Everything by Melissa Pearl

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Title: Everything
Author: Melissa Pearl
Series: Songbird #3
Published by: Indie
Release Date: April 17, 2015
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 332
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2017 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2017 Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2017 New Adult Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon
My rating:

Blurb:

Jody Pritchett had a dream...but life had other plans. Instead of singing and dancing on Broadway, Jody's a twenty-year-old single mom, living at home with her disapproving father and overbearing sister. The choice to keep her little Angelia came with a high price and although she adores her baby girl, it doesn't take away the sting of kissing goodbye her chance at a career on the stage.

Leo Sinclair had his own dream...but got lost along the way. After a failed marriage that left him hollow and downtrodden, the Australian songwriter wonders what joy his future could possibly hold. Encouraged by the one family member who doesn't think he's a failure, Leo decides to stop living the life everyone expects him to and start chasing his dreams again. When the perfect opportunity comes knocking, Leo leaves Australia behind and hops a flight to LA. With his sights set on selling a musical to a Broadway producer, Leo is determined to finally realize his life-long dream. But life gets in the way again, when he spots a young mother outside his apartment in tears. He never realized how one person, one voice, and one Angel could have him contemplating abandoning his dreams once again.

As these two burned hearts wrestle to overcome their past struggles, Leo and Jody must decide what dreams are worth clinging to...because, sometimes, everything you want is not everything you need.

My Review:

4 stars — Ah, another sweet sweet love story!!  I loved how this one turned out, and the hea we got!!

I wasn’t sure how I was going to like Jody’s story, b/c Jody herself gave me some reservations, particularly in Bulletproof.  And while she was still a bit of a drama queen for me, we did get to see her grow up a bit over the course of the book.  I wouldn’t have minded a bit more growth with her, but I think she just might not be my favourite heroine, and that’s OK you know?  While it was hard to see her act so naively even at the beginning of the book, it really made her growth as a mother so much more impactful.  I found myself rooting for her and the strides she was making in her independence.  I think the nature of her personality will always have her feeling a bit young, but it worked for her, especially as a match to Leo.

Leo was extra adorable, he was so my kind of hero!  I loved how sweet and kind he was, and he really reminded me of my Dad.  We always used to joke that my Dad always had a song for everything, and he would break out into songs all the time…it was one of my favourite qualities about him, so of course I loved that aspect of Leo as well.  I will admit that I didn’t really feel like his background made much of an impact on who he was, and I kind of wanted some of that to come into play, or to learn more about it.  I feel like he had a really unique past in Australia, but it was kind of just glossed over, so I wondered what the point was.  Not that it was a big deal, but I guess I kept waiting for his parents to have an impact, or to just dive in a wee bit more to why he got married so young.

Leo and Jody brought out the best in each other.  I loved the way Leo brought the sunshine back to Jody…how they connected so perfectly over music.  They brought happy smiles to each other, and thus brought happy smiles to me.  There were so many cute scenes that I fell in love with, especially the Dance With Me Tonight scene.  That was just gold.  And I loved how he called her foxy pants!  I didn’t feel their sexual chemistry quite as much as say Morgan and Sean, or even Cole and Ella, but their romantic chemistry and friendship chemistry was fantastic.

And I ADORED the way Leo was with Angel.  While I’m not huge on kids, I really felt like Jody’s struggles raising Angel, and how that impacted her romantic relationships was well portrayed.  And you could really tell that Leo was falling in love with *both* his girls.

I will say, the highlight for me in this book was the musical.  I really loved that we got to learn what it was about, and see bits of the lyrics of some of the songs.  I kind of want to see this musical!!  Ms. Pearl needs to write it!  😛  You know, in her spare time.  *rolls eyes*

The climax and resolution of this book was spot on…I was crying and crying and then smiling so big!  And the epilogue was gold.  Time to continue my read-a-thon!!  I can’t wait to reread Rather Be now that I’ve truly met Leo and Angel!