Marley Masters runs a chain of bikini barista stands, supports her elderly neighbor Alice secretly, and has rid her life of all bad boys. She keeps turning down the advances of her neighbor Joe, who is an ex-con. Marley tries to fight her attraction to Joe but it's a losing battle when he makes it clear he's playing for keeps. Joe has tried to ditch his family's curse and after a prison sentence, he's ready to walk the straight and narrow.
I liked the characters and how they were developed throughout the story. Both Joe and Marley had a relationship with Alice, but in different ways and I liked how that impacted the story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

I enjoyed Joe, although sometimes he could get a little heavy handed he did have a good heart. Marley was less likable. She seemed judgmental and the back & forth got annoying after a while. I also wasn't a huge fan of the pacing of the book. The jerkiness, jumping forward in time, kept me from getting too involved in the story. There was enough I enjoyed, tho, that I will give the author another shot.

Average Joe
by Krissy Daniels

A romantic novel written from the point of view of the two main characters Joe and Marley. Marley’s friend and neighbour Alice dies suddenly and her nephew comes to live in Alice’s house. There is a bit of chemistry going on between joe and Marley but she doesn’t want to get involved as she discovers joe is an ex con and Marley think he is nothing but bad news.

There are some very interesting characters and humour though not everything is what they seem. As well as a steamy will they won’t they romance there is a bit of under lying intrigue going on.

Reasonable read but the main story is very repetitive and make it a bit slow going as you lose interest a bit.

Oh, how I wish we could’ve met Alice. I would’ve love to see her relationship with Joe, Marley, and them together!!! Marley has to be the most stubborn women in the world!!!! She has her heart on lockdown that will probably take YEARS to break down. Joe might be the the ex-con everyone looks at differently but his soul and personality are definitely different than other portray him to be. I’m definitely TEAM JOE vs. Marley!

This was a book I enjoyed overall. It is not the typical romance that I read. There were some dirty talk but all the physical spice was fade to black which was not for me. However this book does have a very interesting storyline. You have a MC that is an ex-con who just lost his dear aunt. The FMC is the neighbor and was best friends with the MC aunt. The FMC has a past history with “bad boys” and she does not want to go down that road with Joe. There is also a mystery in this book with connection to crime family.

This book through me for a loop or seven. I fell in love with Marley and her stubborn secrets and Joe just warmed my heart. I think this is the first book that I have read where the FMC is the one with major commitment issues and a temper to match. I fell in love with the development and puppies make every page of this book enjoyable. It teaches you not to judge a book by its cover and to always offer someone the opportunity to explain their past before making assumptions. I did thoroughly enjoy this book.

ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review and opinion. Joe and Marley will keep you laughing with this book. Joe has family commitment down to a science after going to prison to save his aunt. Marley has a past that would make most people weep. Their love story is fun and heartfelt.

I liked Joe - he was amazing and I wish I could find my own Joe. I didn't like Marley at all - she was mean and condescending. Not sure why the author felt she needed to add a shooting to the mix - it didn't move the story at all and just made Marley look like an even worse person.

Thank you NetGallery and the Publisher for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book,

Im a HUGE romance addict, like I devour them, That being said this book did take me a little bit to get through for the main fact that it was so long, boring in some parts, repetitive in others. That being said I do give this book a 4 outta 5 stars,

It had my biggest hits, dual POVs, instant romance, witty banter and some mystery thrown in there. I did not like how the FMC belittled and constantly made rude remarks to the MMC because he was in prison before even speaking to him as to why he was in prison. I also didn't like how long and drawn out some things were, We got to the point as readers that we could guess what was going on, but it took awhile for the author to actually tell us,

Overall if you want a slow but instant love romance with a dash of mystery, then this book is for you!

