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The Line Up #3

The F Word

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Falling for my donor daddy isn’t part of the plan. It must be the hormones!

Jane.
I’ve dreamed of being a mother forever.
But then my ex left me for his perfect new girlfriend and their matching corgis.
And my health robbed me of time.

So I’m taking matters into my own hands.
I’m going to have a baby alone.
Well, except for one tiny detail. The donation I need to get the ball rolling.

Asking my smoking hot best friend might be crazy.
Hudson Kelly is commitment phobic. A total flirt.
And he never takes anything seriously.
But at least that means it won’t get complicated, right?

Except it turns out I’m not the only one with a plan.
And his might just be crazier than mine.

267 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2020

575 people are currently reading
322 people want to read

About the author

Misti Murphy

41 books482 followers

Misti Murphy writes sweet and funny, sometimes frustrating and always swoony romantic comedies with just a teensy bit of angst.

When she's not writing she lives in an imaginary world full of happy humans, glitter, and unicorns.

Not that being a mother of four, plus four fur kids isn't practically the same thing. Except when they steal the Tim Tams.

(Kangaroos are practically unicorns, right?)

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5 stars
484 (51%)
4 stars
320 (34%)
3 stars
118 (12%)
2 stars
16 (1%)
1 star
2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
Profile Image for Melinda Swaine.
2,383 reviews13 followers
August 2, 2020
Misti Murphy is becoming one of my top favourites authors to read!!

I kind of adored this sexy and funny story. It was entertaining and very enjoyable. The characters were interesting and their interactions had me laughing a lot. It had a fabulous dose of drama, steam and sexy moments, engaging secondary characters and romance. Misti Murphy is becoming one of my the top favourites authors to read. Ms. Murphy has the ability to draw you into her books while creating a fantastic stories and engaging characters that put a smile on your face and keeps you reading right till the end! Go grab yourself a copy today. Happy reading everyone!!
Profile Image for Elisa ♡.
702 reviews1 follower
December 22, 2022
I'm gonna be honest I got this book without even reading the synopsis because the cover got me hooked.
Hudson has been in love with his best friend Jane since they met, but she never notices.
One night she’s while drunk she asks if he what’s to be her baby daddy and he decides that now is his chance to make her realize that their perfect for each other.

* This is the third book in a series but it can totally be read as a standalone.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Chalice.
3,659 reviews111 followers
November 18, 2022
The couple: Hudson and Jane

Romance trope: friends to lovers
Series: The Line Up
Length: 267 pages

Plot: Jane wants to have a baby but she needs the other half of the equation. She asks her best friend Hudson to help her out, and he's more than happy to do so, since he's secretly been in love with her for quite a while.

Commentary: Cute story, drunk confessions, friends with secret crushes (I feel like Stefan - "this book has a little bit of everything..."). It was fun and cute, great palate cleanser with a sweet HEA.

Previous book in the series: The Fourth Guy
Next book in the series: Breaking Bro Code
Profile Image for Maya.
1,748 reviews
November 5, 2020
Hilarious and sweet. A fun story that brought out lots of smiles but I had 1 problem with it... Jane. She’s so utterly clueless and one-track minded to the whole baby thing that I just wanted to shake her
More often than not. How could someone be THAT dense??? She didn’t deserve Hudson.
Profile Image for Sadie.
555 reviews11 followers
February 25, 2022
An entertaining quick read. I found their “best friendship” to be a little unrealistic after 6 years of barely communicating with each other but that was easy to let go of. Jane was sooo dense about Hud’s feelings for her I wanted to shake some sense into her most of the time
Profile Image for Robin Reviewer.
999 reviews12 followers
October 22, 2021
I love Hudson! Read on KU

This may be the best in the series all because of Hudson. He is generally a happy person and is funny. He is just so loveable. I definitely enjoyed his point of view better.

Jane wasn't quite as loveable but she was OK. She's probably my least favorite FMC in the series, including the next book. She is just kind of ho-hum. Nothing really stands out about her expect her medical problems. What she does outside of hanging out with Hidson or her friends isn't really obvious. Her career is briefly mentioned. I realize I'm carrying on more about her than Hudson but it's hard to say much about him without giving away spoilers. We know a lot about his careers.

