I love the rich man/poor man trope as well as watching two opposites attract. These two beautiful men couldn’t be more different. Remi comes from money. Tristan lives paycheck to paycheck. Remi is cocky and immature. Tristan is controlled and responsible. Tristan and his family bring out the humanity in Remi as he is introduced to a functioning family as opposed to his cold and unloving upbringing by his controlling grandmother and hen-pecked grandfather. Remi’s tragic loss of his parents creates his fear of loss hence his one-night stands and lack of relationships. Tristan is so dedicated to his sister and niece and nephews and I admire his work ethic. It is eye-opening how nude modeling can take its toll on your muscles and strength especially considering how many gigs Tristan poses in a day. Tristan’s past with his mother is tenuous at best knowing he cannot depend on her sticking around so his doubts about Remi are valid considering Remi can’t make up his mind about them. There are so many emotional scenes in this book that ring true and I love how Tristan and Remi work out their differences to become a loving family.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me free access to the digital advanced copy of this book.

I absolutely adored the slow burn romance between Remi and Tristian, it felt so real and wasn't a picture perfect fairytale story. All the characters had so much depth and the book really encourages you to look within a person rather than their outwards expectations. It ultimately shows you that a perfect relationship is built on the trust and communication you have with each other and Remi and Tristian really showed that by the end of the book.

*I received a copy of this book via NetGalley. This has not influenced my review.*

I'm giving this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. I felt that 70% of the book worked really well and flowed easily, the other 30% did not so much. It was a little clunky and hard to follow. I found the description of the characters well written, however, I also felt that less emphasis could have been deployed on the description of things that "don't matter" and more on the players in the book (personal opinion). Overall a good book.

This is sweet, intense, funny and romantic. When Remi first sees Tristan, he wants nothing more than to get him into bed, once. But, as it turns out, once just isn't enough. But when a reminder of his past comes about, Remi runs. Remi has a big heart that he feels the need to protect at all costs. Tristan has a hard time trusting people. But they make the most adorable couple. The kids add a lot of comedy, and they're so cute.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

I thought it was not bad.

Remi is a senior at a very prestigious art college, enjoying his last year of freedom before he’s expected to take his place at the head of the Remington family business empire. He sleeps around freely with very beautiful men, keeping his distance from anyone that threatens to form emotional attachments. He can’t have a repeat of the crushing loss of his parents in a car accident when he was a child. One day, he walks into his life drawing class and has his life shaken up by the nude model of the day, Tristan. He’s stunningly beautiful, and Remi decides he will sleep with Tris. What he doesn’t realize is that he actually finds himself falling for Tris as Remi meets his family and gets to know Tris beyond his pretty face. Tris doesn’t want a romantic relationship either, because he already has enough to worry about, with his twin sister and her three young children, all of them struggling financially. Tris and Remi start as a casual friendship, but both of them discover things under the surface and become closer. Can they let their walls down enough to be more than just friends?

Rating: 3.5/5 When I started this, I immediately didn’t like Remi and his snooty attitude, the way he looked down on everyone in his class, his language use to describe others. But as the book went on, Remi’s language shifted to be less pretentious, especially after he spent more time with Tris. I can see why the language would be like that, because Remi grew up in a rich family, raised by his grandparents. His grandmother had a lot of expectations for Remi, and expected him to “act his class” meaning he shouldn’t even consider dating or socializing with people who aren’t rich. I do appreciate that Remi ignored all of that anyway, and eventually shifts the attitude he was raised with to something more positive. I liked Tris almost right off the bat, he’s very grounded and cares a lot for his family. He gave up a lot to make sure his nephews and niece were well taken care of, and so his sister didn’t have to stress as much. It was painful watching these two fall for each other but also push each other away out of fear, of protecting themself, but I enjoyed watching them figure things out together and work on it. I did enjoy this but only after I got through maybe a quarter of this book. Tristan is what kept me reading, because Remi almost put me off at the beginning. Just be aware of that going in. Also, I would add to check trigger warnings, I know there is parental death, allusions to and near-happening of sexual assault, but there might be something else I’m forgetting.

