My One and Only

My One and Only by Kristan Higgins (2011)

Harper James is a divorce attorney who is skeptical about love. She's never gotten over her youthful failed marriage to Nick Lowery, and now she spends her days urging people to get their "hearts to accept what their heads already know." Suddenly her younger stepsister Willa is getting married to a guy she just met and Harper has to leave her home in Martha's Vineyard to attend the wedding in Montana. And it turns out that Willa's groom-to-be  is none other than Chris Lowery, Nick's brother.

Harper, along with her dog Coco and her boyfriend Dennis, heads to the wedding, dreading running into her ex-husband. Especially now that Dennis has so recently turned down her marriage proposal. She's also very upset that Willa is getting married for a third impulsive time. By the end of the weekend, Harper and Dennis have broken up and Harper finds herself unwillingly on a road trip with Nick who is just as attractive as he ever was.

I'm already a fan of Kristan Higgins, having read my way through the Blue Heron series and the more recent (non-romance) Good Luck With That. This is an older stand-alone romance that I picked up at a used book store ages ago, and I kept putting it off because I was afraid it wouldn't hold up to Blue Heron. (I had cause for concern as I tried reading Just One of the Guys from 2008 and couldn't get through it.) I needn't have worried. This novel was not only as good as my other favorites of hers, it may have been even better.

This story is complex. We have Harper's history with Nick, their passionate young relationship and disastrously short marriage, which has left them both a mess emotionally. Harper's problems go even deeper, back to her mother walking out on the family on Harper's 13th birthday. This story is a big part of the novel too, coinciding with marital troubles between Harper's dad and his wife BeverLee. Not to mention Harper's current relationship with Dennis, a sweet firefighter who she wants to marry only because it seems practical somehow, having long ago lost any romantic notions about true love. Dennis sports a rattail and calls her "dude," but she is grudgingly willing to overlook these details. He's really not a bad guy at all, and honestly deserves somebody who loves him more than Harper does.

I like how unusual the premise of this story is: it's a romance between people who used to be married, and when the story begins one of them is still in another relationship. Their (half- and step-) siblings are marrying each other, and Harper disapproves. When they meet at the wedding, she and Nick immediately start bickering with each other, volleying insults that were, frankly, kind of hilarious. Plus she lives in Massachusetts and he lives in New York so they have that whole Red Sox vs. Yankees thing going on. But also there's all this interesting family stuff, like with Harper's mother - who she ends up seeing for the first time in decades during this story - and her stepmother. BeverLee is from the south and she's very bubbly and chipper and uses a ton of hairspray and is super excited that her daughter is getting married, even though she barely knows the guy. But she's also loving and loyal and, as Harper eventually realizes, more of a mother to her than her biological mother ever was.

I just loved all of this - the emotional depth, the difficulty of these relationships, the acknowledgement of how hard you need to work to make relationships last. Nick and Harper have a whole painful history they need to grapple with, and even that is not enough because if they're going to start up again they have to figure out how to make it different this time. When they were married, Nick worked all the time, leaving Harper feeling alone and neglected. She, in turn, made a life for herself that was very separate, not even telling her new friends that she was married. They need to make sure they won't fall into the same patterns.

Other elements that added to the story were the beautiful descriptions of Montana and Harper's comparisons between its natural beauty and that of Martha's Vineyard, and Higgins's trademark humor. I could have used a few less instances of the word "boobage" (zero would be perfect), but her funny zings and quips more than make up for it. This is probably one of the better romances I've read, and I highly recommend it.

As I said, I've had this paperback sitting around for a while, so I put it on my 2019 TBR Pile Challenge. Amazingly, I only have 3 more books to read for the challenge this year.

Good Luck With That

Good Luck With That by Kristan Higgins (2018)

I know Kristan Higgins from the very enjoyable Blue Heron series, but now she's writing outside of the romance genre. Good Luck With That is the story of three friends who met as teenagers at "fat camp" and have stayed close over the years. Marley and Georgia especially so, but Emerson has kept her distance a bit. When they are reunited at Emerson's deathbed, she leaves them a final wish: complete the list of goals they made when they were teenagers. The list was called Things We'll Do When We're Skinny and included items such as "eat dessert in public," "get a piggyback ride from a guy," "tuck in a shirt," and various other things they felt they had to be skinny in order to do.

