This is a read about what happens when love goes wrong and family is not meeting your needs. Response, you make a fresh start and surround yourself with individuals that care. Hudson Frost and Ariana Marks have something the other needs. I wanted to like the read but I found difficulty connecting with the main characters because I wanted/needed to  know more about Hudson and Ariana. In general, the story was disjointed and did not flow very well.

#awesome!  This is one of those books that you know you are going to love from the first page. I sometimes struggle with some writing styles but from the start I fell into this book and fell into these wonderful ladies story. The only thing I don’t like about this book and in fact I really don’t like it, is the title. Don’t ask me why but the title almost put me off reading the book. Please, no one be put off reading this book, you will not regret it. I’m away to search out if this author has written anything else.

This book has some confusing points and so do I while making this review.  But this does not mean that it has not been a nice read, so my overall rating is quite high. My confussions come from several aspects of the story. The first one is the amount of time that it spans, suddenly six months have passed without much interaction between the main characters but much growing feelings for both. Then Ari has a BF than disapears once Hudson comes to live as a tenant in Ari's new house. Another subject is the age of the main characters, they act a little immature way but nearing the end of the book is mentioned that they weren't getting any younger so it seems that they must be in they mid thirties. And the biggest one is Hudson reaction from a bad break up that affects her so much making her unable to   trust in a new relationship. Really, after the background that is showed about her childhood, her loving and caring parents and brother, her strong and measured personality, seems a little out of place such a dramatic response. And the book has too much inner struggling, so much tath the main characters themselves note it more than once. As a good point, the book has some steaming and hot sex sceenes, but must be mentioned also that they are quite repetitive, if not by the conflicting emotions that sorround their lovemaking they wouldn't be worthwile. Certainly, Ari puts in the pursuing of a relationship between them, much more than Hudson. But as I said earlier, the book is worth reading.

2.5 stars

Ariana Marks is out to show her disapproving father that she can set up and run her own business. Working two jobs and mad hours to save up the money to start her own catering firm, Ariana wonders if her dream will derail when she is knocked back for a business loan. 

Hudson Frost is struggling to come to terms with being dumped by her selfish long-term girlfriend. Knowing she can’t afford to rent a place by herself, Hudson accepts the offer of a room to rent in Ariana’s new house. The deal is that Hudson does some work on the house, and Ariana reduces the rent. 

Both damaged from life and exes, can they find a path to recovery in each other?


The setup in the book is quite interesting, and offers lots of possibilities for us to see the characters under stress, and time to get to know one another. The author has come up with a plan, and set it in motion. 

However, I don’t think Roman quite pulls it off. There are problems with the main plot line. The original set up of getting the two characters in the house takes a long time to happen, as neither character moves in while the renovations are taking place. I had trouble believing that a relative stranger would be trusted with the keys to a house. It also seemed odd to me that the deal would be done with a stranger, without any paperwork being signed, or that anyone would do months of work on a house without some sort of guarantee that there would be a payoff at the end, even if it was cheaper rent. This just didn’t seem believable to me.

Neither of the characters really gelled for me. I thought much was made of the butchness of Hudson, but it didn’t come across in her behaviour at all. Their relationship, and the butch/femme-ish thing was a little play-by-numbers for me. I liked the idea of it more than the actuality of it.

I think there are good ideas in here, but it needs more work to be a really satisfying romance.

3.25 Stars. When I saw the early reviews for this story, I was worried. I’m happy to say I liked this more than I expected to. To be clear this book does have some issues. But for me it also had parts I enjoyed, so overall it’s getting a rating of slightly better than okay.

This story is about two women, who have become set in their ways, which includes not wanting to be in a relationship. But fate has other plans as they wind up in a landlord/renter relationship. Can they just be friends or will everything change when feeling become involved?

One of the first big issues is character development. While Ari if more fleshed out, Hudson really needed work. Her character lacks in depth and it stops you from really connecting with her. Ari’s character makes sense with her background why she is the way she is, Hudson does not. Hudson is so destroyed from a breakup that happened years ago, it’s like she is actually suffering from a form of PTSD. And once you hear all the details of the breakup, it makes no sense why she was so affected.

