Review: Unravel Me by Becka Mack

Book Summary

Golden boy. Notorious serial dater. The NHL’s most eligible bachelor.

That’s what the headlines say about me, at least. I wish I could say they’re not accurate, but truthfully? I don’t even know who I am anymore.

Between a soul-crushing ex-girlfriend and a never-ending queue of dates gone wrong, one thing has become glaringly obvious: I don’t want to be Adam Lockwood.

So when my dog decides to play matchmaker, taking down a sweet little thing with rose gold waves, brilliant green eyes, and a smile for days, I can’t believe my luck that she doesn’t have a clue who I am. I know I should tell her, but for once in my life someone sees the man behind the goalie mask.

Rosie gives me all of her–her heartache, her laughter, and her son. But me? I’m holding on a little too tightly to the pieces I’m scared to give up, the pieces she might not like.

One small lie becomes a secret hanging above my head, but what if there’s another one hiding right around the corner?

Suddenly, my deepest desire becomes my biggest fear.

I’m terrified she’s going to unravel me.

Review

Unravel Me is the third book in the Playing for Keeps series, and I will be completely honest and say that this book was going to decide if I would continue the series. Both Consider Me and Play with Me were weighed down by too many flaws. Number one, it was too long and after a while they both started dragging. Number two, the second-hand embarrassment. I thought maybe it was just a thing with Consider Me, which is why I gave Play with Me a chance, but I really hate how the author writes her characters sometimes. It’s overly and openly cringe, and they just come off as annoying and immature. I can’t take them seriously. I was fully expecting to experience those things in Unravel Me. And I can report that I am pleasantly surprised.

Did the cringe characters disappear? Ha, no. Carter from Consider Me somehow got much worse and every time he made an appearance, I felt like I died a little bit inside. And Garrett from Play with Me, well he also got much worse. And it was painful to get through a group scene with all of Adam’s friends.

However, that didn’t deter me from loving this book. Both Adam and Rosie stood out and I loved them so much. I loved their journey, and their meet cute, and almost everything about their story. Out of the three books, this one was the one that flowed the most naturally. Yes, it was long but that didn’t matter. If anything, I left the book wanting more. Did Adam and Rosie have embarrassing moments? Of course, but again it felt natural, and it wasn’t overbearing.

To me, Becka Mack struck gold with Adam and Rosie and from the very first page I fell in love with them. Adam was such a hopeless romantic and a sweetheart, and his willingness to support Rosie and make her feel seen had me swoony. I wish we had more scenes with his parents, because his backstory was heartfelt, and I wanted to see more of their dynamic.

Rosie was incredibly strong, and such a great mother, and a great character. I loved her roommate/friend. More than I loved Adam’s circle of friends, and I wish Rosie and them had more moments because there was this particular moment at the end with them that sent me crying. It was incredibly sweet, and it didn’t feel forced. Back to Rosie. She’s had a hard life, and having a terrible baby daddy doesn’t help at all. And yet she still managed to be so kind and open.

I mentioned before that the length didn’t bother me because it didn’t. However, I will say that towards the latter half of the book I got a little scared. A plot point had been introduced and I was fully prepared for my rating of this book to decrease. It did decrease. I felt that the drama in the last half was unnecessary, but I still really loved this book, and instead of a 5 star from me, it’s more like a 4.75.

Final Thoughts

Unravel Me is by the far the most heartfelt, funny, and loving book in this series. Both Adam and Rosie were incredible, as well as most of their story.