Two besties and a baby make for an instafamily and a surprising romance in a delightful series by Melissa Foster, the New York Times bestselling author of the Sugar Lake novels.
Ben Dalton has always been honest, except where his heart is concerned. He’s been in love with his best friend—saucy, smart-mouthed Aurelia Stark—forever. But Ben’s a planner, and timing has never been on his side. When … been on his side. When he finally decides to make his move, Aurelia beats him to the punch with a move of her own—to a different town.
Aurelia loves her new life in the charming town of Harmony Pointe. She has a great apartment and her very own bookstore, and best of all, the sinfully hot, commitment-phobic friend she’s crushed on for years is no longer just around the corner. Maybe she’ll finally be able to leave her unrequited love behind and move on.
But when a baby is left on Ben’s front porch—a baby that is presumably his—Aurelia is there for him. Neither one knows the first thing about babies, but how hard can it be? Ben and Aurelia are catapulted into a world of love, laughter, and tracking down the baby mama, and it might even add up to a very happily ever after… just not one either of them expects.
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SWEET, SEXY, & EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN!!!
Title: Call Her Mine
Series: Harmony Pointe
Author: Melissa Foster
Designation: Book 1 of Series, Full-Length, Standalone, NO Cliffhanger #contemporary #romanticcomedy #friendstolovers #secretbaby
My Rating: Five Captivating Stars*****
Oh my! I loved, loved, loved Call Her Mine! But that’s not surprising since I’ve never read a Melissa Foster book I didn’t fall heads over heels for, and Call Her Mine is certainly no exception! I was immediately smitten with the two protagonists, handsome billionaire Ben Dalton and sweet book store owner Aurelia Stark. To quote Forrest Gump, Ben and Relsy went together like peas and carrots! lol… The interaction between these two longtime best friends was off the charts sexy and beyond hilarious. And Baby Bea was such a delightful surprise! There’s just so much I enjoyed about Call Her Mine, but probably my favorite element is the sense of family Foster includes in almost all of her novels, their close connection, loyalty, and devotion to each other and since this is a Sugar Lake spinoff, we were also able to catch up with many of the characters from that series. And let’s not forget the humor! OMG, there were several scenes that were totally hysterical. I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe. But leave it to Foster to also tug at your heartstrings, so expect some tears as well. If asked to describe this book in one sentence, I would simply say: Call Her Mine is a smart, sexy, hilarious, heartwarming, friends to lovers romantic comedy with a swoony hero, a heart-of-gold heroine, an adorable baby, and a generous splash of all the feels. But the big question is: Will he, she, and baby Bea make three? We’ll see!
Did I like it? No, I didn’t like it; I loved it! Would I recommend it? You bet, and I am but only for adult readers since it does contain some steamy, dreamy love scenes. (Notice I said love scenes and not sex scenes, because make no mistake, Ben and Aurelia, aka Rels or Relsy, loved each other very much. Will I read this author again? Absolutely, just as soon as she releases her next book. And finally, was I entertained? Completely! I laughed, I swooned, I raged, I sobbed, and I sighed but by the end, I was happy, satisfied, and well entertained. Fabulous entertainment and an awesome read!
Okay, so I have been waiting patiently for Ben and Aurelia’s story since I met them in the first book of the Sugar Lake Series, I knew there was more then them just being friends going on but I didn’t know how it would play out and I have to admit I was shocked by some of it. I will not post any spoilers but I will say that with all the sparks flying between the two of them it was just a matter of time before they crossed the line of friends only.
Aurelia wasn’t the only one surprised to find out that Ben was a father, after finding a little girl left on his doorstep Ben couldn’t believe the news. But once he got her in his arms he was a gonner.
This wasn’t only a sweet story of a couple falling in love and starting a family, it was Ben and Aurelia coming to terms with the attraction they had been fighting for YEARS!!!! It was also dealing with becoming an instant family and finding the baby’s momma to find out why she had just left her.
This story as with most of Melissa Foster’s books pulls at your heartstrings while stetting your kindle ablaze. For me Melissa Foster is an author that comes easily to recommend, her stories pull you in from the very beginning and never let you go, and I mean never! I Love the Dalton family and I cannot wait to see the rest of them find their HEA’s.
Happy Reading!!!
Aurelia Stark has decided to make a few BIG changes in her life. She sells her family’s bookstore in Sweetwater, leaves her friends and her crush Ben Dalton behind as she starts over again in Harmony Pointe. Aurelia knows that she and Ben are just friends-too many missed opportunities and bad timing. She’s happy in her cute apartment and working on renovating Chapter One, her bookstore. So, why does she wake up with Ben snuggled against her in the first chapter?
