My Not So Wicked Stepbrother

My Not So Wicked Series, Book 1

By: Jennifer Peel

Narrated by: Melissa Moran

Loveless is more than a name, it's a curse.

I, Emma Loveless, have a destiny. It's not the greatest of destinies, but when you have a name like Loveless, what can you do? I'm cursed to always be the friend, never the girlfriend. Unless you count my love affair with Duncan Hines, Dr. Pepper, and the ever-lovable Pillsbury Doughboy. They've seen me through it all, but a girl needs more than refined sugar to curl up to every night. It doesn't help that I have a meddling, albeit wonderful, mother who can't help playing matchmaker. Thanks to her, I can say I've been on a date with a felon. Now she swears she's found the one for me, her new optometrist, Dr. Sawyer King. Meanwhile, I'm preparing for the inevitable restraining order. That is, until I meet the sexy doctor and have to admit my mother is right—love at first sight does exist.

Unfortunately, my last name means business. Not only do I find myself in the friend zone, but also the twilight zone. Only in my world would Mr. Right turn into my stepbrother. To top it off, he brings with him a wicked stepmother who will do anything to keep us apart. Despite all this my heart—or is that my mom?—keeps telling me Sawyer is the one. But what if true love isn't strong enough to interfere with my destiny? It'll be me and the Doughboy...for eternity.

©2019 Jennifer Peel (P)2025 Jennifer Peel

Wonderful story

Love this author she writes great stories and doesn’t need all the “steamy” graphic sex. So thankful to finally find an author who can write a great entertaining clean story.

Great Book!

Wonderful storyline with well developed characters. The one-sidled love story keeps your interest because you never think it will develop into a full blown love affair, a slow burn that gets frustrating at times, but I couldn’t put this book down, Narration is good.

The pining and swooning were top notch!

I love this friends to lovers romance by Jennifer Peel so much and truly enjoyed rereading it by way of the audiobook version. It did not disappoint. The audiobook narrator captured Emma so well and I was getting all the secret pining and oh so swoony feels the whole book through. Seriously, le swoon. Emma feels her last name, Loveless, is a curse when a twist of fate turns the love of her life into her step-brother (no actual relation). I love her and Sawyer and all the moments Sawyer tried to show her his feelings even when she couldn’t believe or see them. They were so perfect for each. The ups and downs had me feeling everything Emma felt and oh man, I love that ending and happy ever after. I recommend this book.

Couldn’t stop hearing this story!

It was so wonderful written and had me in the feels from the first chapter. 20/10

Forbidden Relationship Romance

I am such a sucker for the forbidden romance trope books so when I learned that this was a potential step-sibling relationship I was ready to jump into the story. A light-hearted romantic comedy was just what I was looking for, the perfect fluffy read to get sucked into.
There were so many times that I felt like my heart was breaking for Emma and I wished that I had a copy of the physical book so I could cheat and make sure that there was a happy ending because to be completely truthful I felt like my heart was breaking for Emma most of the book. I know the book is listed as a romantic comedy but I found almost none of it funny. The story pulled out the big guns with the emotional buttons, be it the death and depression from the loss of a loved one, unrequited love, and family drama, but on occasion I felt like I wanted to cry for the Emma and all the awful that was piled on her. That being said I enjoyed the story a lot, it was heartfelt and pulled me in and I rooted hard for a Emma/Sawyer love match in the worst of ways.

There were two reasons why I gave the book 4 stars instead of five. Firstly, the continuous mentioning of Emma's weight. I am in full support of her being a full figured woman, but at times it felt like her weight/squishy thighs/round stomach/eating habits was thrown in my face at every turn and occasionally it seemed to define her- she was the overweight female friend. I wanted her to own her body and looks, but instead she was so wishy washy- one minute saying how she loved who she was and the next hating herself and choices. A few mentions would have been ok, but it was too self deprecating for me to get behind. Second reason was the ending. Yes it was the HEA that I expected, but there was a lot of chaos and upheaval in the last part of the book and the happy wrap up felt a little rushed and was maybe only 20 minutes of the almost 7 hour book.

I absolutely loved the narrator, Melissa's performance was spot on. She did a fantastic job of bringing Emma to life, making her into a real person that I empathized with as well as creating new voices for the other characters as well. I would listen to her narrator more audiobooks in the future. Overall I really enjoyed this entire experience and I would love to listen to the next standalone romance in the My Not So Wicked series featuring the side character Shelby who was hysterical in this book.