Blog Tour + Giveaway + Review: "Make Me Fall" by Ember Leigh

I am super excited to be participating in the blog tour celebrating the release of Ember Leigh's latest novel, "Make Me Fall," the second book in the Bayshore series. I recently read the first book in this series and loved it, so I was really looking forward to reading book #2.  Thankfully, it not only lived up to my expectations, it exceeded them.  My full review of "Make Me Fall" is included later in this post, but in short, I highly recommend both books in this series, though they are each completely standalone and do not need to be read in order. 

For a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card from the author, Ember Leigh, click here! (Giveaway ends on October 10.)

About "Make Me Fall"

There’s one rule in my family.

Stay away from the Daly brothers.

We were raised to know them as users. Manipulators. But I only ever saw Connor as the enigmatic senior hottie who dropped into fifth period to teach us about the perils of drunk driving.

So when my first big girl job out of college ends up with us working at the same company, it’s heart throb city all over again. Except he’s way ahead of the game. Successful, talented, put together. I’m just a frumpy twenty-something in a quarter life crisis who doesn’t know a glue stick from a makeup highlighter.

He would never want me, even though he’s all I ever wanted in secret. So when we cross paths one night at the bar and one drink leads to another, he slaps me with an offer I can’t refuse.

Accompany him back to Bayshore, flight included.

Only stipulation? Pose as his girlfriend.

Our families will flip, but I’m not strong enough to say no to those baby blues, especially if it means I’ll have a chance to spend the next two weeks with my adolescent heart throb.

My Review

As stated earlier, I loved "Make Me Fall".  Part of the story's timeline overlaps with the first book in the Bayshore series, "Make Me Lose", but both books are completely standalone, so readers won't feel lost by starting with book #2.  That said, I highly recommend reading book #1 anyway because it adds a nice bit of context to the events of this story, plus it's just so darn cute and funny on its own. 

I love the fake relationship trope, and it's done really well in "Make Me Fall".  There is some added spice here since the families of the main characters, Kinsley Cabana and Connor Daly, have been enemies for years.  Connor and Kinsley were raised to dislike and mistrust each other, but despite that, they can't fight their attraction and end up falling in love anyway.

I found Kinsley and Connor to be very likeable and well-developed main characters.  Kinsley, especially, was a delight, and it was a pleasure watching her evolve over the course of the book into the more confident version of herself I knew she could be from the start.  She was so sweet and funny, though awkward at times, with a wonderful snarky side that I adored.  Kinsley's ex-boyfriend and evil boss nearly destroyed her self-esteem, but her relationship with Connor helped give her the perspective she needed to get it back. 

The secondary characters in this book were also a lot of fun, especially the other Daly brothers.  I can't wait to see what the author has in store for them in future books!

*ARC provided by the author via InkslingerPR.  All opinions expressed are my own.