Tempting the Best Man by J. LynnMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
On the advice of MANY of my friends I picked up this book to read as a guilty pleasure. I really am not a reader of contemporary romance as it usually bores me with its predictability. However, I love Jennifer L. Armentrout so much I figured there could be nothing she would write that I would not like. And I was not disappointed. To say that I was surprised at how adult this book was would be an understatement. However, I knew going in that this book would be nothing like her young adult writes (although the same element of sexual tension does float throughout all her work). And this book has everything you want: love, drama, jealousy, tension, and passion.
Blurb from Goodreads:
Madison Daniels has worshipped her brother's best friend since they were kids. Everyone thinks she and Chase Gamble would make the perfect couple, but there are two major flaws in their logic. 1) Chase has sworn off relationships of any kind, and 2) after blurring the line between friends and lovers for one night four years ago, they can't stop bickering.
Forced together for her brother's wedding getaway, Chase and Madison decide to call a truce for the happy couple. Except all bets are off when they're forced to shack up in a tacky 70’s honeymoon suite and survive a multitude of "accidents" as the family tries to prove their "spark" can be used than for more than fighting. That is, if they don't strangle each other first…
First let me begin with the cover. Well, I've seen two. This one is sexy, but the other one is HOT. Holy heck! When you see these covers you have no doubt in your mind what you are getting into that is for sure. So to say the covers do the book justice is totally true. I can say that these are definitely drool worthy in my opinion.
As for the characters, well, I just love little miss Madison. She's sassy and sharp, pretty and witty. She's a 25 year old woman who knows what she wants, but also knows that what she wants is a bit forbidden. While I know she's older, I still feel that angst in her that you get with many YA novels. She's pretty and spunky and has it all tied up in her neat little small package.
And Chase, OH MY. He is, well, HOT HOLY HECK! He's cocky and confident, easy on the eyes, sexy and seductive. And he's smart.If that's not the whole package, what is. But he thinks of himself as something that is no good, tainted by the traits he believes he's inherited from his father. He is completely overprotective of Maddie, treating her many times as if she's his own sister. And yet, this protection is so much more than he ever lets on to her.
The supporting characters really are just that, supporting. You don't get much from them, but I don't think this book is about them at all. As in Fifty Shades of Grey, this book is about the romance between the couple, the commitments they are or are not willing to make, and the outcome of their decisions.
The story line is quite simple: girl has loved boy all her life, boy feels the same but girl doesn't know it, tension rises, misunderstandings happen, and then things come to a pinnacle. I like this type of story line. It's easy to read and you know the outcome will be good. I'm a sucker for a "fairytale" ending for sure. And to watch the struggle of the characters and feel the tensions that arise is really great.
As with all Armentrout's writing, this is very well done. It flows naturally and easily. And there's certainly the right amount of sexual tension to just keep you pushing through to the end. I read this in one sitting in just a few hours. Really, I could not put it down. It was the perfect escape. She had me wanting to smack both characters at times, while at other times she had me wanting to push them together, to run after them and show them what they were missing! I love any book that can pull at my emotions like that.
So this one gets 4 out of 5 for me, only because of the predictability factor and the fact that I was a bit annoyed with how both characters assumed so easily that the other had walked out on them. All in all, I think you need to go out and get yourself a copy of this book and read it, from beginning to end, in one sitting! I highly doubt you will be disappointed.
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