As a married woman this book was something I never imagined that I would enjoy to read this much... It shows struggles of a married couple and two people that are willing to try to save their marriage because they love each other even if each one of them has their own problems they try to seek support in each other and that really made it so appealing to me

Thank you to the author who reached out to me because i loved her first book. This one was also good and a really easy read. I didnt enjoy the bit where she gave in to not really wanting kids as i myself do not want kids. but overall a good book!

This was such a fun book! i absolutely adored every single thing! the characters, the plot, the writing, the cover! it was such a wonderful book! definitely adding this to my collection

⭐️ solid 3 star

This is the second book in the series but you don't need to read the first to understand the plot.

After nearly catching her husband, Anton, cheating on a dating app, Lydia and him start to reconcile. Anton's mother dies, and in his season of grief, he asks Lydia if they can start a family. Lydia is reluctant to become a parent due to her own toxic family and bad examples of motherhood growing up, but she agrees to keep the peace with her husband in this fragile state of their marriage.


Pros --

✨ I did not read the first story, and this one was written in a way that I could piece it together well via context clues.

✨ The writing was solid. A lot of good dialogue and overall format. It felt like a well written book -- My gripes come from the story, not how it was conveyed.

✨ I like the overall plot to this story (and the duet). Coming back from a near-cheating experience and how to navigate a relationship is a great story to tell. It's definitely not as easy as "just leave them!" and I appreciate how the author tackled this.

✨ I appreciate how the families were depicted. It's very hard to go to low/no contact with a toxic family and when one person in a relationship comes from a <i>good</i> family, it can be extra hard to not only make that call, but to get them to understand. I appreciate how this dynamic was shown and told because it felt very realistic.

✨ <spoiler>Anton wanting to be a stay at home dad made me really happy, actually. I thought it was a really nice way to wrap up his storyline since he was clearly missing his mom a lot and also the more nurturing of the two in his relationship. She clearly had the more demanding and "important to her" career and I like how it was handled that he was like "honestly I just would really love to do this" rather than making it a <i>thing.</i></spoiler>



Cons --

✨ I honestly just think Anton and Lydia are a bad match. They have been together so long that in theory, they should be great together. But they have fundamental value differences and I think that is tough to navigate for the two of them. It's ok to grow apart, and I think they just did. I know in the end, <spoiler> they kind of end up on the same page, but I wish they had sat down and talked for the first 3/4 of the book because they clearly had unresolved, misaligned values.</spoiler>

✨ Along with that, these two need to <i>talk</i>. Everyone in this book needs to talk, honestly. Lydia expects the worst of everyone, even her best friend. Anton and Lydia have awful communication skills. Just <i>talk</i>, please.

✨ The grief of losing a parent takes a long time to manage, especially when you had a good functioning relationship. The fact that Anton leads with his grief and is all "we need to have a baby right NOW" should have been a giant red flag. He needs a therapist. I'm mad he (or Lydia) didn't even consider this.

✨ I am not a fan of Lydia's black and white thinking. You can be a mom and be focused on work, you can have kids and also enjoy when they are somewhere else. You can hate pregnancy and love kids. Idk, man. I am a parent myself who also struggled with the whole "would I be a good mom?" vibe, but if you are THAT wishy washy on kids, either talk to people who have them and see if that changes anything or just like, DON'T have them.


Overall, a 3 star. It was a book, I read it. I will not read any more in this universe.


<i>I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.</i>

4⭐️
all around i enjoyed this second book to anton and lydia's relationship. in this book these characters actually came around to me and i liked being able to see them grow.

I went into this pretty blind, and didn’t read the first book in the series. While there were clearly a lot of themes/references that carried over, as the book features the same couple, I was able to very easily jump in and follow.

This book flew by, and was a quick and easy read, but I can’t say that I enjoyed it. I strongly disliked the husband - this may be a result of skipping the first book in the series - but it felt like the couple was a bad match, and the husband was selfish and unemphathic and just a bad partner. At one point he refers to the FMC as ‘previously frigid’ because of her low sex drive, and there are other misogynistic themes that continue throughout the book.

Wasn’t a fan of book 1, but book 2 was a winner and so good to see that this author has grown stronger in her writing style.
Again it’s written in duel POV, so we get to read both sides. Highly recommended

Are you looking for your next romance book? Pick up Mismatched. This is a book that you should read!

I didn't read book 1, but I still enjoyed the writing and story in this book, which is the second in the series. Right away there is spice! There's also therapy and complex relationships about what this main character couple is going through. I will grab the first book! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.