Romance in Amsterdam

*4.5*
Love this! Arlo is perfectly funny, awkward and full of love for his family and friends but especially his older brother's best friend, Jack. On a trip to Amsterdam, they end up sharing a flight and a hotel room when there is a bit of a mix up. This gives the two men a chance to know each other as friends first rather than through the brother.
It's a story full of sweetness, hilarious mishaps, an unwanted ex and a good dose of heat between the two. I listened to the audio of this and I was smiling and laughing whilst walking along with the dog and Joel Leslie is fantastic! The personality of the characters shines through as does the emotional connection that builds up from the start of the story.
Another highly recommended story from Lily Morton!

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Cute story

love Christmas stories and this hit it I enjoy lily books and Joels narration makes it better. recommended 100%

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Snarky, funny and so romantic!

I first read this book with my eyes about a year ago and I loved it. I loved it all over again when I listened to Joel Leslie perform the audiobook. I credit Joel with my love of audiobooks. Before I listened to one he performed, I always felt that audiobooks were boring. Joel opened up a whole new world of reading for me and he remains one of my favorite audiobook performers.

Below is what I wrote about the book when I first read it. I can’t think of anything else to add now.

I’m still fairly new to Lily Morton’s books but I’m a huge fan. Merry Measure is a great story that had me laughing out loud in places and smiling nearly all of the time. I loved Arlo and Jack and all of the great supporting characters in the story – well maybe not Steven. 😊

Arlo has been crushing on his brother’s best friend, Jack, since he was a pre-teen and now they are sharing a room because of a mix up at a hotel. Jack has recently broken up with his boyfriend and he’s having trouble curbing his attraction to Arlo. The two are pretty much opposites; Jack is neat as a pin and Arlo – well Arlo is not. 😊 But Arlo helps Jack to let go and have a bit of fun and that made for a great story.

Of course, it’s easy to guess that one thing leads to another but the journey of reading this book was an absolute delight.

A complimentary copy of this audiobook was provided to me at my request but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author and/or narrator.

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Arlo and Jack

I loved this cute, funny and fluffy story. Arlo is such a wonderful character with his adorable clumsiness. (I didn’t realized it was possible to get so much second hand embarrassment from a story) These two are definitely a great match. I look forward to listening to this again.

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Funny and Sweet

Merry Measures is a standalone romantic comedy filled with fluff and humor. Arlo has always had a crush on his big brother’s best friend Jack, but Jack has always been in relationships…until now. Forced together (quite willingly) on a trip to Amsterdam, Arlo and Jack become closer and closer. The book is packed with shenanigans and sass, but very light angst. The characters are funny and I love the banter between all of them. The audiobook was narrated by Joel Leslie who does a fantastic job with the audio performance. I was laughing while listening and finished the book in one day.

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1 person found this helpful

Highly recommend

I absolutely loved this one: it was funny, sweet and hot.

Fantastic narration by Joel Leslie. He bought the characters to life and he did it effortlessly.

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Cheerful holiday/vacation story

This book falls between four and five stars for me. I had several laugh out loud moments, which is kind of rare for me in books, so I tipped over to five stars. What I like about this book is that even though it's not overly long and we don't know any of the characters from previous books, the world building, the characterization, the friendships between the characters, it all seems very natural and intimate. I feel like I've been invited right into the world and I don't have to wonder about anything or wait to be told something I want or need to know or search for details. I think Lily Morton is a really excellent author in that respect. She is very good at writing real people.

The romance develops over a period of 3 days, but I wouldn't call it instalove at all since the main characters have a lot of friendly history. The romance feels very natural and realistic and I believed it. So far this sounds like a rave review, and it is in a way. The one thing that I really didn't like is the conflict. I can't really talk about the specifics of the conflict without giving spoilers, so I'm not going to. I just feel like the conflict element was overdone and almost like a caricature and I think that it could have been just as effective for having a little more subtlety than it did, but this author is sort of famous for her over the top antagonists so I shouldn't be surprised. It was a jarring note in an otherwise very well done and lovely story, though.

I'm not going to speak too much about the narration because that is a very personal preference. The sample is a good representation of what you can expect, so give it a listen. I'm not a personal fan of this narrator as I find his assumed variety of British accents to be way too careful and unrealistic-sounding, but it may not bother you at all.

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2 people found this helpful

Really fab book but

The narration was absolutely appalling.
It was up there with the worst I've heard, painful and he talked so fast!!!!!
The story was so well written though I did persevere.
I'll definitely read more from the author and avoid the narrator like the plague.

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Loved the entire story!

Loved this entire story. Not a single thing I'd change. It was cute and sweet and the perfect brother's best friend story!

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Spectacular!

Lily Morton's Merry Measure is simply a 100% perfect romance.

Everything we need: friendship, family, love, and laughter (& lots of that!). Plus the chemistry Lily Morton builds between her main characters is alway spectacular. Sweet, geeky Arlo with his longtime crush on his brother's BFF, is irresistable. And handsome, steady Jack, who is just dying to be loved for who he is deep down inside. I adore these two together.

The sassy and clever good humor within this friend group had me laughing out loud through most of the story. Merry Measure is an absolute joy, over the holidays - or any time at all!

Audio performed by Joel Leslie who does a lovely job with the many different characters and accents. Well done.

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