Synopsis:
Falon Ballard’s One Hot Summer Wedding is part of Summer Lovin’, a sweet and sultry collection of short summer romances that turn up the heat—and the heart. Read or listen to each short story in one easy, breezy sitting.
A surprise invitation from her estranged bestie whisks one woman away to a destination wedding, where her past and possible future collide, in this forced-proximity short story from USA Today bestselling author Falon Ballard.
It’s been ten years since Lucy last saw her childhood friend, but when she’s invited to Sara’s Costa Rica wedding, she can’t say no. She starts wishing she had, though, after running into Beckett, Sara’s still-hot older brother. He and Lucy are stuck sharing a hotel room. It doesn’t take long for old feelings—and old wounds—to resurface. But maybe this time, something new will blossom too.
Review:
I get what One Hot Summer Wedding was trying to do: a second chance romance with your best friend’s brother. Second chance romance really does not work in novellas though. There’s not enough time to reconcile, sort through past problems and build a new relationship that feels believable. Technically, Beckett never wronged Lucy in any way but you don’t know each other anymore. One day is not enough to rekindle old feelings (in my opinion).
To put the conflict in this book simply: Lucy’s “best friend” finds out Lucy has feelings for her brother (Beckett) and he likes her back and instead of being an adult about the situation by talking to them both about what that means, she basically ghosts Lucy, cutting her from her life for 10 years, because she couldn’t handle the idea of them being together for fear of losing her (I guess). Well how the hell does that work? She loses her anyway and on purpose.
Everyone is way too forgiving about this situation – that’s some real malice, stopping two of the most important people in your life from being happy as you’re worried it may affect you in the future. She sucks. Also, randomly inviting your ex-best friend to your wedding as “you couldn’t imagine her not being there” is weird. You chose to cut her from your life, you don’t get to decide she can be back in it because it suits you.
Something else that was really annoying was Beckett not recognising Lucy – the woman he apparently had feelings for, for a long time. No one’s appearance changes that much, especially from 18-28 that they’d be unrecognisable. You can’t claim to be in love with a woman that you didn’t recognise two days prior.
There wasn’t any chemistry between Lucy and Beckett. You’re told to believe they’re in love as they had feelings for each other when they were younger. That’s literally it. No proof in present time that these feelings are deep and real, just constant objectifying of each other and one steamy night to convince you. I’d recommend you pass on this one – no redeeming qualities.
Check out Young Creative Press on all socials
You can also check out my StoryGraph here