seriously romantic: all i want by nicole helm

all i want is a sweet category romance that does a good job of handling the one-night stand resulting in surprise pregnancy trope. this is not my favorite trope of the genre, but the characters work really well together and the whole story comes together in a way that is ultimately satisfying. i'd read the previous two installments of the farmer's market series, and honestly i think this was my favorite of the bunch.

charlie wainwright is such a misunderstood character, in that the world around him seems to misunderstand his hidden depths. his family in particular does this, and i had some problems with the way they treated him and how he was then the one expected to make amends, because he really wasn't the one in the wrong. meg carmichael has been misunderstood by her loved ones her whole life, something that led her down a path of substance abuse and rehab. she's cleaned herself up and runs her small business based off her goat farm. and is surprised to realize that she and charlie have way more in common than she would have thought at first glance. they hook up drunkenly one night and weeks later meg realizes there were unintended consequences.

she tells charlie and is surprised by his willingness to explore what lies between them. the fact that he wants to be involved with their child a shock. she's wary, but he somehow sneaks into every corner of her life, and the bond between them is surprisingly strong. except, she keeps her past a big secret. and i feel like it may have been more interesting to have her reveal her struggles with addiction earlier in the novel and have a bit more angst between them about that, rather than the one time charlie is acting like a jerk he throws that in her face, and actually the whole reason he was being a jerk can be laid at the feet of his family so it's just a really weird argument/complication that develops at the end. somehow everyone makes up and it works out because it's a harlequin romance.

the thing of this novel is that i really liked charlie. i liked him way more than any of the other characters in it. meg has her moments, but she also makes some really annoying choices that got on my nerves. if you've read the other novels in the series, you'll like this one.