Call Her Mine is a smart twist on the friends to lovers romance. When Aurelia finds a baby in a basket on Ben’s front porch the dynamic between the two characters changes. Melissa Foster does a great job balancing the learning curve of caring for an infant, concerns about the baby’s health and immunizations with romance and lots of humor from Ben’s family.
Loved this conversation between Ben and his father Dan Dalton:
”Son, life is full of surprises. This one is unexpected, unsettling for you and Aurelia, I’m sure, but it sounds like you’ve already realized the beauty of the situation. And thank God Aurelia was there to help. She’s a good friend Ben, and I know you appreciate her. Life throws a lot of crap at us, and I hope you take a moment to soak in the goodness of this little miracle.”
I enjoyed reading how caring for a newborn changed Ben and Aurelia’s relationship. Aurelia didn’t end her friendship with Ben because he had a child—she stayed and helped him care for Baby Bea. Both characters changed during the story; high powered businessman Ben learned to delegate at work and recognized his true feelings towards Aurelia while Aurelia learned to multi task at work and express her feelings to Ben. There are a few surprises in the storyline and the couple’s dancing scene was perfectly written—there was no doubt that Ben was head over heels in love with Aurelia.
Call Her Mine tackles several serious issues – but more importantly shows the values of friendship and family. The friends to lovers romance has honest conversations, great secondary characters who add humor to the story. Ben and Aurelia shine in this story as they learn to trust each other as they navigate their new relationship and care for Bea.
Welcome to Harmony Pointe, where everybody knows everybody and where a new life will begin for Aurelia Stark. At least this is what she hopes will happen after being her best friend Ben Dalton forever. Tired of waiting for his move she is ready to start something new on her own even if it means yikes dating again. The thing is that all is not it seems and now Ben is the one well ready. These two have been friends forever and every time he is ready to make his move fate steps in. Her moving out was at the top of his list of worry but now someone has gotten him from being a bachelor to a daddy. I loved how Melissa Foster did this bringing them together yet in a way they still seem distant. Seeing always in control Ben loosing his composure and trying to seduce Aurelia at the same time was beautiful in this book. It is always nice to see a sexy guy losing control of things he thought was easy. Sure the friendship is still there but now there is much more like a love they have been waiting for. Have to say seeing them running around like a chicken without its head was hillarious and baby B so cute in every way. This is the first book in this little town and cannot wait to see who is next by Melissa Foster.
“I received an eBook copy from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own.”
Call Her Mine is the first book in the Harmony Pointe Series. Some of the characters are familiar from the Sugar Lake Series but it is not necessary to read any other book before this one. Call Her Mine is the story of Ben and his best friend Aurelia. They both date other people but are drawn so much to each other that everyone except them knows that they are meant to be together.
There were times that I didn’t really love Ben. He called the baby “it” which drove me crazy. IT is a baby, a real live being. Yet, he stepped up, did what he had to do to keep the baby safe and happy. Very quickly you could see that he loved Baby B. He didn’t use her to keep Aurelia around, he didn’t push her off on anyone else to take care of. He changed his life, his routine, and his ways to keep his daughter happy, safe, and loved. Luckily, Aurelia felt the same way about both Baby B and Ben.
I look forward to more from Harmony Pointe. There are so many wonderful secondary characters that I am curious about. I’d recommend picking up Call Her Mine ASAP and meeting the wonderful characters that reside in Harmony Pointe.
Call Her Mine was a fabulous best friends to insta-family and then lovers book between two best friends with the worst timing ever!
Ben Dalton and Aurelia Stark have both been secretly crushing on one another for years. They are both afraid to make the first move, concerned it would ruin their friendship. And every time one is ready to say something, the timing seems all wrong.
Deciding she can’t live feeling stuck as she is, Aurelia moves to a neighboring town to pursue her dream of owning her own book store. But, fate has other plans when an infant is left on Ben’s porch with a note claiming he is the Daddy.
Knowing she can’t leave Ben on his own to handle this, Aurelia throws herself all in . .. and quickly realizes she is falling for Ben and now baby yet again. But, how can something so right be wrong? And, now that the timing has never seen more wrong to Ben, he knows he has to do everything he can to keep both baby and Aurelia in his life for good. There’s no way he’s letting either go.
Call Her Mine was an adorably sweet and heart-warming romance! I loved this somewhat awkward couple – so perfect together that everyone sees how in love they really are, yet blinded to how the other feels. Throw in a baby that neither knows how to care for yet they both desperately want to make happy and your heart will simply swell!
I loved that the transition into both being a couple and into parents was automatic – it made for some funny moments as well as pure sweetness as they fumble their way around caring for a newborn. I also loved that both struggled with the changes in their lives . . . knowing what they ultimately wanted, but not quite sure how to get there.
