Tuesday, April 23, 2019

BOOK REVIEW for "My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding (Boys of the Bayou, #1)" by Erin Nicholas

*****(5) out of 5 Stars!


SUMMARY:

Josh Landry is one of the hottest bartenders in New Orleans. He’s shown many a female tourist that things are definitely big and easy down here.

And he’s now been celibate for a year. Because he finally met her.

Yes, her. The One.

But, after nothing more than a hot goodnight kiss and a promise to meet up again next year if they’re both still interested, she went home to Iowa.

It’s been a long year.

But now it’s Mardi Gras again and he’s ready for his happily ever after.

If she shows up.

***

Oh, she shows up. For her best friend’s wedding.

But Tori is a terrible bridesmaid because all she can think about is her knight-in-shining-Mardi-Gras-beads from last year.

Well, and because she accidentally lays a hot kiss on her BFF.

Aka, the groom.

Unfortunately, no one believes that it was a case of mistaken identity. So, now she has to convince everyone she has no intention of ruining the wedding. She’s going to need a crazy-about-her boyfriend ASAP. Even if he’s just faking it.

Well there’s only one other person she knows in Louisiana...

Josh is all in. In fact, he’s thrilled. And he’s not faking anything.

But the groom isn’t faking his case of cold feet either.

And now Tori might have a choice to make.

REVIEW:

I highly enjoyed the companion series to this one, the Boys of the the Big Easy.  But so far, I like the Boys of the Bayou even better!

Tori is probably one of my all-time favorite characters!  She is so quirky and fun and just totally real.  I feel so bad for her that people in her small hometown never appreciated her.  Despite that, she's grown up to be an amazing person, studying and working hard to become a veterinarian, creating a sanctuary for special needs animals on her farm, and bascially being the best version of her own self.  

Her world was small.  And a little weird if she thought about it too hard...  
...she rarely felt things like pretty or sexy.  
Not so with this guy.  He was looking at her like she was both.  A lot of both.  

And Josh just absolutely loves everything about her!  That is definitely his most endearing quality  that he just accepts Tori for who she is and doesn't try to change her.  We should all aspire to have such an amazing guy in our lives.  (And I'm lucky enough that I do!)   

"Hoo-ee," Ellie said, wrapping her arm around Tori's waist and starting for the dirt path that led from the Boys of the Bayou tour company building to the road. "I've never seen him like that."
"Who? Josh? Really?" Tori asked, tripping onto the road as she tried to look back over her shoulder.
Ellie laughed as she tightened her hold on Tori. "Really. So I'm going to need your life story."

The rest of the cast, at least those in Autre are also SO much fun!  I especially love Ellie, but all of them are delightful.  The love and affection between the characters, not to mention the playfulness and easy banter is so much fun to witness.  And it's amazing that Tori feels totally included and accepted right from the start.  Well, once they'd decided she wasn't pregnant or murderous, anyway.  LOL!  

"You are really underestimating my tolerance level for crazy."

Paisley and Andrew and nearly everyone from the Plantation world, on the other hand, were totally disingenuous and obnoxious.  I seriously did not like any of the interactions with that crew.  It's no wonder that Tori was so anxious to have someone on her side there that she caught a tour bus down to Autre to see Josh  even after he seemingly stood her up for the date they'd set a year before.  

"Well... I'm going to really appreciate it," she said, with a sexy, adorable little smile.
"As in, you'll want to thank me somehow?" he asked, dropping his voice to a low rumble.
Her lips parted and she was staring at his mouth again.  "Yeah," she said softly.
"Well, honey, I think I warned you that bayou boys are dangerous," he said. "But you walked right down my dock anyway and asked me for a favor.  There's no going back now."
"I'm okay with that."

Of course, Tori and Josh face quite a few obstacles on the way to their happily-ever-after.  Many of which were outside influences, but quite a surprising few for both of them from inside themselves.  Luckily, though they were finally able to overcome all the challenges and bascially force their way into each other's arms.  

Tori laughed.  She was having more fun than she'd had in a long time.  Maybe hanging out with people wasn't all bad.  She really liked dogs and cats and cows, but they didn't have great falling-in-love stories to share.  "So I didn't stand a chance once I met Josh?"
Leo shook his head, chuckling.  "Good you realize that.  Just give in."

I can hardly wait to read the installments for the stories of Owen and Sawyer.  Although I'm going to feel really cheated if we don't get to hear Kennedy's tale as well.  Much as I did that we didn't see more of Gus in this volume!   =)  


#BoysOfTheBayou  #ErinNicholas

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