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My Review:Title: Safeguard
Author: Stephanie Rose
Series: Speakeasy Taproom #9
Published by: Heart Eyes Press
Release Date: September 2, 2021
Format: eARC
Pages: 290
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Source: Heart Eyes Press
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:Jilted. Living in a glorified closet. The world’s worst bar waitress. I just need to keep a roof over my head and make tuition payments until I can finish graduate school. Then my real life will start. But right now, long nights at the Speakeasy have me burning the candle at both ends and the wax melting all over my fingers.
When a bar manager offers me a job taking care of his adorable five-year-old daughter, it seems like the perfect solution. I get a quiet place to study. Matteo gets a reliable sitter.
There should be no complications. Except that I like my new boss a little too much. His gorgeous dark eyes humble me, and the long talks we share fill me up inside. I can’t possibly fall for him.
But the undeniable pull between us leads to a scorching kiss I can’t ignore or forget, and suddenly I’ve fallen for them both, father and daughter.
And now three hearts are at stake.
I received a free copy through Heart Eyes Press in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
4 stars — In some ways this book was really easy to read. There wasn’t a lot of conflict, just bits here and there. It was kind of nice to get a lot of happy getting together time. They resisted and resisted because of their pasts, but once they gave in I really enjoyed seeing them enjoying one another and supporting one another.
I think I had a hard time understanding just how damaged Melanie was from both the dumping and I think from the expectations from her parents. Not to mention her struggle with self-confidence/self-worth. The thing is that she was already making inroads on her self-worth journey, and so I didn’t get to *see* it as much. I appreciated her desire for independence and making sure she was putting herself first (or at least equally important)…but it got a bit frustrating at times…like something was missing for me to *really* understand her hangups.
Despite all that, she was infinitely likable. She was kind, caring, sassy. I loved that you could feel how much she genuinely liked children, and wanted to work with them. And seeing her make such a connection with Lauren just had my heart melting.
Similarly for Matteo, I didn’t quite always understand his hangups and damage from Callie. Like, I got it a bit, and I really appreciated the way Melanie forced him to really deal with his damage at the end, but I still had a slight disconnect.
And yet again, despite all that, I LOVED him. He was also kind, caring, and sassy. 😛 He was a great father, and I appreciated the way he went for it with Melanie.
And they were pretty freaking hot together, even if half the time I was waiting for them to get caught by Lauren. *snort*
Lauren was freaking ADORABLE, but still realistic as a child. She was precocious, and she knew how to push the boundaries. She added a lot to the story.
So yeah. A very enjoyable story…just a tiny disconnect for me.
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