Well Met, Book 3
From the publisher:
A pretend relationship gives two friends more than they bargained for in a Renaissance Faire rom com filled with flower crowns, kilts, corsets, and sword fights.
Single mother April Parker has lived in Willow Creek for twelve years with a wall around her heart. On the verge of being an empty nester, she’s decided to move on from her quaint little town, and asks her friend Mitch for his help with some home improvement projects to get her house ready to sell.
Mitch Malone is known for being the life of every party, but mostly for the attire he wears to the local Renaissance Faire—a kilt (and not much else) that shows off his muscled form to perfection. While he agrees to help April, he needs a favor too: she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend at an upcoming family dinner, so that he can avoid the lectures about settling down and having a more “serious” career than high school coach and gym teacher. April reluctantly agrees, but when dinner turns into a weekend trip, it becomes hard to tell what’s real and what’s been just for show. But when the weekend ends, so must their fake relationship.
As summer begins, Faire returns to Willow Creek, and April volunteers for the first time. When Mitch’s family shows up unexpectedly, April pretends to be Mitch’s girlfriend again…and it doesn’t feel so fake anymore. Despite their obvious connection, April insists they’ve just been putting on an act. But when there’s the chance for something real, she has to decide whether to change her plans—and open her heart—for the kilt-wearing hunk who might just be the love of her life.
As someone who has never been to a Renaissance Faire, despite there being a huge one [http://www.ren-fest.com/] just a few miles from my home, I really love this series. I still have no desire to go, but I’ll read anything Jen DeLuca writes.
This book is less about the Ren Faire and more about this small town. The story centers around April, whose daughter is going off to college in a few months. April has been a single mom for a very long time, and she is determined to change her life once she becomes an empty nester. She wants to sell the house and move out of this small town into a city, and while she’ll always have a place for her daughter, she wants to start living her own life.
Mitch is quite a bit younger than April, and while he is a very good looking man, she can’t imagine him being interested in her. So when he offers to help her out with fixing up her house to sell it, she is grateful for the help. But he needs a favor in return; he wants her to come to a family dinner with him. His family are all high achievers and think being a teacher and coach is not much of a career. He figures if they see him in a relationship with a woman like April, all professional looking and older, they will back off. But the dinner turns into a weekend at a hotel, and one thing leads to another as it usually does with fake dating!
I loved the May-December romance, mostly because it is the woman who is older, yet it seems that Mitch is the more mature one in this relationship a lot of the time. April is dealing with some insecurities about her age and her body and simply cannot believe that this man could truly want a relationship with her. She pretty much dumps him because of that, but luckily, he’s not giving up.
There are a lot of laughs here and witty dialogue, a hallmark of DeLuca’s writing, plus some steamy scenes. I’ve loved all three of these books and would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. But it’s probably this one. These do not need to be read in order, they each stand alone pretty well, so if you haven’t tried DeLuca yet, I urge you to do so now. I loved it.
11/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
WELL MATCHED by Jen DeLuca. Berkley (October 19, 2021). ISBN: 978-0593200445. 336 pages.
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 