It Happened One Wedding (FBI/US Attorney #5) by Julie James
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
So... I actually finished this faster than I expected. One might think that I enjoyed this immensely, and I thought at first it was true, but in retrospect, it was because of the author's writing style. It was easy to read and get into.
Sidney is a woman in her thirties who recently broke off an engagement with a man who cheated on her. Six months later, instead of wallowing in sorrow, she has decided to pick herself up, knowing full well that she wasn't getting any younger. Going on blind dates is her solution. During one of her failed first dates, a man came up to her after the date ended in a disaster. She saw through him immediately as the womaniser that he was, and rejected his advances. Turns out he's her future brother-in-law, also the best man to her little sister's wedding.
The rest of the story went on with a very common plot. Playboy turning out for the better because of the woman he loves, turning from a hate relationship to one filled with romance, that no matter how hard they try to resist, the couldn't do it, etc. Not even halfway through I was already wondering if I had accidently picked up an erotica, or something. They were just physically attracted to one another, and all their sex scenes were so explicitly detailed, it really caught me off guard to have it all out in the open without restraint. But I admit, the ending was really sweet when they finally realised their feelings for one another.
The characters in this book are really different from what I'm used to — and what I am used to are characters who are more in the trying-to-find-a-place-in-the-world phase. Sidney and Vaughn are both very stable in their jobs, and they love what they do. Sidney is confident, serious and a little badass, a director in a company. Vaughn is also confident, but is more easy-going, and an FBI agent. Isabelle, Simon, Kathleen, Trish, Cade, and Huxley... the side characters, they are all lovable. There isn't a lot of drama in this book, and that's what I found refreshing, preferring to read about the obstacles the couples faced in their relationship instead.
But while I appreciate the effort the author put into by incorporating their jobs in, I was mostly... confused, trying to grapple with the kinds of jobs that I have absolutely no knowledge towards, and jobs that I couldn't connect with.
Overall an okay read. Definitely for a much older audience who is in for a story about a womaniser turned tame, and a hate-to-love relationship. Can be read as a stand-alone.