They say to never meet your heroes, but when Vivian Liao’s roommate gets engaged to her favorite actor’s costar, she has no choice but to come face-to-face with Melvin Lee again. He’s just as funny and handsome as he is on-screen…but thinks she is a snob and a sellout. It’s none of his business how she chooses to live her life, no matter how charismatic he is.
Mel is used to charming audiences as an actor and stand-up comedian but can’t connect to Vivian. She’s a smart, talented artist—which is why he thinks she’s wasting her life as a corporate finance drone. The only thing uniting them is their goal for the wedding to go off without a hitch.
As they collaborate on wedding cake and karaoke parties, Mel realizes he might have seriously misjudged this bridesmaid, while Vivian discovers the best man might just be as dazzling off-screen as he is on. With the wedding underway, maybe more than one happily ever after is in the future.
Release Date: Oct 25, 2022
Series: Donut Fall in Love
Book: 2
Heat Level: Hot
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $10.99
Lau wins an award—she made me cry.
Let’s preface this review by saying very few books make me cry. I can probably count them on two hands. Beverley Kendall, our lovely Smittenbybooks.com blog runner is one of them. Jackie Lau also joins this prestigious group because her second entry in the Donut Fall In Love series spoke to me on a visceral level, especially our heroine Vivian Liao.
Vivian is an older child (like me), a career woman (like me) with a private hobby (like me) and is queer (like me). She’s so me it’s crazy and we still have very different backgrounds. But all of those like mes had me crying for Vivian repeatedly as this story evolved. At first on the inside and then on the outside. She’s this strong woman who’s used to fielding everything on her own and never expecting anyone to take care of her, ever.
Enter our hero, Melvin Lee. A stand-up comic that Vivian has always admired, but he’s a goofball, and from their first meeting in Donut Fall In Love, these two clash. It’s horrible and I didn’t know how Lau could ever repair what was already broken, but she did. Mel is the person Vivian needs the most. Someone who just wants to be with her any way he can with no expectations for change. Mel has his own battles to fight from being constantly doomed with short-term relationships and always searching for someone to belong to, a place to be himself where he isn’t ‘too much’. I cried for Mel too.
After I read this book I kept thinking how there was a high emotional draw for me and yet this wasn’t one of those fast-paced reads. It’s not witty one-liners or hooks, but just slice of life style romance that if you’ve read the first book in the series you can appreciate more. So, while this book can stand alone, I highly recommend reading Donut Fall In Love first for the whole experience.
This one blew me away, and while that’s highly subjective, based on my personal connection to the characters, I’d say this is one read I’ll be coming back to.
~ Landra
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