ARC Review: Romeantically Challenged by Marina Adair

Posted August 2, 2020 by Lisa Mandina in Review / 4 Comments

I received this book for free from Bookish First in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

ARC Review:  Romeantically Challenged by Marina AdairRomeantically Challenged by Marina Adair
Published by Kensington on July 28, 2020
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 320
Source: Bookish First
Format: ARC
My Rating: five-stars
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Marina Adair’s Romeantically Challenged is a humorous and heartening take on Three Men and a Baby meets 27 Dresses, in which a newly single physician's assistant who sets out on an exotic—and man-free—adventure gets stranded in a coastal Rhode Island town full of eccentric residents, nosy neighbors, and an infuriatingly sexy roommate who makes her question her man-free diet.

My Review:

I got this a little late thanks to all the Covid-craziness with the mail, but when it came and I was able to pick it up, I was just as hooked as I’d been with the first look from the Bookish First website. The story had a lot of different aspects. You had the romance and the two main characters dealing with their own histories that influenced how they reacted to any new relationships. It wasn’t just their past love interests though, it also had to do with their parents and other family dynamics.

Annie was having to overcome being adopted and Vietnamese. Now, there was no issue with her own family, she’d been adopted by wonderful loving parents. But they were white, American, Jewish. So she often felt outside other close knit Vietnamese communities, including one that she lucked into getting the chance to be a part of in Rome. But of course the main thing up front she was dealing with was her ex-fiancee and him actually expecting her to show up at his new wedding. A wedding that was basically the wedding she’d planned. The new bride even having gone as far as to want the same dress, and the bridal shop messing up Annie’s grandmother’s dress by fitting it to the ex’s new fiancee. Of course Annie’s parents had taken her ex in as part of the family when they were dating. I mean that is the type of relationship I’d want as well if it was me.

And then there was Emmitt. Emmitt had a father that had been MIA for a lot of his life. Or he’d shown up only until it wasn’t convenient anymore then disappeared. Emmitt had also had a little bit of a fling with a woman, nothing major. He was a world renowned photojournalist and his job took him all over the world. It wasn’t until about 5 years after the night that he found out he was a father. A father to a baby that already had a dad she had been growing up with. A wonderful loving stepfather. And then an uncle that was also there like a dad. Well it hasn’t been that long since his daughter’s mother died, and he hasn’t been back because of his jobs. And his ninth grade daughter is in the world of a teenager who has lost her mother and is definitely acting out about her dad and her mother’s passing as well as the usual teen issues.

Emmitt has come home after a major explosion means he is sent back to recover before his company will let him resume his story. And he comes home to a strange but attractive woman, Annie, living in his home. Now his home has been leased out since he is gone all the time. But he doesn’t always know when it is or to who because of being gone and not always keeping in touch like he should. Something that his daughter Paisley and her other two “dads” make sure to let him know.

There’s a connection right away between Annie and Emmitt, but it’s a slow burn for them, and it is all perfect. When they do finally get together, it is perfect and exactly the type of bedroom scene I like. Or maybe not in the bedroom, maybe on a recliner, but still. A great book, and I’ll have to look into more by this author when I get time!

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4 responses to “ARC Review: Romeantically Challenged by Marina Adair

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