I had a difficult time getting into this. I liked the concept, but the romance didn't attract me the way that I would have liked!

Super cute Second Chance Romance featuring supporting characters which are as as fabulous to follow as London and Ben. Not just for fans of HGTV/DIY. Plus there is a touch of intrigue, here, too!

There wasn't necessarily anything wrong with this book, it just didn't hold my attention. I felt no chemistry between Ben and London and as this is a romance, I kind of needed that. They never fought or had angst and personal drama, which, while refreshing, also left little to read about. I can only read so much inner dialogue about how much you love this person you knew when you were 12 and now again at 32.

After the half-way point a new subplot gets introduced, there is a "stalker," someone sending the three Kaine boys ominous letters. Nothing really comes of this. It's introduced, a few things are said, and that's it. I left feeling unfulfilled and like this was unnecessary. Maybe it will be a plot that continues on in the series, but right now it just felt like a way to prolong a book that probably would have been better as a novella.

I thought this was a cute, second chance at love story. Yeah, the second chance is yeeeears down the road (give or take a couple of decades), but it still seemed to work for London and Ben. There was a bit of a change up in the story towards the end of the book, but I'm thinking that's just setting the foundation for the next book in the series.

You cannot help but fall in love with Ben and London. A family tragedy brings London home and Ben just happens to be back at the same time - fate. This book is full of everything that romance readers love. Fun, laughter, fluff and LOVE!!! This book will literally have you grinning from ear to ear, willing London and Ben together. Ben quite literally falls back into her life and it's perfect. A swoon fest i'd recommend to anyone!

Absolutely loved this story, so many great characters including the H&h London and Ben, they were so cute together I can’t wait to read more about them all.

This isn't what I really wanted (but that's just me personally) I didn't like the romance and it fell a bit short for me.

Come For Me, Darling just sort of felt flat to me. I could never really get interested or invested in the couple and the esoteric "dreams come true" ability seemed just weird to me.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Come for Me, Darling didn’t work for me. My two main issues are the generic couple and the emphasis on telling rather than showing. Though I love romance novels, the couple lacked sparks for me, and I didn’t care much for the secondary characters either. Full review to come.

Thank you to NetGalley for an e-arc of the novel in exchange for an honest review!

I was disappointed in this book. The first of a series, it started with a bang (literally) and showed early promise with the question of “can childhood love stand the test of time and distance?” We all remember that first love...it may have been puppy love, but could it have been real? It’s a comforting thought, and would have been fun to explore had the plot gone deeper. The main characters of London and Ben were likeable enough, and the supporting cast of sisters and brothers were fairly interesting. But it all seemed so thrown together and hurried, not to mention fairly stereotypical. The three brothers are, of course, all hot celebrities (television carpenter, movie star, pro baseball player) and the three sisters fit the tropes as well (the “wild” one who left, the one who stayed and raised her family, etc.). But there is no real substance to any of them. For example, the brothers have a lot of banter in the beginning of the book, but in the 3rd chapter, Ben finally realizes that one of his brothers “looked like he hadn’t slept in days.” It took him that long to see that? This happens throughout the book, almost like observations are throwaways to avoid depth. The author tries to build suspense by introducing a threat (that will apparently be carried through the next two books), but it’s not addressed until over halfway through, and even then still doesn’t have a lot of weight. I guess the summation is that the whole book felt very slapdash, which is a shame, because it could have been a light, fun, summer series. But even a light read should have some kind of substance. Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At one point, the male MC states: "It was strange and wonderful to have such extreme thoughts". Honestly? That might just be the best way to summarize Come For Me Darling.



I was offered an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed are strictly my own.

The story
I take people's dreams and turn them into reality. As the most famous home renovator on television, I take broken piles of bricks and beams and turn them into forever homes.

That's why it sucks so hard to see my dream and know that I can't make it mine.

But now London Anderson, the girl I fell in love with and who has haunted me since high school, has just inherited her grandmother's falling-down house. And no one's better with broken dreams than me.

