This was a sweet and simple romance of two best friends that finally fall in love. I am a fan of unrequited love and with this story we get it from both sides.
The story begins as Tommy Gordon is preparing to walk down the aisle and get married. He’s been attended to by his best friend Grayson Phillips and his nine year old son Petey when Grayson goes to check on the Tommy’s groom to be, Xavier. What Grayson finds isn’t promising and when Xavier shows up to tell Tommy he can’t marry him, the story becomes a bit somber. The downside doesn’t last for long as Tommy steps up to inform his friends and family what has happened and later Grayson suggesting Tommy still take his honeymoon and not let Xavier win. Of course, being best friends Tommy suggests that Grayson and Petey come along as well and we set off for a best worst honeymoon adventure.
I’ve always like the stories where one is jilted and still takes the honeymoon. It’s like flipping the bird to the jerk that either left you at the altar or never showed up but here, we get an extra bird when Tommy takes a good look at his best friend with new eyes.
Grayson has crushed on Tommy for years and even been a bit in love with him but their romantic time lines never crossed giving him an opportunity to tell Tommy how he feels. With nothing else to do on this vacation, Grayson goes for broke and finds out that Tommy feels the same way. But Tommy has a heavy dose of low self-esteem and has always been a people pleaser in relationships even when it’s to his detriment. Tommy is learning how to move on from Xavier’s betrayal while finding confidence and comfort in the arms of his best friend.
“I had no idea. You’ve been my friend all these years and I could have had you in my life… like this. I could have been with you and….”
“Sometimes it takes something out of the ordinary to see what’s been right in front of us the whole time.”
The story is pretty slow going but it fits the relaxed vibe of an island vacation. I like seeing the best friends spend time together and relearn who they are in a non-platonic way. Petey is a normal kid but pretty smart for his age who sees what is happening between his dad and Uncle Tommy and just wants everyone to be happy even if he has well based childish fears.
Tommy and Grayson move seemingly fast but knowing how long they have been friends and had feelings for each other it didn’t take belief suspension to see them moving from friends to lovers. They are perfect for one another and really have nothing but heart eyes but are also so damn rational it drove me a bit batty at times.
There is some drama around the halfway mark that I get as necessary and I do like how it was handled. The other drama at the end simply forced Tommy to accept what he wants and the epilogue was appropriate.
At the end of it all, this was a nice read that would be perfect for a day at the beach with the sound of the waves as a soundtrack to really get the vacation vibe going.
An ARC was provided by the publisher.
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