She's Not You by Mimi Barbour

She's Not You: Contemporary Romance (Elvis Series)
Synopsis:

Sick and alone with her three-year-old daughter at Christmastime, Belle Foster needs help. When her neighbor’s brother gets involved, she welcomes the soft-spoken good-looker into her world. Rescuing her kidnapped daughter isn’t part of the deal, but any man willing to babysit his sister’s menagerie of pets and cares that much about a stranger’s baby is a guy she wants to get to know much better.

Jesse has only loved one woman in his life. Years ago, she left him with a broken heart, a crippling dependency and too many poignant memories. No one can replace her. No other woman has ever come close. So why does this loving mom continually sneak into his head? And why can’t he shake her loose? One needy girl in his life, a sister who expects him to live on a pedestal, is enough for any man.

Review:

Hmm..So the story for this is basically the same as All I Want For Christmas Is You. There are a few differences, but it is basically the kid wants a husband for the mom. While She's Not You wasn't as good, it was still an enjoyable read. I probably would have enjoyed it more had I not just read a similar story right before it. 

The story starts off with Jesse getting pulled into Belle and her daughter's life when the daughter, Layla thinks her mom has died. Jesse of course rushes right over, finds that she had just passed out and then stays a bit (even though he doesn't want to. He is just a good guy). So I am not sure how or when he changed from not wanting to be here with them to I want to spend all my time with them. It was just like one minute he wants to get out of there and one minute he doesn't. Odd. 

Luckily for Belle Jesse seems to know what is wrong with her and he helps her get it under control and feel better. They quickly start to hang out all the time, even though Belle does try to stay away (especially after the first kiss on the couch!). Jesse had been still hung up on his high school sweetheart who broke his heart, but Belle helps him move on finally. He really is a good guy and does everything he can for her and her daughter, though I didn't understand his hang up on his high school girlfriend for all these years. Jesse and Layla were incredibly cute together though. It was really nice. 

The ending was a little lame, but oh well. Belle freaks out and is crushed, then suddenly thinks through everything again and realizes where she made a mistake and it was just a bit...not as good as the rest of the story. So the very beginning and end were a bit off for you, but the middle was very entertaining. 

Rating: 2.5/5