It Had to be You

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

​Title: It Had to Be You
Author: Melissa Kate
Publication date: 04/25/2017
Publisher: Fire Quill Publishing
Kindle Unlimited: No
Cliffhanger: No
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Amazon blurb
Emma Wyatt has had enough of her ex best friend and his lady killer ways. Gone was the sweet boy of her youth and in rides the womaniser. But this time he's really gone and done it!

Oliver didn’t expect to be coupled with Emma. She was in an awkward situation and he couldn’t help the words that came out. She should be grateful, he saved her.

Now the whole town knows. And Emma is pissed! She’s going to kill him.

But a heated argument leads to a fiery moment of passion and suddenly the two are fighting an unlikely attraction that neither saw coming. But Oliver has a secret that could tear them apart

My Review
This is one of those super-tough books to rate, because while it had some great, heart-warming & toe-tingling moments, it also had some moments that confused me, or just irked the crap out of me.

We’ll start with what was GREAT about this book:

1. The author clearly has a great sense of humor. The drunken lawnmower scene and the following morning cracked me up and made me want to be friends with Emma and her crew. (I would totally help wreck that douchebag’s house)
2. I love a good “fake boyfriend” story. Hell, we even put together a list of our all-time favorite “fake boyfriends” not too long ago. And I particularly loved that in this case, it wasn’t Emma who felt like she needed a fake boyfriend. This “fake’ relationship was the result of Oliver stepping in and trying to help Emma save face in front of a douchebag ex. What woman wouldn’t want a super-hot dude to step up and have her back when faced with an ex who just happens to be with his beautiful new fiancee?
3. I was all prepared to hate Oliver in the beginning. The “manwhore” trope in romance is my absolute LEAST favorite. In my opinion, there’s nothing sexy about a womanising manwhore. But after a while, it became clear that Oliver was a decent guy, and that his manwhore ways were—at least in some part—exaggerated.
4. Emma was a decent heroine. A little snippy and bitchy in the beginning, but like Oliver, she grew on me. I especially liked that her claws didn’t come out when faced with her ex’s fiancee. (And I’m SUPER glad that the ex’s fiancee wasn’t a horrible bitch. So often in romance, the other woman is portrayed as a completely unredeemable skank. Not so in this case.)    

     
Now, for the not-so-great stuff:

1. When one purchases a bachelor at a charity auction...for just how long does she “own” him? What are the boundaries? That was never discussed in the book. It seemed like Oliver was expected to do quite a bit of work for Emma. (And it seemed like maybe Mike the fireman was expected to whore himself a little for his “owner.”) It’s an interesting concept, but I just felt like the details were glossed over a bit too much.
2. The fact that Oliver entertained the thought—even for a moment—that he was incapable of monogamy by way of genetics (his father was a manwhoring douchebag) was (I think) supposed to make me feel sorry for him. It actually just irritated me. The whole idea is just ridiculous. If anything, I think it was just a convenient excuse for Oliver to dodge relationships for most of his life.
3. Here we have yet another small town with a group of over-sexed, social-media-obsessed old people who pop up here and there for no other reason than to a) dispense comedy or b) offer conveniently timed relationship advice. Is that law in small-town romances? It must be, because I’ve read about these folks A LOT.
4. The action-y scenes while Oliver is at work...these are all well-written and entertaining, but seemed woefully out-of-place in a light-hearted, romantic comedy. It’s almost like the book had a bit of an identity crisis. Is is romantic comedy, or romantic suspense?
5. Oliver’s reason for breaking off his friendship (in their teen years) with Emma was lame. It was at that moment that she most needed her friend, and he abandoned her in a fit of well-intentioned-but-stupid protectiveness. I hate that crap. All you heroes out there: try letting the heroines think for themselves, shall we?     

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
It’s within kissing distance of contributing, due to some of its more unrealistic moments. It doesn’t need full-blown rehab, but maybe a support meeting here and there?  

Other reading suggestions
For well-written, small-town romantic comedy, try Rachel Gibson’s Truly, Madly, Yours. For more good fake boyfriend reads, check out our list, as mentioned above.

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