ARC Review – The Charmer by Avery Flynn

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Charmer by Avery Flynn
Series: ,
Published by Entangled Select Contemporary on September 25th 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 262
Format: eARC
Source: the author
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Don't miss the hot new romantic comedy follow-up to the smash hit The Negotiator...

Hot, filthy rich, and usually irresistible, Hudson Carlyle just met the one woman in Harbor City who’s immune to his legendary charm. Nerdy ant researcher Felicia Hartigan is the unsexiest dresser ever. She trips over air. And she’s in love with totally the wrong man. Hudson can’t stop thinking about her.

His regular moves won’t work here. He’s going to need a new plan, starting with helping her win over the man she thinks she wants. And if in the process she ends up falling for Hudson instead? Even better. Step one, charm her panties off. Step two, repeat step one as frequently as possible.

But what if the famous Carlyle charm finally fails him when he needs it most? Or worse, what if she figures out the one secret he’s kept from everyone, including his family, and walks away for good?

I’ve been waiting for Hudson’s story since I read The Negotiator. And, as usual, Avery Flynn did not disappoint. She’s such a fun writer – her sex scenes are hot, her characters are funny, and there’s drama without angst. Really, though, I was easy to please with this one; she had me from “nerdy ant researcher”.

I loved this story. I really liked Hudson and Felicia as people. As a couple, I have to admit, they confounded me a little. I know that sounds contradictory with how much I said that I liked this book, and I guess it kind of is. Part of my problem is the teach-me-to-lure-another trope. It’s not one that usually works for me. So at the same time I was laughing at Felicia’s antics and sighing over Hudson’s charm, I was also rolling my eyes because “have sex with me so you can attract another man” isn’t great. (I mean really, though, the part in the beginning where Hudson is thinking about how hot Felicia is in spite of the hideous, shapeless sack of a dress she’s wearing, and Felicia is congratulating herself on finally owning a classic, go anywhere little black dress, was hilarious.)

And Felicia was so, so smart, but she could never come up with a single compelling reason that she wanted to be with Tyler other than, “I liked him at 15, and he’s on my before 30 list”. But she’s smart enough to realize that what we want at 15 isn’t what we’re always going to want. When I was 15, I wanted Donnie Wahlberg. Now he’s married to Jenny McCarthy and running around telling everyone not to vaccinate their kids. You’re not smart at 15, that’s part of being 15. And she was smart enough to know that.

So this one was a little bit of a mix for me. I couldn’t stop reading because I had to see how they were finally going to get their crap together, and I wanted to know how the situation with Hudson’s family was going to work out, but I wasn’t completely sold on them needing to get it together because I wasn’t convinced they needed to be together. They’re one of those couples I can see as an HFN more than and HEA, epilogue notwithstanding.

I assume there’s at least one more book coming in this series, and I’m so ready for it. I have a feeling there will be some shenanigans with Tyler and his upstairs neighbor, and I really love a good “I don’t want to want you but I can’t help it” story.

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