Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings

Unmanageable by Leslie McAdam

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book so hard! It’s a joyous read, very little angsting, no manufactured drama, just two men falling in love and making a family.

It stars Scott, who was one of Murphy’s possible dates back in Undone and who we last saw getting drunk with Jeremy in Counterpoint, and older single dad Luke and it’s swoony and steamy and made my heart happy.

The setting takes us mostly out of V&V for this one as Scott takes the job as live in manny for Luke.

Luke’s daughter Addie is beautifully portrayed too, not too smart for her age, not too babyish, I fell for her just as much as I did her gruff but secretly marshmallowy dad.

With a deft hand, Leslie takes the reader through Scott’s embarrassing “break-up” with the guy he’s seeing at the start of the book, through a strong friendship with Luke, as his love for life and pure innocence reminds the older man of what he used to be like before his marriage failed, and into a lifetime of happiness.

There wasn’t a bit of this narrative I didn’t like, even the “Third Act” tension point, which comes pretty late in the book, makes perfect sense.

Luke is running scared, so he inadvertently causes Scott to doubt himself and worry if he’s really in love or just imagining things with his romantic wishful thinking.

Fortunately, this isn’t left to stew and there’s an incredibly satisfying set up to the reunion and happy ending which had me smiling big time.

Throw in a lovely Epilogue and this book pops under Garrett’s as my second favourite so far!

#ARC kindly received from the author via Sarina Bowen’s Heart Eyes Press in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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