There were two or three fairly funny scenes but not really LOL ones. But it takes a lot for me to literally laugh out loud. I read almost a book a day. Certainly one every two days. I probably laugh out loud at a book once a month. This one did at least have me smiling all the way through.

It gets 4 stars because Jane could have been written better, because of the number of grammatical errors, and the ending of the book kind of sputtered out. It was on such a good path and then when they started settling things between them, it got rather mundane. The epilogue was fine but from about 83% to the epilogue was less entertaining than the rest of the book.

Ms. Murphy truly needs a better editor. There are so many missing commas and quite a number of misused personal pronouns in each of her books. I can't remember if this book had more or less errors than normal but it certainly had plenty. These things keep a writer's books from having that professional edge.

I highly recommend this book. It will brighten your day.
61 reviews
November 20, 2020
HOLY WOW

So this is the first book I've read by this author and there's a couple things I have to say.
1) Don't start reading unless you have no plans for the next day. You will be happily trapped by this book until it's finished.
2) DO NOT DRINK ANYTHING WHILE READING. Take a break and put it down so you don't spit your drink everywhere. This book is HILARIOUS.
3) Pee breaks often. I seriously almost peed myself laughing SO many times.

The interaction between the characters ate stunningly well-written. They feel incredibly real with how they relate to each other and banter back and forth. There's REAL friendship in ways you don't always see. The side characters are their own people and feel much more genuine than just background - they have their own motivations and personality (that said I'm DEFINITELY the Cassie friend. Inappropriate and supportive all the way baby!). The dialogue is just spectacular.
Jane and Hudson are a fantastic couple and example about how people communicate and humor as a defense mechanism. I adore that Jane has serious insecurities that lead to her issues in the book, and that Hudson is such a free spirit but also has his own hangups. I'm trying not to give away too spoilers but Hudson might be my all time favorite make lead. He's not the brooding grumpy boss or the intimidating alpha male - he's the joker and class clown who hides his pain behind sarcasm and humor, and you rarely see that in romance. I LOVE IT.
133 reviews5 followers
May 16, 2022
Rating 3.75⭐️for me. I liked the story very much. The Hero was sweet, the heroine likable. However I hated how stupid our heroine was, I mean who in the right mind is going to thing the hero would be teasing about they being together or loving her or liking her and wanting to have sex with her when “he had told her not to fall for him”. Who?, who would do something like that?. And why our Hero would not scream at her and be super clear and say “ Hey Jane, I am not kidding this are my true feelings” Ugh! I get He was trying to protect himself but geez!
Anyhow the book is good in the humor, the other characters, our witty Hero, the book club girls, and even the heroine. I liked the epilogue, the HEA, and yes I see some other reviews talking about how the OB didn’t catched her hormone level at the end. It should have been caught immediately, in real life is like that, the OB does a test to see how the pregnancy is doing and specially the first trimester they can tell how is goin according to the hormones, I know I had twins. Anyways I let it slide because this is fiction and I liked that surprise in the end.

POV: dual
Plot: good, character development, humor.
Sex: yes, smutty and steamy! 🔥
HEA: yes
OM/OW: heroine was heartbroken from cheating ex. But not Other people while in relationship with the Hero.
Recomendable: yes nice story, easy to read, right amount of smut, and it tell a story.
Read again: no really, once is ok as the other books in the series. I like them all but I need to go through by TBR list.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
605 reviews8 followers
April 13, 2023
4.5 stars rounded down

Cute story, but she's quite insecure. The guy has been telling her for 15 years he loves her and she just doesn't get it (until the very end that is).

Overall it was a good story though and obviously worked out for them in the end... As a scatterbrained Prego. Lol. I did feel like she didn't really work much towards the end. She was heartbroken and in the dumps for a bit and her boss was only mentioned like once, maybe twice.

