I loved this book!!!! I fell in love with Jeni and Adrian! I loved their relationship and how the author kept you guessing til end!

Home Sweet Mess was a sweet story about a couple wanting different things from a relationship and working through it anyway.

The stand out character for me in this book was Logan. A former foster kid, he had bounced from casual hookup to casual hookup before meeting Jeni. Don't get me wrong, at first I thought he was a real jerk. His opening line? No. Just NO. But as the story went on, he grew on me. He had vulnerability and self-awareness that gave some genuine authenticity to his story. I loved him.

Jeni was, in a word, immature. Don't get me wrong - I liked her. Eventually. However, the big deal about getting married again didn't make sense. Sure, I can understand wanting to take things slow to make sure everyone was on the same page before progressing to the next stage in a relationship. Still, she's a social worker who works with foster kids, so her not envisaging that there could be another kind of family structure out there didn't make sense, particularly after having several conversations with Logan about family. I think this was the main reason she came across as self-centred. It was like she didn't even consider how he actually felt and instead just assigned him a role in her life that she expected him to fulfil.

So overall, this book is a solid read. However, it does read more like a new-adult romance. Light on the heat, characters in newly established careers etc. So if that's not your thing, give it a miss.

Enjoyed Home Sweet Mess so much! I found both Jeni and Logan very realistic and well-developed. It was also a breath of fresh air to see how imperfect and insecure both of these characters were but actually acknowledging those flaws inside the story.

I loved that part of the book dealt with adopting and fostering, but also that one of the characters had to go through a divorce in such a young age. Sometimes it's hard to imagine how life can be different, but starting over can also seem super scary even at a young age.

Even though I completely understood Jeni's side and that due to her trauma she was unwilling to try something new, I was also glad that Logan stood his ground and didn't diminish his wants. I kinda wish that Jeni wasn't so indecisive but oh well!

This book felt empowering overall and there was such an optimistic view on that sometimes the right person can make all the difference. Would love to read Ashely's other book, Perfect Distraction, as well and read more about Andrew and Lauren since there wasn't an in-depth examination of those two characters in this book.

So I almost didn't finish this one! But I pushed through it. Not sure what it was! But the things I did enjoy was the characters I loved Logan and Jeni. enemy to lovers is a great one to.me!
This was a slow burn.... Which isn't always a favorite of mine!
But I enjoyed the writing, setting, characters, plot!

I was beyond excited to read Logan and Jeni’s story. After meeting them in Perfect Distraction, I needed to know! I loved Logan from the first sight and knew he’d be just as spicy as I expected him to be. Jeni has such a strong determination to stay the heck away from him that it was only a matter of time before she was drawn in. Their relationship developed so fluidly, without feeling rushed or contrived. Logan gave me serious heart eyes as he found himself falling for Jeni. And although at times I wanted to shake her for keeping her heart so sheltered, I loved how their story developed. This one is a 10/10 recommended read, as was the first story in this “series” because Lauren and Andrew are just perfect! I received an ARC for the purpose of review and all opinions are my own.

DNF at 70%.

Jeni Bishop moves to Kansas City to take up a job as a social worker with Child Protective Services. She has a series of unfortunate run-ins with a guy who later turns out to be her twin's best friend Logan, who works as a social media manager for the local NFL team.

Enemies at first, Jeni and Logan start to become friends. Something accelerated by their love of American football and Jeni's twin brother's cancer diagnosis.

She has decided never to get married because *reasons* and no longer dates, Logan 'dates' all the time but has never felt a connection with anyone, although he desperately wants to settle down and commit to someone because *reasons* (my suggestion would be not to find your dates by accepting phone numbers from barflies). When they acknowledge their mutual attraction Jeni suggests a friends-with-benefits arrangement but Logan decides that is what has gone wrong previously, he wants to date Jeni with no benefits (or maybe he wants dates and benefits).

This is an easy read but honestly I felt like there couldn't be one more trope/cliché left to tick and I just lost interest, I could tell exactly what was going to happen, I knew the secrets which had not been disclosed yet and just didn't care. Sorry.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Book Review for Home Sweet Mess
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

I cannot begin to put into words how excited I was to receive an ARC of this book. Once I realized that it was connected to the author’s first book, “Perfect Distraction”, I was even more excited to get into it.

Overall, I loved it. Was it on the same level as Perfect Distraction? Not quite, but I felt like the small things that I didn’t quite get in the first book were made up for in this one. I loved getting to know more about Logan and Jeni’s back stories. I loved that Logan seemed like a mature, normal guy, where Andrew came across as almost TOO perfect in the first book. The character chemistry was spot on - dialogue seemed to flow quite smoothly between the leads.

As far as why I took this from 5 to 4.5 stars, Jeni. I loved her, I really did, but her reasons for wanting to avoid a real relationship were exhausting. Don’t get me wrong, her reasoning was valid, but I couldn’t reason with why it took so long for her to truly understand that Logan was different and loved her no matter what.

Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

*Thank you NetGalley and the author Allison Ashley for this e-ARC*

I really did enjoy this book! I really was rooting for the characters the whole time. I enjoyed their witty and playful relationship as well. The slow progression of Logan and Jeni’s relationship was a classic story of having what you thought you knew and wanted for your life drastically change. The only thing that did seem off was the timeline, some aspects of the story seemed to move very quickly, but truthfully it didn’t ruin the story for me! It was a cute story!!

I enjoyed Ashley’s first book so I was excited for this one but it did not work for me. My dad is a diehard Chiefs fan and even that couldn’t save it (also the timeline was vague, like it was trying to mirror real life but also was dated several years ago based on the season details).

I really did not connect with either character. For the majority of the book, I found Logan’s chapters to be surface level and clearly written by a woman trying to write a male character. I did appreciate the vulnerability that came as he opened up. Jeni really frustrated me; I just didn’t feel her justification was valid and she didn’t sell me on it.

I’m also highly confused about the fact the brother gets cancer and within 6 months is engaged to someone he just met. That rushed storyline seemed highly unnecessary.

In all, this just felt like a mess to me. The description was better than the novel itself. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love this author and I was so excited when I received this book! It didn't disappoint. I loved this one even more than the others previous work! It was unputdownable.