Hi, everyone!
How's your week so far? I've been in a blah mood ever since I came back from Australia; I spent a week in Perth and another week in Sydney, and I truly have been living my best life *sniffs*. If you're interested, I documented my travels on my
Instagram.
Reading wise, I did zero reading on vacation, LOL. That's why now that I'm home I've been finishing books left and right, and also in a state of panic because I'm so behind on ARCs.
Today, I'm talking about a book I recently finished (and it's a newly released too!). I actually planned to review this book along with another two books (Kate Clayborn's
Luck of the Draw and Lucy Parker's
Making Up--both also A+ reads, trust me) but I ended up talking too much about this one so yeah, you're getting a solo review instead HAHAH.
The Love Coupon
by Ainslie Paton
Series: Stubborn Hearts #2
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Carina Press
Publication Date: April 9th 2018
Source: ARC received for review
Rating: ★★★★
How many coupons does it take to fall in love?
Flick Dalgetty knows what she wants and how to get it, which is why she’s about to start her dream job in Washington. Until then, she needs somewhere to crash, and Tom O’Connell’s place is her sole option. He’s a repressed, antisocial ogre...but man can he kiss.
For Tom, being around Flick is like being too close to the sun. Her untamed energy is overwhelming, and he’d spontaneously combust if he had to live with her long-term. Housemates with benefits—and an expiration date—suits him just fine.
Then Flick gives Tom thirty coupons, each entitling him to one obligation-free activity, from bowling and bubble-bathing to morning delight, removing all the guesswork from being incompatible partners and shifting their fling into high gear.
Now the problem is their arrangement is drawing to a close, and they might be falling in love—and there wasn’t a coupon for that.
I love Ainslie's
The Love Experiment with all my heart, and
I've gushed about it on this blog too. I kept putting off reading this ARC because I knew I'd be wanting more after I finish, and I wanted to spare myself the pain. I made the right decision for once because Ainslie's coming out with a new book in May so I don't have to wait that long (oyeaaaaaaa).
Just like
The Love Experiment, the biggest reason why I love
The Love Coupon is the characters. I'd love to be best friends with Flick, I think she's a riot. I love her drive and ambition, and how she wouldn't sacrifice her goals for anything or anyone. I'm also still pissed that she didn't give up on her no-good family members, but her loyalty streak is admirable.
"You're a rodeo, Flick Dalgetty. Always trying to throw me off."
While I love Flick, the star of the show for me is Tom. I
adore Tom, stiff and repressed as he is. I thought Jack Haley was a grouch, but Tom O'Connell was the definition of the word. He runs on tight rails (Tom's words) and prefers everything a certain way--
his way. He is the product of his childhood and strict upbringing, and you really couldn't fault him for being such a cold fish at times. Did I mention that he also cooks and bakes and can be wild in bed if he lets himself lose control? I'm marrying Tom, brb.
Now that I think about it, Tom reminds me of one of my favourite Cara McKenna heroes,
Duncan Welch. They would totally hit it off, I feel.
"But this was Tom, and no matter how much he let go, he wouldn't deliberately hurt her. He didn't know how."
I really enjoyed the ups and downs of Tom and Flick's roomie relationship, the sexual tension between them, and the sexy games they ended up playing with each other and of course, how they fell in love with each other. I love how Flick casually invaded Tom's life, dismantled everything, and basically taught him to lighten up and live a little, and Tom just let her do it. There is also a bit of angst and intensity in this book that I love, especially in the sexy scenes. I'm going to sound crass but oh my
God have I ever read a more intense blowjob scene than the one in this book oh my God-
"She was lovesick over him. She'd couponed herself into a corner and she was going to break her own heart."
The only beef I have with this book is the coupons bit. It was introduced probably 60% into the story, and on the one hand, I didn't really mind because the way Ainslie wrote the placement made sense. But on the other hand, I went in expecting the coupons to be an important part of the story the way the questionnaire did in
The Love Experiment, so...
That being said, it wasn't a big deal to me as a whole because I was completely engrossed in whatever's happening between Tom and Flick anyway, but other people might feel differently.
Overall, I expected
The Love Coupon to wow me, and it really did. The groveling scene is A+. For you who love music with your books, Ainslie put it a lot of songs in the story. I highlighted every song mention to make myself a little playlist--and turns out Ainslie already included the list of songs at the end of the story, LOL. I also did a little digging around Ainslie's website and found that we can expect
one more book in this series, and I'm already super hyped.
Have you read Ainslie Paton's works?
Let me know in the comments!
