I really like Erin Nicholas' stories. And I really love the best friends to lovers themes. This one a lot. Bree was fascinating to me. She was full of life, a hard charger, and wanted to do everything. I hated the parts where she doubted herself, these made me feel sad for her. She was so vivacious that I wanted to smack Max upside the head. He was gorgeous, supportive, and a great guy, but he made me crazy at times. I loved that he wanted Bree more than anything, but I didn't like his doubts.

There was a part towards the end where Bree gave a speech that had my heart swelling and tears in my eyes because what she said was just so beautiful and profound in her relationship with Max. I loved this story from beginning to end and will gladly read it over and over. It will be one that I would love a revisit several years in the future.

Tangled Up by Erin Nicholas......Wow, another fantastic story from this amazing author. This book had me turning pages so fast with all the Thrill seeking, romance and love. Max and Bree are both thrill seekers and friends, but Max has loved Bree forever. It was so fun to watch this story unfold. I would highly recommend this book. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book from publisher via NetGalley.

Tangled Up is the second book in the Taking Chances series but can definitely be read as a standalone.

Max and Bree have been best friends for almost their entire lives. Bree has always been a thrill seeker and Max has always been by her side. In high school, they attempted to date but decided that they were better off as friends. Fast forward ten years and Max is back in town for their high school reunion when a tornado hits Chance. Max is a storm chaser and his favorite partner is Bree. When things heat up during the tornado, Bree and Max have to decide whether the heat is worth changing their friendship for.

I am loving this series!! Bree is my favorite character so far. She's strong, stands up for herself, and she's always up for a good time. Max has always been a hero and this seemed to shape how he saw everyone around him. He seems to think that the only way to have a relationship is for it to be all romance all the time. While this may sound perfect, it kept him from seeing what was right in front of him all his life. I'm really looking forward to book three in this series!

*This is my voluntary review of an Advanced Reader Copy*

“I know that you go all in, that when you’re in a moment, that’s all that exists. That’s what I want – to be that moment where you’re fully there and there’s nothing else that matters.” **swoon** OMG I loved Max!!

I love the whole friends-to-lovers and the reunited/second chance storylines, and Tangled Up is both. Max and Bree have been friends since childhood, tried dating in high school and Max even tried again later in life, with neither time working out. They are the best of friends and Max has loved her forever, but has locked away is feelings of love and desire to keep whatever relationship he can to remain in Bree’s life. Bree has always been a high-spirited, thrill-seeking, adrenaline junkie who has always had Max by her side for every adventure. She is always looking for the next fun and crazy adventure, but Max is also looking toward the future – looking for love, romance, and to settle down – all things he doesn’t think Bree is capable of doing.

“He was what I always came back to. The place I always wanted to be. No matter where else I could be. That was Max.” **love, love, love this!**

I loved watching Bree’s journey of realizing what she truly wanted in life. Her conversation with Maggie was so touching and heartwarming, it brought tears to my eyes. Now, all she has to do is convince Max she can be and is the person he wants her to be!

Tangled Up is the second book in the Taking Chances series by Erin Nicholas and takes place during the same timeframe as book one, Twisted Up, which is Jake and Avery’s story, and can be read as a stand-alone – but really – why would you want to miss out on any of the characters and their stories? I can’t wait for Kit and Dillon’s book!!

Max and Bree's side of the events of the Chance tornado that is also featured in Twisted Up, you can totally read these books in any order or by themselves. I loved Bree from the very beginning but Max bugged me for assuming he knew what Bree was capable of. But in the end he needed to push Bree so that she would push back, such great story telling by Erin Nicholas.

Storm chaser Max Grady can already feel it: there’s a tornado coming to his hometown of Chance, Nebraska. Max is going after it, and the only person he wants by his side is police officer Bree McDermott, fellow adrenaline junkie, his best friend, and the woman Max has secretly been in love with for years. But when a close call with a tornado leaves them lip-locked, Max knows that the danger is only beginning.

Bree is always up for excitement. Her close and sexy encounter with Max is unlike anything she’s felt before, and she wants more. As they work together to help clean up Chance, the air between them crackles with sexual tension. But Bree has a tendency to look ahead to the next thrill, and Max knows it. Now they’re all tangled up as they chase the strongest force of nature on earth: love.

