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  • Jun 5
  • 7 min read

Make Me by Tessa Bailey | Silk & Sentences | Danielle Robinson
Make Me by Tessa Bailey | Silk & Sentences | Danielle Robinson

The danger of reading a series back-to-back is that by the final book you're often running on goodwill.


You know the characters, you know the author's tricks, and you know exactly where the story is likely headed. Sometimes that's comforting, but usually it means a series begins to feel as though it's repeating itself.


Make Me ended up being my favourite book in the entire Broke & Beautiful series, not because it's the most original, or the most complex. But because what it does do is give us something that romance novels often chase but don't always manage to achieve: absolute conviction.


We've always suspected that Russell and Abby would end up together, but it's not until this book that we realise just how far gone he is, and has been since the beginning. He isn't just mildly interested, or secretly curious. He's totally gone, and so hopelessly, painfully in love with her that every decision he makes bends around her orbit, even when she's completely oblivious to it.


And this type of hero definitely won't work for everyone, because Russell is protective to the point of absurdity. He's also possessive, and occasionally ridiculous. He's the sort of man who sees a minor inconvenience and immediately begins planning how to eliminate it forever. In another author's hands he could have tipped into territory that irritated me, but instead, I found him oddly endearing.


Perhaps because beneath all the chest-thumping alpha-male energy is a man who genuinely believes he isn't good enough for the woman he loves, and that belief is what this book in the series centres on.


We also always knew that Abby comes from serious money. The kind of money that changes how people move through the world whether they want it to or not, and Russell comes from a completely different background. He owns a construction company, works with his hands, and has spent years carrying around the conviction that men are measured by what they can provide.


Romance has been pairing rich people and poor people together since the genre began, but what deepens this story is how Russell has internalised the idea that love must be earned.


But not through kindness, or loyalty, or character. He believes it must be earned through

achievement, financial success, and those are the only paths to him becoming someone worthy.


For all its steam (and trust me, there's is plenty of steam), Make Me repeatedly returns to the question of how much of our lives do we spend deciding we're not enough before anybody else gets the chance to make up their own mind?


Because Abby has already made up hers, and one of the things I appreciate most about this novel is that Abby never felt dazzled by money despite growing up surrounded by it. She works hard, and carries responsibilities she shouldn't have to carry. She spends much of the novel trying to hold together parts of her life that are quietly falling apart behind the scenes.


And she's also wonderfully oblivious. Now, normally, oblivious heroines test my patience. Here it somehow works because Russell has become such a permanent fixture in her life that she no longer sees him clearly. He's simply there. Dependable, reliable, and constant Russell.


The irony, of course, is that everybody except Abby can see exactly what's happening.

Watching those pieces finally click into place was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the entire book.


And the chemistry certainly doesn't hurt. I've read enough romance at this point that very little surprises me in that department. Yet Tessa Bailey continues to have an almost unfair ability to create tension out of the smallest interactions. A conversation becomes loaded. A glance becomes significant. A simple touch suddenly feels as though it carries the emotional weight of a declaration.


When the relationship finally shifts from friendship into something more, the payoff feels justified because Bailey has spent so much time building anticipation.


By then it's not simply attraction, it's relief. We've been waiting for these two to stop circling each other for hundreds of pages.


What I think Bailey does particularly well throughout the trilogy (and especially here), is balancing emotional vulnerability with humour. Romance can become very earnest very quickly. Sometimes too earnest. The friendships running through these books prevent that from happening.


The group dynamic remains one of the strongest elements of the entire series.

By the time I reached Make Me, these characters felt familiar in the way recurring television characters can begin to feel familiar. You know their rhythms, how they speak, and which friendships matter and why. Returning to them feels less like starting a new book and more like checking in with people you've come to care about.


That sense of community gives the trilogy a warmth that extends beyond the central romances.


It also made this final instalment surprisingly emotional. Closing the final page felt less like finishing a single book and more like saying goodbye to a friendship.


And perhaps that's ultimately why this became a five-star read for me. The first two books in the series were both four-star reads. I enjoyed them enormously, and they delivered exactly what I hoped they'd deliver.


But Make Me gave me that little bit extra. It took a hero who could easily have become a caricature and made him feel human, a familiar romance trope contained genuine emotional resonance. It delivers all the chemistry, humour, friendship and heart that I now expect from a Tessa Bailey novel while also providing a genuinely satisfying conclusion to the trilogy as a whole.


When a series ends well, it reminds you why you started reading in the first place, and that's exactly what happened here. This is funny, heartfelt, unapologetically romantic, occasionally ridiculous, and completely aware of what it wants to be. More importantly, it succeeds at being it.


My favourite book in the Broke & Beautiful trilogy and an easy five stars.


