Release Day Review: Decidedly With Love (By The Bay #3) by Stina Lindenblatt

Fake boyfriend Rule #1: never fall for your fake girlfriend.

Oops.

Emma Lovejoy runs Aphrodite’s Boutique, a store that specializes in all things love-related. A store that she adores with all her heart, and which is at risk of being shut down and replaced with a condo development.

Playboy Travis Hamilton was raised by his feisty, well-meaning grandmother, who is determined to help her grandson find The One. But when most women he meets tend to be puck bunnies or women only interested in his hockey-player income—and let’s not forget the nutcase of an ex-girlfriend—why bother?

Travis realizes only a fake girlfriend will deter his grandmother’s matchmaking scheme. Too bad the one woman who can help him is the sexy redhead who wants to assist him as much as she wants her eyeballs to be dunked in hot sauce and barbecued. To convince her, he promises to help her with her own dilemma. But sometimes fire and ice really do mix. Now Travis has to decide if love is in the air—and if together he and Emma make something hotter. Something stronger. Something real.

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What I thought about Decidedly in Love

In this third installment in the By The Bay series from Stina Lindenblatt, Emma Lovejoy, owner of the Aphrodite Boutique aka the love store and playboy Travis Hamilton, hockey star, engage in a fake relationship to placate Travis’s matchmaking grandmother. Turns out its a win-win for Emma and Travis in multiple ways.

This is a familiar trope, so there aren’t many surprises here and the story rests on the likability of the characters.  Travis has a fairly serious transformation as he starts out with a no girlfriends ever mantra.  He’s got just the right amount of sexiness and vulnerability.  Emma is a business woman peddling love who’s looking for it herself, and when they get together it’s quite heartwarming. They’ve got great chemistry and their journey to their HEA is full of humor and some surprises along the way. 
 

Decidedly with Love can be read as a standalone title although there are appearances from characters in the first two books in the series.  This is one of my favorite Stina Lindenblatt’s series.  I love the sweetness and it’s a nice escape from the drama of real life.
 

An ARC was provided for review.

About the Author

 

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Stina Lindenblatt lives in Western Canada, where she loves to dream up New Adult and Young Adult stories, especially those with romance. She loves to travel, and has lived in England, the US, Canada, and Finland. She has a Master’s of Science degree in exercise physiology and has worked with elite athletes. In her free time, Stina enjoys photography, especially the close-up variety.

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