The problem? Danny doesn’t do marriage. Or family. And everyone knows it, including Olivia.
As irritated as he might be, protecting Olivia is what Danny does. But put best friends under one roof, add house rules begging to be broken, accidental nakedness, and pancakes in bed, and what started as a marriage between friends threatens to turn into the real deal…which would ruin everything. (Pub Date: Aug 8, 2016)
Review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley.
If you liked the summary and have no other expectations, go on and read the book. That's simply it—although they're not clear about why Danny "doesn't do marriage", that's probably the only difference.
A solid 2.5.
A little warning: the book is the third in a series but I never read the rest, and it made no difference for me. This is a true standalone.
It's hard to do better than the official summary but I'll try to at least put it in my words... Liv is in trouble. Even though her mother has always held it against her for being born out of wedlock, she finds herself under the same predicament when the father-to-be says he didn't intend for them to be anything serious. Pregnant, she returns home and seeks her best friend's help to face her mother. Even though Danny planned never to get married and much less have children so not to impose his degenerative eye problem on anyone...
This is romance and that's it. The book was highly predictable for good and for bad. Still, the story is nice, and aside from them overthinking too much the same problems—their complaints never evolved—the characters are nice.
I would say Liv was my favorite part of the book. She is strong without wearing the super heroine armor, I think she simply feels real. She does seem too affected about her mother's opinion but aren't we all? I'd say I related even with that part. I also appreciated how she didn't become ultra capable, finding some super job in the middle of the story. Those plots usually turn me off. She finds a way for herself the ordinary way.
Danny has a degenerative eye disease and he knows once he loses his eyesight, he'll be trouble to whomever is with him, so he doesn't want to get married and have children. I think that is a good change as a reason for not wanting a family but as it became the main conflict, I got a little tired of Danny. Even so, he's cute and funny and handsome. I'd take him indecisive as he is. I think he made for a good "book boyfriend".
The high point of this story is that they're really friends who have each other's backs. What do I mean? Usually, the author will tell me the main couple are best friends but they'll be uncomfortable with the other, or ditch the other in the first opportunity in the name of plot development. Their friendship went beyond words in this book, which really gave me the story I wanted.
At the same time, what bothered me the most—or second most; its predictability was too much for this story—was how unconvincing the change in their relationship was. They've always been best friends, and acting as if engaged and expecting a child, and as they live together they face sexual tension. Except the tension came too sudden. When you're friends, you never see the other as anything else. I did get Danny confused Liv for another woman at the party in the beginning but that would just crack it a little, also that was the only novelty. My reading would have been more exciting if the author showed the "cracking" little by little—isn't that the fun for reading a romance between friends? As it was, I feel a little cheated on the "we're best friends" plot. More than cheated, the problem was how that made me miss that fun.
As you can see, I actually had very little to criticize, and nothing you wouldn't already expect if you're a reader of romances. I didn't find it exciting. Still, the couple is cute and their chemistry really heartwarming.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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