★★★★★


Book Details

Make Me — Tessa Bailey

Paperback ISBN

978-0062431127 (Avon/HarperCollins edition; varies by region)

Hardcover ISBN

978-0062431134 (original Avon hardcover edition; varies by retailer and region)

eBook ISBN

978-0062431110

Genre

Contemporary Romance; New Adult Romance; Romantic Comedy; Adult Fiction

Subgenre

Friends-to-Lovers Romance; Blue-Collar Romance; Opposites-Attract Romance; New Adult Contemporary Romance

Tropes / Literary Threads

Friends-to-lovers; best friends romance; he falls first; unrequited love; rich girl/working-class hero; blue-collar hero; billionaire's daughter heroine; class difference romance; protective hero; possessive hero; dirty-talking hero; pining hero; alpha hero; secret longing; emotional repression; virgin heroine; sheltered heroine; sexual awakening; friends-to-lovers tension; mutual dependence; found family; chosen family; roommates-to-family dynamic; emotional vulnerability; self-worth issues; social class insecurity; workplace responsibility; emotionally devoted hero; caretaking hero; obsession disguised as friendship; fear of rejection; personal growth; emotional healing; romantic obsession; family expectations; trust and sacrifice; opposites attract; learning to accept love; emotional intimacy

Publisher

Avon Books / HarperCollins (US)

Series

Broke & Beautiful Trilogy (Book 3)

Formats Available

Paperback, Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Audiobook Narrators

Jill Redfield and Adam Gerber

Release Date

16 June 2015

(Reissued by Avon in August 2023)

Page Count

Approximately 288–320 pages (varies by edition)

Setting

New York City; Manhattan

Primary Setting Details

Contemporary New York City; Manhattan apartments; construction sites; bars and restaurants; hedge fund offices; luxury family residences; working-class neighbourhoods; social gatherings among the Broke & Beautiful friendship circle

Main Characters

Abby Sullivan; Russell Hart; Honey Perribow; Ben Dawson; Roxy Cumberland; Louis McNally II; Brent Mason; Belmont Clarkson

Cultural & Literary Influences

Contemporary friends-to-lovers romance traditions; blue-collar hero romance conventions; New Adult romance trends of the 2010s; class-difference romance narratives; romantic comedy traditions; alpha-hero romance archetypes; modern fairy-tale romance structures; emotionally devoted hero narratives; contemporary urban romance

Major Themes

Self-worth; class and socioeconomic insecurity; love versus perceived worthiness; emotional vulnerability; friendship becoming love; devotion and sacrifice; identity and social class; learning to accept love; emotional intimacy; trust; ambition; family expectations; personal growth; fear of rejection; masculinity and provision; emotional healing; chosen family; romantic obsession; independence; belonging; authenticity

Content Warnings

Sexual content; explicit language; possessive behaviour; emotional manipulation; class-based shame and insecurity; references to parental infidelity; family dysfunction; jealousy; emotional distress; workplace stress

Comparable Titles

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey; It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey; Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey; Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren; The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez; Mile High by Liz Tomforde; The Right Move by Liz Tomforde; Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score; The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

Ideal Readers

Readers who enjoy contemporary romance, friends-to-lovers relationships, blue-collar heroes, protective and devoted heroes, high emotional tension, strong romantic chemistry, class-difference romances, New Adult fiction, found family dynamics, spicy romance, emotionally charged relationships, character-driven romance, and heroes who fall first and never recover.

Rating

★★★★★ (5 Stars)

Spice Level

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️½ / 5

Danielle's Notes

The strongest novel in the Broke & Beautiful trilogy for me. While Chase Me and Need Me were both solid four-star reads, Make Me elevated the emotional stakes by centring a hero whose greatest obstacle wasn't winning the heroine's heart—it was believing he deserved it. Russell's unwavering devotion to Abby, combined with Bailey's trademark chemistry and a genuinely satisfying friends-to-lovers progression, made this an easy five-star read and a wonderful conclusion to the series.



Where to Buy Make Me


Series Reading Order

  1. Chase Me

  2. Need Me

  3. Make Me


Silk & Sentences | Danielle Robinson - Literary Critic, Writer, Overthinker
Silk & Sentences | Danielle Robinson - Literary Critic, Writer, Overthinker


Danielle Robinson is a literary critic and writer whose work explores literature through the lens of atmosphere, memory, culture, and emotional experience. Holding a double degree in philosophy and theology, she combines academic insight with a deeply refined aesthetic sensibility shaped by more than three decades working across the creative industries as an internationally published, multi-award-winning makeup artist, fashion stylist, and interior stager.


She reads widely and rigorously, reading and reviewing more than 200 books each year as both an ARC reader and commissioned critic. Through Silk & Sentences, Danielle approaches literature as something immersive and lived with — not simply stories to consume, but works that shape the way we think, feel, and move through the world.


She writes from her rural Queensland home, where she lives with Alex, her husband of 33 years, their dog Oscar, and an ever-growing library of books.

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