Emerson's death was directly attributable to her vast weight gain, causing difficulty moving her from the house to the hospital and requiring a specially sized casket after her death. When Marley and Georgia arrived at the hospital to visit Emerson, they were shocked and appalled at her condition. I was very taken aback in those early chapters and wondered if the book was going to be fat-shamey, but stuck it out. I didn't yet know Marley and Georgia, and had I been able to get to know them before they appeared at Emerson's bedside I think I would have felt better about their reactions to her condition. Although she dies early in the book, we do get Emerson's story through the journal entries she left behind. It was a pretty sad story, and isolating herself from her closest friends made it all the more worse.

Marley and Georgia weren't without their own struggles. Georgia was the thinnest of the three, constantly being encouraged/shamed by her mother, who arguably had her own serious eating issues. Georgia, an attorney turned preschool teacher, was once married to a fantastic man, but basically sabotaged the marriage because she was so uncomfortable with herself and didn't think she deserved him. Now, he has appeared again in her social sphere and she realizes she still doesn't have closure over their failed marriage. Marley is a personal chef with her own business, who pines after her brother's coworker, a guy who she's slept with a few times but who keeps his distance in public. Marley is probably the most well-adjusted and ok with herself character in the book.

I really liked Georgia and Marley's friendship, and the way they honored Emerson's memory by working to complete the items on the list - but not waiting until they were skinny. This isn't a book about weight loss, but rather about the relationship women have with food and their weight and the pressures to be thin, and the way we think we need to be a certain size in order to deserve love and happiness. Sometimes it made me uncomfortable, which is not a bad thing, but mostly I got really sucked into these women's stories. Kristan Higgins is noted for her humor, and there were many many funny moments in this book. It was super easy to get into and I couldn't put it down for the very few days I was reading it. There was a lot going on in the characters' lives - much more than even what I've mentioned - and I was very invested in their stories.

The style reminds me a lot of old school chick lit, which I really miss. Although there are serious issues, it's told in a light and upbeat way with a lot of humor, and although it's not a romance there is definitely romance in the story. It's a perfect summer read.

Good Luck With That is due out in August. I received my copy courtesy of the publisher, and was not compensated for my review.

Anything For You

Anything For You (Blue Heron #5) by Kristan Higgins (2015)

Finally I got to read the story about Jessica Dunn! She's been an intriguing minor character throughout this series and I'm so glad she got her own book. Jessica was nicknamed Jessica Does in high school because she slept around a lot. Mostly she did it to win over guys so they'd help protect her special needs younger brother from bullying. That is Jessica's life work, really - taking care of Davey. Their parents were drunks and as soon as Jessica was old enough she took Davey and moved out. She works her tail off trying to give them a good life, and that life doesn't have room for romance, especially with Connor O'Rourke.

The story open with Connor proposing to Jessica after an on-again off-again romance that has spanned decades, and she turns him down. Then we go back to their childhood, when Jessica's dog gets loose and attacks Connor, resulting in the dog being euthanized. (This was a pretty upsetting scene, so warning to those sensitive to animal deaths.) When animal control arrives, Davey is heartbroken and he never forgives Connor, who he sees as responsible for the death of his beloved Chico. Over the years Connor and Jessica hook up and break up, Jessica breaking his heart over and over again.

In most contemporary romances, what keeps the characters apart is just their own neuroses. Let's face it- there's much these days that prevents people who want to be together from being together. But this was a really good, believable setup. A woman who is completely devoted to the responsibility of caring for her brother who is unable to live on his own? And who despises her love interest? I can definitely buy that. Another of my romance pet peeves is that so many of the heroines are sexually inexperienced and need to be initiated by the hero, so Jessica was a refreshing change. (To be fair I haven't read a ton of contemporaries, but from my limited experience there are more virgins than one would think.)

Jessica's family situation was a pretty big part of the book. She is so great with Davey and I really liked reading about them. Although she feels a huge responsibility towards him, she isn't resentful at all. Quite the opposite: Jessica loves her brother more than anyone. It's a complicated situation though, and when their father arrives back on the scene swearing that he's been sober for three years, Jessica is thrown for a loop. She wants to believe it, but doesn't want to be disappointed yet again. I loved this part of the story. There was a great scene in which their father comes with them to a drum circle that Jessica takes Davey to regularly. It's not Jessica's sort of thing at all, and the scene was fairly silly, but it was fun and Davey loves it.

