A Review By Wendy
When thinking how to put together a fun little romance novel, there are a few things which are guaranteed to pique an interest:
Friends to lovers- check
Circumstances causing a marriage between these friends to lovers- check
Reasons of why said Friends are not Lovers- check
Cute Grandparents manipulating said Friends to Lovers to examine their lives- check
Combine all of those elements and Stealing the Groom comes out ahead on the fast paced,
light-hearted easy reading scale.
Chad and Amelia have been best friends forever…. Their grandfathers were best friends and so they were raised together in the small town of Sweet Creek. Both have had parental heartache…. Her with both parents dying in a car accident when she was ten…. Him with his father becoming distraught when his wife left them.
The main difference was Amelia was surrounded by love throughout her life. She had sisters and her grandfather who showed her loving was a good thing… and her heart was full of it. Her quirk, though, was she vowed to “live life to its fullest” as her parents weren’t able to….she would do it for them and herself. This concept was fine except she had a tendency to not think things through… so she was known to have mishaps and never plan. She grew up becoming a photographer traveling the world…. Living up to her self-imposed vow.
Chad on the other hand only saw the destructive side of love… his father devastated by Chad’s mother leaving did everything to try and win her back…. Spent a fortune throwing gifts at her feet, embezzled from the family business to cover the debts… gambled to cover some more and then died, leaving the business on the brink of bankruptcy. Chad’s grandfather taught him all that matters is the company and keeping it running… so that is what Chad did… he learned love had no place in his life and focusing on what matters - work was the only way his life would be safe.
The one thing Chad could count on was Amelia… she was his best friend … she listened to him vow never to fall in love like his dad…. And he stayed by her side when her parents died. Over the years they were as tight as two peas in a pod….
But things were brewing….
She had her first crush … and it was Chad… and Chad… he saw her grow into a cute girl but made sure he never crossed the friend line… because she was just too important to mess with…she was his one true thing in his life and you do not risk that.
The story opens with us seeing Amelia getting ready to do her biggest scheme ever…she is saving Chad from himself. Chad has received an ultimatum from his grandfather. He must marry in order to acquire the controlling stock for the company. The grandfather has made this a stipulation and Chad, Mr. Planner, thinks he has outsmarted the old man. He has found a woman to marry for 6 months and then divorce. At the end of the 6 months he will have everything he needs and will never have to deal with the dreaded Love element. It is a strict business transaction and perfect for the man who plans everything.
What he didn't plan on was his best friend Amelia deciding this was not to be… she decides to kidnap him from the wedding…. To take him to her grandfather’s cabin and talk some sense into him… he cannot marry that money grubbing shrew.
This was a fun little tale. We saw how both of these people were loved by those around them and they just needed to come to terms with the feeling they had had for each other all along. The circumstances of why they were how they were was explained and examined, we could understand them. We also wanted both of them to just figure it all out and be together. The characterizations for the grandparents was enough to cause a smile or two and the sisters were fleshed out a bit for us to see additional books in the wings.
This had just a little heat… the hook was a feel good read with everything laid out for you to enjoy. If you like to sometimes feel like a grin and chuckle, this will work very nicely.
Arc kindly provided in exchange for an honest review.
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