Helena Hunting

Ruby Scott is months behind on rent and can’t seem to land a steady job. She has one chance to turn things around with a big audition. But instead of getting her big break, she gets sick as a dog and completely bombs it in the most humiliating fashion. All thanks to a mysterious, gorgeous guy who kissed—and then coughed on—her at a party the night before. Luckily, her best friend might have found the perfect opportunity; a job staying at the lavish penthouse apartment of hotel magnate Bancroft Mills while he’s out of town, taking care of his exotic pets. But when the newly-evicted Ruby arrives to meet her new employer, it turns out Bane is the same guy who got her sick. Seeing his role in Ruby’s dilemma, Bane offers her a permanent job as his live-in pet sitter until she can get back on her feet. Filled with hilariously awkward encounters and enough sexual tension to heat a New York City block, Shacking Up, from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Helena Hunting, is sure to keep you laughing and swooning all night long.

Shacking Up

So much cuteness and laughs mixed with a lot of spicy 👌🏻

Jessica Clem

Kathleen Tom

** spoiler alert **
           5 Stars! FIVE SHACKING UP STARS ✨ 

Hi BookLovers, 

𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙠, 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙖𝙧. 
“𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙙?”

“𝙔𝙚𝙨,” 𝙄 𝙢𝙤𝙖𝙣. “𝙁𝙪𝙘𝙠.” 𝙃𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙤𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙜𝙖𝙨𝙥. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚.

I don’t know if I ever give this series below than 5 stars. This series is so so good. It’s amazing! I’m so in love with it and I don’t even know how to move on from it. Helena really did a good job about on this series you know. It’s funny, it has a good amount of Family drama and the match-making with Brittany add a little more salt to the romance and making it more interesting. 

“𝘿𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨?” 

“𝘿𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩?” 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩. 

“𝙁𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚.” 

“𝙄𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩?” 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙩. 

“𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧, 𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

I don’t what is it about Bane, Lex & Griffin character that was just so sexy and the alpha attitude is making it more intensely interesting! You guys have to read this whole series. I love it. 

Highly Recommended :)

Jennifer Eggleston 

Cute! 

A great balance of comedy and romance. Enjoyable read. Ruby and Bane's chemistry was a go from the beginning. If you love Helena's previous works then you will enjoy this read as well.

Missy Zuber 

Love the story.

The chemistry between Ruby and Bancroft were there from the beginning. Loved the pace of the story and how they pretty much flirted with one another throughout the first five weeks via phone, text and video chat.

Laja

This was a fun read! I actually read the fifth book in the series first not even knowing this was a series. I really liked Ruby and Bane. They were funny ,had great chemistry and I loved how they started as friends. I wish we would have gotten a little more info on Ruby and her relationship with her family and it wrapped up a little quick at the end. With that being said I give this a solid 4/5 stars.

Fröska

Cute rom-com style book. Good for a quick weekend read. This is a lighthearted quirky book, so don't expect anything too deep or naughty.

Helena Cristina Nogueira Pereira

3.25 stars!~
It was just ok for me, i liked Ruby and Bancroft as a couple but i think i got a little bored at some parts. The narrators were actually good, so that's a bonus!
 Hopefully the next books in the series will be better!

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


I absolutely loved this book. It's been so long since I read any of Helena's books — don't ask me why, because I don't have a good excuse — and I forgot just how much I love the combination of great characters, literally laugh out loud humor and sexy AF romance. Now that I've been reminded, I kinda want to binge every single one of her books that I've missed.

Ruby was a great heroine. I found her easy to identify with and I loved being in her head. Her inner dialogue was hilarious and had me chuckling quite a bit. Her first scene with Bancroft had me literally laughing out loud. What a meet cute! I was a little uncertain about Bancroft at first, however. While their meet cute was amusing, it didn't exactly showcase him in the best light. But it didn't take long for him to start growing on me, either. I especially loved that we got to spend time in both Ruby's and Bancroft's heads. Dual POV is my favorite when it's done well because it gives me the chance to really get to know both characters. I'm a big fan of friends to lovers, so I really enjoyed watching them build a friendship, knowing that it was likely to lead to more in the future. Their story gave me a *delicious* slow burn that had me burning through the pages because I just couldn't get enough — and I couldn't wait to see if they would be as explosive together as I expected. Spoiler alert: they were. Also, I'm giving bonus points to this book for the inclusion of adorable animals. Francesca the ferret was amazing and I kinda loved her. 

