Amanda by Sarah Monzon {Book Review}

 **I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley for consideration. All thoughts are my own. 

“The devil made me do it” is a phrase that will never pass my lips. Why would it when I have Delores, my undiagnosed autoimmune disorder, to make all my decisions for me? (Yes, I named her myself since the doctors couldn’t do it for me.) A get together with friends? Delores says no. I’ll have my prescheduled daily afternoon fever and fatigue at that time.My two biggest regrets with having Delores direct my fate? One, my family thinks my illness is all in my head. And two, I set the love of my life, Peter Reynolds, free from my anchoring tether so he could fly. I never thought I’d see him again, but five years later he’s soaring in the limelight as one of the most talked-about defensive players in professional football. Oh, and did I mention he also happens to play for the team my boss just assigned me to as a social media manager? Meanwhile, nothing much has changed for me. Delores still bosses me around, and I’m still hopelessly in love with Peter. What’s a girl to do?

A Carol award finalist and Selah award winner, Sarah Monzon is a stay-at-home mom who makes up imaginary friends to have adult conversations with (otherwise known as writing novels). As a navy chaplain's wife, she resides wherever the military happens to station her family and enjoys exploring the beauty of the world around her.

Amanda is the fourth book in the Sewing in SoCal series. While I would highly recommend reading the rest of this sweet series too, this can definitely be read as a standalone. I had only read a few of the books in the series and had no troubles understanding what was going on, as each book focusses on just one member of the sewing group. That said, you might get some spoilers by reading them out of order.

This book focusses on Amanda, who has been living with an undiagnosed autoimmune disorder that has impacted her life and her relationships. As someone who also struggled with yet to be diagnosed chronic pain and health issues, I so appreciated Amanda's character! I related to her on the difficulty of living with an unnamed and often unseen illness that can be hard for others to understand. I feel like many others dealing with the same can appreciate the story, but also that perhaps it can shed a little light on that for those who don't have that same experience.

Beyond that though, this was also just a really sweet romance story. I so enjoyed the chemistry between Amanda and Peter, and found Peter to really be the perfect romantic hero! Overall, this was a very good read and one that fans of sweet, contemporary romances is sure to enjoy!