Thank you so much to Mazey Eddings, St Martins, MacMillan Audio & NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

THis will be published on Sept 6th, 2022. 

I'm just going to put it out there, this will likely be in my top 5 books of the year. 

Quick recap before I go on about how much I adore this book: 
Lizzie meets Rake. 
A weekend hookup that wasn't supposed to go beyond that, ended in a surprise pregnancy. 
Lizzie and Rake navigating what they are to each other and how they were going to raise the baby. 

As prefaced above, I absolutely loved this book! I was a fan of Eddings debut release A Brush With Love so I knew I had to check out her next book. 

This blew all my expectations. I will admit that I was nervous because I have not read any books with an unexpectedly pregnancy and wasn't sure how I would feel regarding the trope. I am not sure how other books handled it to compare it to but I thought it was handled very well.  As someone who has struggled with fertility, I like that Eddings acknowledged that pregnancies don't always make it past the first trimester and the fear that comes with that. 

"I'm scared," she said whispered at last. Although it seemed impossible, Rake hugged her even tighter. "Me too." 

I stayed up way past anyones bedtime to finish this and so many times I wanted to scream at them both because they clearly loved each other but yet neither wanted to admit it (darn miscommunication trope).  Lizzie and Rake's relationship on paper should not have worked but yet they worked perfectly together. But they were each other's ying and yang. Edding's dialogue between the characters were crafted so well. I was giggling to myself at the stuff Lizzie would say and then at Rake's response as he would play along with her. 

In Edding's Acknowledgements she mentions her ADHD and knowing that made all the sense of how she was able to make Lizzie's ADHD so believable and real. I love seeing how Lizzie worked through and overcame so much throughout the course of the book. She knows where her struggles are and does her best to rectify them even if it doesn't always work or half works. 

"I make a lot of mistakes. But I'm trying. Does that matter to you at all? The effort I make to be better?"

Her conversation in the last quarter of the book with her mother was raw and honest. And once again proving that setting boundaries and removing toxic people from your life (even if its family) is so important to do. I was so proud of Lizzie for standing up to her mother. 

Rake has been added to my list of top tier book boyfriend of 2022. I had even tweeted the author to express my love of Rake and his Australian accent. This once again proves that I fall for men only written by women. 

And for those who are into the spicy bits in books, this one delivers! I think it was a mix of Edding's writing and my feelings towards Rake that made it all so so enjoyable. 

I have also paired this with the audio. I really love that there were two narrators - one for Lizzie and one for Rake. I thought they both did an excellent job and had wonderful inflection and tone throughout the book. I thought Will Peter's Australian accent was well done. Summer Morton's softness came across in Lizzie's vulnerable times. 

One of my favorites quotes comes from the author in her acknowledgements - "Every brain is beautiful, and they all deserve love exactly as they are." No truer words have been said. Thank you Mazey!