Desperate to be nothing like his snake of a politician father, public defender John Modesto-Whitford prides himself on his honesty and candor. But his social awkwardness and lack of filter just blew it with the most beautiful woman he’s ever dated.
Luckily, Mom’s machinations keep Mary and John running into each other all summer long, and soon they resort to fake dating to get her to back off. When their pretense turns to real friendship—and some surprisingly hot chemistry—can these two stubborn individuals see past their rocky start to a rock-solid future together?
Comment: This is the third installment in the Forever Yours trilogy by author Cara Bastone. I have previously read and enjoyed the other books and wanted to finish the series.
In this third story we finally have Mary Trace as a heroine. She is friends with the male protagonists of the other books and briefly appeared in their stories but now it's her time to shine, which doesn't start as well as she hoped for the blind date with the son of a cherished costumer of her shop turns out to be a failure. Still, with her optimism in place, she goes on with her life, but John, the failed date, now seems to be everywhere and somehow they end up friends. However, the more they get to know one another as friends, the more they realize the idea of them being a couple was always a good one. But how can they confess to each other they want more then friendship?
I will admit I was not particularly eager to read this book but since I did like the others - the first more than the second - I've felt I would need to finish the series anyway. This third story didn't start very well for me, though because I've found Mary to be too bubbly and I wasn't fond of the age gap between the protagonists (six years and she is older than him). I will confess my unfairness because if he had been the oldest one I would not have minded, as I didn't in the previous books.
In fact, the author clearly anticipated this I bet, since a good part of the plot's conflict is related to the age gap and how Mary being 37 is considered to be on the more distanced gap when it comes to motherhood prospects and such. Of course, this is a very contemporary subject with women becoming mothers later in their lives, but while Mary isn't feeling personally pressured for the same, she still feels the eyes of others on her because of her age, and she knows her own mother is increasing her warnings about what will happen if she doesn't start a family soon.
This does play a big role in the plot and how Mary still remains optimistic and a lively person through issues and criticism. I did like Mary the more I've read about her but at first I wasn't too impressed with her for I prefer heroines that are quieter or who somehow reveal their vulnerabilities in different ways or for different reasons. Still, as Mary and John started to spend more time together, as friends, I could see how well they were together and how such a good couple they could be. The age gap would never disappear but it was nice to see what they had in common uniting them.
John is a lawyer and I did like seeing enough scenes in which his job is important to him and how we get to see his personality through his actions. I also liked his interactions with his best friend and how dedicated he was, especially since he doesn't have a rich background and he is trying to make ends' meets while working, while helping his mother, while being around Mary... he is quite busy and I did like how small misunderstandings or assumptions led him to what we would judge as being poor behavior but it was just stuff that people certainly do everyday...
The romance develops slowly and I was a little bothered by how much importance is given to the age gap but after several chapters, John and Mary just seemed to be on the same page and I rooted for them until the end, where they finally got their HEA. I would not say this is the best HEA I've read about, but it was well accomplished. Actually, I liked the little things in their lives more than I did the romantic parts but things ended up good enough for me to think of this as a successful story.
No comments:
Post a Comment