I felt like I was coming into the middle of a story here, which isn't terribly surprising as this is the third book in a three-book cycle. The first few chapters were especially confusing as I tried to keep the ever-expanding cast of supporting characters straight and map out how they were all related to each other. I eventually gave it up as a lost cause. I'm still not sure who is related to whom.

I gathered that the first two books in this contemporary romance series were about how Miko's best friends got together with their boyfriends, who were background characters here. I'm torn if I want to go back and read those stories. On one hand, Hollis's writing style is really engaging and easy to read. She has a way of bringing characters to life and using just the right amount of humor to make me smile.

On the other hand, I really disliked how Miko behaved for most of the book. Which, I get - that actually is a huge point of the plot: that Miko was behaving horribly and stupidly and immaturely. But that doesn't make it any easier to read. I actually stalled on this book for a bit because I had such a hard time reading her continued trainwreck.

But then, the book redeemed itself. I found, quite possibly, the most true statement about life and love I've ever come across:

"I used to read those bits about finding your other half, and I totally bought into it. But that's not the way it works. Two half people don't make a whole. You've got to be completely whole on your own before you can be one half of anything."

I appreciated that Miko realized she had to be true to herself and walked away from the guy.

I also hated that the guy came crawling back and she took him back so easily. Because it was too easy and that ending just didn't sit right with me. But it is a romance novel and the main character must have her HEA, after all, even if I think Liam didn't deserve her.

I'm still not sure if I'll go back and read the first two. This one didn't have me jumping immediately to buy them but didn't completely turn me off either. I suspect if I run across them, I'd read them but I won't go out of my way to do so.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley. ( )

Wow. I have never seen a series just fumble so hard at the end like this before. I actually don't even know if I am going to read the first two books and short story from this series in the future because that is how much this last entry has annoyed the crap out of me. The writing was chopped because every five minutes we had another pop culture reference thrown in that added nothing to the overall story. The plot was simply, girl is in love with a guy and does everything she can to get guy to fall for her. That's it. We have no character development at all for the male love interest. The happily ever after was rushed and made me roll my eyes.

Miko is the main focus in this the third and I believe final installment in The Girls series by Rachel Hollis. I absolutely loved book #1 and #2 and was looking forward to Miko's story because she was such a funky and funny person in books #1 and #2. I wish I knew what happened to that character, because this one was boring and such a cliche it was painful reading about her antics.

We got information dumps about Miko from other characters like Landon and Max and it would have been smart to set up her character's personality in the prior two books. It felt like a lot of new information was dumped on us in this book about her, and none of it hung together very well. Miko is apparently a hopeless romantic and has read every book that has ever existed it seems. She is into Halloween (and couple costumes) and all she wants is to have Liam Ashton fall in love with her because she sees the real him.



So the character of Miko is paper thin through this whole book. We hear about how great she is via other people and we do get smidgens of how she designs spaces which I would have appreciated more of in this book. Instead we have to wade through page after page about how perfect Liam is, how he looks like a golden god, how perfect his hair is, that his hair is growing out, etc. I felt like I was reading a teenage girl's diary about her crush who looked her in the eyes once today in the hallway. I in turn wanted to throttle and smack Miko upside her head.



Unlike with the prior two books I have nothing really to say about the male love interest in this book. We don't get to "see" him at all. We only get regurgitated facts about why he is so perfect from Miko when she is inner monologing about him or when she is telling him how perfect he is to his face.



Other than that Liam is a blank slate and I really wish that we actually got to see what made him so "perfect" and why these two would fit since I didn't feel any chemistry between these two at all. I was bored and was honestly praying for a third party to be introduced that would show Miko what a nitwit she was being about a guy she decided to be insta-love with.

We do get to see glimpses of Landon and Max. I was disappointed though. The interactions between Miko and Landon and Max was not that great. We just got repeated utterances by Landon about Miko stop selling herself short and them getting into arguments about Miko pretty much turning herself inside out to make herself be someone that Liam loves.

The writing was not that great this time either. There were so many pop culture references that it made my head spin. It wrecked the entire flow of the novel for Miko to keep referencing things such as, now I know how Hazel in the Fault in Our Stars felt when she was trying to breathe. I mean seriously? Just say, "I find it hard to breathe because I don't really work out" or something other than that line. Things like that took me out of the book every time.

The setting was not well utilized this time either. The previous two books really played up locations.

The ending was laughably bad. I was praying for a plot twist or something because that would have at least been interesting. ( )

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Read more about this review, quotes, and other reviews at my blog, Carlene Inspired.

Miko views the world behind the pages of her books and her designs. She's quirky, she's smart, and she's best friends to Landon and Max. She the third and final member of the girls. With her two best friends in love and her business taking off, Miko has finally decided it is time to put her master plan into action. She's a hopeless romantic through and through, so taking the best ideas out of the pages of books is sure to win her the love of Liam Ashton, right? Except, Miko can't get the book ideas to work in real life, Liam enjoys his life as a womanizer, and her heart is seriously on the line. With her best friends by her side, Miko is ready to find true love, even if it means being every character from every great romance to make it happen.

This is my favorite book in the entire series, hands down. I didn't expect to love Miko's story as much as I did, nor did I realize how important it was for me to get it. Miko is every bookish best friend ever; she's totally awkward, really smart, and that big first love has her acting exactly as any one of us have at some point in time. I admit it, I cried reading this, but I also laughed a lot. Seriously, if you need a laugh this one is for you. It got to the point where my boyfriend was laughing at me for laughing so hard. Rachel Hollis is hilarious, she already knows that though. This book is more than just the final chapter to an incredible series, or a lot of laughter and tears, it's got a soul that I didn't expect. Miko is 26, but when it comes to relationships she's incredibly young. Her growth in this book is tremendous, her self hate and self love will make you overflow with feelings, and her weirdness will make you absolutely want to know her in real life. Plus, this story is one that will ring true for many, because that first big love makes you lose yourself and knowing who you are is so much more important than getting the guy you've crushed on forever.

Besides Miko though, I love what we get out of the other characters. We already know her best friends, Landon and Max, and their stories, but we see a side of them we didn't get to see in the past. This time, they have a friend that they know better than anyone else and she's on a self-destructive path. I love how funny Miko's antics were, but I also love that her best friends, as well as new friends, were pushing for her success in life more than her success in love. Plus, there's Liam, the guy that you've wanted to know about since you started this series, admit it. He's hard to like at times, but so easy to love. It's really nice to see him find himself too, as well as see he wasn't all perfect all the time. I really did enjoy their relationship, even if it wasn't an ideal one. It felt real, plus the feelings you get from Miko, and the understanding into her brain, are so important to the overall book and the lesson she has to learn. Plus, it opened up the doors to the most amazing literary romantic gesture ever. The details Rachel gave this book were so good, I really enjoyed reading about the designing that Miko was doing, as well as about her family and her relationship with her brother. Everything in this book brought so much more dimension to Miko, and like I said, this book is absolutely my favorite now.

If you haven't read any of The Girls books, I suggest you start at the beginning. What may seem like chick-lit cliches are so much more than that, especially with Rachel's humorous writing, quirky characters, and unique story line. Plus, if you didn't know, the first book is based on Rachel's real life career of starting an event company at 21 and she does all the research that goes into these books to make them come to life. Everything about this book is quotable and the life lessons will ring true for anyone, of any age. It's cute, it's sweet, contains life long friends, and a story line that will leave you wanting for so much more. It's the perfect ending to a series that I have come to love and I am seriously hoping Rachel continues to write more books, because she has a real talent for it. ( )