Call Her Mine had a fabulous cast of side characters as well as a bit of mystery with who baby’s mom really is and why she was left on Ben’s front porch. All in all, it was a wonderful feel good story romance that will leave you smiling ear to ear. 5 stars!
Aurelia Stark wants more in her life but she is very particular as to whom she wants to share it with. Ben Dalton gets the shock of his life. Your funny bone is going to be tickled almost from the beginning – at his expense and once in a while at Aurelia’s. The author is great at creating obstacles that at least one of the main characters needs to overcome.
We have a man that seems almost clueless. He seems to be like a tomcat and doesn’t seem to realize that at some point it’s going to catch up with him. Aurelia is out of patience and I say that should have happened a long time ago. But in this day and age she should have spoken up instead of staying silent.
This new series is a spinoff of one of our author’s other series titled Sugar Lake. It will be interesting to see if we have more tie-ins. This may give you a little incentive to either revisit the Daltons or to catch up on the family. When looking at this story, you will see that one of the tropes is going to be billionaire. In no way does Ben rub it in that he has money like some people would – although it is related to what he does for a living. He seems more down to earth. So even though that may not be your cup of tea, at least give him a try. Aurelia is a great compliment and part of the reason I think he seems like a regular guy. There’s also someone else that grounds him but I’ll let you get to know her on your own. And Piper says something to both of them that hits the nail on the head so that might be a good reason not to skim or speed read your way through the story because you could miss it. Expect some tears toward the end so make sure to have some tissues at the ready. The author doesn’t do that to bring down the ending but to show that sometimes life isn’t fair but that brightness can come out of it.
I was not compensated nor was I required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
This is such a great book!
I truly enjoyed reading it!
It’s a captivating, steamy, fun
& moving story.
Everything you want in a true romance.
Ben, Aurelia & Bea, steal your heart
from the very first pages to the last.
Can’t wait for the next book in the
Harmony Pointe series!
I adored everything about this Must
Read Story!!
Wow. What a great start to the new spin-off series by Melissa Foster. Harmony Pointe feels like home and these characters are charming and witty and strong and funny. They are quintessential Melissa Foster characters with a strong love of family and honest emotions.
This best-friends-to-lovers story has everything you need in a good romance: love, a dash of trepidation, and a whole bunch of sexiness. What you won’t find is a ton of angst. Believe it or not, this story is relatively tame when it comes to angst and I think it’s the perfect storyline for Ben and Aurelia’s book.
Exceptionally written and filled with heartfelt emotion, Call Her Mine is the latest in my favorite Melissa Foster books. Surely the best friends-to-lovers story I’ve read this year. I cannot wait to read the rest of the Harmony Pointe stories.
Ben will most definitely become a favorite among readers.
Call Her Mine by Melissa Foster is a story about best friends too afraid to share their feelings with each other. They are afraid of rejection and losing their friendship if the other doesn’t share the same romantic feelings.
Bea brings Ben and Aurelia together. She is a baby that was abandoned on the doorstep. After some bumps in the road they discover their way to each other and to love and parent Bea.
Ben’s parents and Aurelia’s grandmother bring so much richness to the story.
Ben and Aurelia are flawed humans who want to do the right thing and are better together than alone.
It didn’t dawn on me when I started reading this book that this is a Sugar Lake spin-off series (despite the nifty little message up there ^^), I just jumped in and got caught up in the story almost right away. I thought the character development was great, the story had a consistent flow, the fact that there’s history between Aurelia and Ben helped sell the story as realistic (the only exception being the whole baby aspect), and the hidden romantic feelings each has for the other made this a very enjoyable read.
I had no idea this book was even in the works until I saw it and I will admit to a little bit of a happy dance. More Sugar Lake can never be a bad thing and I was so excited to see this spin off.
Obviously I love Melissa Foster’s writing and her characters are all really easy to fall in love with. But damn I am a sucker for a secret baby and this baby was so secret Ben never even saw her coming. Aurelia however took to her so immediately which just made me love her even harder.
Ben pissed me off as much as I liked him. On one hand once he decided to move his relationship with Aurelia out of the friend zone there was no doubting his feelings. And I loved that he showed her how much he had always wanted her through their shared history. But on the other hand WTF Ben? It took you forever to make a move and you were far from celibate in that time.
So while I loved the storyline and characters and got the amazing secondary characters I expected I just didn’t get quite enough to push it to a 5 star read. But I have high hopes for Remi’s story, I just have to pay better attention to my stalking.
Call Her Mine was the friends to lovers story I needed to get me out of my book rut. Melissa Foster always does an amazing job at writing characters that are easy to love. Ben and Aurelia were so great together and added the perfect amount of romance, sass, and humor.
