Come Back to Bed by Kayley Loring

Narrated by Mackenzie Cartwright and Teddy Hamilton

Come Back to Bed is a fun story, partly epistolary with notes under the door, texts and emails, of Bernadette and Matt. Bernadette is an artist who went to Manhattan to study art and become famous but is now in a sort of dead-end job as the executive assistant of an actual famous artist, Sebastian Smith, instead. She’s developed such a crush on the cranky Sebastian who barely gives her the time of day. She lives in a 4^th floor walk-up, which she rents from the woman who lives next door.

Matt is a lawyer who has just left a long term, live-in relationship, so he is staying temporarily in his aunt’s apartment while the aunt is traveling. Yep, next door to Bernadette. He has a Boston Terrier named Daisy, who steals a few scenes from them and for whom Bernadette declares love at first sight.

It’s all very “we’re attracted to each other, but don’t like each other” but in ways that make sense – he’s a bit depressed about the end of his relationship, and he’s been a bit grouchy as a result; Bernadette is a little odd – she does some pretty hilarious babbling when she’s nervous or ill at ease – but so completely lovable. However, she’s not living her best life, with no time for her own passion – her art. It’s just that, although she does feel attracted to Matt, whom she describes as really hot (and he did model in college to pay for law school, so there’s that), she’s so smitten with Sebastian that it takes her an awfully long time to untangle her emotions and be in the moment for Matt.

The author really did a great job of engaging me in their story – in addition to their attraction leading to a temporary friends-with-benefits agreement, they act like real neighbors and friends. They take care of each other, in sickness and in health, for real – when they are out and run into Matt’s ex with her new boyfriend, Bernadette knows instinctively how to help out, calling him an endearment and taking his hand. And their innate fears of establishing a new relationship felt real too, so that their communication when trying to deal with those feelings was awkward. They both held back for fear of being hurt again. They each help the other break away from the past that is holding them back – it does seem very genuine and not insta-luv at all. And Daisy the Boston Terrier! She stole my heart too.

Of course, with Teddy Hamilton reading from Matt’s POV, I was as happy as a pig in mud. I find his voice so endearing and – ok, cute! He has a very earnest, sort of boyish sound (yeah, even reading the love scenes – so it’s not really that boyish at all) that I love, and he creates characters of all ages and genders with enough differentiation to make it very clear. (See: The Unanticipated Perils of Audiobooks for another take on Hamilton’s excellent diction…) Mackenzie Cartwright did a bangup job as Bernadette, making her seem slightly scattered but a genuinely good person with a heart the size of New York State. She also gave life to the other characters – her hippie parents in Vermont, her neighbor Dolly, even her reading for Matt – that enhanced the story. It was a fun read, and I laughed out loud more than once at their banter and situations; it was also a genuinely feelgood read with authentic emotions and reactions. A win-win-win for me in the Contemporary Romance genre and totally worth a credit! And OMG this author has 2 more books out, and one of them has the same narrators! Squeee!

Melinda