Going Down on One Knee by Christina Hovland

Category: Romantic Comedy
Publication date: 07/10/2019
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No

There were a few things in this book that could’ve gone horribly awry for me, but amazingly, it all worked out just fine. 

Plot overview: Super uptight Velma (who manages investment portfolios for a living) meets ultra not uptight Brek (who manages a rock band for a living) when his friend is about to marry Velma’s sister. Opposites-attract hilarity ensues.

This was actually a really cute rom com, even if there were a few things that would normally be big romance novel turn-offs for me. For example:

1. Velma has an actual spreadsheet that she uses to rate her dates and determine if they’d be good husband material. The idea that you can rate men like this to determine their relationship potential is so patently ridiculous that in any other book, I might’ve DNFd. But when push came to shove, Velma realized pretty quickly that the spreadsheet wasn’t going to be effective where Brek was concerned, so I gave her kudos for that. 
2. Velma had a crush on her sister’s fiance and had at one point measured all other men against him. I would’ve HATED this plot device if a) She’d once been involved with the fiance and he dumped her for her sister, and b) The sister was a bitch. But, Velma had never made her crush known, so the fiance never led her on or treated her poorly, and the sister was pretty awesome and supportive, so I let it go. 
3. I normally wouldn’t like Brek telling Velma she needed to loosen up, but...man, she really DID need to loosen up, and he was overall fairly indulgent where her quirks and OCD-like tendencies were concerned, so I let that go, too.

On the positive side, I really liked Brek. He was this badass,  rock band -managing biker who falls ass-over-elbow for the most buttoned-up, sweater set-wearing financial planner in the history of rom coms, and it was...cute.

​I also liked the secondary characters. There was a particularly hilarious scene between Brek’s friend Jase, Velma, and Jase’s Russian grandmother that had me laughing out loud. 

Sadly, though, the book lost half a star when it ventured a little too far into 27 Dresses land (if you read the book, you’ll recognize the part I’m talking about—it has to do with the sister’s wedding dress), and another half star for believability. (I mean, there’s no wedding planner alive who would entrust her already fragile business to her biker brother who has zero interest in/knowledge of weddings. Nope. Not buying it for a second.) 

But overall, this was a solid, fun, sexy little read featuring cute characters.  I’d read other books in the series, and at the end of the day, I can’t really think of a better endorsement than that.       

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
No rehab needed. This one’s clean and sober.

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