. .
He can’t forget the kiss he shared with the best man.
But is he the best man for him?
His sister’s wedding isn’t the ideal place for Rafael Navarro to reconnect with the man he kissed in a moment of reckless abandon. But it’s impossible to avoid best man Étienne Galois! The gorgeous Haitian photographer hasn’t forgotten the intimate moment they shared, even if Rafi is the most maddening person he’s ever met. Can the two find common ground, proving opposites not only attract—they can become lovers for life?
From Harlequin Special Edition: Believe in love. Overcome obstacles. Find happiness.
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This book is from a traditional publishing, Harlequin Special Edition. These are the books that as a teenager, if I got one…oh my…lol. I’m glad to see how they’ve evolved more. More diversity in the MC’s as well as the side characters, and different sexualities are referenced. This isn’t your grandma’s romance novel, and that was all right with me. 🙂
This book had such great representation. In fact, there really was only one character who was a white male, and cisgender. Both Creole and Spanish language phrases were sprinkled throughout the book as well. I really enjoyed that. Quite often, when MC’s speak different languages, you might see one or two references to it, but this book had the languages represented from beginning to end.
Rafi was a control freak, trying to keep everything exactly in the path that he laid down, and love wasn’t really in his life’s plan. The guilt over how his mother died permeated every interaction he had in his life. This made the book a bit of a slow burn, from enemies to lovers. Their first kiss was before the book started, then the first reader read kiss wasn’t until over halfway through the book. It took them a while to get from calling each other names to calling each others’ names.
Étienne, meanwhile, was very much the opposite of Rafi. He was open to love, open to life and new experiences. He’d had his own tragedy on his island in Haiti, before moving to NYC. For Étienne, it caused him to not want to waste a minute of life. It did lead to some heartbreak for him, as well.
There were some issues that I felt were unresolved, or not fully resolved to my satisfaction. In addition, the book is written very formally. The everyday language used was stilted in some places, using words that are not normally in the vernacular. That piece definitely harked back to the older days of romance novels.
This was definitely opposites attract with, of course, a Harlequin guaranteed HEA. An enjoyable read.
3.5 pieces of eye candy