Book Review of Made To Last by Melissa Tagg

If you buy one book this year ... make it this one!


That is a line I try very hard not to use. There are so many books out there that I  love and I want all my friends (and strangers) to read. But seriously ... it can get old.

Then along comes a book that I can't resist saying it anymore. Melissa Tagg's debut novel, Made To Last is my year's top pick for sure.

Publisher's blurb:  Miranda Woodruff has it all. At least, that's how it looks when she's starring in her homebuilding television show, From the Ground Up. So when her network begins to talk about making cuts, she'll do anything to boost ratings and save her show--even if it means pretending to be married to a man who's definitely not the fiance who ran out on her three years ago. 

When a handsome reporter starts shadowing Miranda's every move, all his digging into her personal life brings him a little too close to the truth--and to her. Can the girl whose entire identity is wrapped up in her on-screen persona finally find the nerve to set the record straight? And if she does, will the life she's built come crashing down just as she's found a love to last?

This story was engaging. The best part for me was that it seemed the plot was resolving at the midway point through the book. At first you may think that sounds bad - predictable plot, blah, blah, blah.  But it isn't bad. It was exciting that I thought I knew where we were going and how the ends would tie together but then I'd see the solid inches left of unread pages still in my right hand.  It was enthralling!

Tagg's characters were fantastic. I loved getting inside Miranda and Matthew's frame of mind. They felt real and almost touchable. Usually my head is controlled by the characters of my own writings that roam around and rule the roost of my brain. I push them aside while I open a novel and then when I close the book, they come right back, front and center. However for the three or four days I poured into Made To Last my mind was fully and completely consumed with Melissa's characters. They tugged on  my heart and teased my thoughts and perceptions. They truly came alive to me.

The book also contains group discussion questions at the end.

I can't wait to see what Melissa Tagg will do next!

If there is such a thing as a perfect story, Melissa Tagg has written it with this first novel. Laugh-out-loud funny, a delightful premise, hunky heroes, surprising plot twists and poignant, heart-tugging moments, all wound together with beautiful writing. Made to Last is a keeper that will charm its way onto your shelf, and into your heart.

Susan May Warren, RITA Award winner and bestselling author of Take a Chance on Me 

 So, who wants to read it?



Thanks to Baker Publishing for the free copy of Made To Last for reviewing purposes. I was not required to review it positively.