The romance, as I mentioned earlier, had a pretty good premise. It was really a difficult situation that felt totally realistic. I think Jessica could have been a little less bone-headed about things, but I also can understand where she's coming from. She grew up poor in a trailer park with horrible parents and for various reasons feels like she doesn't really deserve happiness. When anything good happens to her, she can't believe her good fortune and is immediately preparing herself for the disappointment of losing it. It's the same with Connor. She's convinced he'll grow bored with her, that he can do better, than there's no way they'll be able to live together because of Davey's meltdowns every time he sees Connor. Connor concocts a secret plan to win Davey over, which goes really well for a while until it completely backfires. Of course it all works out in the end, but getting there was quite a struggle.

I really have no criticisms of this story. I mean, Colleen (the heroine from Waiting On You) and Connor's twin sister, went into labor and had her baby in about 10 minutes but that really didn't affect my enjoyment of the story at all. I also find it slightly annoying that every single romance heroine changes her name when she gets married (it's 2017!) but that responsibility doesn't lie entirely with Kristan Higgins so I can't fault her for it.

I love the little town she has created and the people she has populated it with. One of the things I like most about her storytelling is her sense of humor, and the way she integrates it into stories that involve serious issues. She often does this through scenes with secondary characters. For instance, Pru and Carl, a couple who have been married since before the series started always lend a bit of humor to every situation. They're an older couple who enjoy being super open about their adventurous sex life. These stories also all have dogs in them, in this case Chico Three. Pets always add a bit of levity. (This is the second book which contained a dog toy that my dog also has. The first was Squeaky Chicken; this time it was Squeaky Purple Dinosaur. I guess we shop at the same place?)

All in all, I've really enjoyed this series and I'm a little sad that it's over. It's funny because I hated the first book by Higgins that I picked up, so I'm really glad I gave her another try by impulsively downloading a galley of the first book in this series a few years ago. I suspect that her writing has just gotten better over time so I probably won't go back and read any of her older books, but I'll be happy to try her newer ones!

In Your Dreams

In Your Dreams (Blue Heron #4) by Kristan Higgins (2014)

Not how I pictured anyone in the book,
except the puppy.

The hero of the fourth Blue Heron book is Jack Holland, brother of Faith and Honor, who starred in the first and second books in the series. He is a hero in many senses, because we're introduced to him through a situation dubbed the Midwinter Miracle, in which he saved the lives of three teenage boys who were in an accident. The fourth boy is in a coma, and Jack blames himself. Our heroine is Emmaline Neal, a police officer who still can't get over her ex-fiance, and now she has been invited to his wedding across the country in California. She wants to bring a date, and because Jack is such a nice guy (and really wants to get out of town and away from the spotlight) he agrees to go with her.

The aftermath of Jack's role in the accident meant that he was grappling with - or trying to ignore - some emotional pain that affected how he interacted with Emmaline. Plus, the parents of the kid in a coma totally blamed him, and someone was leaving him threats and nobody knew whether or not to take them seriously. Another consequence of the accident - and the CNN coverage by Anderson Cooper - is that Jack's ex-wife Hadley came back to town to try and win him back. We got the whole back-story of their marriage and the spectacular way that it ended. She was a horrible person who I really enjoyed hating.

Emmaline's back story regarding her own failed relationship was also very good. She met Kevin when they were in school together in Malibu, and neither of them fit in with all the rich beautiful people. Emmaline had a terrible stutter, for which she was mercilessly teased, and Kevin was fat. His weight and the way he dealt with it was a super compelling part of their story. As they grew up and their relationship got more serious, Kevin kept gaining weight until Emmaline became genuinely worried about his health. Her love for him and feelings of attraction for him never wavered and honestly, it was refreshing to have a character in a novel who is obese and also a love interest. I've read romances where the female characters weren't as skinny as is deemed culturally desirable, but this was the first one where a male character was in the same position.

By the time the novel starts, though, Kevin is a crazy fit gym person and is marrying his personal trainer. However, along with all the fat, he has apparently also shed his good qualities. When he sees Emmaline at the wedding he says to her, "Wait till you see Naomi in a bikini. That'll get you motivated to lose some weight." When she reminds him that physical appearance may not be as important as kindness, loyalty, and decency his reply is, "Yeah. I used to tell myself the same thing when I was fat." My other favorite thing about the horrifying couple are that his last name is Bates and her last name is Norman, and they decided to hyphenate. So their last name is now Norman-Bates.

