Planning For Love (Aisle Bound, #1)

by Christi Barth

[Rowena]

I saw this book around blog land and was curious about it and then when Ames told me that she enjoyed it, I knew I was going to give this one a go. Being a romantic myself, I’m all about the romance. I understood Ivy’s outlook on life because it’s the same one that I’d like to keep for myself. Am I as passionate as Ivy is with that outlook? No, not at all but I do come from a family of good marriages and so of course, I want that for myself. While there were things that I connected to with Ivy, there were some things that I didn’t care for either.

Ivy runs a small wedding planning company with her best friend Daphne. Daphne does more of the floral arrangements and things of that nature but Ivy runs the business side. She’s the face of the company. She’s the one at the weddings that is taking care of every little thing under the sun. She’s drying tears, fixing dresses and cutting the drunks off so that nothing spoils the big day of her clients. She’s damn near perfect and when she meets Bennett Wescott, he wants her in his bed…and gets her.

Ben left Ivy after their night of passion with no plans to return to her, even though he really did like her. He doesn’t do relationships and his family is cursed so anything beyond what they shared that night wasn’t going to happen. They’re total opposites. Ivy is a hopeless romantic with a big wedding in her future while Ben is doing everything he can to avoid a relationship that lasts longer than dinner and a movie, so when they’re thrown back into each others orbit, neither of them are very happy.

What I liked about Ivy is that she was a straight shooter. She dealt with the here and now, didn’t let anything fester and if she was wrong, she apologized. What I didn’t like about her was her juvenile plan to get Ben to fall in love with her. While it wasn’t particularly done badly, I’m still not a fan of games between potential couples and her plan for Ben came off as a game. At least to me it did and I wasn’t a fan.

Then there was Ben. Ben who didn’t do attachments and who was upfront about all of this with everyone. I liked him and there were times when he got on my nerves but I never hated him. I thought his family curse was a bit of a cop out and I was really bothered by the fact that so many different people had to have a talk with him about what he was losing before he realized it for himself. I guess, I would have appreciated Ben’s declaration of love at the end had he come to the realization by himself and not with the help of so many people.

But even with all of those things that bothered me, this was still an enjoyable read and I’m still planning on reading the other books in the series. I’m kind of curious to see who’s story will be next and who Daphne will end up with. I’m also curious about Mira, Ivy’s friend who will be running the new store. I’d like to see more of her in future stories so while this book isn’t my favorite, I still enjoyed it enough that I want more from the others in the story. If you’re in the mood for something light and fluffy, I think this will fit the bill.