She sighs. "I don't know what to do with my feelings."
"Neither do I."
She throws her head back, leaving her delectable, kissable neck exposed for my viewing pleasure. "What's the point of honesty if we remain in the same place we've been since Day One?"
"If you think we're in the same place as Day One, then you are being dishonest with yourself again."

I'm happy to report that I feel Mia Sosa has offered up her strongest book in this series yet. she's had the bones since the beginning- [b:Acting on Impulse|33783458|Acting on Impulse (Love on Cue, #1)|Mia Sosa|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1497562743s/33783458.jpg|54668892] stumbled with some weird, direct humor at the audience but a sweet, breezy couple that did a good job fleshing out secondary relationships. [b:Pretending He's Mine|35068784|Pretending He's Mine (Love on Cue, #2)|Mia Sosa|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1503100424s/35068784.jpg|56364211] definitely was a huge stumble, with internal lust and no real conflict. This book feels like a cleaned up version of both of them, with a more understandable yet very low angst conflict. (Frankly, the conflict isn't entirely convincing, but it's not to Eva either)

Eva is Tori's best friend and Anthony her cousin. After the wedding, the two have a quick one-night stand and go their separate ways. When Eva ends up in LA with Tori to teach classes at her fitness center, she begins to cross paths with Anthony a fair bit. And this is where the set up smacked of a couple other romances. There's nothing new here, but there is something refreshing. There's strong nods to Puerto Rican flavor and family, Eva is black and often--in an upbeat and understandable way--makes mention of being the exhaustion of being the 'only' in a room. That is, culture and race don't take a back seat here. They also aren't preachy, and I found the internal and external dialogue on it easy to buy. Hurricane Maria came up, and while portions of that conversation did get a tad didactic, it isn't anything I wouldn't hear people discuss in my regular life.

So the main barrier is Anthony. He's honestly unavailable. He's designed it that way, it's not necessarily convincing, but it doesn't really get hung up on that. Because while he is emotionally unavailable, their lust exists, and their intimacy--real intimacy--begins to build. In romance, this tends to be one of my favorite romance trajectories. Thankfully, the cousin angle was a sneezable non-factor. Tori and Eva have plenty of conversations that aren't about Anthony and Carter, there's a lot of stunt & fitness talk, and appreciation of food.

Ultimately, this is a very uncomplicated, straightforward, easy read. I'm happy to watch and continue to read Sosa's development as an author, and am looking forward to the time when the romance development seems as well-rounded as the characters. 3.5 ( )

Mia Sosa makes my heart happy. Her stories deal with serious topics in a light hearted way. Her characters are a reminder that with a open heart, an empathetic ear and a little bit of laughter, change is possible. Crashing into Her makes for a tempting read. Eva knows her mind follows her heart and finds herself in deep trouble. Tony is the spark to her match and they're both on the cusp of getting burned. A flame-worthy, laugh out loud, irresistible read. ( )

3.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

“Eva,” he whispers in a low groan. “Friends shouldn’t do this.”

Third in the Love on Cue series stars Eva and Anthony. Eva was the friend and Anthony the cousin to the heroine in the first in the series, Acting on Impulse. Series readers will enjoy the many appearances and inclusion of past heroines and heroes. However, newbies could comfortably start here as Eva and Anthony are just beginning their relationship. Eva and Anthony start off a little ornery with each other but when their thought to be one-night stand turns into now we're working with each other, their back and forth really heats up.

Eva was a gusty heroine, she moved from the east coast to the west, even though she lost financial and emotional support promised by her dad. She does gain proximity to her bestfriend and a job, which I must mention how wonderful it was to read about three women (heroines from #1 and #2 Pretending His Mine ) with varying personalities having fun together, encouraging, and being a support system for each other. It helps round out the heroine and series' world when they don't live in isolation or primarily for the hero. Even though I didn't get a great feel for Eva's relationship with her mother, I enjoyed how her issues with her father weren't heavy angst, more like family growing pains; it was nice to see them talk and work to improve their relationship.

Anthony had the often used, can't commit because my father loved my mother more than she did him and now I can never love because I don't want to turn out like him. This felt a little forced and I thought the overall theme and feeling of the story's two people trying to navigate life and open up for love, could have did without it. Anthony seemed like a pretty busy guy, he helps to run/instruct at a gym and stunt work business, just having him unsure if he could take time from his career while emotionally opening himself up could have worked.

“Last night was incredible, but I think you wanted to keep it impersonal, and only after experiencing impersonal did I realize it doesn’t fit the way I feel about you.”

I really enjoyed Eva and Anthony's back and forth and chemistry. There were a couple times where I thought they didn't have to be so clever with each other all the time but it was refreshing how they were generally friends through the majority of it. They both had a little bit of bitterness and fear of what could happen, instead of taking each problem as it came. It was enjoyable to follow along with them as their chemistry couldn't help but push their friendship into more heated situations. They also did a great job talking and owning up to mistakes or missteps.

This is written in first person point of view, alternating chapters, which not a personal favorite, I sometimes feel like I'm missing some connection between the two. *Per publisher's email, this was a formatting mistake and will be fixed in final copy. I read an arc of this, so not sure if this will be changed, but there were a couple times where the pov changed within a chapter, without any warning. An example:
When I cup her cheeks, sweeping my thumbs under her eyes to dry them, she leans into my touch, all soft and vulnerable. “Hey, hey, baby,” I say. “Talk to me. Why the tears?”
I look up at Anthony, not caring that I’m a blubbering mess. The warmth of his body is a balm that calms me like a magic cure for a colicky baby.
This chapter was under the heading “Anthony” and was all from his pov, until suddenly it switched to Eva. This is exactly how it read for me, no spaces or acknowledgment that the pov was changing to Eva. I, personally, found this incredibly disruptive to the flow and had me backtracking and some confusion as to was speaking for a little bit. This example was easier to catch on because of the “look up at Anthony” right away but the “I” at first made it read funny to me. Others who read a lot of first pov may not have the problems I did.*

This author does a fantastic job writing family and friendship dynamics, I believe in her characters and world. I do think that while this is contemporary right now, the character's parlance could have this not aging well, even within 5/10 years; a lot of current/pop culture word usage. The author's use of food to immerse and showcase in some small way the characters' cultures was delightful and had me wishing there was a companion cookbook. All in all, an entertaining contemporary where two people try to just be friends but their chemistry can't be denied. ( )