If I had to choose one word to describe this book it would be ‘angsty’. If you are me, that’s a good thing. As much as I’d love to have smacked Loukas and Krystina in the head many times, you can’t beat a good angsty book. This is the third book in this great series and having read the first two, I was really looking forward to reading Loukas and Krystina’s story. 

I had many emotions reading this book. I laughed, I cried, I was exasperated but mainly, I cried. Much of the story is set during the early days of the covid pandemic, a time when I lost my dad to covid, so as much as I loved this book, I did struggle through this part but that is nothing to do with the author’s great story and great writing. That’s totally on me. 

I absolutely adored Loukas. So many times I wanted to give him a huge hug and tell him it would be alright. Krystina is the character that exasperated me but that’s what made it such a good read. The author has done an amazing job in creating these characters. 

I also loved that we got to see more of the characters from previous books and see how their lives are progressing. 

100% recommend this book. 

 Have you ever read a book and wished you could smack some sense into the characters? That's how I feel about this one! I've been anxiously awaiting this story about Krystina and Loukas as they've been mentioned many times in the first two books of this series. There is so much chemistry between them but neither want to really acknowledge it to the other for fear of ruining their friendship. Loukas has grown up next to Krystina and they have been friends since birth. Their mothers were best friends before the unfortunate passing of Loukas's mother.

All Krystina wants to do is travel and take pictures....and stay as far away from Loukas as possible. However, he's going through a lot right now and really needs a friend. Krystina has always been that friend but she wants nothing more than that.

Nicholas, who is Krystina's soon-to-be brother-in-law, arranges a trip to Greece for the siblings. It's time for them to see if Panos will have anything to do with them. Hopefully he'll come home to his beloved, Yiayia and all will be right with the world.

The dreaded lockdown of 2020 happens and Krystina and Loukas find themselves in the house with just Yiayia. The rest of the family was in Loukas's house after finding out that Yiayia, Krystina, and Loukas have all tested positive for the virus. Krystina and Loukas see to Yiayia as her health starts declining rapidly, but are they starting to see each other in a different light too?

This book was the most emotional of this series by far!! I was frustrated with Krystina and Loukas and their teenage antics, and I was trying to get an understanding of decisions made by Panos. The mystery finally comes to an end but it was not one that expected at all.

I'm excited to read book 4 and learn more about what Theo has been up to. I'm sure it will be just as entertaining as the rest of the family!

Fight for love....it's worth it! 

Frenemies to lovers

The third book in the Meraki series and still going strong. This is Krystina’s story, the younger sister of Mia and Kally from previous books. The family drama, banter and connections are all present in this instalment. Absolutely love the way the author creates the charged atmosphere of the family dynamics. Loukas brings the emotions - his story really tugged at my heart. This can be read as a stand-alone but there are threads that run through from the previous books that will help to create the full picture. Highly recommend. 

Love is Worth Fighting for (The Meraki Series Book 3) by Effie Kammenou. This is such a good frenemies romance. It's Krystina's story and she is beating herself up for falling in love with the boy who has been a pain in her butt for years. Loukas (Luke) has been in love with Krystina for as long as he remember. Krystina writes a blog and all she wants to do is travel the world and promote her blog and become famous on Instagram. With Luke following her all around (he's working with her) its not turning out as fun as she thought. He's always been right under her feet driving her crazy. As they spend more and more time together and she sees him helping her in her search for her grandfather she sees a new side of him. Will they be able to make a relationship work and will she be able to get the answers she needs about her grandfather? This is one of my favorites in the series!

A story about fighting to be with the one you want and the strains that can pull you apart. 

 

A dual-generational story. More New Adult than YA. Contemporary romance with real life influence from the COVID pandemic. 

 

This novel lives up to the contemporary romance name with a large chunk of it having the characters face the ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic and how their lives were impacted by the shut down in the United States. If you’re looking for a novel which will help you to escape this may not be the one for you, but while it does deal with very tense subjects the novel was very well done and kept me engaged, reading on to find out what happened with Krystina and Loukas. This novel is also very much a will they/won’t they romance. 

