From the New York Times bestselling author of the NOLA Nights series comes a rollicking, sexy tale of opposites attracting in the midst of wedding planning.

Alex DuMont is everything his brother Sol isn’t: regimented, serious, and devout. Between twelve-hour workdays, service to the church, punishing daily workouts, and bi-weekly therapy sessions, Alex is, as Sol once put it, “a kettle perpetually whistling as it boils itself to death.” So when Sol announces his marriage to Arianna Barrington, heiress and society sweetheart, Alex is the absolute worst choice to be his best man. Sol asks anyway and Alex reluctantly agrees. It’s only a week, after all, and Alex should be able to stop himself from throttling his big brother for a meager seven days. Probably. Maybe.

Theresa Ivarson is Arianna’s best friend and the maid of honor. A decorated photojournalist who interrupts her globetrotting to stand beside her friend, Theresa is beautiful, witty, and unafraid to speak her mind. So when she is faced with working with the best man from Hell, a Viking who doesn’t know how to smile, is bossy, and about as pleasant as a cactus, the sparks are bound to fly—and not in the good way. To make matters worse, Sol and Rain's wedding planner was hit by a bus the week before their special day, and Alex and Theresa find themselves at the center of a list-ditch effort to pull the wedding together. But when you can’t decide if you want to kiss or kill someone, something’s bound to break.

This was my first by this author and while I liked some of it, I also had some issues. Its book 3 in the series, it can be read as standalone. Based on the blurb and a few friends' reviews, I had quite high expectations of this book but they were not quite fully met.

We have two interesting, complex characters meeting and falling in lust/love during the preparation and actual wedding of the couple from book 1. I'm not the biggest fan of wedding-set romances especially involving super rich/famous people. I didn't mind it too much here as the focus was more on the characters and it was the bride and groom who where in the media spotlight, not the MCs.

The main conflict was based on fact that Alex is a devout Catholic and as such he hesitates and then feels guilt over his pre-marital sexual relationship with Theresa (who is also Catholic btw). I'm orthodox Chrisitan myself and read the religious aspect here from the position of an outsider. Even though I understood Alex' struggles, I found his behaviour annoying, there was too much going back and forth, he was too hesitant to make a decision.

I likes Theresa who unlike Alex reconciled the decision to be with him with her Catholic faith from the start and stuck with it. I felt she deserved better from Alex. His clumsiness and lack of sweet-talking skills were endearing and I could see why Theresa forgave him for them. What I had trouble accepting how he acted hot and cold with her all the time, making her feel ashamed for giving into her attraction to him, making her doubt her own moral compass.

I like heroes who a bit awkward, who mess up and who are not perfect but Alex was too much. He kept hurting the heroine (unintentionally but still). She struggled to be understanding of his issues, yet I feel they were something he should have figured out for himself before trying to start any relationship. In all honestly I found it difficult to relate to him, probably if we were given more insight into his reasons for his deep religiousness it would have been easier for me to understand him.

I still might go back and read the first two books in the series but this one was not the hit I expected it to be and in the end I remain with mixed feelings about it. 

Purchase link: Amazon