Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Dear Max Monroe~
Thank you! Over and over again, thank you for offering up hours of laughter, tears, and sighs. Every Max Monroe book release is a guaranteed experience that allows you to disconnect from the crazy of life and invests you deeply in these zany characters that you cannot help but love. Even Andrew. Especially Andrew.
Your newest book, Hate the Player, introduces us to one Andrew Watson. I’ll be honest. He does not make a good first impression. Player – check. Vain – check. Instigator of trouble – check. Birdie’s nemesis – check. Man, I love me an alpha-hole, but this guy is not that kind of hero. Instead, he’s the guy you can’t help but hate because he is self-centered and self-indulgent in ways that make you roll your eyes. In my opinion, he was quickly becoming my least favorite Max Monroe character. I was Birdie, your heroine. Rolling my eyes at every page and wishing I could read through and punch the guy square in the nose. Yet, you worked your Max Monroe magic midway through this delectable book, and you redeemed that jackhole. One minute, he made me want to throw your book against the wall at his self-absorption. The next minute, you finally showed us his humanity. At that moment, you reminded me again of your dynamic duo magic. How you write a character who seems so unlikeable one moment and make him a swoony beaut of a hero is the reason I adore your books, why I adored Hate the Player.
Now, the other voodoo you wield is the ability to craft heroines that your readers are compelled to adore. It’s a requirement. Birdie is no different. Obviously, she’s smarter than Andrew given that she’s lived in the “real world” much longer than him. You give her a tenacity and a genuineness that makes you adore her from the start. It’s those qualities, along with her beauty, that obviously wins over the BMOS (Big Man on Set), but she, like your super duo, must wield those qualities as a weapon against Andrew’s idiocy. For most of the book, Birdie is my favorite character. It’s that last quarter of the book where Andrew and Birdie switch places a bit for me. She needs a little smack upside the head. Thankfully, you remind us of The Power of
Billie, and you made it alright for your readers. I love that Luca takes a back seat to the Billie Show. Smart man…But again, that’s all of your witchcrafting, Max Monroe. Your ability to create women who are smart, insightful, witty, and a little nutty allows for stories where the men have absolutely no chance against the power of women. Thank you for creating spaces for these incredible women.
Lastly, thank you for making me belly laugh through Hate the Player. When you write sentences like “[h]e’s like the Oprah of Hollywood douchebags,” I bust a gut and I grow greedy for more of your brand of humor and romance. Even in the midst of the book’s romance angst, I know I can trust you to bring the humor again. And you don’t disappoint with this book. The humor, the insight, the $exy moments, and the ending (oh…man…that ending…<swoon>) conspire to bring about a whirlwind of a read. The only reason I put this book down is I had to complete a training for work. While I was in that training, I had serious withdrawal for this story because it’s just that good. Again, thank you!
Max Monroe, you offer a respite from the doldrums of life. Whether we’re struggling to remember our mask to get a cup of coffee, on the cusp of strangling our spouse from too much time together in close quarters, or drowning in our kids’ school projects, your books allow us to escape to a place where love and laughs reign. Once again, Hate the Player creates a stay-cation from the zaniness of our world. And this reader says “thank you very much.”
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 