Love by Design (The Meraki Series Book 2) by Effie Kammenou – Review by Roxsanne Lesieur.

Love by Design by Effie Kammenou
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mia Andarakis is one of four children in a typical greek household, however, she doesn’t live the typical single woman’s greek life, she lives in an apartment in the city with her best friend, she has a job with a magazine as a graphic designer amongst other things and a family who loves her, even if they can be stifling and overly opinionated at times, but she is convinced that she was born in the wrong era as her tastes in fashion and music are not current by any means, but she is happy. Today however, she is going to the first meeting of the Community of Creatives in Publishing (CCP), but when she sees the man on the podium, Nicholas Aristedis, the CEO of Aris Publishing, all rational thought and movement are scrubbed from her mind, he is stunning and his voice is like nothing she has ever heard before and she has definitely never reacted in such a way before, so she doesn’t quite know how to handle it. The CCP also have an awards ceremony yearly and this year Mia is proud to have been on the committee organising it, but when she comes face to face with Nicholas, he glares at her and she is dumbstruck as to why, so when she is congratulated on her role in the event and is asked for her resume to be sent to the head of the CCP, she is more than elated, however, when she hears that the company is being restructured and she is called to HR the next week, she starts to overthink and convinces herself that she is being let go of, so when she is told that she is in fact being moved to a different magazine thanks to a recommendation and is to work directly under Nicholas as his Associate Art Director.

Mia throws herself into research about the demographic of this new magazine, so she is prepared for her first day and the staff meeting she will be in, when she finds out more about the magazine and what it will be all about, Mia has an idea already coming together in her head and goes straight to work on a pitch and three hours later emails it to Nicholas and is immediately called into his office to discuss how the meeting should have been three hours ago! She is unnerved and intimidated by the man, but when they discuss everything, he is nothing like what he seemed at the meetings and they end up having a difference of opinion and bringing out the worst in each other, to the point that Mia debates whether she can work with a man who hates her and cannot stand being around her. When she gets back from lunch, she is called into the other CEO’s office and to her astonishment and delight, she is presented with an apology for Nicholas’s behavior and the knowledge that her pitch has not only been discussed and has been accepted, but will be used as the layout for the inaugural issue! She celebrates over dinner with friends and when she gets home is exhausted but brimming with ideas, so she sets up her laptop and works until she falls asleep, however, the next morning doesn’t go to plan and she ends up being a little late to the office and is immediately called into Nicholas’s office, who proceeds to apologise to her, but things are said and they have another disagreement where he says things are not going to work between them on a professional level, hearing this, Mia forwards him what she was working on the night before and packs up her desk to go stay with her sister.

After a long talk with her sister and a good night’s sleep, Mia head to her sisters cafe to help out and work out all the feelings by baking, but when Nicholas turns up after she didn’t turn up for work and searching for her, she agrees to hear him out and after the air is cleared, they return to the office to work on the magazine and she is told that they will be going to Athens in a couple of weeks to work on the next issue. Will Mia and Nicholas be able to work through their differences and together create something beautiful, or will their temperaments get between them and send things off the rails? This is another sweet romance with a carousel of mystery, heartbreak and love rotating throughout where past mysteries collide with current events in a way that would never be expected.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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