Review: A wonderful surprise. I loved this book!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 14, 2011
My Review:The story description above is a little deceiving, although all those things are true, it just doesn't seem to capture the heart of this story. This is a romance that is a friends-to-lovers trope, but it's not a typical one. Rachel and Colby are part of a group of friends that consists of six people. Those six hang out at least 2-3 times a week as a group. They are all friends. Colby and Rachel are part of that group and friends within the group, but they have never really had any one-on-one time as friends. As such, they really don't know each other all that well. In fact, Colby has a huge history that Rachel doesn't find out about until mid-way through the book which has been pretty defining for the decisions that he makes.The opening paragraph in the story overview is where the story starts...Rachel is hired by a PI to get photographs of a cheating husband, but SURPRISE....that's her boyfriend whom she didn't know was married AND he has a whole bevy of girls who are his "girlfriends." *ugh*...Poor Rachel! But Colby has had a crush on Rachel and he sees this as his chance to finally be able to make a move on her.This is a good book that I really thoroughly enjoyed reading. In fact, once I started reading, I pretty much didn't set it down again until I had it completely read. The conflict between Colby & Rachel is that they both like each other so much, but they are terrified of losing or being rejected by the other. They have been friends, but haven't been close enough as friends to really be able to read each other's signals. There are soooo many crossed wires in how they read each other in this book. (It didn't bother me as the reader, but I could see where it could really bother someone else, because they really just need to be honest with each other.) In the end, it is their group friendship/dynamic that saves them from their doubts about each other.It was a really, really fun read. I loved the group of friends dynamic that the story had. There are lots of opportunities for Rachel & Colby to circle each other which made the suspense work. It takes a LONG time into the story before Colby & Rachel get their act together and that made for a really highly charged read. You just want them to get together, but that suspense really did make the book. Lots of sexual tension and angst. Also, I really liked how much about their careers was added to the story with sub-plots. Colby is a lawyer and Rae is a photographer and those storylines worked really well especially towards my overall enjoyment of the book.This was a spur-of-the-moment read and I am SO GLAD that I picked it up. A wonderful example of contemporary romance that's fun and romantic.