Best of My Love by Susan Mallery Series: Fool's Gold #20
Published by HQN Books on April 26, 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher
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Also in this series: Three Little Words, A Fool's Gold Christmas, Christmas on 4th Street, When We Met, Before We Kiss, Until We Touch, Yours for Christmas, Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me, Marry Me at Christmas
Also by this author: Three Little Words, A Fool's Gold Christmas, Christmas on 4th Street, When We Met, Before We Kiss, Until We Touch, Yours for Christmas, Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me, Marry Me at Christmas, The Ladies' Man, Second Chance Girl, Why Not Tonight
To overcome her painful past, baker Shelby Gilmore goes on the hunt for a friend—a male friend—to convince her stubborn psyche that men can be trusted. But where in a town as small as Fool's Gold will the petite blonde find a guy willing to not date her?
Dark, charming Aidan Mitchell puts the "adventure" in Mitchell Adventure Tours…and into the beds of his many willing female tourists. Until he realizes he's inadvertently become that guy—the one-night Casanova—and worse, everyone in town knows it. Maybe Shelby's boy/girl experiment will help him see women as more than just conquests so he can change his ways and win back his self-respect.
As Aidan and Shelby explore the secret lives of men and women, the heat between them fires up the Fool's Gold rumor mill. If no one will believe they're just friends, maybe they should give the gossips something to really talk about!
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
Review
I enjoyed Best of My Love, particularly the middle and end. Unfortunately, the opening premise didn’t quite work for me, at least in terms of Aiden: I couldn’t quite see him agreeing to Shelby’s proposition, even though the author works hard to sell his reasons. Having reluctantly swallowed that premise, though, I truly loved where Aiden ended up! In fact, both of these characters really appealed to me once I got past the initial part of the book. And some of the scenes are just priceless and had me smiling or laughing out loud. The food is also fantastic — I’m warning you, you’re going to be craving pastries and cupcakes while you’re reading this one. Finally, I have to say hurray for a Fool’s Gold book that subverts Mallory’s somewhat overused “guy breaks off relationship because he won’t commit/doesn’t believe in love” trope.
It looks to me like any additional books about the Mitchell brothers might be set in another town — a place called “Happily, Inc.”, the destination wedding town where the twins live and have their studios and gallery. I hope that doesn’t mean Mallery is planning to leave Fool’s Gold, too. It’s one of those idyllic, slightly quirky, wholesome small towns I love to visit, if only virtually, and I’d like to go on visiting it for many books to come.
About Susan Mallery
With more than 25 million books sold worldwide, New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery is known for creating characters who feel as real as the folks next door, and for putting them into emotional, often funny situations readers recognize from their own lives. Susan’s books have made Booklist’s Top 10 Romances list in four out of five consecutive years. RT Book Reviews says, “When it comes to heartfelt contemporary romance, Mallery is in a class by herself.” With her popular, ongoing Fool’s Gold series, Susan has reached new heights on the bestsellers lists and has won the hearts of countless new fans.
Susan grew up in southern California, moved so many times that her friends stopped writing her address in pen, and now has settled in Seattle with her husband and the most delightfully spoiled little dog who ever lived.
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library
Really all I needed to see was the word “baker” and I was in. It’s been a long time since I’ve read any Susan Mallery but I think I’d enjoy this one though it might take me a little bit to get past the setup. I’ll have to give this a try and go revisit Fool’s Gold.
Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library recently posted…First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros – An Unhappy Medium
Lark_Bookwyrm
She’s one of my go-to authors for light, quick fun contemporary romance.