The Best Men: Volume 1

4.5 🔥🔥🔥 stars. I love both of these authors on their own. Put them together, Lauren Blakely and Sarina Bowen nailed it! Pun intended. This M/M enemies to lovers storyline will grab you from the beginning and captivate you until the end. Prepare to laugh, swoon and need a fan because Mark and Asher’s chemistry is on FIRE! Jacob Morgan and Teddy Hamilton’s narration is fantastic, you can feel the HEAT between these two characters!

The Best Men was a fun, sweet, and entertaining read- it definitely exceeded my expectations, considering my feelings after having read the prequel Super Hot Wingman. Asher didn't leave me with the best impression with that quick peek, but turns out there's much more to the man than just someone who strips down in the middle of a dinner party, and I enjoyed getting to know him and Mark better! I found Mark and Asher to be such charming characters. They kind of rubbed each other the wrong way in the beginning, but like me, soon found themselves completely engaged. I loved their banter and the back and forth- I liked how neither of them really held back. And once they decided that they were going to go for it and have their fling, it was game on! I was happy that their story was relatively drama free. For the most part it was light and easy, with just a little angst as the wedding weekend ended and they were left to figure where they went from there. With their chemistry and their feelings towards each other, you just knew there was no way things would be able to end, once the wedding was over. And I really liked how everything played out in the end.

3.5 stars — This was a fun, light and steamy romance! I hate writing reviews like these, because I genuinely enjoyed the book, but all I can focus on is how I didn’t enjoy it as much as my friends did. I don’t mind marching to my own drum in pretty much everything, but I hate being the odd duck on a book. I don’t know if it’s the January blues or what, but I had a harder time getting (and staying) sucked into this book. I’m not sure if the pace was a bit slower? Or maybe I just didn’t connect with the characters quite as strongly. I found that the romance was very lust heavy, which is aces for most people, but I think I was missing that extra oomph from the emotional connection. I would get glimmers of it, but it was just never quite as strong as I was hoping for I guess. But seriously, if you’re looking for strong steamy content, you will be rewarded. Mark surprised me on quite a few occasions! Like Asher, I thought I had him pinned, but he was so much more complex than that. I loved that while he could be a bit buttoned up in some aspects of his life, he was the exact opposite of repressed in so many other aspects. He was surprisingly brave, adventurous, forthright with his desires. He didn’t shy away from challenges. And wow, he genuinely cared for and had a close relationship with his sister. Sometimes I felt like his relationship with Rosie was a bit more background than I was expecting. It contributed in some areas, but at other times I felt like it was just an extra thing about him. But again, that might have just been me. Asher surprised me too! He had these vulnerable moments that made me want to hug him. I saw these glimmers of depth to him, but I will admit that I wanted even more…I’m a greedy reader like that. I LOVED their banter with one another — the way they pushed and pulled and teased. Great chemistry, and I loved that the enemies part didn’t last very long. And as I said, their steamy chemistry was off the charts. So yeah. A solid fun m/m read with lots of great steam!