Reviewed by Vicki

TITLE: Wedding Favors

SERIES: Bluewater Bay #7

AUTHOR: Anne Tenino

PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing

LENGTH: 325 pages

BLURB:

Lucas Wilder’s best friend is a traitor. First, Audrey moved back to their hick-infested hometown, Bluewater Bay, and now she’s marrying a local. His own brother, in fact. And as her Man of Honor, Lucas gets coerced into returning for an extended stay. Although, between his unfaithful ex-boyfriend and his artist’s block, going home isn’t the worst thing that could happen. Even if the Best Man is Gabriel Savage, Lucas’s first crush, first hookup, and first heartbreak.

The only reason Gabe hasn’t been waiting for Lucas to return to Bluewater Bay is because he never thought it’d happen. Not that it matters now that Lucas is back—Gabe’s still a logger who’s never been anywhere (Canada doesn’t count), and Lucas is now a famous sculptor who’s been everywhere twice. Plus, there’s that shared past.

When Audrey asks Lucas to make her wedding favors, the only place to set up a kiln is at Gabe’s tree farm. Soon, they pick up where they left off twelve years before, then blow past it, discovering why neither of them forgot the other. Now they have to choose how much of their history they’ll repeat, and what future they’ll make together.

REVIEW:

I LOVED this book! I’m so excited!

I’ve read all of the Bluewater Bay stories, and I have loved them all to varying degrees… One was an anthology that came out for Valentine’s Day. In that anthology was a short story by Anne Tenino, that I was REALLY hoping was a prequel to a full book. Yeah! It was! And here is the full story about Lucas and Gabe.

We first see Lucas and Gabe when they are quite young (In the short story). Lucas just graduating from high school, Gabe a bit older. They both grew up in Bluewater Bay, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. It’s a small town, logging, a little farming, some fishing, maybe a little tourism. Not much for an 18 year old, gay, artistic boy. Lucas finds himself a scholarship and an art school and can’t wait to get away from his redneck parents. We see is coming out to his family, with mixed results. Between the gay thing and the college thing, it’s just best for him to leave. He’s had a crush on his brothers best friend, Gabe for some time. Lucas and his best friend Audrey go to the Valentine’s Day dance, Lucas reaches his point of over saturation and starts walking hom. Who should come along to find him? Gabe. Straight, sexy Gabe. Who turns out to not be as straight at Lucas thought, but pulls a dick move and leaves Lucas after a very quick assignation in his bedroom. Which is fine, since Lucas is heading out of town ASAP.

Twelve years later… Lucas is a fairly successful artist, living in an apartment over a friends garage. He may be successful in his career, but not in his love life. He’s recently broken up with his douchebonnet (read the book to find out what that is!) boyfriend, and is in a romantic and artistic slump. He’s just moping around, when Audrey calls him and finally confesses that she is getting married, in Bluewater Bay, where she has been living. To Zach, Lucas’ brother. Lucas didn’t even know they were dating! Oh, she’d like Lucas to be her Man of Honor (MOH), and by the way, Gabe will be Zach’s Best Man. Ugh. Lucas has been pissed off at Gabe for TWELVE years, and had no plans to see the man again. But it’s Audrey so he agrees to go spend six weeks of hell, back in freaking Bluewater Bay.

So he goes, he deals with it, he is a shit to Gabe, Gabe is a jerk to him, as we would expect. But. Lucas the artist needs somewhere to work to make some wedding favors for Audreys’s wedding, conveniently Gabe has a tree farm with lots of room. Gabe, by this point, has realized he’d like to know Lucas a bit better. Lucas wants nothing to do with that plan. For about five minutes. Then it gets really fun!

Anne gives us a very sweet romance, with all of the angst needed to make it fun. It was one of those stories where I was yelling at my tablet “Gabe! Just fucking tell him you love him!” then “Lucas! Stop being an idiot and tell him you love him! But they didn’t listen…. Oh, we need to talk about the sex. Day-um. Lucas is a kinky little dude! Gabe is quite happy to discover that little fact. I was quite happy to read about it! Hot, sexy, just a little bit kinky, and plentiful.

I loved Audrey and Zach, and their butting in. I loved Lucas’s stoner dad. I loved the romance between Lucas and Gabe. I loved the little bit of drama with Gabe trying to save his tree farm. I love the town of Bluewater Bay, which twelve years later is a hot little town, thanks to Wolf’s Landing, the tv show being filmed there. I live in Washington and I’m very familiar with the peninsula, Anne is too, and gets her details just right. I loved her writing, and her snarky comments about the weather were perfect. I loved the horses too!

I kinda loved this book! It just might be my favorite Bluewater Bay book…..

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Riptide

Amazon