With characteristics reminiscent of Hazel from Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, Lizzie Blake is a loveable, chaotic character dealing with ADHD and its effects on her life and relationships.
With poignant and heartbreaking moments balanced with hilarity and silliness, I enjoyed Lizzie and Rake’s journey from one-night stand to roommates to parents.
Lizzie is a baker in Philadelphia who can’t seem to hold a job because of her inattentiveness and time blindness. She’s scattered and unreliable, but she’s also fiercely devoted to her friends.
Her family isn’t close because she isn’t a golden child like her brother, and her parents only see her differences as a negative to their social standing. Though may have disadvantages in a neurotypical world, Lizzie is trying her best to make a living while also having fun.
Rake is in town for business and is immediately taken by Lizzie and her horrible experience with a blind date. One thing leads to another, and he and Lizzie have a couple of hot and steamy nights together.
Not expecting to see her again, he upends his life in Australia after a phone call that immediately changes his priorities.
Lizzie and Rake’s pact to cohabitate while waiting for their baby’s arrival and abstaining from a physical relationship ratchets up the sexual tension to about an 11 for much of the story. While they may not be physical, they are still learning about one another and forming a deeper relationship through their interactions.
Eddings takes great care with Lizzie’s mental well-being throughout the book, which is something I greatly appreciate.
There are points in the story where my second-hand cringe was so strong for Lizzie and the situations she would find herself in. My heart went out to her several times because I can relate to and understand her internal struggles, and I appreciate her for the strong heroine that she is.
Rake is one of the sweetest book boyfriends around. Rake appreciates her curiosity and enjoys seeing the world through Lizzie’s eyes. His patience and effort to understand her never-quiet mind are genuinely some of his best qualities.
I think fans of A Brush with Love will appreciate the next book in the series, and I know that I am looking forward to Indira’s story in The Plus One.
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Mazey Eddings is a neurodiverse author, dentist, and (most importantly) stage mom to her cats, Yaya and Zadie. She can most often be found reading romance novels under her weighted blanket and asking her boyfriend to bring her snacks. She’s made it her personal mission in life to destigmatize mental health issues and write love stories for every brain. With roots in Ohio and North Carolina, she now calls Philadelphia home.
date published : September 6, 2022
pages : 332
audiobook narrators : Summer Morton, Will Peters
audiobook length : 10 hours and 21 minutes
Lizzie has made endless mistakes. Kitchen fires, pyramid schemes, bangs (of the hair and human variety), you name it, she’s done it… and made a mess of it too. One mistake she’s never made is letting anyone get closer to her than a single hook-up. But after losing yet another bakery job due to her uncontrolled ADHD, she breaks her cardinal rule and has a two-night-stand that changes everything.
Once burned, twice shy, Rake has given up on relationships. And feelings. And any form of intimacy for that matter. Yet something about charming, chaotic Lizzie has him lowering his guard. For two nights, that is. Then it’s back home to Australia and far away from the pesky feelings Lizzie pulls from him. But when Lizzie tells him she’s got an unexpected bun in the oven, he’ll do whatever it takes to be a part of his child’s life… except be emotionally vulnerable, obviously. He’s never going to make that mistake again.
Through a series of mishaps, totally “platonic” single bed sharing, and an underground erotic baking scheme, Lizzie and Rake learn that even the biggest mistakes can have the most beautiful consequences.
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