Making Her Mine is just the CUTEST! What a sweet and nostalgic final stand-alone in my favorite Monica Murphy World. Charmingly swoony, effortlessly sincere, and deliciously sexy, Beck and Addie’s story captured my whole heart. What a heartwarming story Monica saved for our baby Callahan. 💕
If you’re a fan of the Callahan series, then you have long since met Beck Callahan. The baby brother who’s now a very popular high schooler, and he’s long been pining for his sweet friend Addison, only he’s long since been in the friendzone. And both have been dating other people. Fans Monica Murphy’s have been treated to little glimmers of his budding friendship to Addie, his playmate from his younger years, in the novella When Bae. It’s sweet, it’s charming and innocent, and it’s super nostalgic, and Monica espouses all of those same vibes in the deeply lovable Making Her Mine- it’s so cute and sweet, I probably have a cavity.
After the last few books featuring the Callahan crew being pretty fraught with soapy teenage drama and a bit more angst, it was a nice reprieve for Beck’s story to be so blissfully straight forward. This is just a story about a boy falling in love for the first time with a girl that secretly loves him too, and both of them stumbling through all the insecurities, timing, and fear obstacles that have kept them in the pining-for-your-friend zone for so long. It’s quite nostalgic- reminiscent of those first love butterflies, the exhilaration and awkwardness that comes from exposing your heart to another when you’re young and innocent- when everything feels bigger, riskier, and more dramatic. But both of these characters are so stable and mature- a brilliant nod to all of the many lessons I’m sure they’ve both learned from watching their siblings make so many mistakes. Yet despite their emotional steadiness, their story felt the most inherently high school of the batch. Football games, parties, petty fights with friends, gossip, and getting creative about where to hook up- it’s all so authentic and had me flashing back to my own teenage challenges and triumphs.
Beck is just the dreamiest. He’s kind, sweet, thoughtful, still sexy but also heart-poundingly endearing. Monica gives us the characteristic high school popular jock and makes him the biggest sweetheart. From the very first page, I just adored this squishy little teddy bear. And Addiie is hella relatable. She’s focused, witty, generous and caring- even though she has a lot of external drama weighing on her. Their chemistry is pure saccharin and sizzle- all the emotionally complex friends- to-lovers will they finally go for it vibes paired with a magnet charisma between them. They just fit so sweetly, and I loved watching them stand up for and fight for each other. The burn is a bit slower than I prefer (the slowest of the series I would say), but I loved waiting for them. Worth every minute. And the angst is REALLY low- we mostly have some external drama impacting them, and it made for a refreshing, feel good reprieve. So much young love magic.
We have some MVP appearances from some of our favorite characters and a delightful preview of the finale of this series. We even have some secondary characters introduced that I may start begging for books for- Addie and Beck have some interesting friends. But the Callahans as always are the stars- I simply can not get enough of this series, and I’m pretty sure it will always be my favorite from Monica Murphy. She’s truly perfected the sexy, young adult trope, and I want to hang out in this world forever.