Author Lauren Gallagher managed to hit four major romance troupes while offering up a plot that while a bit crazy was plausible, characters that were easy to like and a happily ever after for two people who found the love they both wanted with the best friend they ever had. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures
Description:
You can’t thaw a heart that was never frozen.
Retired at thirty-five, billionaire Matt Coolidge should be enjoying the fruits of his workaholic years. Instead, he’s got migraines from butting heads with his mother. If Matt doesn’t get a matrimonial move-on, she’s threatening to will the family farm to his brother, who’ll turn it into a strip mall.
Then Matt’s childhood best friend rolls back into town, bringing a complication that’s not entirely unexpected—or unwelcome.
Years ago, with Matt’s help, Dara Marley froze several embryos before cancer treatment stole her fertility—and before a stupid argument tore their friendship apart. Now alone, she’s taking the most logical step to ensure the child she’s carrying has a father. Returning to Matt—and hoping bygones will be bygones.
Baby and all, Matt’s on board. And when Dara finds out Matt’s career kept him too busy for a relationship—even sex—she’s more than happy to bring him up to speed.
But a decades-old grudge between their families means keeping quiet about their good news—and the feelings they never knew went far deeper than friendship.
Warning: Contains a virgin who’s been waiting a long time for this and a woman who’s happy to show him the way. And they’ve both had it up to here with narrow-minded gossips and small-town grudges.
Review copy provided for an honest review
I’m not going to lie; even if I didn’t enjoy this author’s work I would have requested this book to review on title alone, seriously it’s like how many romance troupes can your throw into one book, AND throwing in that many can you truly make it work? Well, Ms. Gallagher did and I shouldn’t be surprised because she’s managed to blow my mind with several of her works this year. Best friends become lovers and so much more in this unconventional, sweet, and tangled romance.
Retired at 35 because being retired is better than being dead, Matt Coolidge is back home in Aspen Mill and enjoying helping his sister run the farm that has been in their family for generations. What he doesn’t love is the constant harassment and pressure put on him and his sister both to find a suitable spouse and begin to procreate all because his mother wants more grandchildren nor does he appreciate that she’s holding the family’s farm over their heads as leverage. It is stress he doesn’t appreciate or need especially given the fact that he simply isn’t comfortable around members of the opposite sex.
Dara Marley never expected to return home, twice divorced and now pregnant but life happens and so she’s back in Aspen Mill and working to get her life back on track. First order of business is tracking down her childhood best friend, Matt, whom she hasn’t seen in 10 years and inform him that he’s going to be a father.
I’ll admit upfront the premise of this book was totally off the wall but that’s also what made it entertaining and intriguing. Best friends until 10 years ago, Matt and Dara were inseparable until she announced she was moving to California with her husband. Harsh words were spoken and while they made a few small attempts to keep in touch, those soon fell by the way side. Before undergoing treatment for cancer in college, Dara under her doctor’s advisement froze some embryos which Matt had supplied the sperm for, now Dara is divorcing but wants her baby to have a father figure and she gives Matt first chance at being her baby’s father since biologically it is his child. Understandably, these two have quite a bit of catching up to do and in the process they go pretty easily from being friends again to lovers which only complicates matters on several fronts. I loved how easily these two fell back into their friendship, how adult they were in letting what happened between them in the past and watching them both fall hard for one another even when they weren’t sure it was the best thing to do. While there was no denying how close these two had been for years or the fact that they knew each other inside and out there was some history between their families that complicated their lives. One of my biggest problems with this story is how both Matt and Dara have proved to be successful business people yet their parents treat them like unruly teenagers and for the most part they take it for a good portion of this book.
Author Lauren Gallagher managed to hit four major romance troupes while offering up a plot that while a bit crazy was plausible, characters that were easy to like and a happily ever after for two people who found the love they both wanted with the best friend they ever had.
Thanks for the review! Sounds like an interesting book!!
Thanks Slick for the review