cake, seriously reassessing my life choices, when suddenly I hear it. The voice
that launched a thousand teenage boy-band dreams. My #1 crush, Drew Delaney
himself.”
million teenage fantasies – and the guy next door. He was so far out of my
league, I couldn’t see him for stars, but now I’m back in town for our
high-school reunion, guess who I run into but Mr. Right-Now himself…
the glittery white frosting currently smeared across my chest.
down memory lane has taken a detour to ‘oh my god, don’t stop!’. Population:
me.
crazed fans, vicious yoga moms, and three dozen c#ck-sicles (don’t ask) doom
our romance to the ‘Where are they now?’ section of MTV’s greatest hits?
summer romance!
Mr. Right-Now puts a cute twist on the teen celeb crush all grown up trope. Not only was Drew the frontman of the boy band whose poster claimed the place of honor on Maggie’s bedroom ceiling, but he was literally the boy across the street and her best friend’s older brother. So Maggie’s crush on Drew went back years before he ever hit it big as part of Category 5. The band’s biggest hit? Mr. Right-Now.
Ten years later, Maggie is moving back home, her savings account depleted after her dream of owning a bakery melted like icing in the hot sun. Even worse, her 10 year high school reunion is just a few weeks away. When she randomly runs into Drew (who is also back in town, albeit a successful music producer these days), Maggie is experiencing an even worse humiliation: She tripped and fell face-first into a cock cake.
I think I actually snorted when I read that meet-cute. It was one of the funniest first encounters I can remember between a hero and heroine, and the story only got better from there. Lila Monroe perfectly tapped into every geek girl’s high school fantasies with the hot guy, and let Maggie experience them as an almost-thirty-year-old. There are a few rather funny interruptions to Maggie and Drew’s first few dates, but both the humor of the situations and the Monroe’s way with words in describing the sexual tension between the two lead up to an explosive moment when they finally get it on.
Of course, The Conflict between the couple could have easily been avoided if either of them ever brought up the fact that they were developing feelings… but then readers wouldn’t get Drew’s Grand Gesture to win Maggie back and go from being Mr. Right-Now to Mr. Forever. My heart was already soft and gooey after that, but the epilogue just further melted it into a puddle.
I received and advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Sunny Shelly Reads 