A story about weak men and a passive woman who follows them and lets life happen to her rather than pursing and making the life she wants.

This was a great story. I loved it! I think so many women can relate to falling for the charm and charisma of a selfish man. And at the end of the day, Ren is living in the past and wants to have his cake and eat it too. And being a single parent is hard. It is hard to have someone come into your life and make room for them when you are a single parent working full time, much less going to school as well. I think not trying to force that relationship, but letting it come together naturally in the end was beautiful.

Another home run by Maddie Dawson! Her writing is so wonderfully descriptive that I could clearly picture the entire cast of unique characters as well as the building that housed the delightful day care and Mimi’s apartment that she made so homey. I enjoyed this clever story so much that I devoured it quickly but now I’m sad that it’s over. Mimi was an irresistible character that will stay with me for quite some time. I loved her big heart and her belief in a little bit of magic. The narrator was perfect for Mimi’s personality!

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀

𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲! “𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤” 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬, & 𝐚𝐥𝐥-𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐦𝐢 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬—𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 (𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐢𝐦𝐢 )𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱-𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐌𝐢𝐦𝐢 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦…𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐨𝐲, 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 “𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝” 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐝 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭.

𝐻𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝒹𝒹𝒾𝑒 𝒟𝒶𝓌𝓈𝑜𝓃, 𝐵𝓇𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒫𝓊𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this audio.

This was such a cute read!! I loved Mimi’s and Jamie’s love story. This was such an easy quick read. Mimi did annoy me a bit at first but I grew to love her. I loved the Daycare back drop.

This was absolutely lovely - it's a slow story, very slice of life, but the characters feel so real it's easy to lose yourself in their world.

Premise - a quirky woman begins dating her coworker (a very passion-filled, sex-focused relationship) and, as a result of their poor decision making around sexual contact in front of their minor charges, loses her job as a teacher... her partner does not lose his job. She's okay with the loss, because the two get engaged after a very unromantic, anticlimactic proposal (missing a ring). But before she can head off for her HEA, his ex-wife sustains brain damage and he becomes her caretaker (along with their teen children, who do not like our heroine).

From that premise it's already obvious to the reader that the dude sucks and is not her forever guy, but that doesn't clear up the messiness of their entanglement or her feelings. Which, frankly, felt real!

I loved:
- The love angle (not a triangle, the men weren't into each other) was interesting, because neither man was perfect and while I knew who I wanted her to end up with, I wasn't sure which guy she would end up with (or if she'd end up single) after some light redemption of her original fiance
- The children were so precious!
- The daycare was so sweet and alive
- I felt like this book made me fall in love with the chaos of parenting a toddler all over again
- The ex-wife isn't a monster
- Everyone is beautifully gray
- The guy she has crazy sexual chemistry with can simultaneously NOT be the right guy for her

If you like mature love stories, with a focus on the protagonist's development through the love story, then this one is for you! I think this will be a delight for anyone who enjoys single parent romance/women's fiction (leaning more women's fiction than romance, and for the romance purists: she does have sex with multiple men).

Thanks, NetGalley and Lake Union, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.