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Failure to Thrive #1
Failure to Thrive
This is the special edition of Failure to Thrive, with four additional bonus scenes and spice added.
Riley Emerson is probably the last person anyone would expect to be a nanny. For starters, her life has fallen apart. Her boyfriend just cheated on her. She lives with her mom, and she might have a drinking problem.
But Oliver Brian is desperate. His daughter, Zoe, has refused to go to sleep for anyone else in four years and with his career, Oliver can't always be there for her. Riley is only supposed to watch Zoe for one night, but somehow she gets Zoe to bed on her own. He's so shocked that he offers her a job on the spot.
Riley needs the money, and Oliver needs the time for himself. It’s a match made in Heaven… until feelings get involved.
Failure to Thrive is a standalone full length romance novel with the nanny, single father, and friends to lovers trope. This version has all the sweet scenes from the original plus three bonus spicy scenes!
Riley Emerson is probably the last person anyone would expect to be a nanny. For starters, her life has fallen apart. Her boyfriend just cheated on her. She lives with her mom, and she might have a drinking problem.
But Oliver Brian is desperate. His daughter, Zoe, has refused to go to sleep for anyone else in four years and with his career, Oliver can't always be there for her. Riley is only supposed to watch Zoe for one night, but somehow she gets Zoe to bed on her own. He's so shocked that he offers her a job on the spot.
Riley needs the money, and Oliver needs the time for himself. It’s a match made in Heaven… until feelings get involved.
Failure to Thrive is a standalone full length romance novel with the nanny, single father, and friends to lovers trope. This version has all the sweet scenes from the original plus three bonus spicy scenes!
349 pages, Paperback
First published September 2, 2021
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8457 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 558 reviews
July 8, 2023
this book would’ve been 200 pages shorter if they just sat down and TALKED LIKE GROWN ADULTS
April 3, 2023
????????
This is just not it…. The writing was weird and kind of annoying and the story didn’t even make sense! Like why are you gonna let someone adopt your child just bc she wanted to adopt her??? And why did Riley give Oliver so many chances when he didn’t even deserve them?????
Wanted to give it 0 stars but couldn’t so 1 it is
This is just not it…. The writing was weird and kind of annoying and the story didn’t even make sense! Like why are you gonna let someone adopt your child just bc she wanted to adopt her??? And why did Riley give Oliver so many chances when he didn’t even deserve them?????
Wanted to give it 0 stars but couldn’t so 1 it is
June 16, 2023
DNF 52%
“He really needed to find a mom for Zoe before she figured out what happened to her own mother.” Wtf? This wasn’t even the part that made me dnf (which I HATE doing 😭 I prefer to power through but I just could not with this one).
Look, the plot of this book could have been something great- I adore the nanny trope at times. But personally, I did not enjoy the writing style AT ALL. There was no FEELING, description, or anticipation. We were just being told things, the writing was choppy, the relationships WEIRD, and the story direction made no sense. It felt like one of those Wattpad stories written by a middle/high schooler. Maybe a 13 year old would really enjoy this cause there’s no depth?
I’m not trying to sound mean- I’m just saying as a 24 year old, I could not enjoy. I’m genuinely concerned. There’s no way people actually talk and act like this.
“He really needed to find a mom for Zoe before she figured out what happened to her own mother.” Wtf? This wasn’t even the part that made me dnf (which I HATE doing 😭 I prefer to power through but I just could not with this one).
Look, the plot of this book could have been something great- I adore the nanny trope at times. But personally, I did not enjoy the writing style AT ALL. There was no FEELING, description, or anticipation. We were just being told things, the writing was choppy, the relationships WEIRD, and the story direction made no sense. It felt like one of those Wattpad stories written by a middle/high schooler. Maybe a 13 year old would really enjoy this cause there’s no depth?
I’m not trying to sound mean- I’m just saying as a 24 year old, I could not enjoy. I’m genuinely concerned. There’s no way people actually talk and act like this.
July 18, 2023
the 4 year old communicates better than riley and oliver
March 21, 2023
dnf @ 1%
i am basically on page seven and more than 20 sentences have started with “Riley [verb]”. It reads so badly… so I’m moving on.
i am basically on page seven and more than 20 sentences have started with “Riley [verb]”. It reads so badly… so I’m moving on.