QOTD: Do you have a pet?
My A: Yes! Two cats, Luna Mae & Felis Catus 😻
.
I'm going to start by saying this is totally a It's Me, Not You, thing I think. I've never really been a fan of anst heavy romances or instant-love romances and those are two big components. I also think the MMC, Joe, came off too strong and slightly creepy at some points (why so many erections, dude?). I know it's fiction, but I kinda couldn't stop thinking that if this happened in real life, I'd be calling the cops. 🤣🤣 The FMC, Marley couldn't decide what she wanted or how she felt the entire book and the emotional whiplash was extreme. Honestly, she was a total bitch at some points and I don't know why Joe bothered.
.
I liked it enough to get to 70% and then skimmed the rest because it just felt so fast, but so slow. Like so much happened and also nothing really happened. I can't tell if I just wasn't vibing with the book or what. You'll have to read this one yourself to find out!
.
BLURB:
Marley Masters runs a successful chain of bikini barista stands, secretly supports her elderly neighbor, Alice, and has rid her life of bad boys.
She even deflected the advances of her new neighbor Joe, the ex-con. Okay. Lie. The lawbreaker is irresistible and relentless.
Hard as Marley tries to fight the attraction and protect her battered heart, Joe proves time and time again that he's playing for keeps.
***
Joseph Kaine struggled his entire life to ditch the family curse. Finally, after a stint in prison, he's ready to walk the straight and narrow.
Marley, his new neighbor, seems the perfect way to fill his lonely days. But that feisty woman is a magnet for trouble, and Joe is nothing if not a man who'll fight to keep his ladies safe.
Can he shake the Kaine legacy, or will an average Joe have to call on his inner thug and play dirty?

I don’t know what it was about this book but I felt so confused. The chapters were so long! Each chapter on my kindle were about 20+ minutes long.
I felt like a lot of people were getting introduced at once and then they all started using nicknames. I had to force myself to read this. I love the story line though. I like Marley and Joe. I liked how pursuant Joe was to get Marley

This book was… unique. Not bad, by any means. I LOVE books in dual POV. It’s so refreshing to see both sides of the story instead of guessing.

I honestly really enjoyed Joe. I thought he was sweet, protective and hoooot. I got annoyed with how often Marley was rude to him. But I also understand that was part of building her character.

The spice.. let’s talk about the spice. It was there but lacking? I feel like it wasn’t vivid enough. I feel like it would start to get there and then just cut to a break and new scene.

I also wasn’t a fan of how often something would happen, and then the next thing you know, it’s several days later and the previous thing is never mentioned again. I just feel like I have a lot of unanswered questions after the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and author Krissy Daniels for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect books to snuggle up with on any day. This one took by surprise!.

1/5 ⭐️

This book has all the makings of an interesting mystery. It has a quirky FMC, a man who just got out of prison, some sort of crime ring in town, and forced proximity. I loved their connection through Joe’s aunt and how that initially brought them together.

It sort of spiraled from there for me. There’s so much drama. I likened it to watching trashy reality television at one point. I was also frustrated that no matter how many times Marley told Joe that she wasn’t interested or not to do something, he did it anyways and then he was upset that she was upset.

Their back and forth felt exhausting to me. Like it wasn’t a cute build up, it felt toxic.

Unfortunately this wasn’t the one for me. But I appreciate the opportunity to read it and for that thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am in agreement with a previous review, in that the prologue set a strong scene and I was looking forward to heading into this story, however it fell short after this.

I found it to be a very common and typical storyline where he is an ex-con, she has trust issues, and they are both woeful at communicating. It was bordering on frustrating to read at times.

It was very conflict and drama heavy, which I unfortunately felt overshadowed the book as a whole. There was potential, but it didn’t hit the mark for me.

3/5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me this eArc to review.

The prologue of this book got me very interested but it went downhill from there. Both of the characters are very stubborn which got quite annoying when the main girl kept shutting down emotionally due to trust issues (which is fair enough) but not willing to listen half the time.

Joe also never listened. She would tell him to stop doing something and he would do it anyway. I understand pushing a person to open up but it was a little too much.

There was quite a lot of drama within the book for the both of the characters.