I was able to finish this story in one night. It was so addicting. I loved the idea of friends who had feelings for each other and were ready to admit their feelings to each other. To add more drama there is a surprise baby. Baby B!
I loved how realistic the situation seemed. When Ben found a baby at his doorstep, he freaked out. Aurelia was his rock. She used her past experiences in life to reel Ben in and make him see that taking in this child wasn’t all bad. Aurelia was so great with B and even if they weren’t sure if it was Ben’s she treated Baby B with so much love.
I loved meeting all of Ben’s family members. They were crazy fun. Every single sibling or family member was so different and they each added their own two cents whenever they pleased!!
Overall, this was a sweet friends to lovers romance that will give all romance lovers the best feels. I give Call Her Mine 5 stars. The story was fantastic, I loved the characters, and Baby B stole the show!!
ahh let me start off by saying that no I did not hate this book, however it was not what I was expecting, and there where some reasons for that. One of the reasons was that I read the reviews previously to reading and so I was expecting more, second was that I haven’t read a book from Melissa for years and when I did I wasn’t reviewing books (which totally is not important) I know I am rambling now, but my point was that it was a loooong long time ago and I think that my reading has matured some or maybe just changed because I remember enjoying the books of hers that I have read and this one I found it to be cheesy. Let me explain just a little, Aurelia has been in love with Ben for years and so she claims (claims because does not stick with this plan) that in order for her to be able to move on to a love interest and not compare them to her male bestie Ben she is starting a new chapter of her life, so she moves to a new town, buys a book store and has a plan yet when Ben calls her she crumbles. Ben supposedly is in love with Aurelia for a long time too but has never found the right time, yet he is shockingly-yes sarcasm a manwhore. Claims he sleeps with others in order to forget Aurelia-yeah that makes sense and shows how much he truly loves her, yup that is certainly the way. Now he has a baby and finally gets the guts to tell her and get this she jumps at chance because he truly loves her and she missed the signs. Yeah, that makes so much sense in two seconds flat they are so so so in love and disgustingly sweet and become the family they always wanted..Yeah I do not think I can read another book like this, So not worth a 2 in my book but definitely not a 4, and sorry Ms. Foster but this is the end for us.
Rcvd and ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) Voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions
Call Her Mine is a wonderful story full of emotionally changed and heartwarming moments. My emotions were taken from warm and fuzzy feelings to heart wrenching moments that had the tears brimming in my eyes and back again. Ben, Aurelia & Baby B and all of the rest of the wonderful characters that made up this story.
Melissa Foster fans have been waiting for Ben and Aurelia’s story. As we have gotten to know the Dalton family it has been inevitable that Ben and Rels would be a couple. We should have known Melissa had to tug (really hard this time) at our heart strings. Bea is such a great addition to the Dalton family. This book had me rolling with laughter and then tears streaming down my face. A book filled with so much love!! 5 stars aren’t enough. Thank you Melissa for sharing the crazy world you have created with us.
It’s been awhile since I have read a Melissa Foster book. I’ve only read a couple, other than this one. When I started this book, I didn’t realize that Ben’s sisters all have books. There were a couple spots where I wish I would have read those first.
This is a good best friends to lovers and baby on door step read.
I did love how both Ben and Aurelia stepped up to take care of baby B.
I wasn’t shocked to learn about her mom. I knew what the reason was. It was predictable.
This is a good read and I did really enjoy it.
Ohmigosh! This book was fantastic!! I loved watching Ben & Aurelia try to hide their feelings from each other, when all of a sudden a baby shows up on Ben’s doorstep. I love that Ben fully embraces being a father; and of course Aurelia is there to help him with this new transition. It was impossible to put the book down, I was so invested in their relationship and wanted to see them get their HEA. Such a great book!
Wow wow wow, I loved Ben and Aurelia!! They have been friends forever, his siblings are some of her very best girlfriends and they all know that Aurelia has been crushing on Ben for years and they also know that Ben has been feeling the same way about Aurelia. There is nothing better than a friends to lovers romance, but throw a new born baby into the mix and you get one heck of an awesome read. I laughed out loud while reading this, it was funny sweet romantic and it was real!! It is without a doubt another page turner from Melissa Foster that you won’t want to put down – who doesn’t love a feel good funny romance with some heat, a little tears and an amazing HEA
Melissa Foster has written another swoon-worthy sexy read. Ben Dalton might be a playboy who strings his best friend for too long but when it was time to step up and be the man he needs to be that is exactly what Ben did. Aurelia has been in love with Ben forever but when a baby is left at his door, she will help him even if her heart might get broken in the long run. Fair warning you will need some tissues for this book, I was a mess after reading this book. I love how Melissa’s add characters from her other series to give us updates. Looking forward to the next Harmony Pointe book.