Made to Love by Syd Parker

A follow on from Someone Like You

Lex and Aspen are back in a new story. They’ve been back together now for a year and are settled into a deep and loving relationship with a baby on the way.

Lex and Aspen’s sculptor friend, Mason, is single and has just lost her best friend Anne, the person she thought of as her second mother. Mason is taking Anne’s sudden death very hard. When Mason meets Anne’s estranged daughter, Marly for the first time, sparks fly between them. Unfortunately, not sparks of love and attraction, sparks of anger. When the dust finally settles down, Mason and Marly become firm friends. There can never be anything more between them. Can there? In any case, Mason has her sights set on Lex’s gorgeous cousin, Nikki.

Nikki is a player, a toy boy of sorts, used to dating older women and being kept in the manner she had quickly become accustomed to. Will she change her ways to become the woman Mason needs and wants? But, never mind Nikki changing, Mason really isn’t Nikki’s type, so Nikki thinks Mason needs to change. What a tangled web being woven between the two of them. Then there is Marly, where does she fit in with all of this?

Sometimes though, people simply don’t see what is right in front of them!

I thoroughly enjoyed Someone Like You and when I heard this was a follow on, I couldn’t wait to read it. I wasn’t disappointed. I love Aspen and Lex and to see them back here and together was pure heaven. This story mainly focuses on Mason and her love conquests, but Aspen and Lex do play sizeable parts. The book is a page turner from start to finish. No surprises there with Syd Parker as the author. Whether Syd writes chick-lit, serious romance or a thriller, the outcome for me is always the same, a most enjoyable read and one to add to my re-read list. 

Although there is a death at the center of the story, it is not full of angst, doom and gloom. Yes, parts are sad, but on the whole, it’s the Syd Parker sense of humor that shines through and triumphantly overshadows the angst. The story is also about healing, after the loss of a loved one. The whole grieving process is most tastefully written.

Mason is a klutz, a loveable woman, but rather accident prone. It’s her antics that had me laughing out loud many times throughout the story. Marly is a bit of an enigma, not exactly likeable in the beginning, but she grew on me. Nikki’s character really speaks for herself.

All the characters, whether main or secondary, are multi-faceted and a pleasure to get to know. There was just one big problem with this book. It ended too soon and I wanted more. Hopefully, Syd will listen to her fans, of which I’m one of her biggest and put out a sequel.