The Best Man
Author: Kristen Higgins
Series: Blue Heron #1
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Humor
Release Date: February 26, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Summary:
Faith Holland left her hometown after being jilted at the altar. Now a little older and wiser, she’s ready to return to the Blue Heron Winery, her family’s vineyard, to confront the ghosts of her past, and maybe enjoy a glass of red. After all, there’s some great scenery there …
Like Levi Cooper, the local police chief – and best friend of her former fiancé. There’s a lot about Levi that Faith never noticed, and it’s not just those deep green eyes. The only catch is she’s having a hard time forgetting that he helped ruin her wedding all those years ago. If she can find a minute amidst all her family drama to stop and smell the rosé, she just might find a reason to stay at Blue Heron, and finish that walk down the aisle.
First Sentence: On a beautiful day in June, in front of literally half the town, wearing a wedding dress that made her look like Cinderella and holding a bouquet of perfect pink roses, Faith Elizabeth Holland was left at the altar.
My Review:
Reading Kristan Higgins’ books makes me angry. The first book I read of hers, Too Good To Be True, made me so mad. The second book I’ve read of hers, The Next Best Thing, made me more furious, if that was even possible. I wanted to destroy something right after I finished reading it and I especially didn’t want to take my anger out on the book since it was not mine to begin with. I could have easily written a review of The Next Best Thing, but it would have been too harsh for anyone to read. I’ve even told my sister that I could write an entire six-page essay dedicated to why I hated that book, but since this is a book review of The Best Man instead of The Next Best Thing, I won’t go that far into it.
Plenty of work to do. No point in dwelling on the past. (29)
If I hated Kristan Higgins’ past two books, then why am I reading The Best Man, you might wonder? Well, the answer is pretty simple; the lovely cover convinced me to. And fine, maybe the book summary convinced me to give her book another shot too. (I mean, how could you fall for the guy that basically ruined your first wedding? How?!) Imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed reading The Best Man.
The main reason why I enjoyed reading The Best Man was that it fully covered a variety of topics without any of them being undeveloped or unexplored – family, love, guilt, tragedy, and finding one’s true self. No strings were left untied and how everything ended was quite satisfying to read. It also helped that the book pacing was excellent and that no one moment in the book was boring to read about.
Her face grew red. “I flushed my sweater down the toilet.”
“That happens to me all the time.” This earned another glare. “So you decided to climb out the window?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Where you are now stuck.”
“Wow. Those analytical powers of yours are just stunning, Levi. No wonder you’re a cop.” (75)
Usually, Kristan Higgins’ books has a lot of family moments in it which bores me to death, but in The Best Man, I didn’t mind reading about Faith’s family. In fact, it was actually interesting to read about Faith’s family and their problems. The family moments were not too draggy and dull like how it was in Kristan Higgins’ other books, Faith’s family drama problems actually captured my attention and amused me.
I especially love how all Kristan Higgins’ book titles have a double meaning. (That’s probably the only thing I like about all her books.) In The Best Man, Levi Cooper was the best man at Faith’s first wedding and later, she finds out that he is the best man, for her.
And now with a man who wasn’t perfect at all, who was stubborn, occasionally irritable, and mildly to moderately constipated when it came to emotions, and maybe had some abandonment issues going on, too, not to mention the weight of the world on his shoulders.
He was also the best man she knew. (417)
Overall, The Best Man was a great read for me. If you want to try one of Kristan Higgins’ books, The Best Man is the one I’ll definitely recommend, just stay far far away from The Next Best Thing.
I don’t quite dabble with adult fiction, except maybe for thrillers and mysteries. I like watching romcom movies though but when reading, I guess I just want to read with characters my own age. But wonderful review, Kelly! :)
Dianne recently posted…Stacking the Shelves (21)
Thanks Dianne! (:
Yeah, I mostly don’t read adult fiction either, except for historical romances, but I want to read more different kinds of books instead of just young adult which is why I tried Kristan Higgins’ books.
Kelly recently posted…Book Review: The Best Man – Kristan Higgins
haha! This was my first book of hers and I really enjoyed it! I was in the mood for some fluffy romance and that’s exactly what I got.
Since reading it, I’ve been curious about her other books, but from what other people have said, this one is the exception. It doesn’t seem like her other books are that great.
Yeah, her other books aren’t that great.
I read two of them and they both made me SO mad for ethical reasons.
My sister read another one of her books and she didn’t think that it was that great either.
Kelly recently posted…Series Overview: The Goddess Test Trilogy – Aimee Carter
I wanna try something different, because i just caught with fantasy and sci-fi novels so far. And this review makes me wanna try read this book. Thanks Kelly for this review
—Elee
If you want to read something different, then this book will definitely be the one for you Elee. I usually dislike contemporaries, but this one was pretty good. (:
Kelly recently posted…The Last Hurrah Giveaway Hop
This sounds really cute but isn’t my usual genre. I’m not sure I wouldn’t be bored without murders or vampires or zombies!
I still haven’t read Kristan Higgins books, but I wish to. This book sounds interesting and
the summary caught my attention. I’ll definitely add it to my tbr list. Nooooow,
you made me very curious about why you hated The Next Best Thing and Too Good To Be True lol
great review!