A un détail près

(Review originally posted here at The Book Barbies.)

There's a reason why Kristan Higgins is one of my favorite contemporary romance authors, folks. I loved The Best Man! We first meet Faith as she is sitting in a car and chugging Red Bull...while she uses binoculars to spy on a guy she is dating. But in her defense, she has probably the worst dating record in history, starting with the wedding we learn about in the prologue...which concludes with the groom announcing he is gay.

This book takes place mostly in the present day, but there are also a lot of flashbacks, which I enjoyed a lot. I really liked seeing the development of both the characters and the relationships. As the book goes along, we learn more about Faith and her history with Jeremy (the gay almost-husband) and his best friend Levi. Honestly, the friendship between Jeremy and Levi was one of the best things about this book. It was so refreshing! I absolutely love reading about close male friendships, especially when done well. Jeremy and Levi were an unlikely pair, but their friendship rang true.

And as long as we're on the subject: Levi. Oh, Levi. I have officially found a new book boyfriend. A man of few words, Levi was an Army veteran, police chief, great friend, and big brother doing his best to help his little sister through her first year of college. Be still, my heart.

I also liked Faith. I was a little worried I wouldn't in the beginning, but I really should not have bothered. She was fun and kind-hearted and snarky when necessary. She also had epilepsy, which I thought was interesting. It was definitely a unique aspect of the story. I adored the interactions between Faith and Levi. Their scenes together ranged from so-hilarious-my-roommate-was-giving-me-strange-looks to heartwrenching to sweet to sudden hotflash-inducing.

In typical Higgins fashion, there was a pretty large cast of characters, and Faith had a big, crazy family. Her relationship with them was complicated, partially due to circumstances surrounding her mother's death when she was a child. I liked her family, though. There were some good scenes with them. I was also really intrigued by the possibility of romance between some of the side characters. I'm not discussing who, but I will keep my eye on her future releases for them!

All-in-all, The Best Man was a good one! I enjoyed the characters, the friendships, and the romance. The New England town with a background of winery vines and grapes was a thoroughly charming setting, and I am very happy to see that this is the first in a series to take place in Blue Heron. Maybe I can move there after a few years in Lucky Harbor...?

Kristan Higgins is one of the few remaining auto-read contemporary romance authors on my list. Her heroines are capable, not ditzy, and although they may have some baggage they never fall into angsty naval gazing. Her heroes tend to be a little on the gruff side, but usually they come through in the end.

The Best Man uses a premise that could have easily veered into parody but thankfully doesn't - the bride left at the altar when her fiance comes out of the closet. It's to Higgins' credit that this isn't played for zany laughs and that the relationship between our heroine Faith and her gay fiance Jeremy's behavior is portrayed as realistic for an innocent young girl looking for her prince and a young man desperately trying to fit in. My only complaint is that for the first half of the book I actually thought Faith would have been better off with a gay husband than with Levi, the nominal hero of the book, who is either rude or dismissive of her for no apparent reason other than the fact that he is from the wrong side of the tracks and assumes she is a snobby bitch.

Fortunately for both Faith and the reader, Levi stops acting like a jerk eventually, and the grand gesture he offers to the heroine is so wonderful and life changing that all else is forgiven. Plus his earnest but sometimes misguided attempts to care for his younger sister in the wake of their mother's death go a long way towards redeeming his character.

At times the book's humor is a bit broad, most notably in a subplot concerning the creative sex life of Faith's older sister and her husband, but there are other, more heartfelt subplots that compensate for that weakness.

Apparently The Best Man is the first novel in a new series, and Faith's sister Honor may be next in line to headline her own story. I enjoyed spending time with these characters and look forward to seeing them again, as I know I will continue to read anything Higgins writes.