Melt for You

Me hubiera gustado más si hubiese sido dual point of view

4/5 I never thought I would absolutely adore this book. "No one ever told me it was okay to be me.” „You have to decide to accept yourself. It’s cliché, but you really do have to love yourself before you can love anyone else.”

Apparently I'm just reading a bunch of mediocre romances right now. Honestly, I read it yesterday and don't remember much about it. The biggest thing I remember is that she didn't like her body due to family trauma (relatable) but he "helped" her appreciate her body, by still helping her lose weight?? It was very mixed messages, like it wanted to pander to the idea of not changing yourself for a man/idea, but also it's fine if you do, here's how to do it right.

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance Melt For You by J.T. Geissinger is the second book in her latest series and I fell in love with Burn For You last year.  I have had this book on my Kindle ever since I read Burn For You. I am not sure why I waited so long for Melt For You to be honest. I think the set up isn't my favorite in romance to be honest. The whole unrequited love with a mix trying to set up the person with someone else. So its something I was super excited to read however, I wanted to read this series in order and Ache For You was recently released and I want to read that one so badly so I thought since this book Melt For You received so many wonderful reviews that I would finally pick up this book and spent all afternoon yesterday reading this and I just couldn't put it down. It was FABULOUS, I wish I could just leave this review with that and that would be it because this book satisfied me in every which way and as a plus, it's an Ugly Duckling Fairy Tale Retelling and there aren't that many retellings of that fairy tale so I was thrilled. in Melt For You, our story begins with Joellen who is socially awkward but is a hard worker. She has stayed with her job for over ten years, only taking one day off when she had surgery. She has been in love with her boss, the CEO for many years but he is married, so untouchable for her.  Joellen has a new neighbor who is driving her crazy with his super loud rap music, always wanting her to make him her dinner meals, her cat has betrayed her in loving him, and he is an arrogant rugby player who never has a shirt on. But when he discovers that she is in love with her boss who is getting a divorce, he begins to give her some lessons in winning her boss over but soon the lessons begin to turn into something more between them and there is sizzling chemistry whenever they touch or argue or laugh together. But this ugly duckling's journey into turning into a swan will show that her beauty has always been there and that Cameron has admired her for who she is and not for who she has become and accepts and loves her with no conditions. Melt For You was such a beautiful love tale and with this spin, on the "Ugly Duckling" I admired how this author wrote this story for sure. It was so delectable and I admired seeing them journey together and boy the LAUGHS. I swear this book just gave me so many happy feels and I was laughing all the way through this book because seriously their banter was so infectious. The first half of the book you just see the chemistry building up stronger with each chapter. Their interactions were addicting and I honestly just couldn't get enough of seeing them together. But then we get some vital emotion that gets thrown in the mix. We start to see their painful pasts come into their relationship. Our hero suffered seeing his parents make painful decisions and suffered from some traumatic memories but what we see is that Cameron was born a preemie and growing up was smaller than the other kids, but now Cameron is one of the best athletes in the world and is built like an ox with muscle on muscle, he has worked hard to eat right and work out like a beast to become stronger and not let anything or anyone hurt him again. I loved his strength, courage, and devotion to living a healthy lifestyle. And I am telling you, I wanted to just drink a green smoothie while reading this book!! Joellen grew up in a home where her parents did love her to an extent but always looked down on her Her parents and sister always had the perfect style of bodies and Joellen didn't quite match up to what her family looked like and they tend to put her down A LOT and it was so sad to see that in the beginning of the book Joellen believe that she is dull and fat and not that pretty and it broke my heart and I related so much to this (since I received similar treatment from my family growing up) so I really connected with Joellen and understood her so well. People can be arseholes. Sometimes those arseholes are family. It sucks, but it doesn’t mean you have to take on their bullshit. Your mother’s BS is about her, not you. You’re perfect just the way you are, lass. And boy Cameron doesn't like her family after one phone call with them because he can tell how they view her and it makes him furious and I think I fell in love with him in that moment. Because Cameron sees Joellen as the gorgeous woman she is inside and out, that beauty within is more important than what is on the outside but he also sees the lovely woman she is and wants to show her how beautiful she really is and tries to get her to see that beauty despite her lack of self-esteem. Love seeing that. Now the romance in this book is truly so endearing and love seeing them find true love together when they don't see it coming at first. Even though Cameron is trying to get Joellen with the man she wants, throughout the story you see that Cameron is falling for Joellen and wants her to choose him and love him instead but won't force her, he wants Joellen to want him in her life and to have that choice. He is so patient with her even if it makes him mad in how her boss treats him. Joellen at first believes that she loves Michael, but we start to see her come into herself, having more confidence in who she is, and the feelings she is beginning to have with Cameron despite his horrid taste in music. I really loved seeing the chemistry and those beautiful sensual moments when they practice kissing and boy it will set your curtains on fire because boy they have some moments of exploding passion and it just engages the reader right away. And the sex scenes....SMOKIN HOT!!! This is where we see Cameron come into his Alpha Male character because boy I love alpha's in the bedroom and he ticked off everything I desire in a hero and he was so YUMMY I wanted to keep him for myself. Overall Melt For You is truly one of the best romances I have ever read, its a story of growth, confidence and finding love when you least expect it.....a romantic retelling that is guaranteed to stun and delight you in every delicious way,...A BEAUTIFUL GEM OF A ROMANCE!