I fell in love with Max. If Bree didn't want him...I'd want someone like Max in a heartbeat!!! He was sweet, kind and amazing. He had a dominant side and the sex was a little too spicy for me. I would have liked it a little more subtle and for the author to use the less is more approach. I don't like my romances all Fifty Shades of Grey, so at one point I thought it might get like that and I was like "Woah, Erin Nicholas...What in the world?" I'm used to her Alpha Males but not handcuffs and bullwhips. Bree's sort of a thrill seeker and loves the adrenaline rush that comes from that. At times, I wanted to smack both of the characters and go "WAKE UP" but I didn't. Will I keep Erin Nicholas in my top ten authors of ALL TIME? Well yeah! Cause she knows how to write romance. We get to see that she knows her stuff when it comes to writing smart women and smart men. It's not just a couple pages of what they do and then the rest is sex. Will I recommend to all my friends? I sure will because I think it's definitely worth the read.

I was given a copy of this ARC from the publisher on Netgalley for a honest review. All of the above comments are my express opinions and no one else's.

Second in the series, this was a great light read. I love how this book paralleled the first, taking place at the same time as book one, only with different main characters. A funny, light read, this is definitely one to add to your must-read list! Can't wait for book three to see what happens between Kit and Dillon!

This is a very fun, entertaining, action packed Friends to Lovers Romance with a Tomboy Girl Next Door Twist. The setting and people grab you and pull you into the story of a small town that is known for being a Tornado Magnet. The key to this towns quick recovery each time is the people that call it home.

Max and Bree Grow up literately next door to each other. Despite all they have in common including the need for an adrenaline rush these two are complete opposites when it comes to love. So much fun watching them try and figure out if they can take all they have together and make it last. Looking forward to my next visit to Chance, Nebraska.

A thrilling read with twisters and fun adventures. A town coming together after a disaster. The way everyone pulls together to help family and neighbors recover keeps the spirit alive. Best friends to lovers and all the ups and downs of a relationship. Perfectly paced pulling you in from the start. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

OMG I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! I can't wait to read more of her books!

Oh my goodness! I am in love with Max and I declare he is my new book boyfriend! Holy cow! This is the perfect book to read anytime, anywhere. Loved it!

Pretty darn good steamy romance between Max and Bree- you know they're going to get together but this is all about the journey. You can easily read this as a standalone but you'll like the town of Chance and want to read more about the others there. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a quick, pleasant read; I'm looking forward to the next in the series. Perfect for a lazy afternoon.

“This woman – she twisted up his guts, his brain, his heart. No matter what she was doing.”

One heated encounter in a ditch, as a tornado flew past them, completely changed how Bree looked at her best friend, Max. He was the boy next door, who was her partner in crime when there was adventure and mischief to be had. As an adult, he was her adrenaline-rush buddy. She always felt safe with him, but one impetuous moment has her realising that every day with him could be a rush for her. Usually, she’s always looking for the next adrenaline high, the next new thing, the next discovery - her restless spirit is always looking to move on.

“He was what I always came back to. The place I always wanted to be. No matter where else I could be. That was Max.”

Max has loved her all his life. However, two rejections down the line and he’s resolved to lock his feelings and desire away. He’s lived away for ten years and only comes home periodically to visit family, and spend time with Bree. He believes that she’ll never settle down, that she’ll never love anything or anyone enough to stay put in one place, so he takes what he can. In spite of being an adrenaline junkie himself, he also yearns for romance, the everyday routine, a true commitment, and to come back home to live.

“Your heart has never stayed on anything for good, Bree. You’re always looking for the next thing.”
“You’re something I’ve loved for a long time. I’ve never found another you. Never even looked.”

It was wonderful to follow Bree on her journey of self-discovery as she starts to look at Max through different eyes. Max is a solid, good-natured guy and she was lustfully surprised by his domineering side. He fights hard against Bree’s advances but, honestly, a guy in love and being presented with his heart's desire can only withstand so much!

This was a fab friends-to-lovers small-town story. It was sweet, humorous, really steamy, and full of family love and loyalty.

Favorite Quotes:

It was skydiving. That would always be more exciting than law enforcement in a town where people stopped to let squirrels run across the road.

‘I’ve read your blog… I even understood the big words’ … Okay, she had needed to Google a couple of the words. He didn’t need to know that.

He was the only thing she could imagine being better than liquor at making her feel good. Maybe she should tell him that. He needed to have sex with her to save her liver.

I know that you go all in, that when you’re in a moment, that’s all that exists. That’s what I want – to be that moment where you’re fully there and there’s nothing else that matters.


