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The Archer and His Rosebud

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From the authors of Paper Planes and the Seaside Point series comes a new standalone contemporary romance about single parents.

At nineteen, Willa Hawthorne had ambitions, a determination in her heart, and plans for the future. All of which vanished the moment she saw two pink lines.

College parties and independence are replaced with late-night feedings and howling cries. As a single mom in a town that isn’t her home, she’s hanging by a thread. When her newborn’s rare moment of sleep is interrupted by her noisy neighbor, the thread snaps.

Rebuilding his life after his marriage left him in shambles, Archer Thomas isn’t expecting his new neighbor to have a breakdown at his front door. The last thing he needs is to become involved, but Archer can’t help stepping in when the struggling young woman’s daughter steals his heart.

Willa isn’t one to ask for help, but when life flips the script, sometimes accepting the hand of the gorgeous single dad next door is the only answer.

317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2022

247 people are currently reading
1674 people want to read

About the author

Mindy Michele

15 books105 followers
Pen name of Mindy Hayes and Michele G.
Miller


Hi! Mindy Michele is the co-writing duo of sweet romances with low to medium heat, such as the Paper Planes Series, the Seaside Pointe novels, and The Archer and His Rosebud.

We’re pretty awesome! We like singing in the car, eating white cheddar popcorn, and going on road trips together. You’ll find us sharing a table at a few book signings each year. We have a love of romance, New York, anything sweet, and great books.

To find out more you can hunt us down on social media. We’re all over the place!



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5 stars
939 (36%)
4 stars
962 (37%)
3 stars
536 (20%)
2 stars
103 (4%)
1 star
22 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 222 reviews
Profile Image for Lilyya ♡.
656 reviews3,737 followers
July 16, 2024
this was so freaking frigging cute❤️‍🩹
Profile Image for Brianna.
273 reviews260 followers
June 30, 2022
5/5 ⭐️
?/5 🌶 (fade to black)

Tropes:
- small town
- age gap (10yr) ~ 30 & 20
- single mom (of newborn)
- single dad (of 5yr & 11yr old boys)
- neighbors + he babysits for her
- friends to lovers
- hero falls first
- protective hero
- slow burn
*Check TW*

POV: first person - dual

Type: stand-alone

The fact that I was able to fully enjoy this while having a fever speaks for itself. Also, I know people love smut but the last thing I want to read when feeling ill is a lot of spice so this was perfect considering my mood.

Anyways, I loved every minute and that EPILOGUE (technically final chapter since it wasn’t titled epilogue) was everything I could have wanted and more.

If I were a person who rereads, this would 100% be one that I consider a comfort read.
Profile Image for Sarah♡books  .
420 reviews114 followers
July 5, 2023
5/5 ⭐️

🤍 Single mom ( 3 week old baby girl)
🤍 Single dad ( 5 & 11 years old)
🤍 Age gap ( 20 l 30 )
🤍 friends to lovers
🤍 neighbours
🤍 Check TW !! PTSD
🚩no cheating ( between MC) or sharing, minor OW Drama ( his ex wife)
OM - her ex ( also baby daddy )

OMGGGGG I LOVED THIS BOOK 😭🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

In the end I cried SO many times 🫂🙊
Archer is the best I love him more than anything right now !! 🧎🏻‍♀️🔥🥵😍
His bond to Clem was soooo sweet to read 😭😍
It was literally just ✨️ PERFECT✨️

Willa was also soo sweet 🤍
Poor girl was so alone and traumatised but everything turned out good 🙌😍

I loved the kids ( they are mentioned really often & we really get to see their connection 😭🤍🫶)


