Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  I Do (Not) 

AUTHOR:  Anni Lee

PUBLISHER:  NineStar Press

LENGTH:  53,300 words

RELEASE DATE:  March 22, 2021

BLURB:

Jacob Conner is never getting married.

Not now, not “someday,” and certainly not when he’s black-out drunk at his sister’s wedding in Las Vegas. The whole “waking up in an unfamiliar hotel room with a ring on his finger” thing was probably just a coincidence. Definitely.

He doesn’t have much time to dwell on it anyway, as Aaron Craig, his boss, assigns him to be the glorified baby sitter for his older brother for the week. Trevor Craig is as obnoxious as he is handsome, immediately pushing all of Jacob’s buttons and all of his boundaries. With one brother trying his patience, and the other acting unusually friendly, Jacob’s starting to wonder if he’s going to survive his work life long enough to find who put that ring on his finger.

REVIEW:

Jacob Conner wakes up with the hangover from hell after a night of black-out drinking following his sister’s wedding in an unfamiliar hotel room with someone in the bed next to him and a ring on his finger.  He quietly slips out of the room, doing the walk of shame back to his own and heading home to his job as the desk clerk at the hotel in San Francisco where he works.  He’s particularly mortified because he has vowed to never marry – given the craziness of his own family.

Aaron Craig is the son of the owner of the hotel group where Jake works.  He’s always been rather cool to him, calling him Conner.  Very much employer/employee vibes.  But on this particular Monday, he assigns Jake a new task – look after his brother who is in town for Investor and board meetings with their father a lot of other important (read wealthy) people.  Trevor is nothing like Aaron. He’s pushy and tries to take advantage of Jake from the get go, but Jake isn’t having it.  He pushes right back.  Surprisingly, Trevor find himself admiring Jake, but there is the little detail of the platinum wedding band he finds that has fallen out of Jake’s jacket pocket.

Trevor has a lot of fun yanking his brother’s chain.  He doesn’t like doing it at Jake’s expense though after their first day.  He tries to make it up to him, buying him a nice jacket for a business dinner with the investors and Jake and Aaron have to attend.  Jake gets an up close look at the Craig disfunction and is not exactly thrilled to be around Alan Craig, the owner and CEO of the hotel group.  He obviously doesn’t care about his sons and what they want – he wants them to do what he wants – get married and produce an heir.  Well Trevor has had enough and he announces that will never happen.

Trevor is also a bit angry with his brother.  He doesn’t think he appreciates Jake enough and neither of them have been very honest.  When Aaron finally pulls his head out of his ass and tries to clarify things with Jake, he screws it up really amazingly badly.  In the meantime, Jake has his BFF Liz and his sister Anna to lean on.  He’s really confused and isn’t sure what should be his path forward.  Trevor and Aaron are so different and he doesn’t know what to think about his future or if he should even be thinking of one that involved either of them.  And they are both so different from him – even though they all have a lot of family history baggage to carry with them.  But in the end, he has to go with his gut – and not with the one who leaves his gut churning.  Also, always go with the person who is interested in what you really want to do with your life, not how you “might” fit into theirs at some point. 😉

While this book is a little uneven at points, I really enjoyed it   Mostly because I really liked Jake.  And  his BFF Liz.  And his sister Anna.  The two Craig brothers, not quite as much – and certainly not at the beginning.  But they grew on me.  I still had some problems with at least one them – even at the end.  But it was a surprisingly more satisfying resolution than I thought was coming.  There were some secrets and surprises that came up in the later part of the book that shed more light on the brothers’ relationship and also their relationship with their odious father.  Honestly, I would have been running for the hills from that paternal jackass.  Also, I was actually glad that the author didn’t do the “expected” grand gesture where all is forgiven and they live happily ever after.  Frankly I personally think the grand gesture is overrated and sometime covers over other deep-seated issues in a relationship when done for the reason to “win over” someone who has been wronged.  Ultimately I was nicely and pleasantly astonished with how things turned out for Jake.

This is a new author and I believe this is her first novel to be released.  At least I couldn’t find any other books under this name.  I really enjoyed her writing style – again particularly in the character of Jake.  I got a full sense of his scars from his messed up family how he really just wanted to be loved and supported – without the drama and lack of commitment that he’s been used to.  His marriage phobia is completely understandable.  That’s why he’s so committed to his job – maybe even to his own detriment.  The inner conflict of Trevor and Aaron were also well done, even though I definitely had my own preference in how they dealt with someone similar pressures.  I’m looking forward to more from this author for sure.  Recommended.

RATING: 

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