TEST
Sleepover is one of the best contemporary romances released in the past ten years. You don’t need me to tell you that. But maybe you do need me to let you know that the book’s just been reissued and if you don’t own it, you should run and grab your own copy.
Sawyer Paulson has just started renting a tumbledown house from Doris Wheeling which is, to quote his brother Brooks, “a shithole.” He and his son Jonah are looking to move on two years after the death of his wife Lucy, and he figures a new home will contribute to that start. They settle in immediately, and Jonah instantly makes friends with the kid his own age who lives next door, Madden. When Sawyer sees Madden’s mom, he’s stunned, because the woman happens to look very much like someone he had a recent against-a-brick wall pump-and-run assignation with.
Elle Dunning definitely remembers Sawyer from that one-hour (minute?) stand two months before – to her, he’s the rebound guy, the first one she’d had sex with since her divorce from her ex-husband, Trevor. Now, Trevor is about to marry the woman he dumped his family for, and Madden is handling things poorly, so his friendship with Jonah is a definite plus. Elle never planned on seeing Sawyer again, but since their boys get along, there’s no shame in being neighborly.
Elle and Sawyer try to be friends, but it’s pretty hard to resist the temptation to be more. Can they form a more perfect union and finally find true love with one another?
Definitely, and it’s a fun ride getting there. The joy of Sleepover is how hard Elle and Sawyer try to suppress their desire until they simply can’t take it anymore. It’s a bonus that they’re good people, two complex individuals who manage to find love together in spite of their flaws. Sawyer is still mourning his wife, Elle’s trying to learn how to co-parent with her ex husband without any bitterness being involved. Together, in that messy mix of emotions, Elle and Sawyer manage to find love.
The kids are wonderful, credible kids, and their friendship and relationship with their parents is wonderfully written. Bell’s writing is so good, so impressive, that it sticks with the reader years later.
Everything about Sleepover is golden, memorable and beautifully done.
Buy it at: Amazon or your local independent retailer
Visit our Amazon Storefront
Grade: A
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 03/05/22
Publication Date: 03/2022
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
Related Reviews
Great review of a very good book. Thanks! I’ll be checking out this newer version. I doubt I’ll even notice the changes (just because it has been so long) but it’s time for a reread.
I didn’t read the originals, but I’m guessing the bulk of the changes were adding in references to the Wilder family and their outdoor adventure company—cross-referencing the series Bell is currently writing.
I didn’t notice any super huge changes in the edit, so this should still be the same book overall!
I agree completely with your review. Bell re-released all three of her Under One Roof series this year (they were originally published in 2018; there was a comment in the blurbs that the books had undergone some “light editing” prior to re-release): DO OVER, HEAD OVER HEELS, and SLEEPOVER. I had not read them when they were first published but read them all this year and loved them–and I think SLEEPOVER is the best of the three.
It is one of my favorite contemporary romances of all time.
WOW!
Now I want to make a list of my top ten….
That would be a great ASK post (although I’m sure you may have done something like that before): your ten all-time favorite romances/the ten romances you’d take to a deserted island.
I was thinking of doing it within subgenres.
Yes please!! I’ve often thought these would be interesting complements to Top 100 and annual lists.
It really is, though all three books are good.