All in all it was literally perfecttt 🙌😍🫂


PS I think my favourite trope is for real single mom 🔥✨️🤍
Profile Image for Finucha.
332 reviews55 followers
October 21, 2023
4.3/5⭐️
omgg my heart can’t take how cute this was. Willa and Archer were so beautiful and healthy, the very definition of soulmates. Archer Thomas is the literal man of my dreams. I loved how he cared for Willa and Clem, treated them like his queens, considered them family and made it clear!! He was so considerate and tender, also with his kids. I love this man so much💌. And Willa, my girl deserves the world after everything she went through with that shitty ex and her father. She’s such a strong mom and I’m so glad she has Archer by her side and feels at home with him. When she started to feel connected with Clem my heart was full of happiness, they deserve the world☺️✨.
My fav thing definitely was how the five of them acted like a family from the very beginning.
And the epilogue was perfection💕💕
Profile Image for anna. ׂׂૢ.
655 reviews19 followers
January 24, 2023
I don’t want to say too much but this probably has to be the best single parent trope story that I have read. Well maybe not the first best but it’s still the best. I love how it is a single dad x single mom, age gap romance story, really gives off the spice. This story shows certain realities upon single parents especially at a young age which is important to learn about. Cute read and I recommend <3!
Profile Image for Mtve41.
663 reviews23 followers
July 29, 2023
Umm. Cringe. Most likely I’m the wrong demographics and blatant reminder: can’t just pick anything to read and then vent out my regrets.

Eitherways. Basic and boring. Zero chemistry. And I’d a problem with the h. She has a baby barely weeks old and she’s cozying up to her neighbor who’s a single dad and available for help. Convenient.

Maybe if she’d played it easier in her school days and shouldn’t have gotten knocked up. This switching from man to man was .. there’s a word for it 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

The h had no issues with the H seeing her in different levels of undress. She has to feed her baby and has no gripes with if he sees anything cuz everyone else in this day and age is walking naked anyways. The h also had a really ugly demeanour towards her baby who was well a cry baby.

I will say there is no chemistry and the slow burn is real slow. No point in sticking back unless you want to go thru their everyday life. The h was your average college slut with not a shy bone to call her own. Anything else she covered up with her bad manners and arguments. 😬
Profile Image for Kristen.
219 reviews10 followers
November 21, 2022
I don't really enjoy slow burn romance, sometimes I feel like there are so many unnecessary things that are just there to fill the pages but THIS!! You can never get enough of Archer and Willa and baby Clem.

Archer, what a man!! this one was really good.
Profile Image for Nour Hane.
258 reviews3 followers
January 10, 2026
3.5⭐
رغم نوعية الكتب الواقعية مش ذوقي لكن قرأته و إستمتعت به
أرتشر شخصيته في قلبي 🌳حنيته و دعمها 🥺
و ويلا جابتلي معها إكتأب هي إكتأب ولادة وانا فوبيا من الأطفال 😫يماا الوضع يخوف الله يعين الأمهات .

بس على كل كتاب ككل كان تجربة حلوة.
Profile Image for ☆ jess ☆.
615 reviews50 followers
January 11, 2023
this might actually be one of the best romance books i’ve ever read!! single dad x single mum, strangers to friends to lovers and an age gap. archer’s relationship with clem was so adorable 😭 i don’t wanna say too much without spoiling it but i did NOT see that twist coming and ugh i just love willa and archer <3
Profile Image for Johanna.
96 reviews
July 30, 2023
what's with women not lawyering up?

a nice and incredible sweet read. everyone needs an Archer in their life.
Profile Image for Amanda Louder.
72 reviews6 followers
July 5, 2022
Sweet and Sexy

I absolutely loved the story of Willa and Archer and his deep love for baby Clementine. This book gave me all the feels. I was rooting for a happy ending for both of them. Mindy Michele has done it again!
Profile Image for Tish.
494 reviews1,069 followers
March 15, 2025
This had the makings of being a five star read. It really did. The story hooked me. The two main leads and their chemistry made me jump with joy from the very start but somewhere along the way the story lost its connection. I would blame it on the fact that this was a closed door (open door?) romance. There wasn’t any spice scenes (not that there needs to be!!) but I feel like one good scene would’ve done this book better especially with insane tension between the two leads. But also, I felt like parts of the story were rushed. Especially when it came to FMC and her daddy/ baby daddy issues. That could’ve been explored more and deeper depth. I really did like this, just not enough for it to be a five star book. It’s a solid 3.5-4 star and I’m excited to see what else this author has written!
Profile Image for M Reads Romance .
271 reviews3 followers
July 1, 2022
I think I found these authors on TikTok. I was sucked in by the quote. Overall it was a good Hallmark story with a slow burn and closed-door spice. If you are a fan of the characters waiting for ever to even kiss, this is for you

