I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to review Mina Esguerra’s latest. I became aware of romance class books last year and let’s just say my goal is to devour them all!! So when i saw Mina had a new one coming out yessss I was pretty excited, and that title? Definitely intrigued me right off.
And the premise? double yes! I’ve never read a book with a male wedding planner before and here we have Aaron Trinidad who’s just been fired, one month before the wedding and now he has to work with the new wedding planner. What could possible go wrong? Also? Let’s take a moment to stare at this adorable cover 😀
Right off I liked Daphne! The opening chapter captured me immediately, and we one time get some good ideas of her personality:
Thankfully this happened in her thirties, when she was starting to redefine herself, and she decided that part of the redefinition was not caring whether she found a mate by a certain age.
He couldn’t be one of those guys though, because no way did her matchmaker friends from high school or college or her aunts send someone who looked like him her way. None of them were that considerate.
The fact that Daphne is in her thirties (34 like meeee) was definitely a plus! More heroines over 30 please. We do deserve our HEA too.
Back to Daphne and Aaron. So much banter. I love banter. it is my favourite thing. I loved how their relationship unfolded.
i loved being in Daphne ‘s head but was so thrilled we get Aaron’s POV as well. Seeing the other person through each other’s eyes revealed so much about them.
He wasn’t sure how this conversation was supposed to go. He’d never asked a woman to stay with him. Choose him over some dude with an accent. He was rolling the dice with only charm and hot air, but at least she was smiling.
And listen there’s this scene where Aaron gives Daphne a back rub…my…word…it’s simple and yet so sensual. Just…damn…i mean:
For leverage, he swore it was for leverage, he braced himself against the bar with his left hand, but what it actually did was feel like he’d put an arm around her. And then he pressed his forearm against her back, the curve of his wrist right where she would want it. Still gently, but with more pressure now, he pushed. Stroked upward.
“Oh my God.”
“I heard that.”
“Yeah, because I said it.”
He wasn’t even on the receiving end of this massage but it felt good to him. It was good friction. He wondered what else he could do that she’d enjoy the same way, or more. “This enough pressure?”
This is some swoon worthy stuff here folks!
Daphne is such a great character. Confident. Knows what she’s about, business-wise and relationship-wise. Aaron was great for Daphne, able to go head to head with her, held his own quite well, so very charming. Survived her friends interrogating him LOL.
This was such a fluffy, funny read. So well paced. I was never bored. The story kept rolling and I kept wanting to know what would the next time these two meet look like.
While i enjoyed the romance between Aaron and Daphne what I also particularly liked was how through these characters we see the pressures 30 somethings face in any society to be in a relationship and married by that age. And you’re viewed as an anomaly if you aren’t. I can so relate. The family members and friends who are like why are you still single? When are you getting married?
Daphne says this, and it resonated with me:
“But the point is, we are young. Still. That was what lit a fire under me. My twenties felt like I was late for something and I had to rush to catch up, and then— I said fuck it. Not going to do that anymore.”
I love this. love that she decided not to give a damn…not to let anyone dictate what this aspect of her life would be.
Also can i just say the sex scenes were so smoking hot and sensual, they weren’t even all that graphic but damn…so sexy and you totally felt that while yes there’s the chemistry there between them, you can see the genuine like they had for being in each other’s company, even after the sexy times. They ate cheesy snacks in bed after, i meaaaaan…that was just adorable 😀
And the food descriptions had me pretty hungry during and after…FOOOD!
*cough* Anyhoooo that ending. Can i just say how much I adore it? I was trying to figure how the heck was this Helen/Greg wedding going to come off after Helen’s outburst (YIKES!!) but I loved how it was dealt with, there wasn’t an instant fairy tale ending for Daphne’s clients which IMO made it feel so much more realistic cuz those two have got some stuff to work out.
The ending for Daphne and Aaron though? Excellent. Perfect. 100% loved it!
This one gets all the trees. Well ok my full rating of 5 trees then 😀
Rating:
So get this one! A really swoony, great read! Book available here
