The Man I Want to Be is a slight stray from the action/suspense we're used to in other Christina Elle books.

This story follows Bryan Tyke who prior to being deployed overseas, proposed to his high school sweetheart and longtime love Kenna McCord. Months later, he emails her a Dear Jane letter and doesn’t see or speak to her for twelve years. All that changes with the destination wedding of his bestfriends Ash and Luke. this wedding throws both Bryan and Kenna back together again and reignites their feelings and unresolved love. Thankfully they have meddling friends who try to pair them off throughout the wedding adventures which ensures their HEA .

Loved Loved Loved The Man I Want to Be. This whole series has been so fun to read & this book might have been my favorite to read yet. I thought the relationship between Bryan & Kenna was unique, sweet, & very sexy.

The books can be read as a stand alone.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Eh....this book was just okay.

Very predictable; everything was written in sand in the first half of the book, the second half just dragged it out. For a DEA agent, Bryan was a pretty lousy investigator when it came to finding the ring. Half the time Kenna knew more than he did and she wasn't even trained or former military.

His excuse for staying away for so long was shi*t in my opinion; of all the reasons that the author could have come up with I think this one was the worst I've ever read. Come on, there are so many ways around his reason that if he wanted to they could have made it work. I thought the ending was rushed and didn't feel the connection between the two characters before the final chapter.

Bryan and Kenna have a past. A past that left her without closure, but when something disappears from her room she needs Bryan to help her find it.
This book was fun. It had humor, mystery, and romance. It is a page turner and put the author on my list of authors I like to read.



** I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

First time author to me and i was pleasantly surprised, there is mystery and danger, and Bryan and Kenna have a wonderful chemistry that i just loved, as this is the third book, i will need to get the first two, it may be best if they are read before this as the characters pop up here, but you don't have to.

i received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and i am voluntarily leaving my own honest opinion

I liked this book a lot. I loved how they had a past that ended over something that is more real world than fantasy. I love how they found each other again by circumstance.. I absolutely love the mystery that the two got involved in and how they gave a where are they now ending.

DEA agent Bryan Tyke never imagined he'd see his ex-fiancé again, especially at a friends wedding. He had his reasons for leaving her, but he's never gotten over her. So, when something important to her goes missing, Bryan is determined to do everything he can to help her get it back, if only to make things right between them. However, the more they're around each other, the more they each find themselves falling for the other all over again. Will Bryan and Kenna get their second chance at forever after, or will the hero's demons keep them apart?

First off, this story can easily be read as a stand-alone, even though it's the third book of Ms. Elle's Under Covers series and I've got to say that I really enjoyed this story. It had me smiling because of the moment the hero and heroine come face-to-face for the first time in years, as the heroine has every right to do what she does. How could the hero did what he did in the past? However, it was the investigation into what the heroine is missing that had me really enjoying this story, as the heroine is stubborn and isn't about to let the hero do anything without her.

Both the main characters are relatable, likeable and I loved how determined the hero is to make things right between them, even though he knows it's not a good idea to get involved with Kenna again. Since he believes he can't give her what she wants, so it's better to let her go. Will the hero finally be honest with the heroine about the past and why he left? Furthermore, the heroine is sassy, determined to find what the item she is missing, even if she has to get creative to get information; and I liked how much of a challenge she presents for the hero. While the hero, he's been through so much and it's understandable why he's determined to make things right with the heroine because he still feels such guilt about what he did. I also liked the tight bond the hero shares with his friends and that they aren't afraid to offer their advice because they want him to be happy, and clearly, Kenna makes him happy. Yet, what I liked most of all about the hero was discovering things about his past and how his past has shaped him into the man he is. Certainly, he's an honorable man that would do anything to make things right with the woman he hurt years ago.