This age-gap, friends to lovers story is very sweet. The overwhelmed single mom meets her noisy single dad neighbor who falls in love with her daughter first. The H is a total simp for her but his past could make being with her impossible due to her meddling ex. The third act drama felt a little far reaching for the pace and tone of the book. It's a doozy for sure. I just had lots of questions about it and it felt over the top.

I did like this story overall. I liked their meet cute and the kids. I just didn't buy the chemistry as much. He acted more like he was her dad than a lover. Then there was an un needed scene with her estranged dad. Maybe it was to show she had back bone and daddy issues, no idea.The story lagged in the middle and I skimmed through the end. Great wrap up in the epilogue.
Profile Image for Mo ♡.
607 reviews17 followers
January 11, 2023
2.5/3 🌟 good but mediocre 🤷🏻‍♀️
Profile Image for evelynn kate.
510 reviews
January 17, 2023
Plot ⭐️⭐️.5
Spice 0.5🌶️
Romance 💘💘💘
Vibes 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Dual 1st person POV

Cute but predictable. A little slow going and I didn't love how young Willa was. But Clementine was adorable and I loved how much Archer loved her. Closed door but a sweet single-parent romance. Wish we saw more of Archer's sons but what we did see was super cute.
Profile Image for JMC.
520 reviews4 followers
March 2, 2024
The premise of the story is nice if it wasn’t for the writing. The writing style made me detached to the characters. The flow seems seamless but it’s too quick for my liking—it’s like the author just wanted to get over it already.

*Fade To Black / Closed-Door Romance
Profile Image for Amy.
31 reviews
July 11, 2022
*Some spoilers. Beware

This was a great book. From the start, the story reeled me in. Willa is a young, single mother trying to balance her unexpected motherhood with her life as a college student. Archer is a single father who wants to be present and available in the lives of his young sons. The two meet, under less than ideal circumstances, when they discover they are next door neighbors. Little do they know at the beginning that they are both what the other needs.

I found the characters to be rich in substance. Willa is trying her hardest to be a responsible adult and mother at the young age of 20. Her nerves are frazzled, she doesn’t know how to keep her newborn from constantly crying, and she is feeling a disconnect from motherhood. I haven’t read a lot of books, particularly in the romance genre, that deal with postpartum depression. It is such a common thing, so I was glad to see it make an appearance in this book. It was handled gently, and in a very honest way. Willa knows something is wrong, but it takes her perceptive neighbor, Archer, to understand what she is suffering. Archer encourages her to seek help, which she does. I am glad that she is able to resolve her depression. It wasn’t overly talked about as this story isn’t *about* postpartum depression, but she seeks help from her doctor and gets medication to take. It wasn’t stigmatized or de-stigmatized. It just was. It was handled as naturally as it would be in real life. It’s not always successfully handled in real life, but sometimes it is, and that was this story. Through the course of the book, Willa grows into herself and her motherhood, maturing as one would in her situation.

Archer is pure gold. He is a man devoted to his kids with compassion to spare. He’s uprooted his life to be near his sons as his ex and her new husband moved. He shares custody of the boys, and he is a devoted father. When he meets a frazzled Willa and her new baby, he can’t help but reach out and try to do what he can to ease Willa’s burdens. He spends so much of his time watching Willa’s baby, Clementine, that his first real attachment is to her, although his attachment to Willa isn’t far behind. He is capable and caring and consistent. Although 10 years Willa’s senior, he is the perfect match for her.

Both are good, decent people with a good amount of maturity under their belts. They don’t let misunderstandings fester for too long before dealing with them head on. I appreciate that. They deal with things more maturely than your average romance genre H and h.

