Unmanageable ~ (In Vino Veritas #3)

I have read a couple of Leslie McAdam's books in the past and I really enjoyed them, so I was very excited to pick up this book. And ultimately, I think that it was my downfall, I probably was just too excited for the book to be able to deliver as much as I wanted it, but that’s totally on me and we will come back to it later, as I still really enjoyed a lot of things about this book I want to discuss first.

“He was affectionate with you, and he respected your opinions. He seemed to be entertained by you, and he always made sure you were taken care of. It looked like more than sex to me. How do you know he isn’t in love with you?”

Brief Summary

Scott broke up with his boyfriend because he was getting cheated on, he is alone and really wants to find someone who will cherish him, he is very much a hopeless romantic. He meets Luke. Luke needs someone to babysit his kid and Scott applies for the job. Luke is very jaded and cynical and he doesn’t have much hope in life or love. Somehow, they end up falling in love.

Scott is one of those shy and awkward main characters who doesn't always know what to do in social situations, which are my favourite characters to read about. Because I can just really relate to them. And it was the case for Scott, his every action reminded me of myself and I really enjoyed reading about him because of that. Scott was just such a sweet character. He just wanted someone to love him and be there for him. And if that isn’t the most relatable thing in the world then I don’t know what is. I just really could see myself in Scott and in his actions and wishes and that’s probably why I loved him so much, he was just such a good main character. I prefer my main characters when I can relate to them and I’m glad it was the case here.

I must admit that I had a harder time liking Luke as a character. He was more of a grump, which is normally absolutely love, but I just couldn’t see myself in him as much as I did in Scott. He was a totally fine character, but I was just so love in with Scott as a character that it overshadowed everything for me.

If you know me, you know that my favourite dynamic between characters is grumpy/sunshine, so I had an absolute blast reading about it in this book. I just loved how they played off each other. They were super different from each other, but they worked so well together. They seemed like such an unlikely couple, with Scott being such a hopeless romantic and Luke being more jaded and not really wanting to be in love. But somehow the pair worked for me, and I had a lot of fun reading their dynamic and seeing how they balance out each other.

I really liked the romance in this one. I liked how Luke was warier and not really into the whole idea of falling in love, while Scott was all in and that's all he wanted. It made for a super fun dynamic to read and I loved reading about their push and pull until they got together, it was just so much fun to me. And Luke and Scott were a very wonderful couple who really worked well together and they were a lot of fun to read.

Also, a special shoutout to Addi, Luke's daughter who was just so sweet and precious, I really loved her character.

Unfortunately, I think that I went into this book too excited to read it and convinced that I would enjoy that it somehow was my own downfall. I did enjoy reading this book, but it just didn’t really connect with me, not as much as I wanted to. I just had the hardest time really getting invested in this book. And I cannot really explain why, I really enjoyed the dynamic and the romance in this one, but somehow it just wasn’t enough to keep my full attention.

Also, this book took on a lot of heavier themes that I really enjoyed but I felt like they were explored on too much of a surface level, I just wanted them to be explored in more detail because I was curious about them and I felt like what I got wasn't enough to satisfy me.

This book was such a good concept. I really enjoyed the premise and the couple in this one. It was just such a good idea and it really worked for me. Also, this book was super sweet and that's always a very good bonus point for me.

Unmanageable is available as an ebook and/or in audio from Amazon US ǀ AUS ǀ UK