REVIEW: Mr. Right Goes Wrong by Pamela Morsi

In Mr. Right Goes Wrong by Pamela Morsi, Mazy Gulliver’s history in her hometown of Brandt Mountain, North Carolina, is extremely complicated. She never imagined she’d be moving back in with her mom at age thirty-one, but it’s the best thing for her and her teenage son Tru. One bonus is her childhood best friend Eli Latham still lives next door. Mazy cherishes their friendship but is shocked when she realizes how much she is still attracted to him. They’ve been friends-with-benefits in the past and even though Mazy is turning over a new leaf, trying to make good decisions, she can’t resist Eli. But when he changes from the sweet, nice guy she’s known forever into an insensitive man who reminds her of her no good exes, Mazy isn’t sure if a serious romance is in the cards for them.

‘She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was certain that your best friend didn’t turn on you simply because you fell in love with them.’

Eli Latham has been busy with his woodworking business, trying to forget about the woman who never took him seriously as a love interest: Mazy Gulliver. She used him as a rebound guy in the past and at the time Eli didn’t mind. But now being older and wiser, he wants more than a booty call from Mazy. He wants to make her his wife and become a father figure for her son Tru. Everyone seems to be telling Eli that Mazy is only attracted to men who treat her poorly. So he devises a plan to do just that: treat her as badly as her ex Tad Driscoll did, then get her to agree to marry him, allowing her to “change” him back into a nice guy. Eli doesn’t realize, however, that the power he suddenly feels may go to his head and unfortunately also blow up in his face.

‘He did enjoy being the jerk, he was willing to admit that. But he didn’t want to be that guy forever, did he? He liked being himself. Couldn’t he love her that way? And if he couldn’t, was it really worth it?’

Mr. Right Goes Wrong was honestly not exactly what I was expecting after I read the book blurb. Instead of seeing nice guy Eli become a bit edgier and bring out his inner bad boy, I was surprised when he brought out, well, his inner jerk.

I thought this was a very well written story with a lot of interesting small town characters. The plot pulled me along, wanting to see how things would work out for our protagonists. That being said, I’m afraid that the way Eli treated Mazy, and the way she just accepted his bad behavior, frustrated me. Now, I love me some bad boys. But there’s a fine line between being an alpha male with a ‘tude, and being downright mean and chauvinistic. And that shift was sad, because although I really liked Eli when he was being his true self, I couldn’t completely get past the way he treated Mazy. Even if he did redeem himself at the very end. I was, however, quite happy that Mazy did finally begin to stand up for herself and realized her own self-worth toward the latter part of the book.

My favorite characters were actually secondary ones: Mazy’s son Tru and Eli’s dad Jonah. I thought they were both very important characters to the story. Tru was wise beyond his years and one of the reasons Mazy moved back home, so he could have a stable life while finishing school. He was the one male figure in his mom’s life who accepted her the way she was, flaws and all. And Jonah may not have been able to speak after suffering a couple of strokes, but he had a remarkable way of communicating with his eyes and with his good arm. Just the thought of him taking his son’s hand and placing it over his heart as a way of telling him he loved him brings a happy tear to my eye.

Even though this may not be my favorite Pamela Morsi novel, I hope you to check it out and draw your own conclusion about Eli and Mazy’s turbulent romance.

Book Info:

Published August 1st 2014 by Harlequin MIRA

www.PamelaMorsi.com

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Like a bad-choice-making boomerang, Mazy Gulliver has returned to her mom’s tiny house in Brandt Mountain. But this time, she’s got her teenage son, Tru, in tow and no intention of messing up ever again.Mazy’s so determined to rebuild her life she hardly minds beingthe new loan collector, or even working for Tad, her ex. She’s not here to make friends�or fall in love.

Sweet, dependable Eli Latham has loved Mazy since they got pretend married in second grade. But after being burned by Mazy for two decades, Eli’s got a new strategy. Mazy likes bad boys, so a bad boy is what he’ll be. How hard can it be to act like a jerk?

Not for the first time, men are making Mazy crazy, though she’s determined to do what’s right for her and Tru. But breaking old habits is hard, and if she really wants things to change she’ll have to face her biggest adversary: herself.