Actually Yours by Belinda Mary: Book Review

 **ARC received for consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Book

When Amelia Anderson’s best friend gets married and she finds herself the last single girl left in a room filled with couples, she wonders if it’s time to start dating again.

Enter the Dating Plan. Her helpful friends devise a plan to get her back out there and really, what could go wrong? They have a colour-coded binder to guide them, after all!

What ensues, however, is a string of dates so disastrous, it’s enough to have Amelia vowing to remain single forever.
The only bright side in this dismal dating experiment? Jake Johnson, her ex-boyfriend’s older brother, who keeps coming to her rescue. Making her feel safe, protected…special.

Jake has always been that guy for her. The one who represented everything she was scared to want, so she settled for what she thought she deserved. And now he’s back in her life and is stirring up all these feelings that she’s struggling to ignore. Amelia can’t forget that he’s off-limits for her.

But if that is true, why does it feel that in a sea of all these Mr Wrongs, he may actually be her Mr Right?

The Author

Belinda Mary is a long-time lover of all the books and has dreamed of being a writer her whole life. Since picking up her first Judy Blume novel at the age of ten, she has been happily lost in the world of fiction, and ask anyone around her, when she has a book to read, she turns into a very unproductive member of society.

After studying for ten years and obtaining her PhD in molecular biology, she pursued a career in the healthcare industry, and has recently taken the leap to make her lifelong dream of writing and publishing a novel come true. And when she is not looking after her two kids, her husband of eleven years and her crazy spoodle, she can be found on the couch reading, watching all things Bravo TV, or listening to true crime podcasts.

Belinda writes the kind of stories that she loves to read; filled with laughs, longing and love.

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Book Review

Actually Yours is the first book in the All Yours series but does feature characters previously introduced in the Love Always series. While it was nice seeing some familiar characters again, this can absolutely be enjoyed without having read those books too.

I've said it once and I'll say it again... the wrong brother trope is one that absolutely should NOT work... and yet, every time I've read one, I find myself LOVING them... some of my very favorites, in fact. This one was no exception... I absolutely, positive adored it. Jake has been interested in Amelia from the very first moment he saw her... the problem? She was waiting on her blind date--- who happened to be his younger brother! Yikes! This is definitely a complicated situation that has the potential to go badly, but Belinda handled it all perfectly in a way that didn't feel disloyal in the slightest. If there weren't enough complications, Amelia has a rocky relationship history and some issues she needs to work through. I couldn't help but love the chemistry between these two and found myself rooting for them to get their happily ever after... finally! Love, Actually fans will definitely appreciate the references to the movie. Admittedly, I have never actually seen the full movie myself, but didn't feel like that made me enjoy it any less. 

Actually Yours is a closed-door romance with nothing beyond kisses. There is some language throughout. 

You can purchase your copy here: https://amzn.to/4e9L7Fz