Tyler was super hot!! Who doesn't love to read about a tatted up former fighter? Lia was my favorite kind of heroine, she was strong and didn't hid behind her man. The story itself was very good, the daily struggles Lia faced trying to get by and take care of her mother and brother were staggering but she did it!! Tyler was so sweet the way he wanted to take care of her, just what every woman wants, protective without being over bearing.

I enjoyed reading Along Came Us. This is a sweet romance with strong dynamic characters that captured my heart. I have to say I am thoroughly enjoying this series and would definitely recommend it!

4 - "Trust goes both ways..." Stars!

The second book in Nicole McLaughlin’s Man Enough series; Along Came Us gives us Tyler Cavallo’s story.

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Gym owner/bad boy, ex-military Tyler spent his youth growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, gang life and death was a definite possibility until the military life called. Now out of the forces he spends his time running his Gym, offering at risk boys a chance to train for free, and being a National Guardsmen with his buddies on the weekend.

Something about Lia cut through him and made him want to help her, her and her brother…

Tyler and Lia’s first meeting isn’t what you would call friendly. After discovering that her brother Caleb is taking self-defence classes at his Gym, Lia barrels down there all guns blazing to forbid his further attendance, especially after the call is facilitated due to the fact he has been in a fight, and is in pretty bad shape. Lia is not an advocate of violence in any shape or form so her brother actively being involved with it even in a self-defense capacity does not sit well with her.

Tyler didn’t strike her as the type of guy to take things slow. Whereas Lia had never taken things… anywhere. With anyone.

Neither of them can deny the attraction between them, and after a few friendlier meetings follow up, Lia agrees to a date, and things go full steam ahead from there. And I really enjoyed the building of their relationship, both of them are dealing with some pretty grim pasts as best as they can, and I think that was part of what drew them together as well.

But once again neither of them are being fully honest with the other, and this is the same issue I had with the first book, the relationship that then builds between Tyler and Lia, is essentially built on omissions of the truth and lies. This is something that can get on my nerves when played out too long, although I found myself understanding the characters reasonings initially, but as they got to know each other I began to then get a little frustrated as things moved along.

"Maybe I’m not used to having a man care about me… I do things on my own. Itake care of myself. I don’t count on people…"

There is also a large case of double standards as well, because Lia flips her lid when she finds out that Tyler hasn’t been completely upfront with her about something, but then carries on lying about a large part of her life to him, until he literally catches her in the act.

That said, I still really enjoyed this book, the author keeps her readers engaged with her easy to immerse writing style, frustrations aside, I really liked Tyler and Lia, both were strong characters used to doing their own thing, and living life by their own rules, and the addition of Caleb and the teen perspective gave an added dimension to the story.

I hope to see more stories from this series in the future. The author has built a solid base that offers strong feisty heroines, (not-so)bad boys that you will fall in love with, around really easy to read love stories, and the possibilities are endless for future books.

ARC generously provided via Netgalley, and it was my pleasure to provide the above honest review.

Ms. McLaughlin has written a sweet romance with likeable characters and an interesting plot. I really liked the characters of Lia and Tyler and believed they were made for each other. The storyline unfolds in just the right way, with certain elements being kept back for intrigue--and intriguing it is. Personally, I think I would have felt a little more connection with the characters if the story had been told from dual first person; with that being said, the author does a good job with third person, so I definitely think this aspect is a personal-preference thing. Because so many books use the dual first-person POV, I think I've just gotten used to it. Although readers are able to know what these characters are thinking with the author's chosen POV, we don't actually "hear" their voices, like we would in first-person POV. Nonetheless, this is a quick, satisfying read and one that I recommend.

Fantastic book! Tyler and Lia are both strong passionate characters and they work perfectly together. He's a good guy that had a rough start in life but turned himself around. Now he just wants to give back and help other kids out of tough situations. That's how he meets Lia's brother Caleb. Lia is working 2 jobs, finishing school, and raising her brother. She thinks she has everything under control until Caleb starts getting into trouble and the rough and rugged gym owner thinks he knows whats best for Caleb. These two clash, argue and love hard.

The characters in this one are very well developed and I enjoyed them all. The story itself is fresh with a nice pace to the story. Definitely a book I recommend.

I really enjoyed this book. This is such a fun series from McLaughlin. This book continues the military/national guard theme from All I Ask but has some additional, different themes throughout which are really interesting.

Lia is a fun character who is flawed and constantly growing and you can't help but root for her and Tyler may be my favorite character from this series so far. He's got a great backstory and a great current story and, while he does have some flaws too, you just instantly root for him.

loved this book.

This is a really terrific story and I really enjoyed it. It had some really terrific characters and was very well written.
This is the story of three people.
Lia- is the heroine and she is going to college, and working 2 jobs, one in a coffee shop and one in a strip club as a waitress
Caleb is Lia's brother and he is 15 and having some tough times with bullies. He has been hnging at this gym where he is learning self defense.
Tyler who owns the gym and is friends with Caleb calls Lia because Caleb gets beat up on. But Lia is very anti violence and fighting and she is not happy where Caleb is hanging out.

This is story about when to let go and when to hold on. Lia and Caleb had a terrible childhood and adulthood is not so great as Lia works very hard to support not only her brother but her mother. She has a lot going on to put it mildly. Caleb is a terrific kid. But he really want to learn self defense and he really does not know how to get his sister to agree.

Lia in this story has to learn how to let Caleb grow up and change and even handle his own problems and she does a stellar job.She also has to decide whether to let Tyler in and have an adult relationship.

I loved Tyler so much. He totally into Lia and he really wants to be there for Caleb and Lia but he is kinda clueless relationship wise.

This was a really great story and I really enjoyed it.

So she's a virgin.

What is she hiding from in Manhattan?

Tyler seems like a very good kid.

Donna sounds interesting.

Do they still charge the seventy-five dollars if you just sit in the lodge?

Ugh, if you're sick, stay home, people!

Is he thirty-one or thirty-two?

I love calamari.

We don't even have a microwave.

If her mother can't talk well, how is she managing to irritate people? Sounds like a bunch of butt-hurt old folks.

She's already lying about waitressing in a strip club. I don't think she could take the pressure of lying about actually stripping.

Some things are meant to be.