May 20, 2023
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1.50 stars!! The romance was not to my taste, but I enjoyed all the other parts. I find it annoying and upsetting when authors begin their stories with cheating. Although I believed some of the characters needed to be better because I didn't like them, overall I thought this was a passable story.
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1.50 stars!! The romance was not to my taste, but I enjoyed all the other parts. I find it annoying and upsetting when authors begin their stories with cheating. Although I believed some of the characters needed to be better because I didn't like them, overall I thought this was a passable story.
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October 9, 2023
read this on a whim after i saw a tiktok about it and decided to read it in one sitting. this book could’ve been so much shorter if two grown adults just talked to each other. literally just read it cause Zoe was a cute character even if all she did was cry about her dad
January 25, 2024
I do love reading a really bad book from time to time. And this one was reaaaally bad. 10/10 would recommend
September 30, 2023
Did i ever tell you guys?
I HATE MISCOMMUNICATIONS.
I HATE MISCOMMUNICATIONS.
August 11, 2024
3.5 ⭐️
RTC <3
RTC <3
August 27, 2023
This book wasn’t at all what I thought it was going to be. I expected a standard nanny/single dad romance, but the romance wasn’t not the focus and there wasn’t really any in it.
Riley is a borderline alcoholic who has been emotionally abused by her mom and sister and fell into a bad relationship after college. She ends up being the nanny for a little girl which changes her life. The relationship between Zoe and Riley is so beautiful. I love how becoming Zoe’s mother is what gives Riley a new start at life. Also, the fact that she adopts Zoe before her and Oliver even get together is really interesting and a great plot point.
Also, I freaking loved it when she said if she had any rights she’d take Zoe away from Oliver because of who he was dating, it was such a powerful scene in the book (though that level of care and concern is probably why he agreed to Riley being a co-parent before they were even together).
In a way, it kind of reminded me of Sound of Music - the father is dating a not great woman that he doesn’t really care for and who doesn’t like his daughter, but just so he can have a mother for his daughter… but then falls in love with the woman taking care of his daughter.
Riley and Oliver do get together at the end, but it’s not the main story - I’ve heard though that there’s more romance between them in the short novella the author wrote to conclude this story.
Riley is a borderline alcoholic who has been emotionally abused by her mom and sister and fell into a bad relationship after college. She ends up being the nanny for a little girl which changes her life. The relationship between Zoe and Riley is so beautiful. I love how becoming Zoe’s mother is what gives Riley a new start at life. Also, the fact that she adopts Zoe before her and Oliver even get together is really interesting and a great plot point.
Also, I freaking loved it when she said if she had any rights she’d take Zoe away from Oliver because of who he was dating, it was such a powerful scene in the book (though that level of care and concern is probably why he agreed to Riley being a co-parent before they were even together).
In a way, it kind of reminded me of Sound of Music - the father is dating a not great woman that he doesn’t really care for and who doesn’t like his daughter, but just so he can have a mother for his daughter… but then falls in love with the woman taking care of his daughter.
Riley and Oliver do get together at the end, but it’s not the main story - I’ve heard though that there’s more romance between them in the short novella the author wrote to conclude this story.
May 7, 2025
Look, this book started out okay. Sure it was cheesy and predictable and these characters were absolutely AWFUL at communicating but I was willing to look past that for the sake of a cute little nanny x single dad romance. However, all of the weird moments and miscommunications turned into a huge red flag when the dad tells the nanny she can literally adopt his child just because she was kind of good with her. These two were not even dating and the nanny was like, I wish I could be your child’s literal mother and the dad was like, yeah okay no issues there. This was quite possibly one of the most shocking things I have ever read.
For the rest of the book she’s talking about how they share a child and she’s hoping she can convince the dad to help pay for daycare? Like of course he’s going to pay that is his child.
Not to mention the fact that the fmc’s family was literally awful and so rude (and she just forgives them? No baby you all need extensive therapy), the ex best friend and ex boyfriend who were so terrible they were basically caricatures, and thrown in the fact that every time there was the slightest hint of a miscommunication both main characters overreacted to the extreme. Yeah, by the time I finished this book I was skimming because I desperately needed to be done.
This book was a wild ride, and not in a good way
For the rest of the book she’s talking about how they share a child and she’s hoping she can convince the dad to help pay for daycare? Like of course he’s going to pay that is his child.
