Love Is, S.E. Harmon

With an ex who has clearly moved on and a family who thinks she hasn't, Avery Jane is in a bind.  She doesn't want her ex back but she's trying so hard to prove she's happy staying single that she's not sure if she's pretending to be happy or keeping herself too busy to think of the alternative.  So when her loving but incredibly pushy sister threatens her with blind dates, Avery takes the easy way out and makes up a fake boyfriend.  Except by doing that and committing to come to their father's birthday party she now has to find someone to play the part.  Her best friend has a solution and even if she knows being attracted to the playboy lawyer with a hot ass and a wicked sense of humor shouldn't play a factor, it does.  It might also crumble her walls and make her fall in love.  But how do you know it's love when you're not sure what love really is?  She'll have to figure it out sooner rather than later or she'll lose it all before she ever really has it.

The snark, wit, banter, and playfulness was superb.  I loved Jackson and Avery Jane's interplay while they were getting to know one another.  When it moved into the bedroom it became so much more, instead of being the focus of their relationship it became merely a facet of something that was growing, changing, and deepening.  While I was definitely not a fan of how often Avery was avoiding her feelings I could feel where she was coming from.

Avery was so conflicted having not truly grieved for her mother's passing and watching her father move on, her brother move away, and her sister become the over-achiever she's realizing she's stuck in the past and doesn't know how to move forward.  She's completely successful and brilliant in her own right but she has no idea what she really wants her life to look like.  When she suspects she's falling for Jackson she pushes him away as well as her thoughts regarding him because avoidance is always easier than the harsh introspection of hurt feelings.  Once she sorts it all out, though, her realization of what love truly is for her is stunning.  After having the conversation with her father that was a long time coming she was able to come to terms with what she feels and who she feels all of it for.  Now she just has to get him to take her back.

I so wish we had Jackson's POV.  I wanted to see his feelings for her and see how he viewed her struggle.  But honestly, this story wasn't just a romance novel, it was about Avery's emotional journey through grief, avoidance, self-worth, and coming to terms with all of it so she could not only see herself clearly, but see her future too.  The story took kind of a long time to get to her point of awakening but that annoyance was pretty minor overall.  I grew to both love and be frustrated with Avery as I would have if she were a very real person in my life.  I loved her sense of humor, her vulnerability, and her inner strength.  I was frustrated with her constantly running away and avoiding the one person who could see all of her clearly and loved her for it.  Her story is funny, sexy, annoying, and triumphant all at the same time and I enjoyed just about every moment.

*$3.99 on Amazon!