Mindy Michele have handled this book like the pros they are. I’ve come to expect a certain level of maturity and believability in their books, and this one did not disappoint. They labeled this book as a stand-alone, but I saw a great opportunity for them to revisit a couple of the other minor characters in a future book. I’m counting on that to happen as this was a wonderful story with heart that I don’t want to let go of yet.

Go ahead and one-click this book, because it’s a story that deserves to be read again and again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jazmine Olson.
241 reviews6 followers
June 30, 2022
I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into when I first started this story. I’ve never read anything by these two authors so I was a little apprehensive bc single parent is honestly one of my favorite tropes. But goodness when I tell you this story gripped me from the very first page I mean that wholeheartedly. I have never read a single parent romance that healed my heart and solidified my belief in true love quite like this one.

Archer & Willa are the definition of soulmates. From their very first meeting these two have the most incredible spark and their love story has me in a chokehold I don’t ever want to be let out of. Willa is a new mom struggling the balance the weight of motherhood and Archer Thomas walks in with no expectations or needs but simply wanting to help and his willingness to be they support and anchor for her when she needed it most brought tears to my eyes. Willa was just the sweetest soul and was having the most difficult times it hurt to read through those tough parts of her. But, Archer he was so much more than I thought he would be, his desire to truly help her with not expectations in return just blew me away. And don’t even get me started on his bond with Clementine I nearly threw my kindle I loved them so much. And lastly, his relationship with Willow outdid every relationship I’ve probably ever read about. His love and devotion of her came off so true and genuine it was beautiful.

This was just such a beautiful love story about second chances and blended families and I loved every single minute of it. I can’t believe it’s over but I’m so glad I found this story, this couple but mostly, these writers.
Profile Image for Vicki.
1,909 reviews58 followers
November 23, 2025
3-3.5 ⭐️
This is a steady and sweet fade-to-black romance between a young, brand new single mom and her slightly older (10 years) neighbor, also a single, part-time dad (sharing duties with his ex).

Willa is away from her family, about to start her second year in college and has just given birth to baby Clementine; an unplanned pregnancy with her tool ex from the first year of college. She is fiercely independent and determined to continue with her lifelong school dreams without having to give up and go back home, but has close to zero support.

Her baby is super crabby and never stops crying so she is running on no sleep, can't bathe or clean her house, etc. Her and hero Archer's meet-cute is her knocking on his door and yelling at him to keep his sex noises down so her crabby baby is not any more disturbed than she is all on her own.

Turns out it wasn't sex noises (he's been single/celibate a long time) but his kids playing and jumping on the bed, but he sees a young woman who desperately needs help and steadily and insistently makes himself indispensable to their lives.

I liked that this was low-key and minimal stress, and who doesn't love a man who loves and cares for a baby like it's his own? I can see myself reading more from this author duo if there is another story with tropes I like.
Profile Image for Elisha Hutcheson.
13 reviews
July 8, 2022
I may be slightly biased because I absolutely LOVE Mindy and Michele’s books. They have such a way with words both individually and as a mega duo; every single book they have written never fails to draw me in, and pull at my heart strings.

The Archer and His Rosebud is another fanstastic standalone. Willa is so lost and overwhelmed with being a new single mum; Archer is the older, wiser, extremely hot 🥵 single dad ready to come in and help. With a couple of obstacles thrown in the mix, this book will have you smiling and wishing it will never end… and I mean, let’s face it Mindy and Michele really know how to spoil us with a male lead, so it’s DEFINITELY worth it for him!

I also loved seeing some old faces in this story!! Aaaah Brett and Ruby are the best and I’m so so happy to see them again!! (Read Paper Planes for that reference - also a great book!)

