Blog Tour for Cutie and the Beast (Cipher Office #3) by M.E. Carter w/ Excerpt & Review

Welcome back to Weight Expectations, where the unexpected is likely to happen.

Cutie and the Beast, an all-new roommates-to-lovers romantic comedy from M.E. Carter, is now available in Kindle Unlimited!

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.”

*** 4 Stars***

I’m a sucker for single parent romances and having TWO single parents had me making all kinds of grabby hands at Cutie and the Beast, also the fact that I really liked Abel in Weight Expectations definitely upped the ante for me and I ended up thoroughly enjoying this slow burn romance. It had me pulling out my hair at times, but it was a fun, cute read filled with real, everyday issues that parents ~ regardless if they are single or not have to deal with.

I really liked Elliott and Abel. Both are truly good people with good hearts who have had their worlds go sideways, but do everything they can to keep things as normal for their daughters. On a personal level, I preferred Elliott’s way of parenting and interacting with kids in general because I grew up with a “It takes a village” mentality, but with that said, I couldn’t truly fault Abel with how he decided to deal with things.

Their journey was slow burn ~ which I really enjoyed because they both are dealing with trust issues, abandonment issues and their own kids hearts as they also deal with their parents. The big sinkhole in their journey wasn’t a surprise, it was building up from the start and while I did lean towards one side a tinsy bit more than the other, it was one of those things where no one was any more or less at fault. It happened and while I would have liked a little more in the effort to get back together portion of things, I’m still happy with how everything worked for them

Cutie and the Beast was a fun read. I loved Ainsley and Mabel and how they definitely brought a vibrancy to the story. I thought that everything they Elliott, Abel and their daughters were working through/dealing with, were well thought out and executed. As for the secondary characters, I loved getting back to the gym (especially since that’s not an option right now) and seeing how things played out after the fire and I’m definitely look forward Joey’s book, I may want to Gibbs smack him more often than not, but I still really liked the guy regardless.

~ Copy provided by SBPR & voluntarily reviewed ~

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.