Not to mention the fact that the fmc’s family was literally awful and so rude (and she just forgives them? No baby you all need extensive therapy), the ex best friend and ex boyfriend who were so terrible they were basically caricatures, and thrown in the fact that every time there was the slightest hint of a miscommunication both main characters overreacted to the extreme. Yeah, by the time I finished this book I was skimming because I desperately needed to be done.
This book was a wild ride, and not in a good way
September 14, 2023
SO BAD OMG. I almost didn’t finish at 80% because of how bad this was 😭. First of all, Oliver was such a piece of work!! He kept assuming the worst of Riley and making her leave, then apologizing as if it wasn’t a terrible mistake. He also just gets with women to give his daughter a mother and doesn’t care about Riley’s feelings at all like WTH. Also….how is he gonna let Riley just adopt his daughter…LIKE THIS WOMAN AINT EVEN YOUR GIRLFRIEND. He was so annoying and Riley had so much potential. I would give this .5 stars if I could
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 29, 2024
If this was your first book by this author don’t give her up entirely. This was really bad but she does have a 5 star book out there.
Lort was this one bad though. And she advertises it on tiktok like crazy? Bad marketing. People are going to read this and never want to read another book by you.
The characters had literally zero chemistry and on top of that there was not one remotely likable character in general. The entire thing was just a mess.
Lort was this one bad though. And she advertises it on tiktok like crazy? Bad marketing. People are going to read this and never want to read another book by you.
The characters had literally zero chemistry and on top of that there was not one remotely likable character in general. The entire thing was just a mess.
November 8, 2024
ni mi ušeč.
January 21, 2024
For some reason I couldn’t stop reading it, even though I really didn’t like it. I keep reading cheesy kindle romances thinking they’ll be good (and most of the times they are), but this one just wasn’t.
September 24, 2023
Si je me sentais pas trop mal pour mettre 0 je metterais 0
did-not-finish
August 7, 2025DNF at 4%.
As always, this author has some weird stuff in there that makes me think she's 19 and home schooled. I started reading reviews and I don't think I'll enjoy this.
As always, this author has some weird stuff in there that makes me think she's 19 and home schooled. I started reading reviews and I don't think I'll enjoy this.
April 13, 2022
If you enjoy a romance that you can’t put down, this is the book for you. Failure to Thrive is an excellent depiction of a slow burn romance that will both captivate the reader’s attention and have them wanting more when its finished. The trope of not only boss/employee relationships but also family get a modern spin in this book as the found family plays a big part of its plot. The reader’s can’t help but fall for both Riley and Oliver as they not only discover what family is but also falling in love. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves romance.
April 30, 2024
one of the worst romance books i’ve read, it’s completely unappealing, far from being interesting, poorly developed and with characters that have no importance, and that are awfully developed. there’s just flaws about this book
June 26, 2024
Like the idea of the book but the 3rd person writing is so annoying like omg I couldn’t get into just because of that !! In one page it said they name Riley so much I had to start in my head changing words to I in my head
Read
February 13, 2024I ABSOLUTELY HATED HER FAMILY IN THIS. Why was everyone a hater twords her.I don't know if I can say I liked this book but I def didn't hate reading it. I just didn't like anyone in this book besides the MC daughter .
November 10, 2022
Cute Romantic Comedy
Failure to Thrive By Elle Rivers
✨Book Review✨
Rating: 3/5
“I hate to break this to you, but this isn’t going to be the last thing you mess up, Oliver. Take it from me. I mess up daily,” Riley said. “But it is what it is. We’re human, and that’s all we can be. All you can do now is learn from it and don’t do it again.”
I really wanted to give this book more stars. But there are so many things in this book that made it so hard to give it more. For one there’s tons of grammatical errors, missing words, & mixing up words like putting come when it should be some.
That being said I did need a cute easy read, and this book was exactly that. Once I got past the errors it was a little bit easier. So if you easily get annoyed by errors in writing be warned that this book might not be for you.
I loved that it was a nanny/ single dad romance! And the characters were amazing, but my favorite was Zoe! I can’t get over how cute and smart she is! I loved how she was able to see things between Riley and Oliver before they were ready to admit it! Plus seeing her call out Oliver made me smile! And Oliver is so kind and sweet most of the time. I wished there was an epilogue that showed Oliver, Zoe, & Riley’s life together after the story ended, and if they finally got together.
