Monday 4 September 2023

Not Dating Material by Saxon James (Accidental Love #2)

TITLE: ⟫ Not Dating Material (Accidental Love #2)

AUTHOR: ⟫ Saxon James

RATING: ⟫ 4.5/5

BLURB:MOLLY

Moving to Seattle is supposed to be all about getting a fresh start and leaving the bitter man I was becoming behind.

I have new room-mates–quirky, sometimes strange, room-mates–a nosy, next door neighbor and a grumpy kitty for company, but even surrounded by people, I still don’t feel like I belong. Plus, it turns out the men in Seattle are exactly the same as the ones I left behind, and my string of romantic disconnections continues.

It’s not until one of my room-mates, Seven, hits me with some hard truths that I realize where I was going wrong.

Maybe the men aren’t the problem.

I am.

And there’s only one way to fix that.

SEVEN

Being found tied up naked to my bed by my cute new room-mate isn’t an ideal way for us to start a friendship.

But apparently a quid-pro-quo is.

He keeps his pretty lips zipped about the compromising position, and I step in as his dating coach. We go out, I point out where he’s going wrong, and he magically becomes dating material.

The problem is, between my codependent brother Xander and a new best friend I can’t get rid of, Molly and I are the target of a matchmaking scheme. My life is way too busy to add another person to it, and Molly is the kinda guy who needs to be made a priority, which I just can’t do. Xander’s medical anxiety takes up too much of my time, and I’ve never found a partner who doesn’t resent it.

I’m determined to help Molly find his ever after.

But that guy will never be me.

REVIEWS: ⟫ I really wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about Molly after his appearance in Ford and Orson’s story, but Saxon made me feel so bad for him that I forgave his rash behaviour. He’s moved all the way to Seattle to get a fresh start, and what a start – meeting the boys from Big Bertha is an eye opener in so many ways.

I enjoyed how vulnerable Saxon allowed Seven to be – he presented as this big, tough guy, covered in tattoos and intimidating until you got to learn more about him. Refusing to swear, his badly hidden inner marshmallow and just the way he was always there for any of the boys (and Aggie) made me fall in love with him.

I liked the way in which the subject of Seven’s no dating rule was brought up – he thought he was being upfront, honest and direct whereas throughout the book, we see that HE might not have thought he was dating people, but others were not quite so sure.

There was background angst, especially with regard to Xander and Seven, but it didn’t really filter through to the main story – it more formed a background thread that you were aware of but didn’t have to suffer through. I loved the dates that Seven and Molly had; loved the way that Seven helped Molly build his confidence; the relationship between Molly, Seven and Xander; and the return to Big Bertha.

One of my favourite parts was when Madden asked Rush how come, if he wasn’t aware of the no-sleeping with room-mates rules, then how come he hadn’t made a move on Madden – that made me laugh so hard, although what a knock to Madden’s ego! I’m looking forward to more in the Accidental Love verse, especially after Seven met Molly’s dad and his initial reaction – that too made me giggle, and I loved the ease with which the two verses intermingled.

This book kept me entertained and gave me a HEA I could sigh happily about after reading and I can’t ask for more than that!

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