This story is adorable but I feel like it was too fast paced. I wanted to know more about what happened in between the time that they were apart. I just felt a little lost but it was easy to get my bearing back.

Watching the characters grow and mature and fall in love always gives me a good feeling. The author did a great job in portraying the psychological sides of both Remi and Tristian. I noticed that there was a lot of research done in order for the author to be able to bring out the background of being abanoned and the grief of having lost someone. It was hard not to feel for Remi, but at times I wanted to speak to him and tell him that it was alright to feel emotions. It hurt because I saw myself in Remi. I give Mia Kerick kudos seeing as how I was able to feel for Remi as if he we myself.

Overall, the book was great. I wouldn't change anything. Just the feeling that I was lost made me lose track of the book. I loved the feeling from the family dynamic between the Wilder siblings and Remi. I realized that I could not put the book down, as soon as I started it and I can't wait for the second book in the series. I hope it contains more of Remi and Tristian.

Review Title: Prince/Pauper Love Story

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ah, this book - where do I start?

I’m all up in my feelings, so I’ll keep this short and simple. What I truly loved about this book is that even though this tackled the prince/pauper trope, Remi and Tristan balance each other out in the best of ways. For all his talk about only wanting guys for the physical gratification of it, it was nice to see Remi get so emotionally invested in Tris. They both had their issues to work through (issues with abandonment), and it’s hard not to root for them every step of the way.

Not a fan of the HFN ending - it’s too ominous for my liking. I mean, why get me all invested in this, give me the ride-off-into-the-sunset moment! and then throw that in there?!

It’s still a 5-star read because of the emotional rollercoaster journey that Remi and Tris took me on.

Not bad, not amazing, a totally fine average read. I have some gripes with the writing style, which didn't help to pull me into the story or characters. There is a mix of character development I enjoyed and others that felt rather one dimensional and same-y. The major conflict wasn't fleshed out very well and so motivations felt flimsy. I come away from my reading experience not feeling negative, didn't hate it but I have no strong feelings towards it so I feel rather meh. I wasn't able to connect with the story or characters in a meaningful was and so I was grasping at anything to hold my attention. The romance between an artist and nude model is a great premiss and as an artist myself I wish that was more of a focus, there are a lot of interesting themes and comparison to be made between art and romance as well as learning more about the intimate process of creation and expression. So in the end this book to me is wasted potential.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this eARC to review.

I read part of this book, had to put it down due to being busy and then I completely forgot about the book which just shows how uninterested I was in it. The book is quite forgettable and I didn't care for the characters.

I'm Not in Love was an interesting read for sure! There was much to love about this book and Tristan and Remi were such sweethearts to follow, but one of my pet peeves is books that disregard the "show, don't tell" pitfall and this one sadly told a lot more than it showed. Nevertheless, this is a memorable, heartwarming romance that is packed with emotions and will keep you reading all night long. Can't wait to read more by this author!

A solid read, but I wasn't over the moon about it.

For the most part, this book commits the greatest literary sin (in my opinion), which is to tell rather than show. It's the most disappointing thing when moments I was looking forward to seeing are just explained rather than shown, and that happens a few times in this.

The characters are fine, but Tristan is by far the best one in the book. I loved his story, and I looked forward to getting to his next POV chapter. Remi was nice, but I didn't love his POV like I did Tristan's.

Overall, it was a solid book to pass the time with and I didn't regret taking the time to read it. I didn't exactly fly through it because it didn't give me a sense of urgency, which was actually nice. The cover is freaking gorgeous too.

I want to first thank Netgalley and Mia Kerick for allowing me to read this book! This was my first book by Mia kerick and now I will be on search for her other books. Mia has created such an amazing beautiful world in her books that I never want to leave! From the very first chapter I was sucked into these two and their lives. I saw myself in both Remi and Tris. Tris forever the family man who goes above and beyond for his family and Remi the walled up man who doesn’t allow anyone close enough for him to care about them. The romance that blossomed between the two men brought my heart happiness and tears to my eyes! I flew through this book in about two days and am impatiently waiting for book 2!

