Marry Me Mad by Katy Regnery

Blurb:

For as long as Madeleine “Mad” Rousseau can remember, she’s been the “sweet” twin to her sister Jax’s “sassy.” But after an especially painful break-up, Mad decides she’s had enough of being sweet. Children’s librarian during the day, she begins visiting Philly’s seedier nightspots on a quest for adventure. When Cortlandt “Cort” Ambler, the ex-boyfriend of Mad’s sister, Jax, saves her from disaster on one such evening, an unlikely friendship is born between the rebellious librarian and the moonlighting pianist…and two broken hearts begin a journey toward being whole again.

     

My Review:
4 stars — I received a free copy through the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

Oh dude, this book was so close to being a 4.5 stars or higher!  I can 100% honestly say that I am fully in love with Cort.  He is just…*swoon*  I mean, obviously not without his own flaws…  He’s very passionate, and occasionally that means he has a temper and says things he doesn’t mean when he’s frustrated and angry, but on the whole he was just so sweet and caring and attentive, and just so freaking in love with Mad!  My heart truly ached for him on so many occasions.

My problem with this book actually came from Mad.  Which is weird, b/c I thought I was going to love her.  And don’t get me wrong, there were SOOOOO many things that I truly did love about her and at times I would really feel for her and she got me right in the feels.  But she was also kind of mean at times, and a LOT dense at other times.  And so she left me very frustrated and disappointed on many occasions.  She could be very kind and gentle and caring, but the back and forth that she did with Cort at the beginning *really* began to grate on me.  I know we were supposed to see her being torn between what she instinctually wanted and how she felt, and what she thought to be the right and true answer.  But she really put Cort through the wringer as a result, and that was just so unfair.  But I suppose she was passionate and said things in the heat of the moment too, so why can I forgive Cort but not Mad?  Hmmm…maybe because hers felt meaner, whereas I didn’t necessarily always blame Cort?  I don’t know.  But she really tried my patience.  I really wanted her to have more faith in Jax too.

So that was the bad.  Well, not bad, b/c obviously I still gave this one 4 full stars…and I still want to give it more, but just basically what prevented me from going higher.  There were a few little things, like is my memory just really shitty, or did Jax not go away to New York with Gard?  I seriously don’t remember that and I just read the book.  I was confused.  And why introduce Chevy?  That seemed very throwaway.  And as an animal lover, I am dismayed to wonder who’s taking care of this dog now?

Now here’s where the book surprised me.  I *wasn’t* bothered one iota that she moved on from Thatcher right away.  I thought that would be unrealistic, but when you realize that their relationship was basically over long before and this was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, it makes sense.  Oh, and, you know, he was a horrifically emotionally abusive prick, so there’s that.  And quite frankly, Cort and Mad’s chemistry is so freaking OFF THE CHARTS that I had NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER accepting their strong feelings for each other.  And seeing glimpses into their history, and how they were drawn to each other even young, it was just….*sigh*  Deliciously romantic.

So yeah.  So close to a favourite for me, and it was pretty much all Cort.  It’s so weird when you suspect you’ll like one twin more, because you understand them more, but it turns out to be opposite.  In a way, that’s good writing…when you can fall in love with characters that aren’t your normal bread and butter.