Summary

You don’t know me, but you do know me. I’m your neighborhood hot mess single mom, doing my best to keep my head above water while running my little slice of heaven and keeping my youngest from shoving marbles up his nose, which is exactly what he’s doing the first time Levi Wilson, pop star god, world’s sexiest man, and my all-time number one celebrity obsession, walks into my bookstore.

Related: I’m writing this from beyond the grave, because I’ve died of mortification and am now residing in an alternate universe.

I have to be.

Because Levi Wilson came back.

And we had a moment.

Like, a moment moment. The kind that makes me remember that adult pleasure isn’t all about hoping the lock holds in the bathroom so your kids don’t interrupt on the rare occasion you feel like taking an extra-long mommy-time shower.

So when he proposes a no-strings fling?

Count. Me. In.

Thrill of a lifetime, right?

Surely, nothing will go wrong…

The Hot Mess and the Heartthrob is a rockin’ fun, sexy romantic comedy featuring a celebrity panty-melter who doesn’t know what he’s been missing, a sassy single mom hanging on by a string, three adorable children who would never burst in on a woman when she’s on a toilet (ha!), and shameless ovary-busting moments between a guy who never thought he’d be a dad and a family who thought they got along just fine without him. It stands alone and comes complete with a happily-ever-after (though you’d never go wrong to read the other Bro Code series books first).

Review

Me trying to read this book as my 4-year-old demands more bedtime milk, doesn’t finish his milk, then complains of a stomach ache and scolds me for giving him too much milk: “Wahhhh, Ingrid, GIRL. I KNOW.” Ingrid is one of my favorite characters in Pippa Grant’s universe of books so far, because her life is so bizarre and off the wall but also she’s so relatable. And Levi! Oh my gosh, he’s as much of a goofball manchild as Beck, his Bro Code boyband bro, but at the same time he’s so swoony. He brings her food and CLEANS without being asked. WHAT. Where can *I* find a popstar unicorn like this? Yes please.

The chemistry between Ingrid and Levi is just *chef kiss.* He’s this mega popstar and she’s, well, a hot mess single mom of 3 who is trying to keep all their lives running while her 4 year old shoves marbles and glow-in-the-dark stars up his nose and her 7 year old brings home a pet squirrel and… Whew. It’s a lot. At the same time I think a lot of parents (single or not!) will relate so much to Ingrid, who just wants to eat some food that’s meant to be hot while it’s hot and food that’s meant to be cold while it’s cold. Is that really too much to ask? (Answer: yes, apparently it is, haha.) Enter Levi, who is not only super hot but also really kind, funny, and helpful. But Ingrid’s last relationship ended in part because her husband was never home, and they’re having trouble finding time to even have a secret fling, let alone a real relationship. Uh oh…

One thing I love about Pippa’s books is they’re all so funny – definitely putting that comedy in rom-com. The characters are quirky and weird and somehow super relatable, and I want to be friends with every single one of them. I didn’t think I’d be as into this series centered around a bunch of dudes who used to be in a boy band, but darned if Pippa didn’t pull me right in. I’m really excited for Davis’ book, and to get to know Cash better in his book because I feel like he’s the former Bro Code member I know the least about. Thankfully Pippa somehow writes books ridiculously fast, so I’m sure those books will be coming soon!

This is the fourth book in the Bro Code series… sort of. Pippa Grant’s books are sort of… weird. They’re all interconnected to some extent. This is the third book about an actual Bro Code member, but the first book in the series, Flirting With the Frenemy, is about Wyatt who is sort of the unofficial sixth member of the Bro Code group. Oh, also after book three, Liar Liar Hearts on Fire, there are two books in the Copper Valley Fireballs series that take place between book three and this book, and there are some minor spoilers for those books in this one. All that to say, all of Pippa Grant’s books are standalones and you can read them in any order, but reading books later in the series may result in a bit of a side character shock because she throws couples from her previous books in A LOT. Basically just know that they’re so good, you’re going to want to go back and read them all anyway!

Excerpt

One day. I would like to go one single day without someone in my orbit making a poor life decision.
“Stop squirming,” I order my four-year-old son, who should be at preschool, but who’s been banished for the week because of lice.
Yep.
Lice.
Heaven forbid we have one issue at a time.
Adding to my list of issues? Being that mom who can’t get her shit together while Levi Flipping Wilson is watching. And not only watching, but actively engaging in trying to help. “Hey, bud, I bet I can hold still longer than you can. Wanna see?”
I know my agenda on any given day will include interruption for something my children do that I never would’ve expected in a million years, but that’s a lot easier to deal with when I don’t have an audience.
Especially an audience made up of one famous man whose songs get me through the day—and night—when I don’t have enough free focus to read or listen to an audiobook, and who keeps stealing glances at me like he’s trying to figure out what kind of rabid creature I am. Normally, customers aren’t allowed back in the stockroom with me, which is where I dragged Hudson when I realized what he’d done to his nose, but leaving Levi out there with the customers who’d figured out who he was seemed like a bad idea.
Especially when his date skewered me with a look that clearly said get him out of here or I’ll burn this place down.
It’s a bookstore.
Highly flammable.
Not taking chances.
Especially if there was a reason they were looking at maternity and early childhood development books. His date doesn’t look pregnant, but god knows that’s when pregnancy is hardest.
Hudson finally stills, and I manage to smear a little more Vaseline gently around his nostril. “How did you get a marble in your nose?”
“I pushed hard.” He beams. “I gots stars in there too.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and count to two, because I know if I get as high as three, he’ll find a way to suck the marbles deeper into his sinus cavities, and I don’t know how a doctor will get that out without having to cut his nose open, and oh my god, he’s four and he’s about to be disfigured for life because I thought he’d actually sit still and listen to Yasmin reading books for neighborhood storytime while I re-stocked a few shelves.
“How many stars?” I inquire through clenched teeth.
“Four. Or maybe seven. Or maybe one. I forgets.”
“You are so lucky you’re cute.”
“Do you have a vacuum?” Levi asks.
I twist my head to gape at him.
He shoots a help? look at his date, then shrugs at me. “If he won’t blow it out, maybe you can suck it out. Like with one of those sucky tools the dentist uses.”
“That’s…possibly not a terrible idea.”
“Happens on occasion.” He grins, which makes my heart basically stop because he’s stupidly gorgeous.
I could stare at him all day, but I have a preschooler with marbles up his nose to attend to.
“Mama,” Hudson says, “look.”
He scrunches his nose, which makes his nostrils swell, closes his mouth, and blows, and one shoots out and lands on Levi’s shoe.
My son has just snotted my favorite musician’s Italian leather loafers.
“I win! I holded still!” He breaks into his preschool dance routine, but the poor kid got his moves from me, which means to a casual observer, he probably looks like he’s having a seizure while choking on a piece of gum and tripping over barbed wire.
Levi Wilson, however, is not fazed. He squats down to Hudson’s level. “Rematch.”

Also available in the Bro Code Series

Author Bio

Pippa Grant is a USA Today Bestselling author who writes romantic comedies that will make tears run down your leg. When she’s not reading, writing or sleeping, she’s being crowned employee of the month as a stay-at-home mom and housewife trying to prepare her adorable demon spawn to be productive members of society, all the while fantasizing about long walks on the beach with hot chocolate chip cookies.

Author Links

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