Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Making Nice
AUTHOR: Elizah J. Davis
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 314 Pages
BLURB:
Twins Blake and Bianca Dunlap have always been there for each other, ready to lend support and make sacrifices. Blake can’t imagine a bigger sacrifice than getting along with Bianca’s fiancé, Matt. However, Matt turns out to be more than the meathead Blake had dismissed him as, but Matt’s best friend, Ryan Everett, is a different story. Ryan seems intent on being an insufferable jerk as often as possible. The fact that Blake is undeniably attracted to Ryan only makes the whole situation more annoying.
Since they’ll all be stuck together for the long haul, Blake is determined to make nice. Unfortunately he overshoots, and he and Ryan end up on much friendlier terms than Blake intended. While he and Ryan agree there’s no harm in having a strings-free fling, that changes when Matt and Bianca find out about it. As more complications arise, Blake and Ryan become more determined to do what it takes to avoid letting them down. But the only way to ensure getting through a joyous wedding and avoid the questions neither of them want to answer is to convince everyone it’s something more.
REVIEW:
I like to be fair and point out when I’m in a minority of people who didn’t love a book, and Making Nice definitely falls into that category. Don’t get me wrong, I did like it but at the same time this book pushed one of my major piss-off buttons.
Enemies-to-lovers and fake-to-real relationships are certainly not new storylines but the author combines them both here and does a great job of carrying it off. Blake and Ryan are instantly attracted to each other but Ryan’s habit of saying the wrong thing around Blake and Blake’s too-good-for-you attitude results in a mutual case of dislike and judgment. But with Ryan’s best friend and Blake’s sister madly in love the two men find themselves thrown together at Thanksgiving and sharing drunken kisses at Halloween. After they hook up once they can’t keep away from each other and agree that as long as Bianca and Matt don’t find out, they can be pretend friends with real benefits.
What I liked most about this book was the way their relationship was so slow to develop. Even after they started sleeping together they continue to dance around each other, which allowed their connection to develop much more believably.
I was a little disappointed when Matt and Bianca’s discovery of the two MCs secret fuck buddy status was played out with little fanfare. Matt and Bianca made great secondary characters. They were very well developed, they actually felt real, and I enjoyed following the progression of their own romance throughout the story. In fact, it was often scenes that included these two characters that gave a much needed break from mopey, misunderstandings between Blake and Ryan.
My main complaint with this book is the way the blame for the “big misunderstanding” was squarely placed on Blake’s shoulders. He was practically tarred and feathered and tossed out into the cold. (I have no idea if it was cold but it sounds more dramatic that way.) The way that I see it, Ryan was more to blame than Blake for most of the problems between them and that whole final fight was caused because Ryan lied! Doesn’t matter that he did it with the best of intentions, he still caused that misunderstanding but he climbed on his soapbox, pointed the finger at Blake and was suddenly the poor fed up boyfriend who’d been pushed to his limit. You know what, writing about it now, it actually sounds like I’m just being a whiny bitch but I remember just how much it pissed me off when I read it. I was so angry it really did ruin the end of the book for me.
Ok, so obviously I still feel a little ranty when I think about this book but as you can see it was pretty much a personal reaction that shouldn’t stop you from checking it out if enemies-to-lover is your thing. At over three hundred pages it’s a little longer than average but it kept me engrossed for the entire length.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Your review just convinced me to give this one a try. When a story does that to me, I usually like it.
Hope you enjoy it Karon 🙂