So, if you love a good single parent trope, then this book really is for you - I promise you will not be disappointed! And even if you don’t like that trope, read it anyway because again, you will not be disappointed!
Profile Image for Sara.
1,043 reviews18 followers
July 10, 2022
I love this writing duo. They write such great love stories.
Archer is swoony and the best endearing father. And his Rosebud is a strong woman that is struggling but he sees how great she is and helps her be strong again. And the falling in love is perfect.
Profile Image for Kristy.
181 reviews1 follower
June 30, 2022
I can’t say enough about these two authors! They write the best books together and this was another amazing story. I love the storyline, I loved how they met, I loved that they were real and had problems, and I loved that it wasn’t an Insta love plot. This was a great story and I look forward to more good books by these authors.
Profile Image for Becky La.
8 reviews1 follower
July 22, 2022
First off this review is 100% honest and is not influenced by the fact that the Clementine character was named after my daughter and that makes me heart melt and grow 12,000 sizes at the same time.

In the first chapter I was fooled, like Willa, by the noise coming through the apartment wall. I was a little taken aback thinking this book was going to be more sexually graphic than I preferred (but since Mindy Michele is one of my favorite author(s) I would have still read the book just skimmed those parts). To my surprise and delight the book was just the right amount of physical descriptions and sweet nothings to be the 5 stars I assumed it would be just by reading who wrote it.

I love the relationship that was created between Willa and Archer! Having a small child I could feel Willa's desperation jumping off the page and her strength going it alone. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for a the fictional character of Archer filling the need that Willa didn't even need to express. As much as I love a good enemy to romance book, this story filled a need for friend to more that I didn't even know I had.

I will read this book over and over again because I love Willa and Archer together, I love the realness of the descriptions of being a first time mom, and I love the Ruby and Brett came back into my life.

Mindy Hayes and Michele G. Miller, as always, you have knocked it out of the park and my imagination for the world you suck me into is so thankful.

Also the thank you at the end of the book for Clementine's name may or may not have (okay it total did) make me tear up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ashlyn.
168 reviews3 followers
July 19, 2022
beautiful

This was an amazingly written love story. I absolutely loved everything about this book. I highly recommend reading this book.
Profile Image for Celisete.
52 reviews
July 14, 2022
4.5 ⭐️ - If you’re looking for a sweet quick-ish read, this is absolutely it! While it deals with some heavy topics, it definitely doesn’t linger too long. I also appreciate that most (if not all) of the drama makes sense. I also love the love and support most of the side characters have for each other and the main characters. I feel like this was the perfect length and the pacing of the story was just excellent. I hope Willa and Archer and the whole Thomas crew live HEA 🥺
Profile Image for Karmin.
68 reviews
November 10, 2022
Mindy Michele don't disappoint! Archer and his Rosebud is a sweet, heart filled story. The character struggles and love leave you wanting more with every page. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a feel good romance with a slight bump in the road.
Profile Image for Megan  Brewer.
42 reviews1 follower
August 5, 2022
I can’t tell whether I want this to be a 3 star or 4 star.

I really liked this book. It’s a sweet romance with single parent and age gap.

I was skeptical going in because while I love the single parent trope, I’ve never read where both are single parents. Archer has two boys while Willa has one newborn, but I thought the dynamic was super adorable.

I loved the way that Archer took to Clementine and instantly offered to help Willa in anyway he could. He stepped up to the plate as caregiver for the both of them and it was super sweet to see. Willa and Archer’s relationship is a semi-slow, sweet friends to lovers, and Archer is everything. Willa is strong and mature for her age, yet it still shows how she is only 20 raising a child. It also shows a glimpse of postpartum depression, which I loved Archer’s response to.

I wanted to keep coming back to this book whenever I was away, but I was so busy that it felt like it took forever to read (even though it only took three days). It was enjoyable, but I didn’t feel super connected to the characters or storyline. Some things felt rushed. I feel like the rating would’ve been higher if I read it at a time I wasn’t so busy.

It was a fade to black/closed door romance. Normally I don’t care either way if a book has spice or not, but sometimes I feel like the spice helps aid the connection between characters, and there is a lot of build up and tension between Archer and Willa that you only get to see until it fades. Maybe that’s where the connection fell a little flat to me.
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