Still too much focus on the negative to really earn many body positivity points but A LOT better than the prior book. The MCs were okay. ( )

This was fun! Frankie has a long history of one-night stands with women, and is just now realizing there may be something missing from his life. Lucy, the friend of his sisters, is brassy and bold and doesn’t put up with his BS. She needs a date for a reunion, and since she seems immune to his charms, Frankie decides this might be the perfect time to put his bad habits on hold. Of course, they wind up having chemistry. This book had a great MC and good messages about loving the body you have. Lucy was my favorite by far. And the steamy times between these two were five campfires!

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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I never love Avery Flynn's books but I do always quite enjoy them. They are perfect beach or holiday books. I really enjoy how her characters are not standard but instead are quirky and unique. I like he storylines a lot but I do feel like they wrap up rather quickly. All and all they are solid books that rarely disappoint. ( )

This review is for the audio version of Muffin Top by Avery Flynn. Narrators were Brian Pallino and Savannah Peachwood.

I enjoyed listening to this contemporary romance. Both narrators fit my idea of the character's voices and were easy to listen to. They read with expression fitting to the scene.

The story was about a woman names Lily who was a size 20 and although she proclaimed she was good with her size and comfortable with her life, she still harbored some bad memories of growing up being called "muffin top" and looked down upon because of her weight. Frankie comes to her rescue when she is being ridiculed in a bar for what she is eating. He ends up going to her high school reunion as her date. What starts out as a fake date turns into more as they get to know each other better.

I thought the story was cute and I think I liked it better in audio than I might have had I been reading it. The narrators made me like the characters when I think if I had been reading it I would have been more annoyed with them. ( )

Find this review and others at Carlene Inspired.

I don't know what it is about 2018, but I am so grateful for the relatable characters that authors are writing right now. Lucy is a size twenty, brilliant, independent woman with a knack for helping influential men out of tight spots. She has the confidence to spin stories and take control, but not when it comes to her own life. Frankie is the handsome town player, a firefighter with a heart of gold who doesn't know how to really love a woman properly. I loved that in such a small town the two really hadn't had any one on one contact prior to the bar, it made their week trip to Lucy's hometown so entertaining. The reunion trip is a chance for each to shed their usual skin, each discovering that maybe being themselves isn't so bad, especially when they begin to fall for one another. Avery Flynn doesn't gloss over the realities in Muffin Top though, Lucy struggles with her size and her expectations that love couldn't happen to her and Frankie has to work through his previous player ways in order to prove Lucy he can be a more than an easy lay kind of guy.

"But it felt better coming from Lucy. Better. Hard-won."

The chemistry between these two is off the charts, with the two giving in easily to the passion and connection they feel. Unfortunately, the sex distracts them from the serious stuff and even as the two open up about themselves they're each left unsure of what the other's interests are. With well placed humor, Avery Flynn puts the characters into situations that force them to realize a few things. I loved reading about how Lucy and Frankie see the good in one another, but not in themselves. They each set out to prove the other wrong, of course there's bumps in the road along the way. Like in Butterface, the previous novel in The Hartigans series, family plays a huge role in this story and an even bigger role in Frankie and Lucy seeing the light.

"This week just might kill him, but what a way to go."

An honest, funny portrayal of life and romance, Muffin Top is another hit in The Hartigans series from Avery Flynn. I love the Hartigans siblings and the partners they end up with even more. The books aren't the kind that you escape into to forget the world's problems, but they do make you believe in love again, throwing all preconceived notions about perfect romance out the window and giving it to you in a realistic, sweet way.

ARC provided. ( )