REVIEW: Some Sort of Happy by Melanie Harlow

Some sort of Happy is LIVE!

Synopsis

Skylar Nixon is a twenty-seven year old failed actress with no Plan B. After a humiliating stint on a reality TV show crushes what’s left of her childhood dream, she finds herself back in her hometown with no money saved, no college degree, and no confidence she’s anything but a joke—a small town starlet who couldn’t hack it in the big city.

When she runs into former classmate Sebastian Pryce, she can’t believe the hot body and chiseled jaw belong to the shy, troubled loner she knew ten years before. He’s not exactly friendly at first, and she’s heard the rumors about his tragic past, but something in his sad eyes intrigues her. She only wants to get to know him better.

Until the night she wants more—and takes it. (Hard and deep. Twice.)

Are they just two lonely people seeking solace? Or can a disgraced beauty queen and flawed, frustrated man find some sort of happy ever after?

**SOME SORT OF HAPPY is a full-length, dual POV novel, complete with a happy ending.**

Goodreads

Shel: If you've read the Frenched Series by Melanie Harlow, then you know you can count on her for funny dialogue and steamy sex scenes and that's exactly what I thought I'd be getting when I picked up this novel. I thought this would be something light and fun and funny. I was wrong. While the funny dialogue and scenarios definitely show up, and the sexy scenes are quite sexy, this isn't necessarily a 'light' novel. Don't get me wrong--it's not dark or necessarily heavy, it's just not a romcom; it read more as dramedy. Why am I going on and on about this? I guess because it threw me a little and it took me a few chapters to quit looking for what I thought I'd find and really settle into the story of Skylar and Sebastian; once I settled in, I didn't want to put it down.

Court: And I had Shel's experience to go on, but I was in awe of what I found when I started reading too. I wasn't sure what she had meant when she said this wasn't quite as care free as Harlow's novels have been for us in the past, but fear not...we are lovers of good and meaty psychological scenarios and this did not disappoint.

Shel: Compared to Harlow's earlier series, this felt more serious. I'm sure some of it felt that way because the characters felt like they were a little older and dealing with more serious things. Maybe it was also the angst I felt as I worried about what was going to happen next and how each of them would react to what was happening? Maybe it was because even as we neared the ending, things were going well but not every loose end was tied up neatly...not everything was "fixed" and I liked it. I liked that when I put the novel down, I thought about them and how they were doing. I wondered if things were going smoothly and how they were handling all of the things that would inevitably ruffle feathers and make waves.

Court: Right. I liked this novel by how much was going on, though it didn't feel overwhelmingly angsty...it felt like my life. With struggles as our heroine is 27 and unsure of herself...or is bad at adulting (as I feel I am at 26 and still feel 15 when I get around my siblings, lol) and have constant worry about where do we go from here and not necessarily live in the moment. And if anything that this book might have taught me, that is it. Live and have fun and don't worry so much, and with that message I found this novel to be heartfelt and inspiring and a great deal sexy. Whew, was it sexy!

Shel: I know I'm being intentionally vague here, but I guess I want you to go into this novel as clueless as I was about Skylar and Sebastian. I want you to watch them as they fumble and fall and help each other. I want you to laugh and smile and be frustrated with them. I want you to get to the end and feel happy at what you read and still want to know more (like I do).

Court: And as you say that Shel, Some Sort of Happy, is the perfect title for this. Some sort of good life, and some sort of fun times with family around and maybe not always feeling quite enough for the people around you but trying anyway. Sebastian is a great character, and like Shelley said, I don't want to tell you what I found to love about him because you need to taste it and savor it like a fine wine (pun intended, read the book) because I love reading about 20 somethings who don't have it all figured out as soon as they graduate from college, or in Skylar's case...didn't...and it was fun, and just what I needed in the follow up to the serious book funk I have been wallowing in.

Shel: As I said at the beginning, this was not exactly what I expected when I picked it up, but I think it's so much better than what I assumed it would be. Harlow's trademark wit and sexiness is all over this novel, but this novel felt different and it's lingering with me. I hope you'll give it a shot and I hope you like it as much as I do. I'm very much looking forward to what and where Melanie Harlow writes next and I hope she continues to surprise me. Court: Exactly, the writing we had no doubt would be solid, but I am always leery of the unknown these days. And once I was there, I immediately felt a kinship with the characters and the setting, and as we are shown all sorts of feels, this story becomes more and more and more. I am so happy to have read it!

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Author Bio:

Melanie Harlow likes her martinis dry, her lipstick red, and her history with the naughty bits left in. When she's not reading good books, she gets her kicks from TV series like Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, Masters of Sex, Deadwood, Mad Men, and Downtown Abbey (although she wishes it were more HBO and less PBS). Melanie is the author of the FRENCHED contemporary romance series (FRENCHED, YANKED, FORKED) and the sexy historical series SPEAK EASY (SPEAK EASY, SPEAK LOW), set in the 1920s. She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.