Title:  Anything But Love
Series:
Author:  Abigail Strom
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  July 12, 2016
Publisher:  Montlake Romance
My Rating:  4 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Cover Description:

Socialite Jessica Bullock can’t catch a break. After a lifetime of chasing perfection, hoping to please her parents, all her hard work is set to pay off. But on her wedding day, her fiancé leaves her high and dry. Humiliated, she finds her calm, cool facade beginning to crumble…until an unexpected wedding guest, her childhood best friend and crush, offers to help her pick up the pieces.

Never in his wildest dreams would Ben Taggart have imagined he’d be escorting Jessica on her honeymoon to Bermuda. Although they haven’t seen each other in years, he can’t leave her to fall apart. Agreeing to keep things platonic, they vow to make the most of their spontaneous vacation—until an unplanned kiss sparks a powerful passion.

They tell themselves that what happens in Bermuda will stay in Bermuda. But when old secrets are revealed and new feelings ignite, will Ben and Jessica be able to leave their romance behind?

Read on for my thoughts on Anything But Love.  No true spoilers, promise.

Anything But Love is one of those touching stories where you might not like the heroine much at the start, but as you get to know her and understand the reasons she is as she appears today then you’ll welcome her with open arms and a friendly hug.

Around the time when Jessica and Ben were to enter high school something happened to Jessica.  Up until that time she and Ben had been friends, perhaps they had  a young crush for each other as well.  She’d been happy, outgoing, kind and exactly the kind of girl any guy would be happy to have as his.  Then suddenly she was a stranger.  Almost overnight she became this snobby brat who no longer had time for her old friends.  Time passed, life moves on and we come to the present day when Ben is uncomfortably a guest at Jessica’s wedding.  He doesn’t have much choice as their parents are good friends, and he’s an adult, he can handle one day around the girl he once dreamed was his.

Jessica was about to enter into a loveless marriage.  But that didn’t matter, so long as she upheld the illusion of perfection everything would be fine, her parents would be happy, and she could continue to hide her dirty, ugly secret.  But as she’s discovered, life doesn’t always stick to the plan.  Her groom to be decided at the last minute that he could not go through with the marriage.  So Jessica’s been left at the altar.

He should have felt vindicated.  She’d gotten the comeuppance that she so richly deserved for the way she had treated people.  Yet Ben couldn’t hold on to that thought for long.  There she was humiliated, his former best friend, the girl he’d hoped would be his forever.  Watching her slowly fall apart was heartbreaking.  So with perhaps a little liquid fortification freely served at the still held reception, Ben goes up to Jessica with the thought to help, comfort and put out the thought of a plan he never expected her to accept.  When she agreed, it would change their lives forever.

Anything But Love is several story lines in one.  A second chance romance, most definitely.  A friends to lover romance, yes to that as well.  It’s also the story of how one young girl handled something horrid and reinvented herself to cover up her perceived shortcomings.  Because if she had been perfect, that would have never happened to her.  Logic often goes out the window when self-preservation comes into play.

I enjoyed watching as Jessica slowly lost the shell she had build round herself, and became once again the fun, loving girl that Ben remembered.  Their use of the “honeymoon” as a vacation getaway was the perfect way for this to happen to Jessica.  That they would become intimate, fall in love and have to figure all of that out – well, that is all part of letting the past go.  There was sadness, giggles, anger, laughter and a sense that these two should have always been together.  They might have been robbed of their young love, but as adults they would more than make up for those lost years.  Now they only had to figure out their future.  Misunderstandings and miscommunication aside, they eventually reach a satisfying happy ever after.

If you love Romance with secrets to discover and love to be found once again – then Anything But Love should be on your reading list.

*I received an e-ARC of Anything But Love from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*

Available in paperback, audio and for the Kindle