out of our systems.
Madeline’s funny, fiery, and so gorgeous with her pink hair and nerdy tattoos that I can barely look at her without breaking into a sweat. But she has too much going on to be interested in commitment, and God knows I’m a bad boyfriend candidate.
Once the wedding’s over, we’ll be normal stepsiblings who don’t have sex with each other, and Thanksgiving won’t be awkward at all.
Right?
Tropes:
*High Gravity Audio ALC *rom-com *taboo relationship *spice *soon to be step brother/sister
*small town romance *found family *ex-military MMC *state challenge Virginia
*mental health representation *discussions of addiction and recovery *mutual pining
Thoughts:
After meeting at a bar Javier and Madeline have a night to remember they don't share information about themselves really... there honestly wasn't much talking at all they just have no strings attached night of fun and don't even exchange numbers they will likely never see each other again and that's alright for now... but they both continue to think of each other over the following few years.
Because life is funny like that Madeline's father has finally decided to remarry he has found a wonderful woman and she's happy for him he's been single most of her life since divorcing her mother when she was a young girl and she wants him to have a true love... unfortunately the woman he's marrying comes with a big problem for Madeline... in the form of the handsome one night stand she had a few years ago... yes Javier (that one) is her son and they are about to become step siblings.
Throughout the book we find out that Javier has a past history of addiction related issues and has worked on his sobriety over the years and is a couple years clean but he knows that he worried his family and friends in the past and even has a fractured relationship with his father to this day over issues that happened in the past... why would anyone want to be with him knowing that he will continue to struggle with this issue for life?
Madeline even though she knows that she shouldn't can't help but feel the pull towards Javier he's still one of the hottest guys she's ever seen and they arn't really related... if no one finds out maybe they could have another fun night?... or three?
The book had a good mix of comedic elements along with the more serious aspects.
I was rooting for Javier to stay sober and was wondering how Javier and Madeline could make things work.
They had a great group of friends and, while Madeline's family was smaller Javier had a large and loving family (minus his father who he was fairly toxic towards Javier). I also loved Javier's pet side kick a lovable kitty.
I listened to this audiobook and Alexis Paige and Gregory Salinas did a wonderful job bringing all of these characters and the story to life!
some negatives for this book:
Javier and Madeline both read as younger than their age, they come off as a bit more immature.
Their relationship is mostly a series of hook ups and there isn't much character growth on either side
Javier leads his friends into dangerous situations at times and himself as well he doesn't tell his very emotional family where he's going and will like go on an off grid hike... like that's fine but let someone know what you're doing so you don't worry your loved ones.
Lack of communication on both sides throughout a lot of the book
Javier seemed more formed, but Madeline came off as just a quirky, fun girl with mermaid hair
Some of the pacing feels off with slower paced sections then fast paced sections and time jumps leaving me feeling like I might have missed parts of their relationship building during some of these times.
Did you read this one? What did you think?
If you or a loved one have a problem with addiction please don't use alone --> in the USA there are a few services that anyone can call and someone will stay on the line with you get basic information (name, where you are located) and if you stop responding they will contact emergency services to get you help.
Stay safe there are a lot of really bad things that are put into the supplies at this point and people don't realize but a lot of it now has large animal tranquilizers (xylazine and metotomadine) which are not opiates and do not respond to narcan, xylazine also causes blood vessels to constrict restricting blood flow and causing sores that are slower to heal (these can occur anywhere on the body)
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