My Review:
Casey Bradford runs a matchmaking service, helping women find their Mr Right but when her husband to be deserts her at the altar, it has a negative impact on her business, too! When her investors and backers are threatening to pull their money, Casey needs to take decisive action to keep her company. When it is suggested she get herself a fake boyfriend, she initially has no intentions of doing so, she can’t lie! However, the more she thinks about it, the more her brother’s friend and colleague, firefighter Kent Wakefield seems ideal, especially after he has to rescue her from a tree! He’s the person who came to her rescue so many times in the past and they’ve always been friends.
Kent was involved in a tragic rescue in which his colleague died and he was badly injured. That’s when Casey proved a staunch friend, helping him fight to recover, despite his then girlfriend cruelly abandoning him. When Casey asks him to be her fake boyfriend he immediately says no way. However, his matchmaking mother’s antics corner him endeavouring to find him a date for his cousin’s wedding, he panics and claims that he already has one Casey! As the two start out on their fake relationship they’ll discover that their friendship and attraction are going to be difficult to resist but both are reticent to give in to their feelings because of past hurts and trying to protect each other. Can love help them find a way to their happy ever after or will it all remain fake, after all?
This is a truly blissful friends to lovers romance. It has a great cast of characters – from two matchmaking mothers to protective brothers, two people who have been let down by the people who are supposed to love them and neither initially realising why they always turn to each other at times of trouble. It is a story of a community where everyone knows everyone else’s business, love that everyone else acknowledges but the two concerned and with plenty of laugh out loud moments, great banter and obstacles that make the reader ponder on how things could possibly work out. A great read which I thoroughly enjoyed escaping into – I can’t wait to read more in this series!
Many thanks to the publishers for gifting me a copy of this novel, via NetGalley, with no obligation. This is my honest review.
An Excerpt to whet your appetite:
Oh no. Of all the men, she would have preferred one of her brothers to Kent, with his dimples, sexy good looks, and blue eyes the color of a brilliant summer sky. He’d been her lifeline when she’d been left standing at the altar. Just like he was doing now, he’d swooped in to rescue her and she’d poured her heart out to him, sharing embarrassing, deeply personal stuff that she’d never told anyone else. The memory made her cringe.
He grinned. “Well, if it isn’t our champion tree climber.”
“Go ahead, rub it in.”
When his eyebrows raised, she batted her eyelashes. “I meant to say thank you so much for coming to rescue little old me with your big, strong muscles.” She tried to avoid looking at said muscles. Not that she could see them through his turnout coat, but she knew they were there. They were hard to miss when he wore the skin-hugging T-shirts he favored.
He laughed. “You managed to say that with a straight face.” She was glad he couldn’t read her checking-out-Kent thoughts as she handed him the dog. After he settled Ski in the bucket, he focused on trying to lift her from where she was wedged.
“Ow!” She sucked in a breath. “You’re going to pull my arms from their sockets.”
He leaned in to see what the problem was. “How are you stuck?”
“Big butt, little vee,” she said. Cookies and ice cream were great listeners after a heartbreak. Of course, later they talked back to you in pounds, but at the time, she hadn’t cared if she’d ever be able to wear anything but her sweatpants. He didn’t bother to hide his grin. “I’ll get you out,” he promised, but no matter how hard he tugged, her butt was stuck in the tree as snugly as a cork in a wine bottle. “I might have to get—”
“Don’t you dare say you have to get help. I can’t have you calling for reinforcements,” she said. “Do you know the jokes I would have to endure?” She motioned for his hand. “Put it there. Under my butt and give it a good push.”
“You want me to—” He looked uncertain.
“Put your hands on my ass!” That particular body part was going numb and she didn’t want to perform clenches to wake it up and have Kent notice that.
Again with the grin. “You wanna buy me dinner first?”
“Kent…” She scowled at the amusement on his face. Usually she could ignore his annoying teasing but all of a sudden, he was sexy-annoying which was worse. So much harder to ignore when her hormones coupled with the loneliness she’d felt the last couple of weeks were thinking well, hey!
for a $5 Amazon eGift Card!
Many thanks to Entangled for providing the materials for this post and organising this tour. The review is my honest opinion after reading – and loving – the book.