Review // Jerk It by Lani Lynn Vale

You couldn't handle me, even if I came with instructions. - Mavis to Murphy

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Jerk It by Lani Lynn Vale

Standalone - Madd CrossFit #2
Release - September 7, 2021
Genre - Contemporary Romance / enemies-to-lovers
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat Level - 3.5 out of 5 / a few scenes
Format/Source - eARC provided by the author
Page Count - 207
Publisher - Indie

Mavis always assumed that she would be in a hospital with the good drugs when her time came. Not in the middle of the road, with no one around but the damn town mechanic that hated her.

But there she was, having a rock star’s baby, with no one to rely on but the one that let it be known around every turn that she was a horrible person.

From the time that she met Murphy and became best friends with him at the age of eight, she knew he was destined for greatness.

But then her grandmother fired Murphy’s mom, forcing them to live on the streets, and making Murphy to realize that maybe they weren’t best friends after all.

Murphy loved Mavis.

At least, he had when he was younger, before she betrayed him.

From that moment forward, Murphy goes out of his way to stay the hell away from her, and always makes sure to never get too close. Even though everything inside of him screams to make contact.

When he moves back to town after being gone for five years, he tries his best to stay away.

But there she is at his CrossFit gym. Then having a baby on the side of the road. Oh, and breaking him a little more with each step she takes away.

Eventually, they find their way back to each other. The only problem is, by the time that Mavis makes her way back into his heart, it breaks. And not in a rhetorical way. In the ‘he only has days to live’ kind of way.

Purchase Links

Amazon CA * Amazon US

My Two Cents

Now that's how you yank on my feelings!

LLV did warn us and I should have really taken her warning to heart, but I didn't. And when I felt like all hope was lost, I was given another chance. However, that chance came at a huge cost. It was a price I wasn't willing to pay and here at the end... I'm so angry!!

I loved the push-and-pull of the relationship brewing between Mavis and Murphy. Who doesn't love a great enemies-to-lovers story? Especially when it has a touch of getting a second chance. And I was down for the heartache the author wanted to put me through. I loved how emotional I got over this story and I can even appreciate how angry I am right now.

You know a story is amazing when it pulls something out of you. It can't be humdrum, normal, or par for the course when it affects you so strongly. And I was definitely effected by the events that took place, by the excruciating love story that developed, and by the characters I couldn't help but fall in love with.

P.S. Is it just me or did anyone else absolutely adore the fact that Murphy wasn't a perfect male specimen of hunkiness? How about how well he stepped up for Mavis and her baby? How strong he was despite everything? His relationship with his mother? How could I not love this guy?

Check out the first book of the series:

Quick Peek

I’d gone and done the unthinkable. I’d made her fall in love with me. And I was leaving her shortly.

I knew it. She knew it.

Everybody would soon know it.

“Dammit, man.” Taos paused. “I’m really fuckin sorry to hear that. Does everyone else know?”

I leaned against the truck feeling my breaths come faster and faster just from the simple exertion of holding myself in a standing position.

“I’m going to tell them tonight.” I shrugged.

The front door slammed, and I looked to it to see Fran coming out with Vlad on her hip.

She took one look at me, and I knew she knew.

“Where’s Mavis?” I asked quietly.

Fran cleared her throat. “She’s in the bathroom getting cleaned up.”

I closed my eyes and felt a wave of something fierce hit me.

“This is why I should’ve stayed away,” I admitted. “I wish I’d never come back.”

Fran sucked in a breath at my words. “You would take away some of the happiest days I’ve ever seen Mavis experience because you’re upset that she’s going to be heart-broken?”

I didn’t know what to reply to that, so I just didn’t.

About the Author

Lani Lynn Vale is married to the love of her life that she met in high school. She fell in love with him because he was wearing baseball pants. Ten years later they have three perfectly crazy children and a cat named Demon who likes to wake her up at ungodly times in the night. They live in the greatest state in the world, Texas. She writes contemporary and romantic suspense, and has a love for all things romance. You can find Lani in front of her computer writing away in her fictional characters world...that is until her husband and kids demand sustenance in the form of food and drink.

Visit https://lanilynnvale.com/ for more information!