I'm already itching to get my hands on Hooking Up, which appears to be about Ruby's best friend Amie. I thought she was a great character and deserving of so much more than what she was getting from her (IMHO crappy) fiancé Armstrong, so I'm thrilled she's getting a book. I hoped that she would, but since Shacking Up didn't seem to be part of a series, I was worried I wouldn't get her story. I'm really glad that's not the case. She deserves a good HEA... plus it'll be fun to read more about her. 

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

FAVORITE QUOTES

This man is like a nuclear bomb of sexy, just waiting to go off. I'm honestly surprised women aren't super-gluing themselves to his body like in one of those men's spray deodorant commercials. 

"I can be a white knight with a dirty mind, can't I?" 

Bancroft is stretched out on the couch watching sports with Francesca curled up in his lap. Right on top of his penis. What a whore. I wish I was her. 

On a scale of one to ten, with one being desperately inadequate and ten being deity inspiring, his dick is so beautiful it would make angels weep and virgins offer themselves up for sacrifice. Okay, maybe not that last part. But it's a gorgeous penis and I'm really, really turned on. 

Every kiss is an echo of the first time. Accidental or not, some part of me recognized her as my future and now she's mine to love.

Chantale

I loved this book. The story is fun and it got me hooked from the beginning.

I had never read anything by Helena Hunting before but I now want to read more. Going to be adding some of her books on my list of to buy books . 

I highly recommend

Lacey

Originally posted at Booklovers For Life

I’m a big fan of Helena Hunting’s Pucked series (the audiobooks are amaaazing) so I was excited when I heard she’d be releasing a standalone rom-com! Unfortunately, I didn’t love Shacking Up quite as much as I did her other series – it was a little too slow and too long for my taste. But for those of you who love Helena Hunting or are in the mood for something slow burn and hilarious, you might want to check this out!

Ruby Scott’s life has taken a turn for the worse – she’s wayyy behind on rent, can’t find a steady job, and acting/dance auditions are scarce. But the one time she gets an audition for a role she knows she’ll nail, she gets insanely sick and ruins her chances by throwing up on stage. How did she get sick? From her friend’s engagement party the night before, where she was kissed by a random, hot, but sick guy who thought she was someone else.

Her best friend feels bad that Ruby bombed her audition, because it was her party that she got sick at, so she devises a plan for Ruby to stay at a lavish apartment and take care of the owner’s animals. But of course, because Ruby has terrible luck, the owner happens to be the guy who kissed her and got her sick. Bane feels awful, so he agrees to the pet-sitting arrangement. It doesn’t hurt that Ruby is gorgeous and he hasn’t been able to get their kiss out of his mind…

“Wow. You have a binder?” Ruby looks like she’s trying not to laugh.
“There are a lot of things that need to be covered.”
“Uh huh.”
“Your tone implies you think this is excessive.”
She takes the binder from me and opens it. “How many pages are in this? More than a hundred?”
“It’s ninety-eight. Francesca and Tiny have very specific needs.”
“Ninety-eight pages of needs.” She leafs through it and mutters, “I wish someone was this in tune to my needs.”

Ruby and Bane feel a connection (and some intense lust for each other), but wth Bane leaving on a business trip for five weeks, that doesn’t leave much time for them to actually be together and explore what they feel. What ensues are banter-filled texts, sweet FaceTiming sessions, and the occasionally awkward encounter, and you have Bane and Ruby’s build-up of their romance.

I liked Shacking Up well enough, but it just wasn’t interesting enough for me to keep my attention. The main characters are apart for a large majority of the book – sure, they keep in constant contact with one another, but I would’ve liked them to be physically close too. The romance was too slow too – nothing REALLY happens between Ruby and Bane until Bane gets back from his trip, which is way later in the novel. So I didn’t love this book like I hoped to, but it was a classic Helena Hunting-laugh-out-loud read. Be prepared for some cringeworthy moments, because these characters are full of them! 

Thanks to the publisher for generously providing me an ARC to review.

Quotes are taken from the ARC and are subject to change in the final version.

Amazon Ebook: http://amzn.to/2rv4LHN
Amazon Paperback: http://amzn.to/2qPhc0l
Audible: http://amzn.to/2rbA1fh

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Shacking Up

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