The Beat Match by Kelly Siskind

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Title: The Beat Match
Author: Kelly Siskind
Series: Showmen #3
Published by: Indie
Release Date: September 16, 2020
Format: eARC
Pages: 315
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Source: the author
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

Two DJs. One beat. An off-limits romance neither of them expected.

Weston Aldrich is known for his devastating looks and crisp Italian suits. He's been groomed to take over his family business and is on the brink of closing a massive merger. Only two wild cards can derail him.

Wild Card One: If anyone learns he moonlights as a masked DJ, his credibility will be toast.
Wild Card Two: Annie can’t-hold-a-job Ward.

The Annie Ward he promised to help raise after her brother died. The scatterbrained girl who makes it her mission in life to drive him crazy. The gorgeous woman he’s not supposed to fantasize about, let alone kiss.

Annie hates Wes’s insanely overprotective nature, and how his ridiculous bone structure makes him look like a Greek god. His jokes about her plethora of jobs are beyond irksome. She has no plans to tell him about her latest aspiration, to match beats as a budding DJ. Until she learns what Wes does at night. Now she plans to prove Weston Aldrich has met his match.

My Review:

I received a free copy through the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4 stars — This book had a lot of super cute moments mixed with plenty of heart and emotion.  I had mixed feelings about our hero, but all in all it was a super satisfying romance.

I loved a LOT of things about Weston — from his genuinely good heart, his ability to listen and change, and his sweet thoughtfulness.  But I had a hard time with Weston’s controlling ways.  It’s not that I didn’t understand where they came from, but it was also just part of his nature to be dominating almost.  Which is totally fine (as long as it’s not abusive), but it’s just not a trait I look for in a book boyfriend.  We did get to see him tone that down a bit, and Annie knocked him down a peg or two on more than one occasion, but I think the damage was done for me by then.  It didn’t help that he sort of shamed her for her outfit earlier on in the book.  I am 100% not down with that, no matter how it’s mitigated by other circumstances.

Annie was a fascinating creature.  I loved that she was unapologetic in her flightiness — which, it wasn’t necessarily flightiness, I just don’t know how to describe it.  I loved the way she embraced the things she loved, and did them with gusto.  Her scrapbooking obsession was adorable, and I kind of loved the unfinished sudoku puzzles, because I can totally vibe.  I love that we got to see her balance her natural tendency to abandon things when she finally found something she was passionate about.  She was forthright, tenacious, and eclectic.  See?  A super strange mix, but she made it work.

I was worried in some moments that their romance would fall under certain romance traps, but in general I loved the way their relationship developed and changed.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed a few of the secondary characters — especially Vivian and Rosanna!  They both surprised me, and I loved what those relationships brought to our main characters.

All in all I really enjoyed this book, it was just missing something to catapult it further up the ratings for me.  But can I just say that the epilogue was everything I love about epilogues in books?  It was unbelievably satisfying.