One of my favorite scenarios... King of the Friend Zone by Sheralyn Pratt (Review)

King of the Friend ZoneKing of the Friend Zone
(Power of the Matchmaker)
by Sheralyn Pratt
Adult Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 351 Pages
September 1st 2016 by Wicked Sassy

Summary

Esme Taylor has an amazing fiancé, a lifelong best friend, and a problem.

The problem stems from the fact that her best friend is named Hunter and, well. . .he’s kind of (totally) hot. It’s hate at first sight when her fiancé, Jon, and Hunter meet. Jon’s convinced that Hunter is in love with Esme, and that Hunter must be out of the picture if their upcoming marriage is to succeed.

Esme thinks Jon is paranoid.

The truth is, Jon’s not that far off. Hunter is in love with his best friend and always has been. What Jon has wrong, however, is that Hunter never had any plans of ruining Esme’s happily ever after. Hunter wants what’s best for Esme, even if that’s not him.

When Jon pushes hard to end Esme and Hunter’s friendship, opposition comes from the most unlikely of places. It’s an eccentric lady with a cookie cart who suggests a different solution to Esme’s problem: Hunter and Esme should give each other a chance.

They’ve both thought of the possibility over the years—of course they have. But with a ring already on Esme’s finger and a heap of hurt feelings and broken trust in the mix, there hasn’t been a worse time to explore the depths of their feelings for each other.

Both Esme and Hunter think it’s time to move on and leave childhood crushes in the past. The question is: Can one woman and the taste of one cookie change their minds?

 
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My Review

KING OF THE FRIEND ZONE had one of my favorite tropes, the guy-next-door or best-friend romance. In this case, the characters are pretty much oblivious as to how to turn their friendship into a romance or are unwilling to risk it, which creates plenty of room for misunderstandings and tension. Add to that the lovable characters, a story full of friendship and family, dialogue that includes lots of fun banter, and a romance that held plenty of chemistry, and you have one very fun and engaging romance!

I really loved these characters even though I was also frustrated with them at points. I loved the secondary characters as well, especially Miss Pearl who is the connecting character in this series. I appreciated that the author didn't just let everything get fixed once a character or two changed their minds. No, she let things be a little more realistic and a little difficult for the characters as they figured things out, which added an authenticity to the story and didn't make it too over-the-top. And then there was the sweetest ending that tied everything up.

In the end, was it what I wished for? Yes. I enjoyed this story from the first page to the end and definitely will continue with this series and with this author's future books.

Content: Clean

Source: Received a complimentary copy through ebooksforreview.com, which did not affect my review in any way.

Other Books in the Series

(No specific reading order necessary)

Summary

The Power Of the Matchmaker is multi-author project consisting of 12 stand alone novels from 12 different bestselling authors in 12 months. All books are separate from each other except they feature one reoccurring character, a magical matchmaker named Pearl. Since Pearl is magical, she lives for hundreds of years and roams the entire world helping people find their perfect matches. The books in this series are twelve of Pearl's matchmaking stories. They will vary in genre, but they will all have one thing in common: Pearl will be doing whatever it takes to make two people fall in love.

Power of the MatchmakerBroken Things to Mend (Power of the Matchmaker)Not Always Happenstance (Power of the Matchmaker)
If We Were a MovieChasing Fireflies (Power of the Matchmaker)Four Chambers
O'er The River LiffeyTo Move the WorldHow I Met Your Brother (Power of the Matchmaker) by [Rallison, Janette]
(Linked to my reviews for the books I've read or Amazon or Goodreads.)

Check out an excerpt from the book and enter the tour giveaway here.

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