The Best Man (Blue Heron, #1)

by Kristan Higgins

Sometimes the best man is the one you least expect...

Faith Holland left her hometown after being jilted at the altar. Now a little older and wiser, she's ready to return to the Blue Heron Winery, her family's vineyard, to confront the ghosts of her past, and maybe enjoy a glass of red. After all, there's some great scenery there....

Like Levi Cooper, the local police chief--and best friend of her former fiance. There's a lot about Levi that Faith never noticed, and it's not just those deep green eyes. The only catch is she's having a hard time forgetting that he helped ruin her wedding all those years ago. If she can find a minute amidst all her family drama to stop and smell the rose, she just might find a reason to stay at Blue Heron, and finish that walk down the aisle.

• ISBN10: 0373777922
• ISBN13: 9780373777921
• Publish Date: 26 February 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Mills & Boon
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

The Best Man does have a cute romance and story, but overall, I just couldn't enjoy it because of the problematic humor. Three years ago, Faith was jilted at the alter, when her boyfriend/fiance of 8 years comes out. She takes off on their honeymoon to San Francisco, where she decides to stay. But after much failure in the dating department, and then learning that some unacceptable woman is trying to pick up her father, Faith moves back to her small town. It's there where she's reunited with Levi, her ex's BFF, who she feels ruined what should have been the best day of her life.

The Best Man is an enemies to lovers romance. Faith and Levi have never gotten along, and after he encouraged Jeremy speak up during the "Speak now or forever hold your peace" portion of the wedding, she simply cannot stand him. Of course, she eventually comes to terms with the fact that he did do the right thing, but there's a ton of tension and hostility between them after their reunion. And I totally believed it! Even her offering him brownies from her grandmother sounded like a threat! It takes about half of the book before they start getting along, which was a bit too long, but I did enjoy them together once it happened.

However, I noticed something troubling about The Best Man early on. Most of Levi's chapters are actually about Jeremy's gayness at first. He flashes back to when they first met and he apparently pegged him for gay at first sight. His gaydar is so good that he knew before Jeremy did! Then he basically boasts about he was the only one to see it, and had to be the one to stop his best friend from entering a doomed marriage. Then there's Faith who didn't believe Jeremy was gay at first and starts listing all of the "straight" things about him. She was probably in shock, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Except that once she accepts it as true, she starts listing all of the "gay" things about him. Then throughout the book she categorizes everything Jeremy and Levi do as gay or straight, because apparently this needs to be done? And none of the "gay" things that Jeremy did had anything to do with being gay! Not even stereotypically! Like when he brings coffee to Faith's family when they're harvesting grapes in the cold. Oh yes, so gay...

Then there's Maxine, one of the women Faith is hoping to hook her dad up with. At least until she finds out that Maxine is a "she-male." Um, really? That word is grossly insensitive. And of course, being only in a handful of pages, we don't learn anything about her gender identity, but honestly, that doesn't even matter. Calling her a "she-male" and then stating "It's a boy" is completely unacceptable. Then a few chapters later while discussing Dad's dating mishaps, Maxine is referred to as "the transvestite." Add that to Faith's fixation on Jeremy's gayness and potential dates' gayness or straightness, and you get a story that comes across as quite homophobic. I assume this was done for laughs because of Faith dating/almost dating three gay men, and now she accidentally sets up her father with "a man." I'm not okay with that.

There really is such a cute story in The Best Man, including an awesome service dog (Faith has epilepsy), but it's buried under all kinds of nonsense. Maybe the author thought she was being inclusive by having gay and trans characters, but the language used and the way characters talk about them isn't right. It's not funny in any way. There's also a bunch of slut-shaming (leave that crap in high school, gosh!) and a couple of continuity errors.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Rowena]

It’s been a while since I’ve laughed this much while reading a book. When I was reading this book, I kept thinking back to long ago when I would read a Jennifer Crusie book and laugh my brains out. Kristan Higgins delivers a cute romance with little steam but loads of smiles, giggling and full out laughter. When the book first starts, I thought I wouldn’t like the heroine, Faith Holland because she was such a b word to Levi Cooper. And even though that changes, there were still times when I wondered why in the world Levi put up with her crap. Their first encounter together after years and years, he’s pulling her over to give her a speeding ticket (he’s the town chief of police) and she mouths off to him like he’s dirt under her $1,000 boots. I didn’t like it but I’m glad that I stuck it out because I came to like Faith (even if I never really loved her) and I absolutely adored Levi.