Overall, Ms. Elle has delivered another really good read for this series where I loved this couple together because of their strong chemistry, which was instantaneous from the moment they come face-to-face; the romance was nicely-detailed and had me cheering for this couple's happy ever after, as it's palpable they still love each other; and the ending had me sympathizing with the hero as he finally opens up to the heroine about the past. Will she understand why he did what he did all those years ago? Will the heroine be able to forgive him? However, in saying that, I absolutely loved how things worked out for this couple and how the epilogue wrapped things up perfectly because the hero and heroine fought for their chance at love, family and happiness and get it. I would recommend The Man I Want to Be by Christina Elle, if you enjoy second chance romances or books by authors Lynn Raye Harris, Susan Stoker, Melissa Foster and Rebecca Zanetti.

The Man I Want to Be was not the book I wanted from Christina Elle. Christina writes these amazing visual and authentic action scenes that really put you into the middle of everything. I wanted that! What I got was a second chance romance with a little sleuthing on the side. And a hero whose story broke my heart.

The night before Bryan Tyke deployed overseas, he proposed to his high school sweetheart and longtime love Kenna McCord. Months later, he emails her a Dear Jane letter and doesn’t see or speak to her for twelve years. All that changes with the destination wedding of his bestfriends Ash and Luke. Unbeknownst to Bryan, Kenna is a bridesmaid and childhood friend of Sam, who’s set to marry Ash. While there is still unresolved feelings between the two, they agree to spend the week being civil and staying away from each other. Too bad Sam realizes that Bryan is “Bear”, the man who broke Kenna’s heart. She makes it a point to have them be paired off everytime there is a couple related event. Bryan and Kenna are further drawn together when Kenna realizes her mother’s sapphire ring has been stolen from her room. Knowing how important the ring is to Kenna, he promises to get it back before the wedding.

Bryan had my heart from the beginning. From reading the previous books, I knew he was still hung up on someone. I just had no idea who or what happened with the relationship. As I mentioned, Christina Elle is extremely good at giving you very detailed visual scenes. Bryan’s flashback to his past and the secret he’s been carrying around broke my heart and had me reaching for tissues. Kenna was not one of my favorite people throughout this book. At times, my feelings for her ran hot and cold. I understand that she had every right to be mad and upset, but there was no reason for her to be mean and cruel. As far as being together, they really worked well as a couple. When they weren’t arguing. There’s a playfulness about them that’s fun to watch. In the bedroom, they are extremely compatible.

There’s one more member of Ash’s DEA team left, Jason Reese. I’m hoping Christina will decide to take his story back to the action and true suspense found in the first two previous books.

In this one you will be given I do believe a second chance since the two main knew each other before they meet up again. Tyke and Kenna are at a wedding and have to come to terms with working together cause of how things go down. This one though will pull on me a time or two but I do come back to this. The drama will go around a bit but danger will also seep in. I just can not leave a mystery unanswered lets say. There is also a splash of humor which was not really expected. I keep at this one with liking it more than I thought I would by the time I finish.

When I first started reading this book, I wasn't sure I would like it as much as the first one. There were some silly parts in the beginning, maybe a little over the top stuff for me from Kenna. But as I kept reading it, because it was entertaining and then I had to know how Tyke and Kenna would work it out, the story was better. I could totally understand her anger and hostility towards him as well as his guilt. And their love for each other was obvious, so you definitely root for them as a couple. You could feel her heartbreak and utter betrayal that she felt when he finally admitted everything to her - that broke my heart for both of them. But if you keep reading, you are rewarded with a very happy ending with an unexpected twist that was actually very well played.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from the publisher through Netgalley.

This book has both copious amounts of cursing (including a TON of f-bombs) and on-page sex. If those things offend you, you might want to skip this one.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have never read any of the other books in this series or by this author. I requested this book based solely on title because I'm a huge Chris Young fan. Sadly, although it had potential, this book wasn't my cup of tea.

Although this book stands alone, I really struggled with all of the names. Bryan was called “Bryan” “Tyke” and “Bear” at various times - sometimes all three on the same page and sometimes he was “Bryan” and Tyke” in the same paragraph. It was incredibly confusing, but would have been tolerable except all of his coworkers got the same treatment. I got to the point where I just didn't care who was who anymore as I read because I would have needed a chart to keep everyone straight by their various names. It's a small thing but to be brutally honest, I didn't like that BryanTykeBear called himself “Tyke” when we were in his point of view. Does anyone really think of themselves by their last name? It was awkward.

