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Flint Hopkins finds the perfect tenant to rent the space above his Minneapolis-based law office.

All the t’s are crossed and i’s dotted on Ellen’s application. Her references are good. And she’s easy on the eyes.

Until…

Flint discovers Ellen Rodgers, Board-Certified Music Therapist, plays music. Bongos, guitars, singing—not Beethoven administered through noise-cancelling headphones.

The cut-throat attorney serves up an eviction notice to the bubbly, constantly-humming redhead who’s too sexy for her own good. But luck is on Ellen’s side when Flint’s autistic son, Harrison, takes an instant liking to her. A single dad can’t compete with guitars—and rats. Yes, she has pet rats.

This woman…

She’s annoyingly happy with a constant need to touch him—adjust his tie, button his shirt, invade his space, and mess with his mind.

Still…

She must go.


BOOK REVIEW: Look the Part

Jewel E. Ann

RATING:

“I’m going to love you so hard, time won’t matter … distance won’t matter … all you’ll feel when you take each breath … is my love.”

It never stops being an absolute thrill reading an author for the very first time and falling in love with their every word page after page. The beauty of Jewel E. Ann’s writing and the detail with which she renders her characters took my breath away time and time again, weaving a story that is sexy, funny, sad, and everything in between, and entirely impossible to put down. I read this book in my bed, on the bus, while leaning on a shopping cart in the middle of a busy supermarket, and even once in the shower because I just couldn’t stop. It’s a story of opposites attracting, of second chances at finding love and happiness, of forgiveness, of family bonds, of pet rats, of life giving us exactly what we need even when we don’t think we’re ready or deserving of it, and while it might have been my first time reading this author, I am now the proud owner of her entire back catalogue.

“Why are you humming?”
“Because,” I whisper, keeping my eyes on his tie, “it calms my heart.”
“What’s wrong with your heart?”
“It gets a little out of control when I touch you—like it could explode.”
“Then why touch me?”
I glance up to meet his softened gaze. “Because you never feel more alive than when you’re flirting with death.”

Former football player and later agent for one of NFL’s hottest quarterbacks (story told in One), Flint Hopkins is now a successful attorney, a widower, and dad to a mildly autistic twelve-year-old boy. His entire life revolves around his work and raising his child, needing absolute control in every aspect of his daily life in order to chase his demons away and not let himself drown in guilt and regret. Because for the past ten years, Flint Hopkins has believed that he lost his right to happiness the day he killed his wife in a drunken car accident.

…on days of complete clarity, I see that having him and loving him is my greatest punishment. When he’s old enough to make total sense of what happened to his mother, he will hate me—almost as much as I hate myself.

Flint’s carefully controlled life is thrown into disarray when a young music therapist rents the space above his office, the imperfect silence of his thoughts suddenly replaced by the sound of drums, singing, and his new tenant’s effervescent personality. Ellen Rodgers comes into his life like a whirlwind, stirring in him an unexpected storm of conflicting emotions and desires. She hums, she laughs, she touches freely, and she voices her every emotion, thawing the ice around Flint’s heart one tie tug at a time.

The woman played me, distracted me with her body and happy dance for her new space, then wham! Bongos all day long.

Desperate to evict her and return to his bongo-free life as soon as possible, Flint uses his cool, detached demeanour to keep their relationship solely professional, but the more he pushes Ellen away, the deeper she gets under his skin, making him wonder whether he might be deserving of a second chance after all. And then a whole bunch of other crazy, wonderful stuff happens to them which I’m not going to spoil for you at all.

“Good evening, Ms. Rodgers.”
“Good evening, Flint.”
“You can call me Mr. Hopkins.”
“Mmm, my landlord likes to role play. Me too.”

In Ellen, the author crafts one of the most lovable yet complex female characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering—a perfect counterpart to Flint’s joyless one—and as she shares her story slowly, gently, we fall in love with her long before all the details from her past come to the surface to pull us in even deeper. We are drawn to her exuberance, her honesty, her joie de vivre, and her spirit. She is the yin to Flint’s yang, balancing his darkness with her sparkle, and by loving him so unreservedly, for the first time in a decade, he begins to believe that he might be worthy of the life he got to live.

“You’re stubborn and infuriating.” I narrow my eyes.
“And you’re the first breath of oxygen that’s touched my lungs in ten years,” he whispers in my ear.

The whole story comes together under Jewel E. Ann’s exquisite prose, separating itself from the rest with its snappy dialogue, and the depth of emotion present in every single interaction between the characters, often communicated with so few words. I laughed, I hummed along, I even shed a tear or two, and I already cannot wait to read this book all over again.

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“Sometimes the world ends and forgets to take you with it. I get it.”

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Natasha

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8 Comments Hide Comments

Beautiful review Natasha! I can’t express how excited that I am that you loved this book. I am even more excited for you to read her previous books. Every single one of them is wonderful. Jewel has a crazy talent for making me “feel” so many emotions when I read her books. Her witty sarcasm makes me laugh out loud. But the depth and character development is some of the best that I have seen. I always read the last page of her books, and walk away reflecting back on my life. The message that I take away from her words, always lives in my heart. I wish that I could read all of her books for the first time all over again. <3

I haven not read any Jewel Ann’s book but I have always trusted Natasha’s take on books she reads. She never fails to make me fall in love with the books she shares in this blog.

So I will try to grab this book and read ASAP!

Thanks so much for your review!

jang

I DID! OMG! I did not sleep a wink last night and I finished this amazing book. This is my first from Jewel Ann and I will see what else she has and buy! Thanks so much!

Also, I read Midnight Valentine by JT Geissinger (Prior to Look The Part) because of your review and I also LOVED IT SO MUCH! It was also my first from this author. Will check out her other books, too!

THANKS SO MUCH, NATASHA! YOU RECOMMEND THE MOST WONDERFUL BOOKS! WORTH THE MONEY!

Love, love, love,
Jang

Amazing review,Natasha. You are really good with words. Honestly you were more than enough to make me read this book and …..yes I loved it. I just wanted to say you have to HAVE TO read one by Jewel.E
It is by far one if the best books I have read do far and I am sure it will grace your sport romance book list with a wonderful presence. Please read it and make me fall more inlove with it by your words. “ONE by Jewel.E”

This was my first Jewel E Ann book too. I loved it. LOVED it. So deliciously emotional. Now I have her entire backlist on my Kindle too! Can’t wait to read the rest. Thanks for the lovely review!

Wonderful book. This is perhaps my FAVORITE romance book of all time. It is so GREAT that I read it over and over. And each time I fall in love with it all over again. It grabs you from the first page capturing you until you’ve read the last word and even then you still don’t want to let go. It is romantic and funny yet heart warming while still being sexy and thought provoking. It’s ~381 pages of perfection.

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