Kissing Max Holden was a terrible idea…
After his father has a life-altering stroke, Max Holden isn’t himself. As his long-time friend, Jillian Eldridge only wants to help him, but she doesn’t know how. When Max climbs through her window one night, Jill knows that she shouldn’t let him kiss her. But she can’t resist, and when they’re caught in the act by her dad, Jill swears it’ll never happen again. Because kissing Max Holden is a terrible idea.
With a new baby sibling on the way, her parents fighting all the time, and her dream of culinary school up in the air, Jill starts spending more and more time with Max. And even though her father disapproves and Max still has a girlfriend, not kissing Max is easier said than done. Will Jill follow her heart and allow their friendship to blossom into something more, or will she listen to her head and stop kissing Max Holden once and for all?
When Max climbs through Jillian’s window, she has no clue what his intentions are. But she knows the last thing she should be doing is kissing him, so why does she keep doing it? Besides for kissing Max, Jillian’s life is about to get turned on its head. She has a new baby sibling on the way, her dad doesn’t like max and is acting weird and Max’s girlfriend is being mean to her.
I received an ARC of this book at BookCon and then I won a finished copy in a giveaway, so thank you Swoon Reads and Katy Upperman for the copies of this book.
I loved this book. So much. Jillian is a strong main character who knows what she wants and has a good head on her shoulders. Her friends are level-headed and don’t make these wacked out suggestions of things she should do.
I could relate Jillian about how much she loves baking. I am the resident baker in my home. I love finding new cookbooks and reading through them. I’m working at my university’s book sale this semester and my friend who just got married, her husband is helping run it, so we spent like all of last night looking through cookbooks and labeling them. It’s so much fun and I love cooking and baking.
Now, back to my opinions on the characters. Her dad sucks. I’m going to come out right now, before I get too far into this review and say that I do not like him at all. But her step-mom, I love her! She is amazing. But I am not going to lie, at first I was annoyed with Meredith. I thought she had this whole plan to become the mother Jillian never had, until halfway into the book when the baby is born. Jillian and Meredith develop this bond that is just so great. She listens to Jillian, and cares. She is nice, funny, sweet and caring. She loves Jillian.
Then we have the Holden family. Max’s mom, Marcy, is just a bundle of joy. She is a fierce woman who takes care of her many children and her husband. Her kids are a force to be reckoned with. We have Zoe and her husband, Brett, who have an adorable toddler named Oliver. Ivy who is just horrible, even though I have a feeling she wasn’t always such a horrible person but at the stage in her life where we meet her, she sucks. And then none other than Max Holden. He’s a messed up football player who likes to mess with the head of his neighbor.
I loved reading about all of Jillian’s different relationships, and how they all change and develop. Her relationship with dad becoming more strained, her and her step-mom becoming a united front, her and her friends leaning on each other for support and her and Max becoming something totally unexpected. I love how Max is really this softy underneath his hard exterior and is in love with babies. It just makes me all heart eye emoji.
I think every contemporary romance reader needs to get their hands on a copy of this book. ASAP.
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