I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Hold Me If You Can by Cheryl Terra Series: If You Can Series #2
Published by Bang It Out Writing on July 11, 2024
Genres: NA Contemporary Romance
Pages: 362
Source: the author
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:
Nellie Belanger and JP Marchand have the perfect arrangement:
1. She comes to Montreal
2. He makes sure she comes when she’s in Montreal.
3. That’s it.
Despite missing out on her life-changing internship and committing herself to a summer of social obligations and stuffy events so she can afford to finish her final year of university, Nellie’s feeling pretty lucky. Between regular rendezvous with her former professor, Ben, and the sweet arrangement with JP, Nellie’s busy, satisfied after finding not one but two friends-with-benefits who are into her no-strings-attached philosophy.
When Anne-Marie—Nellie’s best friend and JP’s sister who wants nothing more than for Nellie and JP to add strings to their arrangement—catches Nellie returning home red-faced and sweaty one night, it sets off a series of events involving a charity fun run and an unexpected betrayal, leaving Nellie scrambling to meet her father’s unreasonable expectations.
But after her brilliant solution offends the wrong person and leads her father to issue a devastating ultimatum, Nellie must do something she swore she’d never do again: ask JP Marchand for a favour.
And JP knows exactly what he wants in return.
This is book 2 of the If You Can series, a series of books following an unapologetically sensual college student on her journey from bed to bed. They feature multiple love interests/spicy partners with no love triangles or cheating. The conclusion to this plot line will be released in Fall 2024.
Hold Me If You Can is not a standalone and is best read after Kiss Me If You Can, but a series summary can be found at the beginning of the book for readers who would rather jump into this story first.
My Review
What I’ve really enjoy about this series is just how real the characters are. Especially how Nellie is not at all timid or careful about how she enjoys herself and her dating life. I know this might be off putting for some people, but for me, it worked. And the banter and hilarious innuendos and puns that the characters engage in had me laughing as I was sitting in my doctor’s office waiting room.
This is the second book, and so I will do my best not to spoil anything, although I will say I thought it was going to be the conclusion, but no, we have at least one more book to finish up this story, and I was not expecting that! Another not cliffhanger exactly, but I wouldn’t call it a HFN this time really either. So be prepared. I knew as we got closer to the end, even as some things looked like maybe they were falling into place for a real relationship, more than just a FWB relationship, I could tell not everything that would need to be settled for that to be HEA was there yet.
Nellie is still enjoying her time with both of her FWBs, Ben – her former professor, and JP, her best friend’s older brother/her nemesis. However her dad is still being a real jerk, and ooh, I hated him so much in this one, even more than the first book if it was possible! We did get a bit of a different look at his latest wife Kimberlee, and maybe have to give her a little bit more credit and like her a bit more. And of course her friend Anne-Marie was her usual gossipy, hilarious debutante self. Even if there was one point that she did something that made Nellie unsure of their friendship.
JP also became someone Nellie actually got to know better, through both of them dealing with personal issues, and talking instead of just the physical aspects of their relationship the whole time. It made JP a little more lovable for me. Even if I had been rooting for him the whole time anyway. Because I could tell that he felt more than just the basic physical feelings Nellie had for him.
I don’t remember much about Nellie being neurodivergent discussed in the first two books, but maybe I just skimmed over it? Any way, there was a lot to do with that in this story. And it makes sense that she is based on how her life has been and how she deals with situations.
There were some new characters we met in this story that I adored, and I loved how they kind of came into her dealings with her dad at the end too. It was the perfect bit for her, even if her dad still didn’t give her any credit at first. Between those humorous bits as well as all the hilarious banter between JP and Nellie, especially about what she promised him in order to get him to do a favor for her, I found myself laughing quite a bit and speeding through this one!
About the Author
Cheryl Terra writes romantic and adult fiction with drama, sass, and a whole lot of… spice. Emotional and humorous, her books focus on contemporary relationships, inclusive characters, and happily ever afters. Living with her husband in northern Alberta, Canada, Cheryl relies on the heat between her quirky and memorable characters to help keep the gas bill down in the winter.
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You’re right that this wouldn’t be everyone’s thing (me), but I’m so glad it is written so well as to plot and characters that even with the little cliffies, you are loving it and want more.
Yeah, a lot of people wouldn’t care for this type of character. But it worked for me!