4.5 Stars
I read this book last week and it took me this long to put my feelings in order because, y’all, I am soft. Roan Parrish hit all my “awww” spots with her latest release, BEST LAID PLANS. This is the second book in the Garnet Run series but I read it as a standalone without issue. It’s a M/M romance featuring all my favorite tropes, sunshine/grump, home renovations, and forced proximity it basically hit all of my happy buttons.
Charlie is the older, sunshine-yet-sad hero with a savior complex, and Rye is a true-to-himself chaos creator hero who Charlie can’t resist. They end up (reluctantly on Rye’s part) working together to fix the falling down house Rye inherited.
This book was relatively low on angst and high in emotion and quippy banter (another love point for me). The parts that stuck out to me, and that I appreciated the most, were the open and honest conversations about sex and intimacy between the two men. They had discussions about preferences, penetrative sex not being the ONLY kind of sex, and figuring each other’s turn-ons without shame or judgement. It was touching and sexy and these scenes might have made me cry once or twice give me that good communication and emotional intimacy all day!
I did have to take a half a star off because the adult in me was cringing when Charlie co-signed Rye’s loan. Such a terrible idea! It was not romantic and completely took me out of the book. Luckily, the world sucked me back in quickly. But dang. Do not co-sign a loan with a stranger!
Overall, I loved reading about two lovely and lonely humans find their person in each other. If you want to close a book with the warm fuzzies and a desperate desire to adopt 10 cats, read this book!
**I received a free copy of this book in order to provide an honest review**
Romance Reader 