 

I can’t say that I loved Krystina’s character, but I can empathize with her and the desire to protect herself from the hurt Loukas had previously caused. I did enjoy that Loukas was willing to go all in with Krystina and kept fighting to show her he cared, but I found some of the ways he mentally manipulated her to be juvenile and deceitful. Despite that feeling though I do think it was fairly realistic of the things people will do in life in order to get attention. I did like how Krystina also wanted to help those around her to be and stay happy, and was an amazing friend to non-familial side characters Egypt and Chynna. I do wish we got to see more of Loukas training and wanting to fight in the beginning of the book. 

 

I rather enjoyed the flash back scenes to Kalliope and Panos’s courting, relationship, and their forced separation. This allowed for a more detailed depiction of the background of the grandparent’s and how that influenced Krystina and her siblings. 

 

I had not read the other two books in the series but I found that I could follow along pretty well. The author was good about describing the impact of the things mentioned which seemed like it had occurred in the previous books. It’s also a way to get the reader on the hook and get them to want to go back and read the others. 

 

CW: Prisoner of war description, war disfigurement, COVID forced quarantining and sickness, organized fighting and mixed martial arts (MMA). 

This was a really good read! I enjoyed this one a lot. It was sweet, romantic and at times emotional. This was fast paced which made it a pretty quick read. This is a great series and I love that each book can be read separately as a standalone so you don't have to read the previous books in the series.  I can't wait to read the next book in this series either!

This is book 3 so it does help to read the first two. However, you don’t have to read books 1 and 2 in order to enjoy and follow the book. In this book our FMC is the youngest sister and is determined to be a success. If only her frenemy would leave her alone. Of course he doesn’t but she comes to realize she doesn’t want him to. They solve a family mystery that has spanned this 3 book series and have a fantastic romance along the way. Sweet story line that has a good ending! 

I really enjoyed this for the writing style. The author makes me feel the emotion of the character plights and the sense of family through the Greekness including the finalization of the grandpa story. 

I just struggled falling into the purish love that Loukas has for Krystina. Being only eighteen their forever love just struck me as too young. Maybe if they were in their twenties and lived some life first that would be more believable. 

As for the characters themselves Loukas family drama felt real as is his frustrations with what to do for himself. At times he seemed much older than eighteen( fixing up the house, drywall etc) and other times very much the teenager he is. Krystina seemed very much the teenager she is. We do get finished stories for a lot of other characters that are not family. 

I was not a huge fan of the back and forth between time for the two main characters. It just seemed to take away maybe if it was told at the beginning then fell into their story it would have meshed better for me. The back in time for the grandparents was okay and fit fine. 

I do like that it was written and had the same issues as current times. (Covid) Overall I live this whole family but honestly feel if the main character ls were even a bit older by the end of the book I could have liked this better.

I absolutely love this series and this book was a wonderful addition to it. As always this author 100% transports me to wherever her stories are set with her beautiful descriptive language. Having previously met the main character in the first two books it was really nice to finally read Krystina’s story. I do like a frenemy to lovers story and this one is probably one of my favourites that I have read and actually one of my favourites from this author. The author really brought to life the feelings between the two main characters, especially Krystina. I liked the angst, the emotions, the relationship between Krystina and Loukas and also the relationship between Krystina and her sisters Mia and Kally. 

This really was a lovely story to read, although the third in the series it could easily be read as a standalone however having read the previous two I would also highly recommend them also! 

As always I look forward to read more from this author again in the future. 

This cute little romance was definitely a good one. While I have read the previous two books in this series you don't necessarily have to. However If you want to get more of a feel for the authors writing style and characters rhen I would recommend reading the series. The characters are unique, full of emotions, passion, and chemistry and they'll pull you straight into their story. Krystina is our main character in this novel and we follow her on a journey of determining if it's ok to fight for what you want. But will she fight for what she wants? You'll have to read this fast-paced romance to find put for yourself.