Review: Forked (Frenched, #2) by Melanie Harlow

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Review

4 “panky” lovin’ stars

Frenched was one of my favourite reads of the year, and this book follows on in the same vein – funny, sexy and romantic, lots of banter and a highly entertaining read.

Coco is the best friend of Mia (heroine of Frenched), and the two of them are partners in an event planning company. When Coco’s latest client demands sexy celebrity chef, Nick Lupo to cater her engagement party, Coco is left with no choice but to contact him – her ex, the first man she ever loved, and the one that shattered her heart when he left her 7 years ago.

When she tracks him down at his highly popular restaurant, he is still sexy, still makes her heart pound, and is just as cocky as ever.

“There must be a reason you’re here after all this time.” The mischief was back in his cocky Elvis half-grin, and I felt like punching him. But instead I saw the opening and took it.
“If you must know, there is.”
“I must know.”
“Me too,” said Lou, raising his hand for the bartender to bring him another beer.
“Fine.” I glared at both of them before focusing my full attention on Nick. “I need a favor.”
His grin widened. “Sexual, I hope.”

From the very start the banter is fantastic, and Nick makes no secret of his attraction to Coco. He tells her he’ll take the job if she agrees to spend the weekend with him. In a battle between her head and her heart (and lower body parts), Coco decides she has no choice, and she agrees – but with the proviso that there is no talking about the past, no second chances and no sex. Well, that’s all blown out of the water in a matter of hours when Nick has her splayed across his kitchen counter in what is the beginning of an epically sexy reunion.

Oh yes. There would be licking tonight. I didn’t care if we were just friends, I was going to lick this man up, down, and sideways. I was going to trace his tattoos with my tongue, savor every inch of him…

Neither of them can deny that their attraction to each other is as strong as it ever was, but Nick takes it a step further, pouring out his feelings and making it clear that he wants Coco back and will do anything he can to have her.

“Coco, not a day goes by that I don’t regret what happened between us. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I made a mistake. And it cost me the love of my life.”

I love this relationship! They tease, they banter, they joke around, and their connection is still very apparent. They are obviously hot for each other, and they quickly start to make up for all of the time they lost together by having hot and heavy sex wherever and whenever they can. And OMG, it’s HOTTTT! Melanie Harlow writes great sex scenes, but it doesn’t overshadow the story or become pointless. It complements the romance nicely, and adds some highly fantastic crudeness to the story with Nick and Coco both being dirty talkers, and each encounter plays a big part in their reconnection as Nick continues to plead his case.

With a grunt of frustration, he grabbed the back of my head and pulled my lips to his, kissing me hard. “You drive me crazy. Tell me you’ll do it forever.”

But their past is murky with lies and betrayals, and as sizzling as they are together, there is a lot of baggage they need to wade through. And this is where the emotion comes into the story as they finally open up to each other about how they feel and everything that happened between them, and see whether it’s possible for them to have a future together.

“We have history. That has weight. It has meaning. And you of all people know that just because something is in the past doesn’t mean it’s dead and buried.”

OMG, I absolutely fell in love with Nick! He has a huge battle on his hands, but he is so open about how he feels, and his determination to win Coco back is fantastically swoony.

“I love you. And I want you. But I don’t want to live this way— being called a liar and an asshole for the rest of my life because of something stupid I did when I was twenty- two. I don’t want every argument we ever have to circle back to it. I’m not that guy anymore, Coco. I’m not perfect, but given the chance, I know I could make you happy. Tell me what to do to get that chance.”

Coco is terrified of being hurt again after Nick left her broken the last time he left, and I could understand her hesitation and her doubt about whether she could trust him again. I did think she took things too far at one point in trying to fight her feelings and push him away, but thankfully Nick’s awesome made up for it, and it was quickly resolved so that they could get their happy ending.

The storyline ties in with Melanie’s Speak Easy series, with Nick being a descendent of the characters in that story. And I am definitely adding those books to my tbr, because it sounds like a fantastic story! This book also follows on nicely from Frenched and Yanked, with some further progression for Mia and Lucas. We don’t see a lot of them, but what we do see is absolutely gorgeous.

You know how you read some books and have a great time while doing it? Well, this is one of those books. It was fun, it’s fast paced (the whole story takes place within 2 weeks!), funny, sexy and beautifully romantic – and there’s even an epilogue. I flew through it really quickly and it left me with a huge grin on my face.

I loved it – 4 stars.

 

The Frenched series

Frenched  Yanked  Forked  Floored  Frenched The Wedding Night

Frenched (#1) (Mia & Lucas)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

Yanked (#1.5) (Mia & Lucas)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook

Forked (#2) (Nick & Coco)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

Floored (#3) (Charlie & Erin)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

Frenched:  The Wedding Night (#3.5) (Mia & Lucas)
Review
Buy:  Kindle Ebook

 

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