Love Me Like You Do by Aimee Brown

A runaway bride. A handsome stranger. Two pasts to put behind them.

Parker is ready to marry the man of her dreams. But he isn't ready to marry her. When she's dumped moments before walking down the aisle, she didn't expect to run into the arms of a handsome stranger. The southern drawl, the dreamy eyes, she can't fall for another man after being left at the altar – can she?

When Liam agreed to go on yet another blind date, he didn't expect his escape would lead him to the emergency room with a runaway bride. She might have just been left at the altar, but he's immediately drawn to her fiery spirit, kind heart and beautiful smile. Liam's got a whole host of problems and a past that's haunting him, now can't be the time to fall in love, but Parker might just be the one to break down his barriers and let him live a little – if she'll let him in.

Will these two strangers allow serendipity to force them together, or will their fears keep them apart?

Thanks to NetGalley and Aria I was lucky enough to receive an advanced reading copy for Aimee Brown's upcoming romance novel, Love Me Like You Do, scheduled for release 17th September.

I've never read anything by Ms. Brown before, but was instantly drawn in by the description and it did not disappoint. Going through our three tests:

Did the cover match up to the novel? It's a no for me, but not in a bad way. Looking at this cover, I'll admit, I was a bit dubious about reading this book. Don't get me wrong, the cover is a nice design and I do love the colors, but for me it felt a bit light for the subject matter and a bit more serious than what I hoped the book would be. For me, the book far exceeded the cover and I was very happily surprised.

Second, does the book live up to its description? Most definitely, yes.

Finally, how was the formatting? There were a few mistakes in wrong words, words pushed together, paragraph formatting slightly out, but I'm sure this will remain in the ARC and will be corrected for the final edition.

To the story itself, I was blown away. I always love to feel fully invested in the books I read and continue reading, and this book definitely checked those boxes. It is light-hearted, comedic, but with depth and it just kept me wanting to read. The plot itself covers a variety of topics, but does so in a seamless manner that doesn't keep you thinking, well hang on, what happened to that plotline? Everything ties in together beautifully and doesn't make you feel that something was just thrown in for extra dramatic effect. Everything that was put into the book had a purpose and enhanced the story, not detracted.

Our characters meet-cute was perfect, and I loved the premise of fate and chance taking part in this love story. The characters continue meeting without expectation, randomly bumping into each other and it suits the plot perfectly. Both our main characters were well-fleshed out with plotlines aside from their romance, and it was just simply beautiful.

Spoilers ahead.

I was a little surprised with the depth that Ms. Brown went into with Parker's Mother, and for some readers who are triggered by mentions of suicide, please read with caution. I felt that it was handled in a good manner, but, still a surprise.

Even with that, the book still managed to mostly light-hearted and a joy to read, and one that I was so pleasantly surprised to have. Overall, a fantastic book, one of the best I've read this year, and one that I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to read.

Rating: 4/5

Click here to pre-purchase from Amazon, available 17th September.