My Review:

Tangled Up is a combination second chance and childhood neighbors/best friends to lovers story. The character of Bree was initially difficult for me to care for – she was a self-centered narcissistic thrill seeker; impulsive, flighty, immature, restless, easily bored, and had a rather short attention span. Max was a much more endearing character, observant, considerate, smart, and insightful. Having been raised in a rural area known as a “tornado magnet” Max had become a storm chaser as a teenager, which he turned it into a vocation by becoming an expert on reconstruction and a professor of meteorology. He had left his small town at age eighteen but returned periodically to see his friends and family and engage in daring outdoor adventures with Bree to indulge her adrenaline rush tendencies through skydiving, zip-lining, hiking, etc. Bree experienced an epiphany of sorts while up close and personal in a ditch during a tornado with Max, and started seeing her childhood best friend in a new light. She had taken him for granted all of her life, and despite knocking on thirty; she had never stopped to consider her future, assuming he would always be her traveling companion and fellow adventurer. But Max had contemplated the future and was just about out of patience with Bree. The storyline was sprinkled with amusing observations, humorous banter, and steamy and spicy sensual bits. The narrative was written from a third person POV while the plot was a bit slow to evolve; tending to be somewhat circular with a bit of re-treading of the same troublesome issues during the characters’ inner musings. I did enjoy the dawning of awareness for Bree and her ice cream metaphors, although I now have a rather extreme craving for a hot fudge sundae.

Let me start this by saying that I love Erin Nicholas. Every book that I have ever read by her has been fun, interesting, well-written, and the characters have absolutely gripped me from start to finish. She is, and will remain, one of my favorite authors. Although it KILLS me to say this – this book didn't work for me.

I know that this book was a crossover-of-sorts with Twisted Up, but because I had just finished re-reading TU, I found myself bored and skimming the parts of it that also happened in TU because they were so repetitive.

The redundancy wasn't the worst part for me, though. To my absolute surprise, I never connected with Bree or Max. At. All. Other than the ditch scene, they didn't seem to have any of the chemistry - sexual or even personality-wise - that I have come to expect from an Erin Nicholas pairing. I never found myself wishing that they would sneak away for a quickie, in fact, I found myself skimming the sex scenes because while they don't have a whole lot of sex in this book, and the sex they did have did nothing for me. Again, that is an unbelievable rarity for something that was written by Ms. Nicholas. I spent the whole book annoyed with Max for being a know-it-all bully who made all the rules of engagement (both in his head and outside of it) without even considering to consult Bree on them. He was bossy, rude, and jumped to so many conclusions based on his own utter arrogance that I'm shocked he didn't blow out his good knee. His 'dominant' streak didn't do it for me – he came off as an angry bully, not a hot “alpha”.

Bree was also so incredibly frustrating to me. I wanted to like her, I really did, but it just never took because she was all over the place mentally and emotionally. She was a literal hot mess from start to finish. ***SPOILERS to the end of this paragraph*** Bree acknowledges her reasons for being an adrenaline junkie, and then acts as though it's totally okay to put her life in danger in every way possible because of her past. If she were just into extreme sports, that would be one thing, but she admits to doing things that were far more dangerous such as using alcohol to cope, binge drinking with total strangers, and having kinky sex with strange men that were “just this side of legal” (her words, not mine) which even she admitted were “probably bad ideas”. All because she always felt like a “replacement child”. And yet nobody in her life (such as Kit, the town's alleged 'best therapist') tried to help her deal with her feelings in a healthier way, or to suggest that she seek out actual professional help to help that would help her not feel like a “replacement child”. I waited the entire book for her to deal with her issues and then go rappelling or skydiving because she WANTED to, not because it was the only way she could please her father in her own mind or to get some kind of unhealthy rush from it. I wanted some personal growth from her, the kind that would make her whole again. . I found myself wanting them to get together so that the painfully overwrought drama would end. And it KILLS ME to admit that.

It seems funny to say that frog larvae and lightning were my favorite parts of a book, but they really were. I loved both of those scenes, but especially the frog scene (being vague so as not to spoil things). If they had shown even half of that kind of chemistry and love for each other for the rest of the book that they showed in that scene (and if Max had remained that same sweet guy), I would have loved this book so much.

Erin Nicholas is an amazing, talented writer whose works I love and will continue to read, this one just didn't do it for me personally.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley and wrote an honest review...even if it killed me to do so.

You can never go wrong with reading a romance story written by author Erin Nicholas and she continues to prove that with her latest book, Tangled Up. I loved this best friends to lovers story between Max and Bree and this author did a fantastic job showing us their history from childhood to adulthood and how well they knew each other. I enjoyed every minute of their time together and the sexual tension between them had me as tangled up as it did Max. I loved seeing the rest of the gang again and I cannot wait to read the next story in this series.

