Disclaimer: I received a free digital Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of Once Upon a Bad Boy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was published in June 2019.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Publishing for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. It was released at the end of June and I just read it on my roadtrip vacation!! It was the perfect vacation read–an emotional and heartwarming love story. Read below for a **spoiler-free** review.

Title: Once Upon a Bad Boy (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author: Melonie Johnson
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
My Rating: 3.5 / 5 stars

Sadie and Bo’s story is a second chance romance, and I was so there for it. They both grapple with some big emotions in believable ways, and I enjoyed watching their journey through their past to arrive at a better present and future. Of course, they are both written as **extremely good looking** and flawless physically, and I am a bit tired of that in my main characters, but I could forgive it in this case since they are in the acting/movie industry and it kinda goes with the territory. I really enjoyed the side friends (I have read the first two books in the series so already had a lot of their backstory) and especially Ana, who is a great counterpoint to Sadie.

All in all, I recommend this read if you like flirty banter, big emotions, and hot bedroom scenes (that leave nothing to the imagination, fyi–in case explicit isn’t your thing). My only complaint is that the ending felt a bit of a dramatic emotional turnaround, as if she decided “oh right, I need to wrap this up neatly now” — but it mostly worked so I’m not complaining too loudly.