I also felt like I was in a different country. I'm in the USA, but some of the terms in the book are not American references. So they threw me off because I didn't recall that from the first two books. The "pram" he mentioned and also "rubbish" aren't USA terms. If they had come from her, that would be one thing - she lived in the UK for 6 years with another guy (which seemed excessive too). But coming from him seemed odd. There was a 3rd term too but offhand I can't recall what it was. 🤷🏼‍♀️ So the regional/country references weren't always on point.
Profile Image for Tiffany Copple.
1,491 reviews66 followers
October 18, 2020
4.5 stars for The F Word by Misti Murphy. This is a best friend’s baby romantic comedy. This is also part of the Line Em Up Series. I absolutely loved this book. The characters and the dialogue had me laughing out loud. I think my husband thought that something was wrong with me. Jane has insecurities about herself because of what her ex did to her. Hudson was her best friend, but they lost touch when she moved away. He always wanted more but Jane never believed it was true. These two have an amazing relationship. I will say there were times when I just wanted to shake Jane and tell her to see what was right in front of her. The HEA made up for those moments. I am looking forward to more from this author.
Profile Image for Tabi Ann.
1,102 reviews5 followers
August 3, 2020
Flipping Fabulous Read!!

Our lovely author has once again given us a book that makes us fall in love with another book boyfriend. Makes us laugh so hard that you will be wishing you were wearing your diaper.

There will come many times in this book that you will want to jump into the book and smack Hudson upside the head and even Jane. Maybe even yell at the author when she does something not very nice. You just never know. This book is full of surprises.

Until Next Time.... Tabi

P.S. I would love the girls reaction if they ever found out who J.J. was and what Cass would think about the voice
Profile Image for Nicole.
Author 3 books41 followers
September 8, 2020
I really, really wanted to like this book, but I found myself skimming quite a bit.

I think my biggest complaint is the language, if I’m being honest. Why can we read pussy and cock and fuck, but Hudson says motherducker/motherducking instead of motherfucker? Is motherfucker where the author drew the line? The editor?

And then he calls Vale to help him get off? Was this an attempt at humor?

Additionally, the epilogue felt less like an epilogue and more like an afterthought. How is it that Jane has reproductive issues and she isn’t being monitored closely enough for her OB to know she is carrying twins?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Chasity Oleson.
11 reviews
May 15, 2021
I laughed so hard I cried

Listen....I had no interest in reading this book. None. The small hints toward these characters in the previous books did absolutely nothing for me. But I came back to this book because I'd liked the previous books in the series and couldn't think of another book to open. I am so incredibly glad I opened this book. I was instantly intrigued by the main character's occupation. Then this book literally had me laughing so hard at one in the morning I almost woke up my 3 kids. The ending was predictable but the middle was pure perfection.
Profile Image for Michelle Wing.
33 reviews1 follower
July 3, 2022
emotional rollercoaster but great read

Having had fertility problems I found that a lot of my feelings were very much like janes but I’d already married my best friend and we decided to just relax and be a fun loving couple before I fell ill with the same stomach bug as him…except mine didn’t go away after 48hrs.
The emotional rollercoaster of two people feeling one thing but seemingly saying another was so good and understandable that I laughed out loud or cried more than once.
Profile Image for Shelly Celli.
2,248 reviews6 followers
August 8, 2020
My favorite F word!

I swear these two had me in stitches. Both from the tears and laughter. Their story is perfect and makes the love even more potent. Knowing they’ve been in love for years makes the story even more pronounced, not only are they trying for a baby, but their trying to keep their feelings hidden. What a problem to have! I love these guys and can’t wait to see what happens with Vale.
Profile Image for Dacia.
8 reviews
August 18, 2021
Best one yet

I read the other two books before this one and this was the best of the 3 IMO. I am not a big friends to lover trope and this one I could not put down. The writing and story plot line kept me engaged.

Boy meets Girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl is clueless, girl moves, comes back jaded, they rekindle their friendship, and they figure it out in the end.

Excited to read the next story!
Profile Image for Dawn Dugle.
Author 52 books73 followers
August 30, 2021
The Line Up series is full of hilarious characters and swoon-worthy love interests. But I gotta tell ya - this is by far - the funniest book in the series. I was absolutely howling with laughter at the Freddy the Chameleon scene.

