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Mia Devine fell hard for Lucas Fournier after their magical week in Paris. But eight months later, the free-spirited half-French musician still hasn’t made any promises about their future. And as magnifique as long-distance phone sex is, nothing compares to the real thing.
Fed up with stolen weekends and lonely nights, Mia flies to New York armed with a list of reasons why they should take the next step, but an unexpected guest in Lucas’s apartment derails her plans. He’s been keeping secrets–worse, he claims he’s happy with the way things are.
Without the magic of Paris, can their mismatched love survive?_____________________________________________
I was so glad to see this book existed! I loved Frenched to bits but I might have died (alright, maybe not but almost) if there hadn’t been a follow up to Lucas and Mia’s story. I loved howFrenched ended. It was perfect! Romantic and sweet and it really made me curious about what was to come for my dear Lucas and Mia. But, I wouldn’t have been as satisfied with this book as I am if it wasn’t for this novella. Leaving Lucas and Mia’s story “hanging” when it just started would have been cruel. So I was glad to see there was more to come.
But then I made the mistake to read the blurb, and it got me worried. I know I should have had faith in Melanie Harlow, but I wished so bad for Mia and Lucas to have their HEA that I was almost afraid to pick Yanked up when I read this nasty little line:
“…but an unexpected guest in Lucas’s apartment derails her plans…”
I think even the possibility of cheating is what I hate the most in novels, because inevitably, it brings constant distrust in my mind while I read, and I end up fearing the worst. I hate it because it screws with the character’s dynamic and even though I see it coming from a mile away, it always gives me this nasty feeling that really upsets me. Anyway. Thank Gosh the stupid, annoying part was short-lived in this book, otherwise, I wouldn’t have liked it much.
So, you guessed it, Mia comes face to face with Jessica the Ex when she opens the door to Lucas’s apartment. Yeah, that bothered me a little too.
And it’s not so much that Jessica was there that bothered me (though it was a big part of it) but it was Lucas’ reaction to the situation, the fact that he kept a whole lot of things from Mia (but for the sake of keeping this review spoiler free, I’ll leave you the honors to find out just how much he kept from her) and his shittier than shitty excuse for it:
“I just didn’t see the point in telling you something that would cause you anguish. Something that you couldn’t do anything about.”
“So you’d have let her stay here even if I’d said I wasn’t comfortable with it?” I challenged.
“It is my apartment.” A note of defensiveness edged his words. A slight emphasis on my.
“She’s my friend. I didn’t think we had rules for each other that way, Mia. Rules about friends, I mean.”
Pretty bad right? Well, I’m afraid to say that there is more of this where it came from unfortunately…
“Look, she’s not a threat to you. And I’ve never believed that a couple needs to tell each other everything. Total transparency is not healthy in a relationship.”
So to sum it up, Lucas did and said pretty much everything you can do to break someone’s trust while being in a long distance (or really any kind of) relationship with someone. And I hated it even more when that little bitch of an ex made it sound like there was more to her being in Lucas’s apartment than there actually was.
But what really bothered me was Lucas reaction to the situation. Yes, that’s right. Lucas finally did something I didn’t like. I didn’t think it was possible but there it is. It upset me so much that I think I scared some people in the train while reading because I couldn’t help but show how much I was mad at him for his more than shitty reaction. Though don’t worry too much because it is Lucas we’re talking about here and this kind is still pretty awesome and he does good groveling. And even better make up sex.
I’ll give you this, Mia forgave Lucas pretty quickly. I know some readers won’t like that and I get it. If it were me in Mia’s shoes, the guy would’ve had to work harder, for me to let it go. But since this book is, after all, a novella, I let it slide for the purposes of the story. And okay, the make up sex had a little to do with it too. What can I say, I’m just as bad as Mia I guess.
Just like in Frenched, there were some pretty steamy bits to this story, which I enjoyed tremendously! I love the brand of sex Mia and Lucas have and the chemistry and connection between them is so great that it really made up for the less enjoyable moments in this book.
You probably guessed it but this book deals with the issues Mia and Lucas decided to ignore before they got together.
Lucas still views marriage as something he doesn’t want and Mia wants them to get more serious and committed in their relationship. So while Frenched dealt more with Mia’s issues and broken pride, Yanked deals with Lucas remaining fear of commitment. Again, I think some people will think the resolution of conflict in this book was a bit easy and that it felt like Lucas just flipped a switch when it comes to how he feels about getting more serious with his and Mia’s relationship.
But again, the fact that this book was a novella had to do with it I think, and it didn’t really bother me while I read. To me, the reason he did change his mind felt believable and it reminded me of what both Mia and him had said to each other in Frenched when they decided to give their story a shot. That not trying and not having each other in their life would be the worst thing that could happen to them.
“What I’m trying to say is, there’s no perfect life without you. In fact, I no longer dream about a “perfect” life. I only dream about a life with you.”
So even though I would have done without the annoying part of the book, I understand that it was somewhat necessary to the story, and it made it more realistic in the sense that, if things were always perfect between Mia and Lucas, I wouldn’t believe in their story as much as I did.
This novella had the right amount of angst to make it interesting and realistic. I loved that Lucas and Mia’s love for each other was greater and stronger than their differences.
I think the Ex had it really easy though. She really deserved to be put in her place and I wish “justice” had been done a little more than it was. Yet again, she lost Lucas forever so I guess it’s better than nothing.
I can’t wait for more of this series! These books are so good and I’m really glad I finally gave them a chance. Melanie Harlow is quickly making it to the Top Ten of my favorite authors, and I can’t wait to read more of her stories!
Under The Cover 