Kenna was okay, if a little weak, but TykeBearBryan was not my idea of a book hero. Not only was BryanBearTyke a total jerk from start to finish, his reason for why he just left her without a word was terrible. First off, if he had that kind of bizarre, unlikely injury, why was there no mention of scars? He would have to have scarring in that area that might have clued her into his wounds. But beyond that, if I were Kenna, I would never have given him a second chance when I heard WHY he ghosted. That he made that decision for her was the epitome of arrogance and ignorance. But apparently Kenna is a much more forgiving human being than most because she was really quick to forgive his asinine behavior. ***SPOILERS TO THE END OF THIS PARAGRAPH*** While I do love a good happily ever after, I didn't even begin to buy this one. They went from him just totally disappearing without a word for A DECADE to suddenly getting married after a few days back “together”? Most of which they spent with him treating her like trash. Just no. 10 years apart because of one person's ignorance is not something you just magically get over and suddenly fall back into without actually working on the relationship. (That said, the crab and that whole analogy was absolutely adorable. If the book had ended there with an epilogue down the road, this would have been a three star read. The ending just killed it for me.)

I thought this story had a tremendous amount of potential, and I know what the author was going for, but it just fell short of the mark because “alpha male” BearTykeBryan was never even close to likable. He just came off like a jerk.

I requested and was generously granted an ARC of this book via NetGalley and the publisher.

3.25⭐
This was a good story for the most part, it just wasn't really the one I was anticipating based on the previous book and I found the whole stolen jewellery plot a little bit too contrived. However, I did find it engaging and the characters were likable. Plus, it was a sweet second chance romance, that was very easy to read. As well as being a little angsty, not to mention fun too, and I did like it; it just didn't hook me in. But I would recommend giving it a go, especially if you're a fan of the author or have enjoyed the series so far.

Bryan Tyke is on a secluded island exclusive resort for a week to celebrate his two best friends getting married. He is very unhappy about being there because he doesn’t believe in happily ever after, forever or love. He’s just in a general foul mood. He was engaged once but broke it off in a long distant Dear John email. That was 12 years ago.

Kenna McCord Is also on the island to attend her best friend’s upcoming wedding. She’s excited to be there until she runs into her ex-fiancé, Bryan Tyke. She then proceeds to kick him in the shin with all her might and punch him hard on the chin. She then takes off and he catches up and she attempts to punch him again. WTF? If it had been the other way around all kinds of hell would have rained down on him yet no one says anything to her? Oh wait, one of his best friends shakes her hand for decking him!

They decide to avoid each other for the rest of the week yet keep circling each other. When jewelry is stolen, Bryan insists on helping her find the thief. He is a dominating, mean, annoying, controlling jerk who tries to dictate her actions.

This was a DNF at 20% for me. I didn’t like either one of them. Didn’t care why he broke it off or if they worked it out. Didn’t care if the thief was caught. Bryan was called Bryan, Tyke, and Bear. Sometimes all three on the same page.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

**3.5 stars** This one is tough for me to rate and review. I liked the story although I wasn't always a fan of the female lead character Kenna. The writing is strong and the characters, love them or hate them, are well developed. I didn't always fell the chemistry between Kenna and Bryan though. Considering their history I would think their interactions would be more explosive. Through most of the book I thought the suspense element was a little weak but the ending cleared that up for me so don't give up on the story too soon. It's fun and worth the wait. Overall I would recommend this one.

I received an arc from Netgalley. Wow, what a past to overcome for Bryan and Kenna. I do have to say (and I don’t want to spoil it for readers) that the secret he was holding I didn’t think was that big of a deal and of course they could work that out. All the hype for that? I was thinking unintentional affair or something.

Even though the secret frustrated me I felt their connection was on point and overall I liked the book. 3.5

Interesting second chance at love mystery

Christina Elle did a good job with this the third book in the Inder Covers series.
Kenna and Bryan (Bear) a once engaged couple were portrayed very realistically. The reader gets a really good window into how they are thinking and feeling. I think the secondary characters added additional dimension to the story and the mystery kept my interest.

