Anyone But You #3
By: Jennifer Shirk
Releasing
December 5, 2016
Entangled Bliss
Entangled Bliss
Matchmaking guru
Kennedy Pepperdine’s life is perfect. Perfect job. Perfect friends. Perfect
boyfriend. Except...when she gets trapped in an elevator with a handsome
stranger, she accidentally confesses a secret: maybe her perfect boyfriend,
Justin, isn’t so perfect for her after all. But a matchmaker should be able to
successfully match herself, right? Thankfully, she’ll never see the handsome
stranger again. Until she heads home with Justin for the holidays and learns
that the sexy stranger is none other than Justin’s older brother, Matt.
Matt Ellis is trying to be on his
best behavior for his mother—it is Christmas, after all. But when he recognizes
the beautiful woman from the elevator—the one he hasn’t been able to stop
thinking about for months—his best behavior is being held by a thread. Matt’s
always sacrificed for his family, and nothing is more important than their
happiness, but the more time he spends around Kennedy, the more he wonders if
her supposed "right match" might just be the wrong brother.
Kennedy Pepperdine was finally getting everything she wanted! Her start
up match making company, was climbing to new heights, that's to the matching
software she designed. She had even used it on herself and found herself a
wonderful boyfriend. But that was before her Las Vegas presentation, some
champagne and a steamy kiss in an elevator with a stranger! But Kennedy was
determined to put that behind her and concentrate on her life.
6 months later and her business was getting bigger and her boyfriend
Justin turned in to her Fiancé Justin and she was finally getting to meet his
family! But when she arrived and found out that Justin's brother is the man she
had a passionate kiss in the elevator 6 months ago is Justin's brother! What is
she going to do? And what happens now!?!
So this book was different than I thought it was going to be. I had
assumed that it was going to be a love triangle or something similar. But I was
totally wrong! When it comes to the characters, I loved the way that Kennedys
character was a little nerdy and Matt was more gruff. I will admit that I
wasn't a huge fan of Justin, but that is because of his dislike of hot
chocolate! Lol.
The writing and plot of this book seems to be a mix of a Hallmark
Christmas movie and familiar rom-com; which meant I found it an enjoyable and
lighthearted read.
I give Wrong Brother, Right Match 4 stars!
Matt looked at his sister. “What do
you think?”
“We can let her in on the secret,”
Caitlyn said with a huge grin. “She’s definitely one of us.”
Matt hesitated. “Okay. The truth
is…we all hate the fruitcake.”
“I knew it!” she exclaimed then
frowned. “But I don’t understand. Why pretend to like it, then?”
“Honestly? Because none of us has
the heart to tell her the truth. It makes her so happy. She’s one of the two
percent who actually enjoys it.”
“And your dad,” she added. “He liked
it, too. Your mom said so.”
Matt shook his head gravely. “No, he
hated it the most.”
Kennedy blinked then looked to
Caitlyn. “He did?”
“Yup.” Caitlyn shrugged. “Like Matt
said, we didn’t have the heart to make her feel bad on Christmas. At least this
time she didn’t put any figs or dried pineapple in it. That was a particularly
bad year. Although Justin tolerated it the best out of all of us.”
Kennedy cracked a smile. “So your
mom goes through all this trouble of making a fruitcake every Christmas and
she’s the only one who eats it?”
“Oh, no,” Matt assured her. “We’ll
all choke down a slice. You, too, since you’ll soon be part of the family. And
we’ll all tell her how great it is. It’s tradition.”
“Tradition,” Caitlyn echoed firmly.
Kennedy laughed. Oh my, if she
didn’t already love this family, this aspect of it only endeared them to her
more. “Well, your secret is safe with me. I love traditions myself.”
“That’s good,” Caitlyn said,
cracking herself up, “because you and Matt are standing under the mistletoe.”
What?!
Kennedy cautiously looked up as if
to find the Sword of Damocles dangling over her, but instead found a small
green ball of mistletoe tied up with ribbon. Crap! Her gaze dropped to Matt,
who held a gleam of interest in his eyes, and her cheeks caught fire.
“Oh, well, that’s a silly
tradition,” she said hurriedly, “I mean, we don’t have to do that.” Do we?
Barbara walked back into the room.
“What don’t you have to do?”
Caitlyn pointed to the ball. “Matt
and Kennedy are under the mistletoe.”
“Oh, how nice,” Barbara said,
clasping her hands. “Kiss her, Matt. It’s Christmas after all.”
Matt glanced at Kennedy and
stiffened, but without further argument leaned in to her. Her heart fluttered
like a hummingbird in anticipation. She caught the pleasant scent of pine and
soap on his skin as he brushed his lips against her cheek, hovering for just a
few brief seconds before he was once again at a safe distance from her. Such a
simple kiss, yet her emotions whirled and skidded.
“I’d better get going,” Matt
murmured, backing into the door.
His mom frowned. “Are you okay,
dear? Maybe you should sit down a bit first.”
“No, I need to get kissing—er,
going. I need to go.” His gaze reluctantly returned to hers, and his voice
dipped. “I’ll see you tomorrow night?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
Then he was out the door as if suddenly spooked.
Unfortunately, she knew exactly how he felt.
Jennifer Shirk has a bachelor degree in
pharmacy-which has in NO WAY at all helped her with her writing career. But she
likes to point it out, since it shows romantic-at-hearts come in all shapes,
sizes, and mind-numbing educations.She writes sweet (and sometimes even funny) romances for Samhain Publishing, Avalon Books/Montlake Romance and now Entangled Publishing. She won third place in the RWA 2006 NYC's Kathryn Hayes Love and Laughter Contest with her first book, THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME. Recently, her novel SUNNY DAYS FOR SAM won the 2013 Golden Quill Published Authors Contest for Best Traditional Romance.
Lately she's been on a serious exercise kick. But don't hold that against her.
Thanks so much for the review! Glad you liked it!
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