Melissa Dickson's Reviews > Gilded Mess

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5 stars!)

*arc generously provided by the author*

This is one of my new fave RH's ever. I should have known based on Colette's previous book, Blood Nor Money, that I would enjoy this book as well but I was shocked at both how different it was and how amazing it was.

I won't lie. At first I was all, "how ... exactly does one do a Goldilocks retelling without it being super weird?

Well- here's how.

You take one Blonde haired beauty who makes poor life decisions in general and is absolutely hilarious, add in three gorgeous bear-shifting brothers who couldn't be more opposite, and a psycho ex boyfriend. Add a dash of breaking and entering, combined with a side of self-depreciation. Stir until a mentally manipulative psycho shows up, and you get an absolutely amazing read.

What the best part was? The MC's regularly bring up the fact that she's blonde and they're best shifters and refer to the old tale as an ongoing joke. What could have been a bit of an awkward retelling turned into something hilariously tongue-in-cheek and I was here for it.

Ria, who has to be my fave FMC of Colette's yet, decides to move in with her fairly new boyfriend into a random cabin deep in the woods. Almost immediately after they both get to the cabin, Ria finds out ole boy is cheating on her. So when he leaves the cabin she steals his gun and weed, and does what any scorned girlfriend does- gets high and decides to walk into town after destroying his phone.

Unfortunately, Ria isn't half as prepared for a traipse through the woods and she thinks she is and in her weed induced state she decides it's totally ok to break into a beautiful home she finds in the middle of the woods. There she proceeds to eat the owner's food, break their furniture, use their bath and sleep in their beds.

Of course the owners get home and it's alllll downhill from there 😂 (or ... uphill. Or maybe horizontal hill. *wiggles eye brows*)

This book has everything I love in a romance. Great character depth, awesome plot, fantastic plot twists and a broody asshole who's fighting his feelings. Not to mention one of the most hilarious female MC's ever.

Also can we just talk for a second about how amazing Colette is at writing her characters? I've read every single one of her books and not a single FMC is the same. Not a single one is a carbon copy and they all have so much depth. I genuinely don't know how she does it. Same with the guys. And don't get me wrong a lot of authors can write different FMC's but *not* with the level of depth that Colette does. It's baffling to me.

I almost cried when I found out the next book comes out in just a month. The cliffhanger was real and I'm dyyyyong to find out what happens next!

If you've read Colette's books before you will be so pleased with this one and can expect the same awesome story and romance and magic that comes with all her books. If you haven't read her books, then let me tell you how jealous I am that you have all these amazing stories ahead of you- she became one of my fave authors last year and her writing just keeps getting better and better. Even when I don't believe it can.. she somehow manages to surprise me yet again 😂

5/5 stars. Would totally recommend.