Loved the bantering between the two. Loved Cam. Joellen is realistic and relatable with her insecurities when it comes to her weight and looks. Minor age difference 29/36. Nice to find an older woman younger man story.

the stupidest love triangle in literature

3 That was cute, and the topics it touched about self-love are really important, but it was just an ok read

cute fluff

Find this review and more at kimberlyfaye reads. I totally fell in love with J.T. Geissinger's writing and characters when I picked up Burn for You earlier this year. I couldn't wait to get my hands on Melt for You. It sounded fantastic and, unsurprisingly, it was. I loved it every bit as much as the first book. Now I just have to wait for the third one, which is several months away, but at least I have time to tackle her backlist now...  First off, I absolutely loved the characters. Jo was one of the most relatable heroines I've met in a long time. At times it felt like she was literally inside my head. I understood her struggles and her mindset. I also loved that she was an older heroine. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy reading romances about characters of all ages, but it's especially great when a character is closer to my age. I was Team Jo from the very start.  Oh, Cameron. He was basically heaven sent. What I wouldn't do for a hot, Scottish, rugby-playing neighbor... Cue all the swoons. Just imagining his words in that Scottish accent made me melt. While things between he and Jo started out a bit rocky, I loved the path of their relationship. Of course, I was cheering for them to be more than friends because the other guy Jo was interested in just seemed a bit too good to be true — I wasn't wrong — but I was still happy with their banter and everything else about when they were just friends. Cam made me swoon all over the place with the way he treated Jo and talked to her. Something about a man like him being so deep and sensitive and reassuring a woman who struggled with self-esteem and body issues that she's enough, MORE than enough, made my heart really happy.  I love a great slow burn romance and that's exactly what I got with Melt for You. There was a smidge of a love triangle, but it's not something that bothered me a bit. I always suspected that not only was Michael a total DB, but that she and Cam were endgame, too. They had too much chemistry not to be. Bottom line is I just loved everything about this book. It made me so smiley happy that I basically felt like I had turned into the heart eyes emoji while reading.  I received a complimentary copy of this book for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. FAVORITE QUOTES December in the mall is like The Hunger Games meets Lord of the Flies, completed with a reenactment of Death Race in the parking lot when you finally try to leave after twelve hours of spending money you don't have. Fun times.  Dear God, he's a Scotsman. A huge, half-naked Scotsman in a kilt. Smiling at me like he knows all my secrets, what color my panties are, and that I'm curious what it would be like to have a man pull my hair during sex.  "Ah, lassie. If it were anyone else but family who made you cry like this, they'd already be in an ambulance." "Your body isn't a thing to be looked at and judged against some standard of perfection that doesn't even really exist. It's the vessel that takes you through life, allowin' you to experience all the beautiful things life has to offer." "I'm gonna get you naked. Then I'm gonna make love to you. Then you're gonna tell me if you want it sweet and tender again, or if you want it dirty and hard."

Didn't like this one as much as Burn for You, but still a good read. I have a hard time with heroines who let other people treat them like crap and have serious self-esteem issues. It's real life for many people, I know, I just prefer my MCs to not be doormats or constantly tell themselves how fat/unattractive/worthless they are.

I adored this enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance!!! It's so sweet and I'm a sucker for slow burn. And it was great reading about a modern wallflower!