Faith grew up on a vineyard. Her family owns the Blue Heron Winery and each of her siblings and other family members are employed by the family business…except her. After she was left at the altar (by her fiance to turned to be gay), Faith fled to San Francisco to get her shit together and what was supposed to only be a few weeks turned into a few years. She’s made a life for herself in San Francisco, made friends but when her family calls and tells her that she needs to come home and help them with a gold digging old lady that is trying to snap up their father, Faith goes home to help any way that she can.

One of the first people Faith sees upon her return to town is the very last person she wants to see. Levi Cooper, best friend to man that who told her on their wedding day that he couldn’t marry her because he was gay. The same guy who knew all along that her fiance was gay and never said anything to her. She hasn’t quite forgiven him yet and well, that was the crux on my problem with Faith. She was such a b word to Levi because she held him semi-responsible for her wedding day turning out the way that it did and while I understood why she hated him, I didn’t understand how she didn’t think he’d keep his best friend’s secret. I mean, Jeremy was Levi’s best friend, not Faith. So when she comes back after years away, she immediately makes up with Jeremy but keeps Levi at arms length. That didn’t make sense to me but then I got over all of that because I was too busy laughing and loving the hell out of all of the characters in this book.

I adored Faith’s family and I loved Levi’s sister. I really enjoyed getting to know each of the characters in this book and I can’t wait for more. I’m super thrilled that this book is the first in this series and I’m kind of anxious to see who’s book will be written next. I’m curious to see who Colleen ends up with (Jack?) and who Honor will end up with as well…I’m thinking that Honor’s book will be next since she was seeing someone and she was excited to bring him to the anniversary party and then he didn’t show…there’s lots to look forward to and I’m excited.

Like I said, Kristan Higgins delivers a sweet romance between two people that didn’t even like each other in the beginning and the journey was great fun to be a part of. I enjoyed Levi, I came to like Faith and I loved the hell out of their families. For me, that makes this book a winner.

[Linda]

I received a free ARC of The Best Man from Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

ARC received on 28 February 2013
The Best Man is exactly the kind of contemporary romance I love to immerse myself in! Cute little tourist town upstate New York. Quirky and seeminlgy ‘real’ heroine. A hot and brooding alpha-male – whom Faith is trying her best to hate, and who does his best to show her his disdain. A big family that is united in many ways, but where they all still feel shattered by their mother’s death twenty years ago. Romance, hot and steamy make-out scenes – and The Best Man has all the ingredients for success!

This and other reviews can also be found on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews.

[Lindsey Gray]

I never wanted this book to end it was that good.

[Cocktails and Books]

Faith Holland avoided her hometown after fleeing to San Francisco. Having been jilted at the alter by the love of her life and he was outed by his best friend, she needed to be away from the pitying stares of her small hometown and running into her ex. But when she comes back to Blue Heron for a couple of months to work on a project at the family winery, she has to come face to face with the past and the man she felt ruined everything, Levi Cooper.

I LOVED Levi Cooper. He's a man of few words and more often than not, let his actions speak for him, but there is something about strong, silent Levi that's hard not to love. He came back home after the military and became a police officer to prove he wasn't just a kid from the wrong side of town, but someone who was worth something. And when Faith came back to town, it was hard for him to remember all the reasons he disliked her when he kept discovering all the things he really liked about her.

Faith was a special person. She carried around a lot of burdens that probably would have broken a lesser person. She did everything that she could to make everyone happy, even if that meant she wasn't. Levi was pretty much the only person that didn't want Faith to make something better. While she was attracted to silent, surly Levi, he also helped Faith forgive herself for things she had no control of in the past and move on. It wasn't easy for Faith, but once she finally let things go she was able to move forward in her life and finally make a decision about just what she wanted.

With every book, Kristan Higgins manages to create a wacky, zany cast of characters that have a way of charming their way into your hearts...even when they are trying their hardest not too. The dialog between the characters is witty and funny proving, again, just why I love Kristan Higgins.