I swear it's fate finally throwing us back together and I'm not going to waste this chance. I'm putting it all out there. I'll get down and dirty, use all the tools I have, whatever it takes to convince her that our first love can be our forever love.

The opinion
I need to put a quick disclaimer here: I don't usually like books narrated in the first person. I don't really know why - maybe it's just that I'm used to a third person narrator? Maybe it's the fact that a first person narrator calls for me to identify with the "I" person too much? Either way, I felt like this book especially, with its switching POV could probably have done with a third person narrator.

Sure, you can ask your readers to identify strongly with one character. But to then constantly change the character they need to identify with? Because there's two of them that you keep switching off? I feel like that could probably have been done better using "he/she" rather than "I".

But again - that's 100% personal.

Less personal, is the feeling that it might be useful to read the books the Kaine brothers previously appeared in. While reading this book, I often got the impression that I was missing some information. The three brothers, including the male main character in this one, Ben, feature as minor characters in some of the author's other series. While this series can be read separately - or so it is stated - I did at times feel that the story was a bit disjointed. Quite possibly, that was exactly because I hadn't read the other series, and as such couldn't quite connect some of the secondary characters in Come For Me Darling.

On a more positive note, the story as a whole was actually really enjoyable. Naturally, this isn't going to be "perspective-changing" or "world shaking", but there is a nice romance, interesting secondary characters, ... And of course, one plot point which (very smartly, I might add!) had its resolution postponed to the next book in this series. I definitely would like to know more about the grandma's and their believe that a prophecy was somehow linked to the lightning that almost stuck all of the main characters, but I guess - again - that'll probably be something for the next book.

Finally - while I will read "insta-love", I'm not usually the biggest fan of it. The fact that these two main characters knew each other 20 years before made for a pleasant "cover-up" for that!

The rating: 2.75
Come For Me Darling was an enjoyable read, that definitely means to get you hooked for the next book in this series. There's quite a lot going on throughout the book, and as a reader, I was really pulled into both the story and its locations - the true (subtle) star of this book might have been the island itself, but you would probably have to read the book to fully get that ;) There's some not-quite-insta-love and quite a few "I shall be with you forever", but then: that's what you're always going to get in a story like this.

If you feel like you might want to give this one a read, you can find it on Goodreads!

-Saar

I devoured Come For Me, Darling in one sitting. I loved that Ben and London were secretly thinking about each other for 20 years. I loved the close knit families and how they're a little bit all up in each others business. I was confused at first when a new element to the story was introduced about 2/3 of the way through the book, but seeing that that storyline goes in to the next book that made a lot more sense.

Ben and London were just too cute together. While their romance happens quick it wasn't off putting or far fetched in that manner, it just felt right. Can't wait to read the next book!

A small-town romance that was also a cute second chance romance between Benjamin Kaine and London Anderson. I love a good second chance romance!

short but enjoyable read.

London is back in Calusa Key after being left a house in her Grandmother's will. She usually only visits fleetingly, but this time her old childhood friend is in town, and not just to help her renovate the house.

This was a cute second chance love book, sets in a gooooood while, I mean 20 years later, and I normally don't like books that they wait that long but it was cute small town romance. What I did like was there wasn't a lot of drama but we get to meet and fall in love with these families. It was a fairly quick book so give it a chance..

Alexis Anne you did a good job. I can’t wait to read more of your books. I really liked the flow of the book. You feel like you connected with the characters.
You can also tell the passion in the writing.

This is a super sweet small town beach romance. I loved the history between Ben and London, the easy banter between them. This is a low angst, no drama story, minus some hints at a stalker but that’s going to be tabled and developed later it seems. All in all this was a quick read I finished in a day and I’d definitely like to see what happens next for the Kaine bros, and the Anderson sisters.
This was a complimentary advanced reader copy provided by the author and the publisher in exchange for a honest review via Netgalley.