Cutie and the Beast, an all-new hilarious romantic standalone from M.E. Carter, is now available in Kindle Unlimited.
🏋️♀️ Cassie’s Review 🏋️♂️
This was hands-down one of the most 'real life' fiction books I've read in a very long time.
Cutie and the Beast is a sweet real life look at single parents who become roommates, and fall in love. Elliot is a great mom - fantastic mom. I love how she's able to bring joy and love to Abel and his daughter. She's the no-nonsense mom we all wish we could be. I love the Weight Expectations extended family, and LOVED the little check in we got with Rian and Carlos!
"You can only fall in love with someone if you're looking to find it. I'm hoping to find it with you. Once I'm committed, that's it for me."
🏋️ Ashley’s Review 🏋️
I don't spend a lot of time at the gym. In fact, you could say I've spent more time at Weight Expectations over the last year than I have any real-life gym. (And since I've spent zero hours inside the walls of a real gym, that statement would be absolutely factual.) However, I'd like to think that if I lived in Chicago I would visit Weight Expectations if for no other reason than to meet this cast of characters.
'Cutie and the Beast' is a roommates to friends to lovers story featuring two single parents and their eight-year-old daughters.
Our hero and heroine meet when Elliot takes a job at the child care center inside the gym were Abel works as a trainer. While there's attraction between the two, it's not love at first sight. When the two become housemates, its easy to see that a relationship would only complicate life. But they come to rely on each other. They like each other. And as the song goes, "like can lead to like-like, and like-like can lead to love." 'Cutie and the Beast' is a quick, happy read that had me chuckling out loud.
“Because no matter where this relationship goes, no matter if or how it ends, this is love right here. It’s not the kind that bowls you over so nothing else matters. It’s not the kind that fizzles when the lust is gone. It’s the kind that starts with two people being best friends and grows until they become 'your person.' That’s the best kind of love there is.”
🏋️♀️ Tidbits 🏋️
Are you more or less active since quarantine? Cassie: Waaaaay less Ashley: Same
Are you attached to your coffee maker? Cassie: We have a Keurig that I use for hot chocolate. Ashley: Our coffee maker lives in our storage space unless we have a coffee drinker visiting.
🏋️♀️ Blurb 🏋️
Welcome back to Weight Expectations, where the unexpected is likely to happen.
Living with her mother seemed like a good idea at the time. But Elliott Donovan’s living arrangements are not working for her anymore. Desperate to get back on her financial feet after a divorce and out from under her mother’s thumb, Elliott takes a job in the child care center at Weight Expectations, a local gym.
It has everything she needs – family friendly hours, more pay than she expected, and a super cute trainer who just happens to have part of his house for rent.
Abel DiSoto was living the good life until his wife walked out taking half of the family income with her. The blow to his ego was bad enough, but after a fire at the gym scattered Abel’s clients, and consequently his commissions, he’s stuck figuring out how to make ends meet, too. Renting out the master suite of his house to his new co-worker seems like an easy solution. They’re both mature adults, they both have eight-year-old daughters, and their work schedules coordinate so they can lend each other a helping hand to ease the burden of single parenthood.
The only downside? Living like a blended family when you’re not actually a family can present some challenges.
Welcome back to Weight Expectations, where the unexpected is likely to happen.
‘Cutie and the Beast’ is a full-length contemporary romantic comedy, can be read as a standalone, and is book #3 in the Cipher Office series, Knitting in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
Download your copy TODAY or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited! Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2RnGgqQ Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2tt0Az5 Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/38oFcda Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/2NI0xqc Add to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2NLdj76
🏋️♀️ Excerpt 🏋️ In my haste to not be late, I barrel right into a woman coming through the front door.
Grabbing her arms to steady her from falling, I apologize profusely. “I’m sorry! I didn’t see you. Are you all right?”
Smiling tightly, the blonde isn’t thrilled a random stranger practically ran her over. But she’s polite anyway. “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure? You aren’t hurt?” I don’t think she is, but sometimes I don’t know my own strength.
This time her smile is a little more genuine. “I’m sure. You sure are in a rush.”
Letting go of her arms, I feel like she needs an explanation other than me racing around like an idiot. “I’m the one parent who has a tendency to be late for school pickup. The lady at the front desk gives me a nasty evil glare if she has to call me.”
This woman, whose name I still haven’t bothered to ask, laughs and I’m struck by how cute she is. She’s definitely a few years older than I am, but not by much. There’s nothing about her that necessarily stands out in a crowd, but her smile is genuine. This is a woman who likes to laugh and have fun. I always gravitate toward those people, which gives me a fleeting thought: I should have noticed my ex-wife hardly ever smiled for real. Laughing was even rarer unless it was at someone else’s expense. Those should have been easy indicators she wasn’t the one for me.
“Parker Elementary?” the blonde asks.
“Yeah.” I give her a quizzical look. “How did you know?”
“Do not mess with Ms. Alexander’s routine. She will cut a bitch.”
My laugh comes easily, and I find myself hoping this woman is a new member. She’s funny. I love it when clients have a sense of humor. Offering her my hand, I introduce myself. “I’m Abel. Trainer here at Weight Expectations and father of Mabel in second grade.”
She places her cold hand in mine. “Elliott. Interviewee for the childcare position and mother of Ainsley, also in second grade.”
“Ah! Well it’s nice to meet you. Fingers crossed I’ll see you here later as a fellow employee. And if not here, at Parker Elementary as a fellow parent. Hopefully not in Ms. Alexander’s line of sight.”
Elliott holds up her gloved hands and crosses her fingers around each other. “Wish me luck. Now run fast.”
About M.E. Carter My name is M.E. Carter and I have no idea how I ended up writing books. I’m more of a story teller (the more exaggerated the better) and I happen to know people who helped me get those stories on paper. I love reading (read almost 200 books last year), hate working out (but I do it anyway because my trainer makes me), love food (but hate what it does to my butt) and love traveling to non-touristy places most people never see. I live in Houston with my four kids, Mary, Elizabeth, Carter and Bug, who was just a twinkle in my eye when I came up with my pen name. Yeah, I’ll probably have to pay for his therapy someday for being left out.
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