The Wedding Date Bargain
by Mira Lyn Kelly
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Book #2 in The Wedding Date Series
Sarah's to-do list:
Get mani-pedi
Buy killer black dress
Lose virginity
When Sarah Cole has two months to kill before her big move to New York, she decides it's time to take care of a few things, like the inconvenient issue of her virginity. Sarah knows the right guy for the job too: Max, the notorious ladies' man she's been crushing on since college.
Two weeks of courting, and then the deed will be done. The plan is so simple. There's no way either of them would do something as silly as fall in love
Genre
The Wedding Date Bargain is the second book in the Wedding Date series by Mira Lyn Kelly, and it was every bit as ... lacking as the first book.
I'm a little bummed out, because I really enjoy some of her other books.
Let me ramble for a second.
The whole book just didn't make sense to me.
Max is an all around good guy, but with commitment issues stemming from growing up in a broken home. These issues are hinted at the whole book, but we don't actually find out WHY he feels the way he does until the end. Like what the hell? If it could have come out sooner in the book, I could have at least empathized with him. Instead, I spend 95% of the book thinking this guy is an asshat. He admits he is crazy about Sarah, that the relationship is amazing, everything is crazy wonderful ... but nope. Not putting a ring on it. I spent most of the book just annoyed and feeling like I was wasting my time. What I did enjoy was that, morally, he is a good guy. The way to decided to slowly romance Sarah before taking her virginity was sweet.
Sarah is a pretty cool character too. Despite her work-a-holic tendencies, she at least realizes she needs to work on her personal life. Her friend Piper was very annoying. I wasn't really rooting for her when she was thinking about finding some random guy to hook up with to lose her virginity. I mean, sex is great ... but at 28, why just give it up for the sake of giving it up? Other then that, she is pretty great. I like how laid back she is, and people are naturally at ease around her. I especially like that she figures out what she wants way ahead of Max, and goes for it.
The ending is cute. Expected. It's heavily hinted that the next book will center around Max's best man, Sean, and Max's little sister, and one of "the guys", Mollie. And despite my, less than stellar thoughts on May the Best Man Win and The Wedding Date Bargain, I will read the next one. As much as I am not a fan of the cliche story lines, and slow pacing, the characters are interesting enough to draw me in enough to satisfy my curiosity.
Max: "Guys, Emily, how you doing? Sorry, Em. You know I love you, but you've got too much class to be lumped in with these yahoos."
Emily: "I know your game, Max. Trying to keep me the odd woman out. But I'm telling you, Jase is never going to throw me over and come back to you. Just accept it. I'm here to stay. So find yourself another pretty girl. This one's mine."
Brody: "Molly, you get that I'm the boss, right? I ought to get to take Sarah to the zoo one with the beer tastings. Booze is my thing."
Molly: "Screw that, boss man. You can take her to that pole-dancing contest we saw out in St. Charles. Show off some of your mad skills."
Sean: "Jesus. You realize I'm trying to sell Sarah on staying, not sending her bolting out of Illinois in terror because of you bunch of tools.
Molly: "You're a tool."
Sarah: "I'm a twenty-eight-year-old virgin, Max. How much more patient can I be?"
Max: "Are you listening?"
Sarah: "Yes, under protest."
Sarah: "That would have been bad. He's my boss, Max."
Max: "Yeah, but I pulled his head out of the toilet when he passed out drinking once, which trumps the boss thing."
Piper: "Oh, my precious baby hussy! You did it! I'm so proud of you. Holy shit, I can't believe you scored on your first date. But from the looks of you, it must have been amazeballs. Jeez, can you walk? Do you need an ice pack? Ooh, tell, tell, tell!"
Molly: "Dang it, Max! I hate it when you do that. I hope she did turn you down, and that your balls are so blue they're about to explode."
Max: "You could have the bed."
Molly: "Gross. I'm afraid I'd be visited by the ghosts of hookups past."
Max: "Shit, and here I thought Molly was the one I'd be apologizing for."
Sarah: "Oh, she is. She wanted to know if I was hiding Shangri-la between my legs."
Max: "What?"
Sarah: "Because apparently only a fabled wonder like that would be enough to keep her brother on the hook."
Max: "I'll talk to her. Ask her to back off a little."
Sarah: "I took care of it."
Max: "Umm, how?"
Sarah: "I told her I was so excited to have a girlfriend to share all my intimate details with. Then I explained that I haven't been with a lot of guys, but from an anatomy standpoint -"
Max: "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on there a second, Sarah."
Sarah: "And that's exactly where she stopped me too. But just to make sure she backed off, I told her I had an appointment to get waxed, and, well, suddenly, she had an emergency shift to cover at Belfast."
Sarah: "You're a good guy, Max."
Max: "If I were really that good, I wouldn't be plotting to make tonight so off-the-charts incredible that the next guy doesn't stand a chance at measuring up."
Max: "I can't stand the idea of another man putting one finger on you. And it's not because I'm some caveman who doesn't want to share - okay, part of it's a caveman thing - but it's not about keeping anyone else from having you, It;s about believing deep down inside that you're mine, the way I'm yours. That I'm the guy who can make you happy. But, Sarah, if you feel like there's even a possibility this Dave fucker could be the man for you ... Damn it, I'm not going to step aside. Screw that. But I'll fight for you. I'll show you that even though I didn't get it right before, I can make it right now."
Check out the first book, and the next two books, in the Wedding Date Series below