Tons of character development, laugh out loud moments, second hand embarrassment, and miscommunication.
Blurb:
A funny romance about an unlikely nanny and a single father.
Riley Emerson is probably the last person anyone would expect to be a nanny. For starters, her life has fallen apart. Her boyfriend just cheated on her. She lives with her mom, and she might have a drinking problem.
A funny romance about an unlikely nanny and a single father.
Riley Emerson is probably the last person anyone would expect to be a nanny. For starters, her life has fallen apart. Her boyfriend just cheated on her. She lives with her mom, and she might have a drinking problem.
But Oliver Brian is desperate. His daughter, Zoe, has refused to go to sleep for anyone else in four years, and his career keeps him so busy he can't always be there for her. Riley is only supposed to watch Zoe for one night. He never expects get to get Zoe to asleep on her own. When she does, he offers her a job on the spot.
Riley needs the money, and Oliver needs the time for himself. It’s a perfect match ... until feelings get involved.
Failure to Thrive By Elle Rivers
✨Book Review✨
Rating: 3/5
“I hate to break this to you, but this isn’t going to be the last thing you mess up, Oliver. Take it from me. I mess up daily,” Riley said. “But it is what it is. We’re human, and that’s all we can be. All you can do now is learn from it and don’t do it again.”
I really wanted to give this book more stars. But there are so many things in this book that made it so hard to give it more. For one there’s tons of grammatical errors, missing words, & mixing up words like putting come when it should be some.
That being said I did need a cute easy read, and this book was exactly that. Once I got past the errors it was a little bit easier. So if you easily get annoyed by errors in writing be warned that this book might not be for you.
I loved that it was a nanny/ single dad romance! And the characters were amazing, but my favorite was Zoe! I can’t get over how cute and smart she is! I loved how she was able to see things between Riley and Oliver before they were ready to admit it! Plus seeing her call out Oliver made me smile! And Oliver is so kind and sweet most of the time. I wished there was an epilogue that showed Oliver, Zoe, & Riley’s life together after the story ended, and if they finally got together.
Tons of character development, laugh out loud moments, second hand embarrassment, and miscommunication.
Blurb:
A funny romance about an unlikely nanny and a single father.
Riley Emerson is probably the last person anyone would expect to be a nanny. For starters, her life has fallen apart. Her boyfriend just cheated on her. She lives with her mom, and she might have a drinking problem.
A funny romance about an unlikely nanny and a single father.
Riley Emerson is probably the last person anyone would expect to be a nanny. For starters, her life has fallen apart. Her boyfriend just cheated on her. She lives with her mom, and she might have a drinking problem.
But Oliver Brian is desperate. His daughter, Zoe, has refused to go to sleep for anyone else in four years, and his career keeps him so busy he can't always be there for her. Riley is only supposed to watch Zoe for one night. He never expects get to get Zoe to asleep on her own. When she does, he offers her a job on the spot.
Riley needs the money, and Oliver needs the time for himself. It’s a perfect match ... until feelings get involved.
May 2, 2025
This had a decent enough start, but things went downhill and just kept going downhill. The miscommunication was too ridiculous. The whole adoption thing was pretty crazy too. Everyone in Riley’s orbit was a problem. This woman had some terrible people in her life. But, I do appreciate Riley’s growth in this. Oliver, on the other hand? I’m not so sure about him. He has horrible judgment. And for every single issue that came up, he fell back on the same problem of thinking the worst of Riley, accusing her of something heinous, and then kicking her out without giving her a chance to explain. Thankfully, this ended with a happy for now, with a follow on book that hopefully they will both continue to grow.
June 23, 2023
Dnf 63%
Failure to thrive ?? Naaaah, it's more like failure to write a book !! Tbh the only reason this book is getting 1 star from me is because i like his daughter, so it's safe to say that I'll probably never trust tiktok again with book recommendations. Also, it should be impressive how much i held up in here, i meaan 63% ?!!! Daaamn !! I truly hated this book from the bottom of my heart !! Every single character in here is more toxic than the other and sometimes i just had to urge to punch them in their faces. I think someone was trying to torture me by making me read this. (Also, this review is sooo chaotic🙃)
Failure to thrive ?? Naaaah, it's more like failure to write a book !! Tbh the only reason this book is getting 1 star from me is because i like his daughter, so it's safe to say that I'll probably never trust tiktok again with book recommendations. Also, it should be impressive how much i held up in here, i meaan 63% ?!!! Daaamn !! I truly hated this book from the bottom of my heart !! Every single character in here is more toxic than the other and sometimes i just had to urge to punch them in their faces. I think someone was trying to torture me by making me read this. (Also, this review is sooo chaotic🙃)
January 22, 2023
wow!
