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Book Review – Love Realized by Melanie Codina with Giveaway

Love Realized Melanie Codina

Love Realized by Melanie Codina

First in a series of interrelated standalones. Adult contemporary.

I’ve had a signed paperback of Love Realized by Melanie Codina (The Real Love Series #1) and a copy on my kindle for a year and a half. I have had Melanie at 2 Wicked Book Events, and a third one coming, yet somehow, I still never got to read the book! It’s one of my favorite covers, and one of my first signed paperbacks ever (I would never break the spine), yet I so rarely go back and read older books, or start series in the middle, so this one kept getting skipped.

I’m so freaking glad I finally read it! I don’t think I read the blurb in over a year, and I honestly had no idea what it was about, so I was so pleasantly surprised to find that it was about an older couple. It is so rare to find a good romance between mature people…yet it read like any young romance does. Love Realized was lighter than I expected. In fact, I read most of it with a smile on my face, and really enjoyed the whole ‘real’ aspect of it. There was no rock star, no millionaire, no fighter, no cowboy, no biker and no cop. Just regular people (well, regular gorgeous people).

The book begins with Gillian at her 8 year old son’s birthday party. She has 3 kids, ranging from 8-17, and has been married for 16 years. She got pregnant in high school, and except for an old skeleton in her marital closet, she is still very happily married. They also have a great group of best friends and family. She is enjoying her day and basking in her happiness. Her husband, Logan, seems like a great guy.

Lucky just wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how fortunate she was to have what she had.”

But wouldn’t you know it? Skeletons tend to pop up…and Logan’s did. And the skeleton was very much alive, and at her son’s birthday party!

Jake is one of the couple’s closest friends. He has always secretly been in love with Gillian since 10th grade, but since his good friend got to her first and was involved with her, he tucked those feelings away for 18 years. But he is there for Gillian when she needs him.

Why wasn’t I enough for him Jake? Why wasn’t I good enough?” she managed to choke out and then put her face back into his chest to sob some more.

Her best friend Allie (who happened to be her husband’s sister) was an awesome character, and was there for her too.

Have no fear, SuperBitch is here, and I got your back. Just tell me, though, is this a Oh-no-he-didn’t-moment? Or is it a Bitch-hold-my-hoops-and-get-me-the-Vaseline-moment?”

Allie also witnessed the moment Gillian fell asleep in Jake’s arms and…

He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead, whispering, “You would be much more than ‘just enough’ for me Gillian.”

Gillian was amazing. While I would want to go all Lorena Bobbitt on my husband’s ass, she handled herself with grace and dignity, and managed a very friendly relationship through the breakup with her husband for the kids’ sake. And with Jake and Allie there every step of the way, Gillian was able to recover. It wasn’t a difficult leap to move the gorgeous Jake from friend zone to more-than-friend zone, but Jake handled everything so perfectly. Who could turn him down?

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Likes:
  • Older hero and heroine.
  • The author had the nerve to portray Logan as the perfect husband and all around great guy, except for one MAJOR, marriage ending flaw. She didn’t feel the need to vilify him any more.
  • Great portrayal of the kids.
  • A much lighter read than I expected, though still emotional and exciting.
  • An exciting twist or two later in the book.
  • Very realistic characters.
  • Some funny lines.
  • Really makes me want to read the next in the series, Allie’s book.
  • Though it was 3rd person, which usually isn’t my favorite, it was done really well. The transition between his and her point of views were easy to follow and I was never unsure as to what I was reading.
Dislikes:
  • It was all just a bit too easy.  She was too easy on Logan and she seemed to get over the 16 year marriage a little too easily, but then again, if I had a Jake standing by, I might too.
  • I would have liked to know a little more about what drove Logan to do what he did.
Rating: 4.25 Stars, 3.5 Heat

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Jake was an amazing hero, and I really enjoyed Gillian’s inner voice. All of the side characters are really great and hope we get each of their books. I really enjoyed reading about older characters with baggage, like older kids and exes, and I loved how Melanie was able to take a pretty awful situation and make it light and easy to read. Sure, there was emotion, and excitement, but nothing overwhelming. It was just an all-around great romance with mature, older characters. How refreshing!

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Comments

  3. Karen G. says

    Thanks for the post and the reminder of this series. I also like that it features mature characters and is not angsty. It is on my tbr list and I need to bring this back up!

    Reply

  14. Dana L Stusse says

    Great review and thank you for the giveaway 🙂 I have all 3 of these ready on my Kindle so I just need to commit to finally reading them.

    Reply

  23. Victoria says

    Great review. Sounds like a good read, I’m looking forward to checking it out. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  27. Melanie Codina says

    Thanks so much for reading and reviewing Ana’s Attic! Can’t wait to see you in February =)

    Reply

  37. Karen H says

    I won the first book in this series and feel in love with Melanie’s books
    I have read this one numerous times and love each time

    Reply

  39. Raegan Michelle says

    I like you, have had a copy of this sotting on my kindle, but just haven’t been able to get around to reading it. Guess I’m gonna have to change that!
    Thanks for the chance at the giveaway!

    Reply

  45. Maricris Patrimonio Dimla says

    seems like a good book, I will check this series out. Thanks for the chance!

    Reply

  48. Stacie says

    These are on my TBR List. I have heard Good things about them. They sound Great! I can’t wait to read them. Thanks for the chance to win!!

    Reply

  56. Bertie Welck says

    Great reviews! love the giveaway so thank you for doing it and the blog as always is fantastic

    Reply

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