Review of ‘The wrong McElroy’ by K.L. Hughes

Well, this is a shocker, I actually really enjoyed this. If you follow my reviewers you will know I am not a fan of lesbian rom-com books. In fact, it is my least favorite category in all of lesfic to read. My funny bone seems broken when it comes to book-comedy, so I honestly just struggle. The reason I grabbed this book was because of the author. Hughes wrote the wonderful ‘The Art of Us‘ and of course the excellent short (that should be made into a full-length book) ‘The Sea’. Hughes is an automatic read for me now even with a category of book I don’t like. I also noticed some of the early reviews are mixed so I figured my chance of liking this was even less. Well, to say I’m surprised how much I enjoyed this would be an understatement. It’s not a perfect book, I’m not trying to overhype it, but for what the book actually was, I thought it was well done.

I love fauxmances (which this is) but I normally prefer them to be between two women. This fauxmance was actually with a lesbian and her best guy friend who needed to have a girlfriend to take home for the holidays so his parents and siblings would leave him alone. But what happens to this plan if the fake girlfriend can’t stop having feelings for one of her best friend’s sisters?

I loved the premise of this story. I like books that go to in-laws or girlfriend’s parent’s houses for holidays or special occasions, especially when they have a big crazy family like in this book. With this book taking place over Christmas with fun holiday traditions, this is a good choice to read in November or December.

Since I mentioned my funny book bone is broken, I do want to say that even with this book that I had such fun with, I didn’t laugh out loud. Some sort of noise maybe a light grunt might have come from me while reading. There was even a smile that got pretty big about three different times. So no laughing but it was so much closer than most books can get from me.

This book takes place over a long weekend so I have seen people complain it’s too short for the character to have a full romance. I get that and actually agree. However, this is not a romantic romance where they are soul mates and the I love yous are said with every breath. No, this is the beginning of a new relationship. And that’s perfectly fine. I hate rushed I love yous, it doesn’t have to happen in every romance, sometimes characters need more time together just like in this book.

What this does have is great chemistry. The flirting and accidental or not so accidental physical contact just kept making these two characters spark together. I believed these two had a very lusty connection and because it was forbidden, it made it even better. Both characters are witty and likable and together they are even better. Like others have mentioned they did jump into bed shortly after their first kiss, which was a little jarring especially the hot sex scene they did have. But again, they had so much build-up before the first kiss even happened that I’m not surprised they didn’t combust after it finally did happen.

I know from the early reviews that this is not everyone’s cup of tea but somehow it sure worked for me. I love a story with good chemistry, flirting, and just great main characters. For Hughes to make me enjoy a rom-com this much just proves what a great author she is.

An ARC was given to me for an honest review.