Title: Friends & Fortune Cookies
Series: The Mendoza Sisters #2
Author: Elizabeth Bemis
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: May 12, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:
When columnist Grace Mendoza is handed the dream assignment of a “Dating for Dummies” series, she knows it’s her ticket to national syndication. Too bad that when it comes to dating, she’s the biggest dummy of all. Jilted at the altar, abandoned by her best guy friend, Grace is about to hang up her keyboard for good until said best-friend lands back in town. He OWES her, and she’s determined to collect.
Rehabber Joe Baker is good at fixing things, but he can’t fix his emotions for Grace. When he realized he’d fallen for the quirky columnist right around the time he’d had to give her the bad news about her bastard of a bridegroom, he knew he had to split town, fast. Now he’s back and stuck on a job that may make or break his business. He can’t escape—especially when Grace demands that he tag along as a watch-dog for one disastrous date after another, all in the name of giving her avid readers what they want. Joe may be Grace’s biggest fan, but all he wants… is a second chance with her.
Read on for my thoughts on Friends & Fortune Cookies. No true spoilers, promise.
Joe had always been in Grace’s life. He’d beaten up a school bully, been her prom date when her date dumped her, been each other’s first, told her what a weasel her intended husband was a couple weeks before the wedding then took off. Then two weeks before the wedding, the weasel called it off to marry someone else. Joe had been her friend most of her life, he’d always had her back… until he left. And he always left her. So how was she supposed to trust him now?
Joe was back in Sudden Falls for about two months. He’d come back from his security job in Denver to help his cousin with the family building rehab company that his uncle had left to him and his cousin. Lately Joe had been a distant, mostly silent partner – but Alex needed help, like yesterday. So Joe was back and terrified that he was going to run into Grace and her husband, the weasel. He didn’t even know she’d been dumped yet again – because they both were so mad and no one contacted the other.
Grace discovered Joe was back when he drove up to her on his motorcycle…without a helmet again. That first meeting was awkward to say the least but now she knew he was back – but for how long?
During an inattentive moment during the weekly meeting at work, Grace’s boss dropped a bombshell of an assignment into her lap – a series of modern day online dating articles. Grace’s column was popular, and there was the chance that this assignment could take her to the syndication level, a major plus for herself and her newspaper. But, yuck, dating sites, matchmakers, speed-dating? Really? Actually it was kind of scary, anything could happen to a woman doing that type of dating. Then a thought – Joe would be her backup, her own personal dating security. He could watch over her work dates and make sure she was always safe. Perfect.
What Grace really wanted was Joe. But she barely admitted that to herself let alone him. She didn’t want to lose his friendship, but also didn’t really want to lose him in any fashion. But she really didn’t trust that he would stay. And she hated to admit that she needed him to finally stay and pick her to stay with.
For Joe, it had always been Grace. And he knew that he hurt her when he left. But he had commitments that he just could not walk away from. It was time to lay it all on the line and pray for Grace to choose him and trust that he’d never leave her on purpose again.
Friends & Fortune Cookies is a fast paced, fun and charming story of friends and lovers – and deciding that those two relationships work perfectly together. I loved Joe, he is a strong character who finally got his head on right, but he still fought to win his lady. Grace was charming, if a bit scattered. She knew what she wanted but was afraid to grab onto it, I enjoyed seeing her grow in strength throughout the story.
I would recommend Friends & Fortune Cookies to readers who love a simple, not too complicated story. With a love that each character already has for the other, but is bumbling their way to get together. It was a fun, entertaining, at times sexy, at times heartbreaking story. Definitely try this one for yourself.
*I received an e-ARC of Friends & Fortune Cookies from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*
Friends & Fortune Cookies is available for the Kindle
