Three days before Erin Bellini's wedding, her fiancé
breaks up with her--in an email! Hurt and embarrassed, she decides to have a
fling with veterinarian Jason Callum, who's both the best man and the hottest
guy she knows. But Jason wants a lot more than just a one-night stand with the
woman he's cared about for years. So he's taking things slow. And hot. And
showing Erin what real love can look like.
Suddenly Erin finds herself spending a lot more time with
Jason than she intended. Feelings she never planned on having again are
wrapping around her heart, refusing to let go. Erin isn't sure she can trust
her instincts, though. After all, she made a terrible choice with her
ex-fiancé. But Jason intends to convince her that he's the best man for her,
and that what they have together is a real love that will last forever.
This was a fun friends to lovers story. When I read the
prequel novella The Matchmaker's Mistletoe Mission, I got the feeling that
things were a little off in Erin and Owen's engagement. As this book opens, the
wedding is two days away, Erin is up to her neck in last-minute details, and
she gets a break-up email from Owen. Shock doesn't begin to cover her reaction
and angry would be an understatement. But she refuses to look pitiful in front
of their friends, so she insists on holding the reception anyway. It's there that she decides the best revenge
would be a fling with her best friend, Jason, who was also Owen's best man.
Unfortunately for Erin, Jason is not cooperative. It's
not that he doesn't want to sleep with her. He does. But he wants more than
that. Jason has been in love with Erin for years but lost out to Owen because
he didn't want to risk their friendship. Now he has a second chance, but he
wants to be careful about it. Rather than take Erin up on her offer while she
is vulnerable, Jason goes the friendship route first.
I loved watching the relationship between Erin and Jason
develop. Erin is hot to carry out her revenge right away and isn't too pleased
when Jason resists. Instead, Jason finds ways for them to spend time together
doing other things until he can be sure she isn't quite so vulnerable. Because
they have been friends for so long, they are very comfortable with each other. Jason
didn't hold out very long against Erin's advances, just long enough for her to
convince him that she knew what she was doing. I ached for Jason because he
knew that he was risking heartbreak giving in to her, but he loves her too much
not to help her. Erin goes into the whole thing only wanting a short fling,
then going back to friends as usual. But the more time they spend together, the
more her feelings start to change. This freaks her out, and she does everything
she can to resist admitting to those feelings. She also has trouble believing
that what she feels is real. After all, she thought she had loved Owen, and
look where that ended up.
Lingering in the background is Erin's knowledge that she
is going to have to face Owen sooner or later. Something that comes up time and
again is that Owen's actions were completely out of character for him. More
than one person wonders what was going through his mind. When he came back and
contacted Erin, I wasn't terribly surprised at the reasons he gave. He handled
it badly, causing more heartache than there would have been if he'd been honest
to start with. I was frustrated by Erin's actions afterward because she wasn't
thinking of the effect on Jason, who was left wondering where he stood. Her
kick in the pants came from an unexpected source. I liked that she saw the
error of her ways and took immediate steps to fix it. The ending was sweet.
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