Of course I already knew that Kristan Higgins has a sense of humor, and she definitely came through in this novel. Humor, as we know, is what helps us get through tough times, and here it also keeps a story with some serious bits from being too serious. It's a romance after all, and we want it to be light-hearted. For instance, in preparation for Kevin and Naomi's wedding, a friend gave Emmaline some sort of silicone inserts to put in her bra to make her boobs look better and they apparently looked like raw chicken. Of course there were malfunctions and hilarity ensued. (I'm just realizing that comedy relating to women's undergarments is a theme in this series. Women's undergarments, after all, are ridiculous.) Everything about the wedding is pretty funny too, from the lack of carbs or alcohol anywhere at the resort, to the crazy Russian relatives of the bride who brought their own homemade vodka.

Another bit I really appreciated - and wouldn't have before having a dog - is the way that Emmaline's puppy, Sarge, plays with his toy, Squeaky Chicken. Sometimes he shakes it from side to side, sometimes he bites it in a repetitive way described as "hiccuping," and sometimes he bites slowly and gradually so it makes a mewing sound. I recognized all of these from my dog's play habits with her toys (one of which is also a squeaky chicken.) There's also a scene in which Emmaline and Jack are yelling at each other, and Sarge starts barking because it's so terribly exciting. This, too, is a recognizable dog behavior.

The only thing that annoyed me (aside from Higgins's use of words like "rack" and "boobage") was that Emmaline's parents were convinced that she is gay, and they just wouldn't let it go. Emmaline has always been athletic and she's not very girly which is a tired stereotype and I am over it. However, this part of the plot actually turned out to have a purpose in the story so I can't hold a grudge.

All in all, I had a really good time reading this novel. I'm almost sad that there's only one more book in this series because I've really enjoyed visiting with all of these great people in the little town of Manningsport, NY. These stories make we want to live there and be friends with them, maybe get a job at the vineyard. (Or, surely they have an adorable local library?) I look forward to reading the final one, Anything For You, sometime in 2017.

Waiting On You

Waiting On You (Blue Heron #3) by Kristan Higgins (2014)

Like the first two books of the Blue Heron series, Waiting On You takes place in the small town of Manningsport, NY. This time, it is local bartender Colleen O'Rourke who takes center stage. Colleen prides herself in being a matchmaker, but hasn't had a relationship herself since her heart was broken by Lucas Campbell. Now she is focused on fixing up the athletic but awkward Paulie Petrosinsky with local gorgeous womanizer Bryce Campbell, who just happens to be Lucas's cousin. But Bryce's father is not doing well at all, which brings Lucas back to town, and for Colleen this is both upsetting and exciting.

Colleen's past relationship with Lucas was revisited in a series of flashbacks including their explosive breakup when Colleen learned that he knew about her father's affair and kept it quiet. A few months after their breakup when she had cooled down and was receptive to seeing Lucas again, she learned he was about to be married. Years later he is divorced and only back in town for a limited time, but the two are irresistibly drawn to each other. Colleen may be able to forgive him for his past mistakes, but she is not willing to have her heart broken again. She won't leave Manningsport, where her business is the heart of the town, and Lucas won't leave Chicago where his sister and her children live.

There was a lot else besides their romance going on in this book. Colleen's father and step-mother have a 9-year-old daughter, who at her tender age already isn't thin and pretty enough for her mother. Colleen's mother still isn't over her ex-husband but might be ready to try at romance again. Lucas's aunt is treating her dying husband poorly, just as she treated Lucas poorly after his parents died and he had to be raised by his aunt and uncle. Meanwhile, Bryce is a drifter who lives in his parents' basement and can't manage to keep a job. He seems, frankly, pretty dumb. But the ladies love him, including Paulie, who is totally not his type (she's more interested in lifting weights than primping to look nice for guys like him) yet has been smitten with him for years.

One of my favorite aspects of this story was how both Colleen and Lucas were involved in caring for an older relative in declining health. Lucas's Uncle Joe had failing kidneys, but it was cancer that was killing him more quickly. Colleen's grandfather had Alzheimer's and she visited him frequently at the nursing home where she worked part-time. (Before opening a restaurant and bar with her twin brother, she had gotten some nursing training.) Both Colleen and Lucas visited their older relatives frequently and were compassionate and attentive.

Like the other books in the series, Waiting On You was frequently hilarious. It got a bit over-the-top madcap at some points, like when Colleen decides to cook dinner for Lucas and manages to screw up every single step of the way. I appreciate that the characters have healthy senses of humor and don't take themselves too seriously. It makes them more realistic and genuine. When Colleen's friend Faith remarks on why men are afraid of Colleen she mentions her twin brother, at which Colleen quips, "I know. I should euthanize him."

I also found it interesting that Colleen, while a much-loved bartender, also had a (completely earned) reputation for sleeping around. I'm not sure her reputation was worked into the plot very well, because it mostly seemed like she had a lot of respect, until the subject of her sex life came up, and then things turned a bit more negative. I'm honestly not certain whether or not it was realistic, but I appreciate that a romance novel heroine was allowed to be human in this way.

Waiting On You is firmly in the sub-genre of small town contemporary, with dogs. (I'm pretty sure "with dogs" is a romance sub-genre.) I didn't mention the dogs because they're not integral to the plot, but Colleen has an Irish Wolfhound named Rufus, and Paulie has several rescue dogs because Bryce volunteers at the shelter (the only gig he can stick with.) I'm trying to decide how this book compares to others in the series. I think the actual romance part of this one wasn't as good as the previous books, but it had a lot of great stuff about family and friendship, which definitely counts for a lot. All in all, I found it a fun and satisfying read, and will likely continue with the series.

I can now check off the "Romance" square in Winter Bingo! Please notice that it's nowhere near the one other square that I have checked off.

The Perfect Match

The Perfect Match (Blue Heron #2) by Kristan Higgins (2013)

For her whole life, Honor Holland has been in love with her good friend Brogan. Finally, she decides it's time to lay her heart out on the line. When he rejects her, she's devastated. But when she learns that he is suddenly engaged to her best friend Dana, she is pissed. So much so, that she ends up in a barfight over it. Classy. This is the same night she meets Tom Barlow. Tom is a teacher of mechanical engineering, and ever since he started there are suddenly far more women taking up the subject. An even bigger problem is that he has just learned the school won't renew his visa and he's in danger of having to go back to England, too far from his unofficial stepson, Charlie. Unless, just maybe, he can find someone to marry him. Well, Honor is free and available now, and as her ob/gyn has just reminded her, time is growing short if she wants to have children. Perhaps a marriage of convenience will work out well for everyone.

Obviously it is not that simple or it wouldn't require a whole book. Honor and Tom do hook up the first time they meet, but later when they decide to commit marital fraud and move in together, they decide not to have sex in an effort not to complicate things. This, of course, makes things worse because they became so tense and weird around each other. Honor acknowledges it probably would have felt more natural had she not suggested this stupid no-sex idea, but unlike many contrived romance plots based on neuroses, here it was fairly convincing. Honor was fresh from a pseudo-relationship in which she was hurt when she let her feelings show, and she wasn't about to get wrapped up in another guy who probably wasn't that into her. Tom's last relationship was with Charlie's mother who he was engaged to but, as it turns out, wasn't as in love with him as he was with her. And he has a lot at stake with this marriage; the one great thing that came from his relationship with Melissa was her son Charlie, to whom Tom was completely devoted. Leaving him to go back to England would be disastrous.

There were a lot of great relationships in this book, but my favorite was the one between Tom and Charlie. Although they were close when Charlie was a kid, after his mother died things changed. Charlie's father is rarely in the picture, only swooping in briefly now and then, so the withdrawn, sullen Charlie now lives with his grandparents who barely care about him while Tom is stuck with only seeing him once a week. Even then, Charlie barely speaks and shows no interest in Tom or the activities he plans. Once Honor enters the picture - well, to be honest it's more Honor's teenaged niece Abby - Charlie starts to come out of his shell a bit. I loved how all of this shaped up throughout the book. It was so heartbreaking and sweet.

Kristan Higgins is good with family stuff. One of my favorite aspects of the first book in this series, The Best Man, was story of the Holland family and their vineyard, which was continued here. I like that the family is imperfect, but not dysfunctional. They're easy to like, but not boring. Honor was a likable character too, with her weird little Yorkshire terrier Spike (who Tom called Ratty) and her fascination with medical reality shows such as Top Ten Tumors and The Mysterious World of Pork-borne Illnesses and World's Best Impalements.

Which brings me to the humor. If I am to like a romance novel, it can't take itself too seriously, and those written by Kristan Higgins apparently do not. In one scene, her family are all trying wine and noting the subtle flavors of apple, limestone, nesberry, and hay in that pretentious and mysterious way that wine connoisseurs do. Honor's niece Abby pipes up with "I'm getting overtones of fog and unicorn tears....with just a hint of baby's laughter."

As I mentioned earlier, this was the follow-up to The Best Man, which I liked a lot except that the writing was a bit clumsy and juvenile at times. This one was a definite improvement, although there was still an awkward use of stand-ins for swear words, like "fungus" and I think even one "bleeping." I recently heard a podcast interview with Kristan Higgins in which she mentioned how much she swears in her books. There were a few actual swear words in the book, but these weird non-swears were way more noticeable. Maybe the swearing improves in later books.

I will likely continue with this series. (Oh, who am I kidding? I've already requested the next one from the library.) These books are fun and feel indulgent and are very quick to read. Just the perfect thing to sandwich between horror and classics, or whatever you need a bit of a break from.

The Best Man

The Best Man by Kristan Higgins (2013)

Nothing can be as humiliating as being jilted at the altar, especially by a guy you thought was in love with you but who turns out to be gay. Faith Holland didn't wait around afterwards, but high-tailed it out of town and made a life for herself in San Francisco. But three and a half years later she has returned to upstate New York to do some work at her family's vineyard. Of course that means facing her ex-fiance again, not to mention his best friend - who Faith blames for everything - Levi Cooper. Unfriendly police chief Levi, who has always disliked Faith and makes no attempt to hide it and who is suddenly, strangely, compelling. How has she never noticed how attractive he is?

I picked up a Kristan Higgins book not long, an older book called Just One of the Guys. It was terrible. It read like something written by a twelve-year-old. With lots of exclamation points! In every paragraph! And "bleeping" used as a swear word, repetitively. But since I kept hearing how good Higgins is, I decided to try this forthcoming novel which will be published later this month. I'm glad I gave her a second chance.

Her language has improved greatly since that earlier book, but it's still homey and super-casual, like an email from a friend. Sometimes this extends to barroom language that's a bit jarring; I was ok with the use of "boobage" thought it was overused, but cringed when she used (more than once) "mighty rack." Nonetheless, the writing was generally easy to read, breezy and friendly and funny. I really liked her brand of humor, even it was a bit over-the-top at times. There were some scenes that actually made me snicker and I've been dying to share them with someone but don't want to ruin it by my terrible retelling. I'll just say there's a memorable scene in a bar bathroom that involves a Microfiber Slim-Nation undergarment, a powerful "child-sucking" toilet, and a doomed sweater. The book may be worth reading for this alone. But if that's not enough, there's also a really uncomfortable conversation between Faith and her ex regarding their old sex life and Justin Timberlake. You may not want to miss these things.

There was more subtle humor as well - of a variety I especially appreciate - in Faith's description of wine. Eons ago I visited many wineries and participated in tastings where I was subjected to wine talk that I find pretentious and ridiculous beyond words. In the novel Faith says it's all made up anyhow, and goes on to creatively describe wines thusly: "Passionfruit, pepper, a little honeysuckle, just a touch of pencil lead in the body, with a whisper of lychee in the finish." I love that. It's that sort of talk that finally made me realize I don't enjoy "tasting" wine, I enjoy drinking it.

The Blue Heron Winery was a pleasant backdrop, and Faith's family were charming and quirky. The story of Faith, her sisters, and their mother's death was an unexpectedly sophisticated addition. Faith was epileptic,  a seizure the apparent cause of the car accident that killed her mother when Faith was 10. She had felt guilty about this for years, and how she finally came to grips with it and spoke of it to her family was bittersweet and quite touching. Levi was also a complicated character, greatly affected by his time in the military in Afghanistan and his brief marriage to a woman he met there.

There was really a lot going on here for a romance novel. It's not high literature by any means, but there's a lot to like. I've been striking out a lot on contemporary romance and The Best Man has given me hope for the genre.

I received my copy of The Best Man courtesy of NetGalley