Review: A fun book filled with hilarious banter, crazy situations, and unforgettable characters!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 29, 2013
“Holy crap, it’s a tie between me wanting to give you a high five or slap you.”–CharChar has loved Jake since they were kids. Well, make that just loved–past tense. He grew up to be a millionaire playboy and all-around jerk with a capital J. So what if she had a tiny little slip up and had a one-night stand with him a year ago; it’s not like she would ever make the mistake of doing that again–especially while the two of them serve in the wedding party of her best friend and Jake’s brother. She is going to resist him. Completely. But then there’s the little fact that Jake’s trying to become a better person. And that Grandma is a masterful matchmaking meddler…“Most girls want to be the princess in the story. I want to be the fairy godmother.”–GrandmaWhat a fun book filled with hilarious banter, crazy situations, and unforgettable characters! This is the second book in the series, and it shows as we jump into the story with our leads who have history already together. I haven’t read the first book, but it looks like the two of them had a one-night stand and Jake, who is a real jerk, left her the next morning with nothing more than a thank you note! So, as you can imagine, Char is not pleased when she runs into him on the airplane, and he’s still a dismissive jerk. From then on, the book takes us on a wild ride as both leads try to deny what they feel for the other as they try to one-up each other in great dialogue. Neither of them realize that Jake’s Grandma has plans for the two of them as they reluctantly work together to help her do some pre-wedding chores.“Grandma sees all. It’s like hiding from God.”–JakeAlthough the story is great, it took me a while to warm up to the characters, particularly with Jake. He starts off so bleh and resigned and coupled with his playboy and jerk history (apparently he was quite the villain in the first book), I couldn’t see me liking him at all! Luckily with Grandma’s help, he slowly comes to the realization that even he doesn’t like himself and wants to change. Reading about him grow as a person despite his hidden insecurities and low self-esteem was great. He’s unlikeable, but at least he’s trying to improve himself and actually quite romantic and a good person when he tries to be.Char at first seemed like a doormat, and I couldn’t see why she was so hung up in Jake other than mentioning that he’s gorgeous since he’s such a jerk. It was only when we got further in the book that we realized how much their past history as childhood friends come to play. I also felt so bad for her for being in the shadow of her more successful sister with their parents! On the plus side, I was happy that she has a great support system in her friends.While the first two-thirds of the book is filled with funny pre-wedding situations that Grandma puts Char and Jake in (although I was cringing in some parts where Grandma was a bit too much), the last third of the book is pretty much pure tear-jerking, super sweet romance. In the later part of the book, Travis and Kacey, the leads of the first book share the center-stage with Char and Jake, which will delight those who enjoyed book one in the series. It made me wish that I had read book one first so I got to know Travis and Kacey instead of being newly introduced and then being shown such tender moments between them (they were such great and emotional scenes to me, and I hadn’t even bonded with the characters!).“Love is always worth it.”–KaceyFor heat level, I’d say low to medium since there was plenty of sexual tension (which added humor) and some brief not-too-graphic sex scenes. Overall, if you enjoy fun contemporary romance, give this one a try! This is a 4 out of 5 for me!(Originally posted on my blog; I received a review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.)