Review: ROMeANTICALLY CHALLENGED

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Growing up the lone Asian in a community of WASPs, Annie has always felt out of place.  Her solution?  Start a family of her own. Not easy when every man she’s dated, including her ex-fiancé, finds “his person” right after breaking up with Annie. Even worse than canceling the wedding eight weeks beforehand?  Learning the “other woman” plans to walk down the aisle wearing her wedding gown. New plan—find a fresh, man-free start. Too bad her exit strategy unexpectedly lands her working at a hospital in Rome, Rhode Island, rather than Rome, Italy, and sharing a cabin with a big, brooding, and annoyingly hot male roommate. Home on medical leave after covering a literally explosive story in China, investigative photojournalist Emmitt embarks on his most important assignment—cementing his place in his daughter’s life. Three men and a baby might work in the movies, but with a stepdad and devoted uncle competing for Paisley’s attention, Emmitt has lost his place at the family table. Then there’s the adorably sexy squatter in his cabin, who poses another problem, one he’d very much like to solve up close and personal. But he can’t win—Annie has sworn off men, Paisley’s gone boy crazy, and Emmitt’s estranged father reappears with a secret that changes everything.
Annie and Emmitt are about to discover love comes in many forms, and sometimes the best families are the ones we make.

Genre: contemporary romance

Publication date: July 2020

Mature content: yes

Review: I loved this book! The first part is absolutely hilarious while the second part is a bit more serious, but both are great. 

Annie's story is very interesting. She's feels she has never fit anywhere, mostly because of her genetic heritage and that's why she's always trying to please everyone - even at the cost of her own happiness. She needs to learn that she can't make other people happy if she's not happy herself.

Emmitt, on the other hand, wants to have the best of everything - be free to wonder the world in search for the perfect photo and at the same time be the best father to his daughter (which obviously means being present when she most needs him to).

   

I'm not sure some of the conversations between Emmitt and his teenage daughter are very realistic - they sound too perfect to be true - but I do like books that pass on the right messages and somehow inspire us to improve our own lives. 

Recommended, both from the fun/romantic perspective, and also from the interesting approach to the insecurities brought on by people trying to fit and never feeling they belong, and to a much more  modern concept of family. 

Can't wait for book two in the series!

Happy readings!