3.5

A moving and wonderful book, with memorable characters and a charming love story. I'm not in love is the first book of the Don't let go series, and with which we meet Remi and Tristan.

Remi has all the money you could imagine, he loves art, soccer and children, but he has no friends and is terrified of interpersonal relationships.

Tristán comes from a humble family, he loves art, his nephews and twin, but they don't have enough money to do what he likes.

After an encounter in an art class, Remi and Tristan can't get each other out of their heads and begin to trace their own path and history.

What I loved about this book were the characters. Both Remi and Tristan openly talk about what they like and what they don't. Remi has a past he carries on his shoulders and Tristan has a family he would do anything for. The Wilders (Tristan's family) were the most adorable thing I could have ever read. Jared, Tommy and Wendy are beautiful little people and they make the book much better.

What did disappoint me a bit was the plot and the main conflict. I know that every book must have a knot or conflict, but in this case it seemed absurd to me. I'm not convinced by the problems that could be solved were it not for the lack of communication between the characters.

Outside of that, I found it to be a super agile book, full of emotions and with characters that will shake your heart.

I enjoyed the story overall. However, and this one is on me, I wasn’t a big fan of the kids in the story. I understand their purpose, but I found them a bit annoying and unrealistic. I’m not sure that’s really how kids speak. Also, I felt like some of the interactions between both mc were uncomfortable and awkward in the way they were written, specially some of the intimate ones.

I ended up feeling a bit ambivalent about this novel. If a second novel ends up being published I will gladly read it, but some things bothered me.

This novel follows the romance between a wealthy art student working towards his second bachelor’s degree and a nude model struggling to make ends meet. There were many enjoyably endearing moments—with a surprising amount of them concerning Tristan’s family—throughout the novel. Tristan’s characterization ended up working the best for me. His storyline and thought process was engaging. I think the author did a good job differentiating between the narrations.

That being said, Remi was not nearly as engaging for me. I found his cockiness towards the beginning of the novel off-putting. Indeed, it was implied to be a result of his upbringing, but it did not leave me much room to enjoy his character. My only other issue was that the romance felt purely physical at times. That was what Remi set out to do anyway, but as their feelings seemingly deepened I didn’t feel too much of a connection.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read with potential for growth in the future.

"I'm Not In Love" has two main characters Tristan and Remi. It's dual pov so we get both of their perspectives. Tristan is a nude model and Remi is an artist. Tristan has a job to model for Remi's modeling class which is how they meet. Instantly drawn to one another their story begins.

I thought this was average. The writing was good and I liked both characters however I feel like the main conflict of commitment wasn't very well written? I feel like it could have been expanded on to make you understand the characters motivations more. It just made the conflict hard to understand when there wasn't enough reasoning for it.

Personally, I am a big fan of drama within books. This book featured A LOT of drama. I enjoyed it to a certain point, then kind of got sick of it. This was the first book that I have read by Mia Kerick, I don’t know if I see myself picking up another book by this author.

I really loved Tristan’s POV. I loved how the author wrote this character. It was amazing and really interesting to see his viewpoint. The portrayal of the relationship he has with his sister, niece, and nephew was amazing.

Now, I really hated the dialogue of the children. As one of the oldest in my family, I’ve been surrounded by my younger family members. Children do not usually talk like this. It felt very weird.

Remi was not really an interesting character at all. I didn’t really care for him. The relationship between Remi and Tristan felt very flat, which really made me want to DNF. However, his grandfather’s character growth was amazing.

This book was just okay. It wasn’t good nor bad, but I can’t see myself reading the second one. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing the ARC in exchange for a honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When I first saw this book, the title caught my eye, and immediately, I had a fair idea of what it would entail. I enjoyed the book, which was a quick read for me.

The storyline was great- but I will say this- quite a few things were just there- i.e. they weren't elaborated on enough, which in some places didn't go down so well. The accident (deliberately not saying anymore) for example would have had better effect had that been written. Another example would be Tristian's mother- (spoiler alert! maybe) some more backstory would have given his insecurities a firmer footing in the story of the present day- and there are a couple of more examples like that.

Overall, a good book.

3.75. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC