As how things usually work for me, I actually was interested in book 3 of the series first. But when I saw that it was a part of a series, I went back to book 1. I didn’t even read the summary for the book so I had no idea what to expect. But I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised.

In this first book of the Bellamy Creek series, we meet three guys who have been friends for a long time and grew up together in the small town of Bellamy Creek. Griffin Dempsey is the hero of this book. He’s the local mechanic. Which is perfect because when Blair makes her appearance in town, a mechanic is what she needs. What’s meant to be a quick tire change turns into so much more for these two. And pretty soon, Blair doesn’t want to leave anymore than Griffin wants her to. But Griffin also can’t ask her to stay.

This story is a sweet and very hot romance. And many parts of it was laugh out loud funny. I enjoyed these main characters as well as the side characters, especially Griffin’s mother. She cracked me up in just about every scene she was in. I look forward to seeing more of her in the next book as her daughter also finds her love.

I think one of the biggest things I enjoyed about this book was how Blair made all her dreams come true and didn’t give them up for Griffin. Some romances my think the romance is the most important thing. And so what if the woman has to compromise what she dreamed just to get her man. Not so in this book. It was refreshing to see Griffin be the one inconvenienced for the sake of love. That’s not to say Griffin was perfect. He had so much baggage. But he was eventually able to shake it off so these two crazy kids could get their HEA.

A good little story. I liked it quite a bit. ( )

I was debating back and forth on whether I should give this book 4 stars or 5, but in the end, I gave it 4, more on that in a moment.

Drive Me Wild is the first book in Harlow's new series, Bellamy Creek. I thought it was not connected to Cloverleigh, and then I, quite excitingly, found out that it was because of the references and cameos that appear in the work.

Back to the story, it follows Griffin Dempsey, a mechanic working at his family's Bellamy Auto Repair place. Alongside Griffin are his three friends, Cole, Beckett, and Enzo. Cole, Moretti, and Griffin come across a lady in a dress whose car tire breaks down. Said lady is Blair Beaufort, full name Blair Peacock Beaufort, who was a debutante.

Blair explains that she saw the sign with Bellamy Creek Diner having the best apple pie, but they don't really have it anymore since Betty Frankel passed. From there, Blair works as a receptionist for Bellamy's shop, along with her dreams of wanting to start a bakery, while Griffin plans to fix up her car.

There are a lot of things that I loved about this is the overall dynamic between Blair and Griffin. I was actually surprised by how fast they had hooked up because it was like, Romeo and Juliet style (minus the death) since it happened within a week ( )

4.1 stars

Very cute small town romance. Loved the characters and feel of the story. I also enjoyed the appearance of a familiar face from Cloverleifh Farms.

Loved the recioesar the back too. I'm definitely going to have to try that apple pie. ( )

I love that Melanie Harlow writes romances set in Michigan, although these towns and people are way cuter than anything I grew up with there; they’re quite the small-town fairy lands that don’t actually exist but are lovely to read about. This was a fun read focused way more on Griff and his background than on Blair and hers, but it still worked and had a nice HEA. ( )