It was fine, nothing special, but lordamighty was it chock-full of gender essentialism, even for a romance novel. Girl wants a relationship, boy doesn't want a relationship, girl tricks boy into a relationship and withholds sex for leverage. Plus, the writing was full of clichés. I didn't quite 3-star like it, but I slightly more than 2-star liked it.

My big gripe was Ivy tricking Ben. If someone says "I don't want to be in a relationship", I don't know, maybe take them at their word? Ben's reasons for not wanting to be dating seriously are pretty silly (a family curse, what the what?) but he doesn't actually have to justify himself. If Ben wants to have sex with Ivy and Ivy will only have sex with Ben if they are in a serious relationship and Ben doesn't want to be in a relationship with Ivy, then Ben can't have sex with Ivy. Ivy gets to choose who she has sex with and why, Ben gets to choose who he has sex with and why, and they can only have sex with each other if the who and the why overlap. That's how consent works. And consent is awesome.

Anyway, I know it's fiction and it doesn't have to have a Great Moral Lesson, but this is one of those messages that irks the hell out of me. ( )

The idea was good and I really liked this author's humor, so I would like to read more by her. What I didn't like was that IMO the heroine pulled back too often so that often the relation didn't seem to go anywhere and the whole story stalled a bit.
3,5-4* ( )

Contemporary, Chicago

Ivy Rhodes is a hopeless romantic and the best wedding planner in the business. She isn’t going to let anything get in the way of getting ahead and most certainly not a personal problem. She isn’t about to let a heartbreaking and recent one-night stand get in the way when she is asked to star in the reality show Planning for Love.

Bennett Westcott is a videographer that didn’t handle his encounter with Ivy well at all. Watching her smile and great body through the camera every day makes him want to try for some no strings attached fun with her.

The more time they spend together shows Ben that Ivy isn’t at all what he imagined her to be namely a wedding-crazed bridezilla. He has never trusted himself to make a relationship work let alone last. Now he has to try and convince Ivy to give him another chance.

This is a romance that takes the reader on a very fun ride. The situations at times are comical and seeing how the character react makes for a very enjoyable read. It is also interesting to see how the characters overcome their respective pasts to get the future that they find that they really want to have with each other. This story kicks off a series that if they rest live up to this one should prove to be a wonderful series to read and enjoy. It also gives a fun spin to both weddings and reality shows. ( )

Awwwwww.

Review to come! ( )

I actually really liked the book, and truly enjoyed reading it. I expected a bit more of the ending. It was pretty average and I would've liked more than just him spontaneously realizing he was wrong and she was the one. Not sure what kind of more I wanted, but I just did. ( )