From "I don't" to…" I might?"
When Mark Mendoza discovers his fiancée cheating on him
on their wedding day, he hightails it out of town. Megan Fortune is there to
pick up the pieces -- and to act as his faux girlfriend when his ex shows up.
Mark swears he will never get involved again. Megan doesn't want to be a "rebound"
fling. But they find each other irresistible. What's a fake couple to do?
Good book. The book opens the night before Mark's
wedding, as he plays poker with some of his brothers. They give him a hard time
because he isn't marrying for love. Deeply affected by his parents' volatile marriage,
he went about his a different way. Once he decided to marry, he looked for a woman
with similar interests and desires. Love wasn't part of the process; it was
more of a business contract. While he doesn't precisely have second thoughts,
he intends to speak with Brianna before the wedding.
The next thing we see, Mark is driving to Rambling Rose,
Texas, having left his bride at the altar. He's a hot mess, devastated by Brianna's
betrayal and mourning the loss of his dreams. He shows up at the restaurant
where his brother's fiancée works, and she asks her sister Megan to watch over
him until Rodrigo can come to get him. Megan does a good job of distracting him,
and it's easy to sense a connection between them. The two enjoy each other's
company over the next couple of days as Mark tries to regain his balance. But
when Brianna shows up wanting to fix things, Mark pretends that he and Megan
are together now - and Megan plays along.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between
Mark and Megan. They agreed on a fake romance while Brianna is in town to
emphasize that Mark has no intention of getting back together. The way he feels,
he will never get involved again. Megan agrees to be friends as they carry out
their plan. Over the next two weeks, they spend a lot of time together and
discover that they have many things in common. There are some terrific scenes of
them together, from hiking to swimming to dancing. They engage in their public
displays of affection when Brianna is around and quickly find that those
displays can get out of control.
I liked Mark. He is a nice guy who allowed his view of
his parents' marriage to warp his thinking. While he didn't deserve what happened
to him, he was very lucky. The more time he spent with Megan, the more he
realized what a close call he'd had. He develops feelings for Megan, but he no
longer trusts his judgment, so he tries to ignore them. And when the attraction
between them bursts into flame, he can't resist it. Unfortunately, he freaks
out the next morning, pulls away, and runs.
I liked Megan, too. As the numbers person in her family,
she tends to fall more on the practical side of the issues. As the family
"geek," I got the feeling she wasn't always comfortable in social
situations, leaving her with some self-confidence issues. She's immediately at
ease with Mark, and I enjoyed seeing him bring her out of her shell a little
bit. She catches on quickly to her growing feelings for Mark and can't help
dreaming a little of what could be. I ached for her the morning after as she
watched those dreams crash and burn. Her understanding of his issues impressed
me but frustrated me too.
I felt that Mark earned every bit of his misery after he
returned home. While he eventually started to dig himself out of his hole, it
took some brotherly butt-kicking to move matters along. Meanwhile, back in
Rambling Rose, Megan's sisters provide lots of support and shoulders to cry on.
Both Mark and Megan wonder how they will get through Ashley and Rodrigo's wedding,
not realizing that their siblings teamed up to bring the wayward lovers back
together. I loved the whole wedding weekend and seeing all of the machinations
that happened. The ending was terrific.
The book also included a continuation of the series arc
about the problems plaguing the Hotel Fortune. In this book, the reservations
system either has glitches or hacking, which creates unhappy guests. I have my
suspicions on who is behind it, and I look forward to seeing if I am right.
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