Book Review: Tempting the Best Man by J. Lynn

Title: Tempting the Best Man
Series: Gamble Brothers, Book 1
Author: J. Lynn
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality Rating: Sensual
Source: review copy from publicist
Published: April 2012 by Brazen

Madison Daniels has worshipped her brother's best friend since they were kids. Everyone thinks she and Chase Gamble would make the perfect couple, but there are two major flaws in their logic. 1) Chase has sworn off relationships of any kind, and 2) after blurring the line between friends and lovers for one night four years ago, they can't stop bickering.

Forced together for her brother's wedding getaway, Chase and Madison decide to call a truce for the happy couple. Except all bets are off when they're forced to shack up in a tacky 70’s honeymoon suite and survive a multitude of "accidents" as the family tries to prove their "spark" can be used than for more than fighting. That is, if they don't strangle each other first…

Why I Read this Book: I like romances where the heroine is in love with her brother’s best friend so I wanted to try this one out.

What I Liked: This was a book where I liked the secondary characters more than the hero and heroine. (You can see why in my ‘dislike’ section below.) Madison’s brother Mitch and his bride Lissa were a cute couple and I wouldn’t mind reading their story. The one character I can’t wait to read more about is Chad, one of Chase’s brothers. I found his character to be quite entertaining and funny even though he didn’t have much of the spotlight. I didn’t get much of a feeling about Chandler, Chase’s eldest brother, other than noticing how perceptive Chandler is. Much more so than Chase.

What I Didn’t Like: My biggest annoyance was with Chase. He was so indecisive with his feelings and his actions that at times if felt like he was leading Madison on. There were quite a few mixed signals and misunderstandings between the two of them. And neither of them ever brought up the misunderstandings to get them straightened out! It’s like they were rarely on the same wave-length. Being that this was the main conflict holding them back, it was frustrating and if I could, I’d strangle Chase. If I were Madison, I would’ve given up on Chase a long time ago and moved on.

Memorable Moment:

“God,” Chase groaned as his hips pressed forward. “We’re really going to have to do something about the no-wearing-panties thing, Maddie. Seriously.”

Overall Impression: Unfortunately, the best man (Chase) wasn’t tempting enough for me. I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did - the writing flowed and there were some funny moments – but Chase made my blood boil. The next book is Chad’s and since I liked what I got of him in this book, I’m eager to read Tempting the Player.

Side note: J. Lynn is a pseudonym for YA author Jennifer L. Armentrout (whose name I ALWAYS confuse with Jennifer Armintrout).

Brianna’s Rating: