Reviewed by Mal
TITLE: Winning You
SERIES: Words We Never Said #7
AUTHOR: E.M. Lindsey
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 276 Pages
RELEASE DATE: November 3, 2025
BLURB:
“Quick question: do you think a judge would let me off for murder if I tell him that it was the health inspector who has a vendetta against me?”
It’s a question Lucas never thought he’d have to ask when he became the owner of a food truck. And that pisses him off more considering he has enough in his life to deal with.
He’s blind.
He’s a virgin.
And the people he keeps falling for never seem to want him back.
So when this grumpy shell of a man has made it his mission to make Lucas’s life miserable, Lucas intends to fight back.
With his words. Mean ones. Ones that might make a grown man cry.
Unfortunately, there’s more to Frankie’s story than Lucas realizes, and the more he gets to know this complicated single dad, the more he starts to feel the familiar stirrings of an impossible crush.
Frankie is almost twice his age, his life is a chaotic mess, and Lucas isn’t exactly relationship material. But the longer they stay in each other’s orbit, the more Lucas realizes that this could be it. And soon enough he decides he’s not going to stop until he’s gotten his hard earned happily ever after.
Winning You is the seventh book in the single dad Words We Never Said series. It’s an enemies to lovers, age gap romance featuring a brow-beaten, exhausted single caregiver who wants nothing more than to find some peace, a nerdy, mouthy, autistic chef who wants to be loved the way he’s capable of loving, heaps of unsolicited advice, first times, bad dates that turn into very good dates, and a steamy, swoony happily ever after.
REVIEW:
Omg, EM Lindsey is a superlative talented author. I don’t think I’ve read anything by them that hasn’t been exceptional, always rich emotional story telling with razor sharp character povs that pull you into a world that’s difficult to abandon once it’s done. Their themes of found family, mental health rep, disability rep, sexuality and gender rep and essentially strong rooted acceptance build a world that always more positive than the one we live in, where we can catch glimpses of ourselves and feel seen and feel hopeful.
Lucas and Frankie’s story is rooted in all this and more and read like a breeze. I would put it at the lower end of the angst and devastation spectrum which EM Lindsey is a master at crossing but it is in no way less emotional, lots lovely feelings and beautiful hot chemistry tying these two together.
As always I absolutely loved the characters, Lucas stole my heart – what a phenomenal man, a chef in a good truck, a rocky start with his family but his foundation is there, so funny and wild and dramatic but with such a warm heart , blind and autistic navigating the world fearlessly. He captivates Frankie from the start who looses his marbles when he meets him, that first chapter with a ton of faux pas was absolutely hilarious. That’s the other thing. This book is snort out loud funny in parts and makes you cry (gage 😭) in others. I loved it so much
Coming back to Frankie, what an absolutely stellar man! Like I’m in love, totally cooked. The way he has stood up for his siblings I am floored. Also he is so hot. The way he and Lucas are is absolute fire (I mean Lucas is a virgin but it isn’t like everything goes into the unbelievable realm – the way the first times are depicted is totally hot)
I think what always strikes me is the empathy with which EM Lindsey writes, it’s an immersive experience not a token tick mark and it’s gripping and wonderful and the story is always richer for it.
Read this if you want to read swoooony romantic love story between a poet and his princess, with a plethora of stellar characters forming a found family, and an evil ex who is vanquished.
I can’t wait to read Gage’s story, I need him to get his HEA, is it with Fallon?
RATING: 
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