Hold Me Today by Maria Luis

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Title: Hold Me Today
Author: Maria Luis
Series: Put A Ring On It #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: January 17, 2019
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 430
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2019 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2019 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon
My rating:

Blurb:

Rock bottom has never felt so good.

At least, that’s what I tell myself when I bargain with the enemy and score a renovation for my hair salon.

The enemy? Nick Stamos, my best friend’s older brother.

He’s got a body and face the Greek gods would envy but his personality needs a major overhaul.

He’s surly. A rule-follower.Did I mention he’s seen me naked?

I may have crushed on him for years, but the only place I want Nick swinging his hammer nowadays is at my salon.

Except, he needs something in return. . .

A fake girlfriend.

And I’m just reckless enough to say yes.

Hold Me Today is the first book in the highly anticipated series, Put A Ring On It.

My Review:

4.5 stars — I had a few hiccups with this book (which was not helped by my reading of it being broken up during travel/vacation), but despite those hiccups I still really enjoyed myself!  It was steamy, it was funny, it was heartfelt and made me cry…so I’m giving it an extra half a star because of that.

There were a few moments where I actually got LOST…like, I’m not sure if something was moved around in editing, or removed, but there were a few instances where I was like “why in the world is she saying that?” or “wait, when did they talk about that?”  My brain catches on those things, and because it happened a few times, I’ll end up rounding down.  I mean, maybe I was just tired…maybe my brain forgot shiznit…I’m not ruling it out.

In general I ADORED Nick, but there were moments where I just didn’t get him.  I’m not a guy guy lover…I’m the kind of girl who sees nothing wrong with a guy crying, and I always have a hard time connecting to characters when they make a point of saying something slightly toxic masculinity-ish.  The problem in this book, is that I don’t know if it was said in jest or not…I think this goes along with those moments where I think something was edited out, because I feel like it wasn’t clear about the intentions, you know?  So this could go either way.  But Nick was so romantic and sweet, and I loved that he was a relationship guy, and so I felt like it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for him to get choked up…so that’s probably why it stuck out to me.

I didn’t always get the fighting banter between Nick and Ermione.  I think this goes with the editing too, in that I wasn’t sure what was joking, and if it was a joke, I didn’t get it…  I didn’t quite get the strife between them.  I think part of the problem is that there were almost too many tropes going on with their relationship.  There was the fact that Nick is Mina’s BFF’s brother.  There was a supposed enemies to lovers vibe (but since I didn’t understand the strife, that one failed for me).  There was the whole fake dating thing.  And there was almost a second chance thing going on.  Heck, it was kind of friends to lovers too.  I think those last two unintentional tropes were more successful, even though that’s not how the story was marketed, you know?  The thing is that I LOVED the friendship that you saw between them…the way they really cared for one another, and the trust that was sort of deep down.  They were so sweet together, and that sweetness led into a hella steamy relationship!!  The chemistry between them was amazeballs!  I truly felt those feelings with them, and I was definitely rooting for their relationship to succeed.

I loved that they had problems and bumps along the way, especially given Mina’s family history, but that the story didn’t fall into the typical pitfalls of miscommunication…or at least not much.  I can’t really get into it, but let’s just say that I was super happy with how the conflict played out and the resolution.

I loved all the little elements that made up Mina’s personal story.  The dyslexia was an interesting touch, especially given her trying to learn another language with it.  And I loved the glimpse into the Greek culture, and all the little things that go along with that.

And since I left this review sitting for a few weeks, I forget what else I wanted to say.  It may seem like a more negative review, but those things are seriously just little nitpicks, they don’t detract from what was a seriously adorable romance with depth.