Title:  Her Stand-In Boyfriend
Series:
Author:  Kelly Jamieson
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  July 28, 2015
Publisher:  Entangled Select Contemporary
My Rating:  4 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Cover Description:

This boyfriend business is about to get a whole lot more personal…

Event planner Lexi Mannis has a busy life in Chicago—too busy to have a boyfriend. For special occasions, she has her Stand-In Boyfriend, Mac Northrop. Mac offers (almost) all the perks of a real boyfriend—furniture assembly, a date to big events, and someone to cook for. But they’ve never been “with benefits”…until one wickedly hot night crosses the line.

Mac’s been in love with Lexi for ages. He knows he should probably end it, but dammit, he just can’t. When things get deliciously down and dirty, Mac is certain that he’s made the leap out of the friend zone…until Lexi decides she wants to remain friends. With benefits.

What Lexi doesn’t know is that she’s running out of time. And if she won’t promote Mac to Real Boyfriend, she might just lose her Stand-In Boyfriend to someone else.

Read on for my thoughts on Her Stand-In Boyfriend.  No true spoilers, promise.

Why does sex have to change everything!

Lexi and Mac were best friends, and maybe a bit more.  Mac has loved Lexi for a long time, but she doesn’t have time for a boyfriend in her busy life and Mac hasn’t really outgrown the feeling of still being the geeky friend of Lexi’s younger years.  He doesn’t want to rock the comfortable boat that they have been sailing in.  Yes, he loves her but at least as long as he keeps quiet about his feelings she will stay in his life and not run away.  Lexi is clueless, for a smart businesswoman she is decidedly blind when it comes to emotional situations right in front of her.  Yeah, Mac grew up handsome, sexy even but come on he’s her friend, the fixer of broken things, the guy that will always drop everything and be her date for some event. He’s just.. Mac.

Until one night.  One wild, amazing, sexy, hot night when the rules were broken and two people who are attracted to each other did something about it.  The sexual encounter was off the charts and Mac is thinking finally… finally Lexi sees him for the man who loves her.  Ah, no.  Lexi has discovered that Mac is not only good as a stand in boyfriend at social events – he is amazing in bed too.  So the logical conclusion?  Friends with benefits, of course.  Why would she want to mess up their friendship with anything close to emotional closeness?  No two people have been further than on the same page as these two.

Trouble is Mac doesn’t want to go back to what they had, admittedly with benefits.  He wants to move forward into romance, love and a future together.  And it’s time for Lexi to make up her mind.  It’s either Mac as her man or no Mac at all.  Simple.  Complicated.  But his final decision, she either loves him and wants a future or he is history.

Her Stand-In Boyfriend is such a delightful, fun and funny romp.  Talk about clueless.  I loved Mac, he’s funny, sexy and finally is standing up for what he needs.  Lexi is again, clueless, funny and totally confused about what love is even when it’s right in front of her silly nose.  Watching these two work their way through uncharted waters was so enjoyable.  It helps to have a friend who pulls no punches and tells you exactly what an idiot you’re being for letting such a great guy go.  We all need friends like that.

This is a totally enjoyable tale that will make you laugh, cry, pull out your hair, and want to smack people upside the head.  A fast paced, fun story that will give your day a lift.  Go on, take a chance on romance and pick up Her Stand-In Boyfriend.

*I received an e-ARC of Her Stand-In Boyfriend from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*

Available in paperback and for the Kindle