So that is an extremely ominous ending!
I loved this book so much! I devoured it within hours. I’m also now determined to become best friends with the author. I LOVED Riley and everything about her, watching her grow into a mom for Zoe was amazing and just made my heart so happy!
Oliver was a butthead sometimes but he does everything for his daughter so we can forgive him for that!
I HIGHLY recommend this book to EVERYONE…
Just one question when does the next book in their story release?
So that is an extremely ominous ending!
I loved this book so much! I devoured it within hours. I’m also now determined to become best friends with the author. I LOVED Riley and everything about her, watching her grow into a mom for Zoe was amazing and just made my heart so happy!
Oliver was a butthead sometimes but he does everything for his daughter so we can forgive him for that!
I HIGHLY recommend this book to EVERYONE…
Just one question when does the next book in their story release?
December 27, 2023
Did not finish. I'm used to fluffy rom coms where I don't expect the writing to be life changing or the plot to be gripping but this was rough. The characters were not developed enough for these really big things that were said/done in the beginning so I couldn't take any of the relationships remotely seriously. There was no heat between the love interests so when the big emotional breakthrough happened I felt absolutely nothing. Disappointed because I heard good things.
August 7, 2024
"Failure to Thrive" war eindeutig mit Abstand das schlechteste Buch, dass ich dieses Jahr (und vielleicht sogar generell) gelesen habe. Kurz gesagt: ich mochte den MMC gar nicht! Es gab viel zu wenig Einblick in seinen Charakter, er hat ständig in Wut gehandelt und hat bis zum Ende dem FMC weder zugehört noch vertraut. Die Storyline war viel zu langweilig und an einigen Stellen auch viel zu fast-paced. Ich hasse Missverständnisse und gefühlt das ganze Buch basiert auf ihnen.
Das einzige an diesem Buch, was meiner Meinung nach halbwegs okay ist, ist wie Riley sich weiterentwickeln konnte und aus ihren schlechten Angewohnheiten und Beziehungen ausgebrechen konnte, aber abgesehen davon ist das Buch einfach nur schlecht geschrieben, viele Handlungen machen auch einfach realistisch gesehen keinen Sinn.
Ich bin immer noch überrascht, dass ich durchgezogen habe und das Buch nicht schon längst DNF'd habe. Definitiv keine Empfehlung von mir und das 2te Buch werde ich 100%ig auch nicht lesen.
Das einzige an diesem Buch, was meiner Meinung nach halbwegs okay ist, ist wie Riley sich weiterentwickeln konnte und aus ihren schlechten Angewohnheiten und Beziehungen ausgebrechen konnte, aber abgesehen davon ist das Buch einfach nur schlecht geschrieben, viele Handlungen machen auch einfach realistisch gesehen keinen Sinn.
Ich bin immer noch überrascht, dass ich durchgezogen habe und das Buch nicht schon längst DNF'd habe. Definitiv keine Empfehlung von mir und das 2te Buch werde ich 100%ig auch nicht lesen.
April 21, 2024
This may be the worst book I have ever read, so bad I couldn’t even finish it. The writing was so painful, and I even tried to push through for the plot but I couldn’t. Just so so unexplainably bad. It also makes no sense how they “fell in love”. I got to 52% and all they had done was hug. They have the same 3 conversations on repeat, and the main plot point of her being an alcoholic isn’t relevant after she stops drinking 50 pages in. Booktok failed me on this one, I wish I could give it negative stars. If I could offer any advice, literally don’t waste your time reading this book
January 11, 2024
as always, the child is always the best part of the book. zoe is a sweetheart and the relationship she has with riley is cute. riley needs to get a grip and leave people that don’t like her, alone. it’s acc okay to not respond… oliver and her took to long to get back together. that miscommunication trope wasn’t cute. it got boring. the book was ight. nothing special. tolerable. didn’t hate it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 558 reviews