The other issue is inner dialog turmoil. This is the kind of romance that not a lot happens in it. It does not have exciting moments, or a real bad guy/gal to stir things up. No cheating or love triangle or anything like that. This is more of a traditional romance. So I understand Roman wanted to add some sort of angst and did it with the push/pull inner turmoil for her characters. I get it, I’m fine with that, but the problem is the amount. Yes, no, yes, no, over and over again. Not only was it multiple times but it is the same repetitive inner dialogue over and over. I wanted to take a red pencil to my Kindle and X-out all this repetitive dialogue, than send it back to Roman.

Okay, finally on to some good points. I enjoyed the romantic aspects of this book. Taking out the angst… the actual building of the romance worked for me. I thought these characters had a ton of chemistry together. I didn’t like Hudson half the time, but I wanted her with Ari because I believed them together. And bonus points, the sex scenes were well done. Especially the first sex scene I thought was pretty hot.

Roman is a new author and it shows. But I’m hopeful she will get a lot better. To me she made rookie mistakes in this book, which a debut writer often does. But the fact she can write chemistry, believable attraction and good intimate scenes, shows she has some romance talent. I really hope she works on her craft and keeps growing as I can see some real potential. I will read her next book, and keep my fingers crossed.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Bold Strokes Books and Net Galley. 

First this book was very confusing. I kept having to go back pages to re-read passages because some times I just had no idea what was going on. It was very repetitive and some portions of the book just didn’t need to be there. There was the entire first half where I felt like I had no clue where they were going. Overall the writer just needs helps tightening up the story. It wasn’t a bad premise, it was just very poorly written. 

I thought Hudson was the most whiniest person I have ever read in a book. I also think the entire romance was built on shaky ground. I mean they saw each other twice and then they are sleeping together it was insane and way too quick. Ari was a fine live interest, but also boring. The inclusion of the two moms was great, but they never quite explained why she hadn’t seen her brother in so long. Hey also never really told us why she and Pam broke  up and the little reasons we got seemed like there is no way that she was so torn up over someone in that way. It seemed blown way out of proportion. So yeah not my favorite book. Not sure if I’ll ever read another book by this author.

An ok debut for fans of a push pull romance. Although a quite slow plot building with a not enough credible character development, the story was fine for a couple of hours of light reading. Will read more books by Renee Roman.

Renee Roman had a delightful premise for her book. The story involves two women, Ari Marks, with ambitions to own her catering business and has been saving for years to do so, and Hudson, who is recovering from a bad break up. Over the course of time, they find a growing attraction to each other. Ari buys a house so she can finally open her catering business. She offers Hudson an apartment in her home in exchange for lower rent and helping Ari make repairs on the house. 

The author needed a really good editor and unfortunately didn't have one. There are so many times when the writing should have been pared down - there are too many instances where the author repeats herself. A good editor should have noticed the repetition and tightened it up. A better editor would have noticed that various internal organs were clutching at every turn. By the middle of the book, I was skimming the text because it was simply repeating what had gone before. A strong editor would have told the author to add a little more depth to both characters. Hudson's entire life is centered around the fact that her ex-girlfriend dumped her. Ari has become boring because she is obsessed in proving she can be a successful caterer.

I didn't really like the book. Too much repetition, too much blablah.

Renee Roman has wonderful characters in Hudson and Ari. The author has the ability to craft a story, but the book never goes much into the characters, except for the surface. I enjoyed the book, but fair warning it's a slow start. I'm also not sure why an upbeat person like Ari would fall for Hudson, who is seriously depressed about her ex. 

However as the book gets to the middle, you do see a shift where the characters connect in a more authentic way. 

It's a sweet story and I am enjoy the characters together, the dialogue is well crafted, however there could of been some sections of the book that could be shorter.  

Overall it's a sweet book with enjoyable characters, just take a little patience to get to the second half of the book.