I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley.

*I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
1.5 stars

DNF @ 18%

So, recently I've been trying to keep my DNF amount down-- I've been doing it quite frequently and I just should really give books more of an effort. So, once I made it past 10% I was determined to continue on, but my frustration with the characters overwhelmed my decision, so I put it down. See, if I can't like the characters then it makes it really difficult to want to read a book, especially if it is a romance book. I need to like the characters if I want them together!!

But Bryan Tyke/Bear is the frustrating, irritating macho man character I have come across in a while. Either that, or I have less patience with them now, because continually pissing off your ex/person you obviously still like, is not a good or sexy thing. And who says "I know you can fit more in your mouth" and is not referring to their penis. What else could he have meant???

So, either the writing of his character is bad or Tyke is just an asshole.

Besides that, I'm getting tired of female characters hitting male characters and it not being a big deal. Does he deserve it? Probably --at this point I don't care what his excuse is. Is violence on this scale acceptable? No. Other than that, I still don't really know Kenna's personality or why her friend should get her mother's ring... I think I might be missing something because I haven't read the prior books in the series.

Oh, there is a mystery going on: who is stealing precious jewelry?
This is the only thing that almost kept me going, but knowing jerk-face was going to be a jerk to Kenna most the time, kept me from wanting to know what would happen.

This is the 3rd book in this series and I didn't have the chance to read the first 2 books. Since there are many references to the other couples from the first 2 books, I think I might have enjoyed it better if I had read them. The storyline is a standalone and not having read the other ones, it didn't confuse me, but what did cause me to read and re-read at times was all the references to the same person -- Bryan was sometimes referred to as Tyke and sometimes Bear -- sometimes all 3 on the same page. Ash was sometimes referred to as Coop or Cooper and Luke by his last name Calder. I liked all the characters, but I had a hard time understanding why Bryan didn't just come out and tell Kenna what happened to him. If they were such soulmates from childhood, I would like to think he could have discussed it with her, but then there wouldn't have been a storyline. The aspects I did enjoy - the light suspense and mystery, the funny dialogue at times and the connection between all 3 couples. I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC for NetGalley.

This is a tough one. I had a hard time with this one. I liked the story line, I just couldn't relate to the characters, neither one of them. Bryan or Bear whichever you prefer was a horses arse most of the book and didn't even listen to Kenna when she tried to speak or ask a question. Kenna wasn't much better though I thought she was better than her best friend Sam who coaxed her into this trip knowing that the man who walked away from her years ago was going to be there. Kenna couldn't move on, what he did was just the shit. Seeing him again and being trapped on a tropical island in a double wedding with two of Bryan's coworkers at DEA was just trash. The men weren't much better.The set up to the story when Kenna's mothers ring goes missing was ok, until Bryan decides to investigate. Please this guy is DEA? And military and his two buds are DEA? And he's jacking around trying play policeman? Seriously? My magic 8 ball could have found that ring faster. Kenna could have figured it out if he'd have stayed the hell out of her way. He was a jackass to her through so much of the book it took me all I had to finish it. The friends, and man I use that term loosely weren't much better. Her Aunt who was also there seemed almost apologetic for her part in the whole mess.
Even as wise as she was at times, I didn't buy her and her friends either.
I really wanted to like this because I do like Christina's books. This one just missed the mark for me.

**arc from NetGalley and Entangled for an honest review**
The above is my honest review and the opinions therein are my own

Please note: I received a copy of THE MAN I WANT TO BE via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author.

THE MAN I WANT TO BE gets 5 stars and here is why:

It’s a frenemies romance with a lovers to enemies to lovers twist!

Bryan and Kenna have known each other since elementary school, but their love is tested when he walks away without any explanation. Ten years later, they find themselves at a friend’s weekend wedding getaway and all hell breaks loose. Ms. Elle delivers a page-turner with hella-hot guys, sexy girls, and chemistry that is off the charts! If you like romance with a splash of humor and mystery, this book is for you. Highly recommend!