Hud and Jane have been best friends forever. But what they don’t know is they’re secretly pining for each other. This is a great friends to lovers romance, with a big barrel of laughs thrown in for good measure.
Profile Image for Renee.
33 reviews1 follower
February 24, 2023
While not quite as funny as I Dare You or The Fourth Guy, the story was still filled with charming characters and the plot had me quickly turning pages.

What I Loved: Freddie the chameleon, a male lead who's comfortable with romance, the scars on both characters from how love has treated them

What I Hated: Spending 260 pages wanting to tie someone to a chair and force them to have an open and honest conversation. Glad that happened in the end, though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
3,157 reviews
August 2, 2020
A sweet romance must read.

This was my first read of the series and it was a fun read from start to finish. Hudson’s character is definitely swoon worthy and as a best friend he gets high marks as he say yes to Jane’s request that heighten the heat level to sizzling. An awesome storyline with great characters makes this sweet romance read a definite must read!
Profile Image for Kaci (travelswithabook).
498 reviews7 followers
April 1, 2023
I’m really liking Misti Murphy! This series has been so fun.

What I loved😍: Hudson; the humor - the minor characters’ and Hudson’s; Jane’s dad; the lizard scene

What stood out😱: Hudson‘s secret occupations - that reveal to Jane was perfect!!

What I didn’t enjoy🤨: Jane was just a little too dense for me - everything Hudson said was taken as a joke
16 reviews
November 1, 2023
So fluffing good

This sums up how funny this book was
"The lizard slithers inside the gravy boat, straight into my sperm sample. Jane’s waiting and I can’t take this up to her. I’m going to have to start from scratch. “Fuck me dead, could this get any worse?”
“Could what get any worse?” Jane’s dad asks from behind me."
195 reviews
August 4, 2020
Loved It!

This was truly one of the sweetest books that I've ever read. Jane has a plan. She wants to have her baby. She has decided to enlist her friend Hudson to help her. But even the best laid plans can sometimes go awfy and sometimes life gives you a wonderful surprise.
Profile Image for Avery.
43 reviews
August 24, 2020
Amazing!!!

If you are looking for a laugh out loud book this is the story for you! All the love, all the swoon, and all the humor, but also all the glorious heartache of two people who love each other but can’t find the words to say it. Love love love!
Profile Image for ☆☆Hannah☆☆.
3,182 reviews46 followers
September 8, 2020
This was a good read. Jane's boyfriend has left her for another woman. Now she is looking to have a baby. She decides to ask her best friend Hudson. They thankfully in the end are able to make it work and get their happy ending.
Profile Image for Breanna.
297 reviews2 followers
September 20, 2020
I started this book thinking I would just read one chapter and then get other stuff done.....
I READ THE WHOLE THING IN ONE SITTING.
It was such a cute story with relatable characters who were super likeable. I loved their love. Will definitely read again.
Profile Image for Lorraine Leatham.
246 reviews5 followers
January 11, 2021
💕💕💕💕💕

I love this entire series. Any woman who has longed to have a child or has had a child will find it hard not to cry. This book is about a woman who wants to have a baby. Her best friend is there in all ways possible. A definite must read.
81 reviews
August 30, 2021
Hudson Kelly = fluffing delicious

Look, there's nothing else for it, I want a Hudson in my life. Now would be good lol

I love Jane and I'm glad she finally focuses on what is right in front of her. She's vulnerable and normal and that's why I love her.
913 reviews5 followers
January 7, 2022
Awesome!

Hudson is such an enigma. He is truly a touchy feely guy but also completely macho. Jane is a wounded soul that comes back home and finally gets her life back on track. Best friends who have secretly loved the other. Can they figure it out?
Profile Image for Jessica Reigle.
575 reviews28 followers
June 9, 2022
I didn't think I could like these books anymore than the previous book in this series but that's a lie. This book was my absolutely favorite, hands down, thus far. I LOVED this story and I freaking loved Hudson.
Profile Image for Julie.
920 reviews27 followers
June 10, 2022
Baby making to surprise!

This series is just amazing, loving them all, this one had me crying and laughing, sexy times all over the house, this book had it all, if you love romance you are going to love these, trust me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews

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