e-Audio, 09:53:58
Narrated by: January LaVoy & Teddy Hamiliton
Release Date: September 6, 2022
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: August 25-27, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Racism, Misogyny, Cheating from a past relationship, Death of Parents mentioned on page
For Readers Interested In: Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Weddings, Enemies to Lovers, Interracial Romance, AdultAfter butting heads, an event planner and a wedding officiant begin an enemies with benefits arrangement as wedding bells chime around them in the newest rom-com from acclaimed author Denise Williams.
Divorce attorney RJ would never describe herself as romantic. But when she ends up officiating an unplanned wedding for a newly engaged couple in a park, her life is turned upside down. The video of the ceremony goes viral, and she finds herself in the unlikely position of being a sought-after local wedding officiant. Spending her free time overseeing “I dos” isn’t her most strategic career move, but she enjoys it, except for the type A dude-bro wedding planner she’s forced to work with.
Former pro-football event manager Lear is a people person, but after his longtime girlfriend betrayed him, he isn’t looking for love. He knows how to execute events and likes being in control, so working with an opinionated and inflexible officiant who can’t stand him is not high on his list. He’s never had trouble winning people over, but RJ seems immune to his charms.
Surrounded by love at every turn, their physical attraction pulls them together despite their best efforts to stay an arm’s length apart. Lear refuses to get hurt again. RJ refuses to let herself be vulnerable to anyone. But when it comes to happily ever after, their clients might not be the only ones saying “I do.”
*MY THOUGHTS*
After finally reading something by Denise Williams (her novellas) I was super excited to read a full size (is that what it’d be called? lol) book by her. And I can fully say now, that I am definitely a fan. This was so cute!
Ok normally I use my audio paragraph for the ending, but OMG these are two of the GOATS. I was so glad I was able to review this version. I didn’t even know it was the two of them, so it was quite a surprise. I don’t think I have to say much about they portrayed emotion damn near perfectly. And I’m sure I don’t have to bring up the their voices made the words easy to listen to. It was just a really cute audio and I loved listening to them two together.
The plot was absolutely adorable. I love books with weddings, so maybe it was me, but I swooned SO MUCH. lol I love love and seeing the way this played out, I loved it. I DID feel like it kind of dwindled towards the end, but that could be because I didn’t really like RJ and she was really mean lol I started thinking he could do better. But anyway, what I didn’t really care for was Lear’s back story. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, I just thought it came out too late? Like it kind of felt tacked on. I remember thinking why didn’t he just say that?
I would be remiss if I didn’t also talk about RJ and what annoyed me about her. And y’all probably know what I’m going to say. I mentioned it on my updates while I was reading, but they had the dumbest argument ever. She was mad because he defended her honor, instead of her saying “Thank you” I just thought that was dumb and I didn’t like any of her argument defending it. I really wanted to slap her because of that lol Especially since at that point she KNEW she liked him, she just didn’t WANT to like him. However, I LOVED Lear. He was really cute and absolutely a dude-bro lol But then again, I was mad at them because of the miscommunication. It was a running theme throughout the book. Neither one of them wanted to talk about anything and it annoyed me. Y’all know how I am with that trope.
The romance itself was cute when they finally got their lives together. I found myself rooting for them in the end because I was really worried that they weren’t going to happen. (I’m telling you, RJ was mean lol) But I loved that once she let her guard down she became a softie for him. It was funny that they hated each other, but they were like so hot for each other. Lear wanted her all the time. And as much as she tried to fight it, RJ was also always thinking about him even though she acted like she didn’t. That epilogue really did it for me. I ended up listening to it twice. They were so much of opposites I couldn’t really wrap my head around what they liked about each other. So seeing the the way they came together and made it work was really cute. (I also can’t say enough how I did NOT like the closets lol I am afraid of spiders and I could just see that going south lmao It was all I could think about. But I never mentioned it because I’m sure it was just me and my weirdness)
Was I pulled in by this super cute cover and the weddings that I was promised? Yes. Did it give everything that I was promised? Also yes. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was swoony and I enjoyed it. Lear had to fight for his life, but once she gave herself over to loving him, I was glad to know they were ok.
Overall, I give this