Another great book by Erin Nicholas! This book had it all-a strong woman, an alpha man, hot sex & danger. Bree comes across as a total adrenaline junkie, happiest when she's risking everything. Max has been friends with Bree since they were little & has wanted more from her for over half that time. He just doesn't think she can settle down to just him & he doesn't want to put his heart on the line, get it broken & lose their friendship too.

I loved this story! Bree & Max are on a journey to figure out what they each want in life & in a relationship. Max wants to move back home to Chance but not if Bree isn't there. Bree is considering moving to a different job in a different state. They seem to have a great friendship but they really lacked in communication skills. Max thought he knew her best & that he knew what she wanted out of life. Bree just assumed he was right & didn't think about it. I really enjoyed the development of these characters & the evolvement of their relationship. The interactions with the other two couples & the rest of the town members was fun to watch along the way. I can't wait for Dillon & Kit's story!

'This woman—she twisted up his guts, his brain, his heart. No matter what she was doing.'

This book kind of twisted me up a little, too… or maybe should I say Tangled Up? (Title pun, FTW). I don't really know how to explain it—my feelings about this second Taking Chances book by Erin Nicholas. Because while I quite liked it, I also found myself a little bit of a loss with it at times. It was smart and fun and sexy, absolutely. But there was just a little something missing for me in the relationship between Max and Bree that I struggled to overcome.

That's not to say I didn't like them together. Because I did. They're a good match for one another in a lot of ways, and I loved that their friendship was a lifelong one—one that survived time and distance and failed attempts at more. But their communication was a little wonky for me. I didn't always get it, which is probably more my problem than anything to do with this book, this author or this writing. It's just… there were too many analogies, too much talking without saying something. I wanted them to hash it out. Work around it. Listen and talk and learn and grow. And it seemed like it wasn't happening—or it was happening too slowly.

Of course, that doesn't mean I didn't want their HEA. Or that I didn't otherwise enjoy Tangled Up. I did, truly. I LOVED (yes, it deserves shorty caps) how Ms. Nicholas blended this story with book one, Twisted Up, showing the parallel timelines and seeing Jake and Avery from another side—one that was influenced by other happenings. It was really interesting and smart and different. I liked, too, being back in the town of Chance. It's a sweet small town that has a lot going for it—and a lot to overcome—and its residents are completely charming. Maggie, especially, really touched my heart.

Plus, it's a town that doesn't shy from strong women in important positions. Avery, fire chief. Bree, police officer. Kit, psychiatrist. Even take-charge Shelby. It's something of a hallmark for this series that these are tough, intelligent women who give as good as they get, and that makes me super happy. Okay, they weren't always as strong as maybe they should be but on the whole, I feel like this representation of women is a good one.

So… I leave this book behind in a Tangled Up mix of (mostly) positive feelings and genuine happiness at the thought of finally getting to the bottom of Dillon and Kit’s topsy-turvy relationship when book three is released.

'To him she looked amazing.
And like the biggest heartbreak of his life.'

~ 3.5 STARS ~

Holy cow.

Bottom line--Erin Nicholas should be on your auto-buy list. This woman can bring characters to life like nobody's business. They will give you ALL THE FEELS. Your heart will squeeze with concern and tighten with anticipation and swell with joy as you enjoy the ride alongside her hero and heroine.

Tangled Up is the second in the Taking Chances series. Max Grady, ex-Army National Guard turned professional storm-chaser has been chasing his perfect storm for years. Bree McDermott just hasn't realized she's that storm. Bree's as fun-loving and adventurous as they come; she never backs down from a challenge and brings her A-game no matter what. She's never been one to settle down, but maybe that's just because she's never found a reason to.

Since they were kids, Max has been a steady presence on her life, one of her best friends and her partner in adventure. If she's jumping out of a plane, Max is too. It's been over a decade since they've lived in the same town though, staying close over the years over holidays and travels and exciting moments here and there.

What I love is that Ms Nicholas has written such a adult story--not the physical intimacy, although those scenes are admittedly breathtaking and exciting. Max and Bree feel like people I would love to know, and their feelings and thoughts are easy to relate to. And how their story unfolds with their strengthening connection and vulnerability to and with each other is poignant and beautiful. I'll be rereading Tangled Up again and again, to be encouraged and delighted with these friends navigating their way to lovers and the explosive contentment and joy that brings.

Also, can't wait for the next book in the series!! ;)