Best Friends with Benefits by Candy Sloane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Valerie and Alec have been best friends for a long time. With the exception of being attracted to one another, there have been no hiccups in their friendship. Honesty is one of the best things they love about each other.
Alec is now a rock star and loved by all. Going to their high school reunion, he is the most popular person there. Val is still on the outside. Or is she? He kisses her and the walls start to break down.
Val is unaware he is secretly in love with her all this time. Keeping their friendship has been the most important thing for both of them. All they have is each other.
Such a rewarding and amazing story! This book has everything. I was especially proud of the best friend aspect, and how it plays out.
***This ARC was given by Netgalley.com and its publisher for an honest review.
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About the author: Candy Sloane is a pseudonym for a Young Adult & New Adult author who needed to write some naughty books her mother couldn't read. She lives in Portland, OR and loves Lifetime movies. She would tell you more, but this persona is a secret.
http://witandsin.blogspot.com/2016/03/review-emergency-delivery-by-samanthe.html
I’ve got a new book boyfriend and his name is Hunter Knox. Emergency Delivery may only be the second story I’ve read by Samanthe Beck, but after falling fast and hard for Hunter and Madison, Ms. Beck has a spot on my auto-buy list. Emergency Delivery has so much of what I love about romance: a hero and heroine I fell in love with from the start, a romance that made me melt, and it’s all wrapped up in a fast-paced, utterly addictive story I could not put down.
Hunter is a make-you-swoon hero with a heart of gold. He’s a paramedic whose biggest problem is his hero complex; he gives all of himself and more trying to save people, and he can sometimes overpromise. When he delivers a baby on the side of the freeway, he can’t help but feel a connection to new mother Madison Foley. Madison has had one turn of bad luck after another, but she’s determined to make a good life for her newborn daughter, Joy. Only fate throws Madison another curveball and lands her back in the hospital and in Hunter’s path. His protective nature and soul-deep goodness convinces Madison to accept his help and stay in his guest room. Of course, their connection and attraction to one another means they’re on the fast track to becoming more than roommates…
What makes Emergency Delivery so captivating are Hunter and Madison, who grabbed my heart. Hunter isn’t perfect, but he is generous, intelligent, kind, patient, and completely sexy. In other words, he’s an utterly perfect hero. He’s had some setbacks in the past, but he continues to look forward and work hard to reach his goals. Yet what I liked best of all about Hunter is how he fell for Madison. It doesn’t hurt either that the way he is with Joy practically guarantees an ovary explosion while reading. Madison, in turn, is a compelling mix of strength and vulnerability. She’s (quite realistically) in over her head, but nevertheless she’s a strong, hardworking woman who will do anything for her daughter. She’s had a rough go of it and has been used horribly by her ex, but though she’s shaken, she isn’t broken. She wants to stand on her own two feet, which makes it difficult for her to accept help from Hunter. But Hunter isn’t one to be denied, and close quarters ensures that Madison and Hunter’s romance develops in a natural, smooth way. That being said, the love story is not without its ups and downs. Both Hunter and Madison can get in their own way by making assumptions, but the mistakes they make are logical and realistic.
As a romance, Emergency Delivery is a fantastic mix of sensuality and sweetness and I loved every bit of it. It’s the second book in the Love Emergency series, and if you don’t mind reading spoilers from the first book, Emergency Engagement, the story can be read as a standalone. Once I finished Hunter and Madison’s story, I wanted to dive right back in for a re-read, which is always a good sign. Quite simply, I loved Emergency Delivery and I can’t wait to read more Love Emergency books!
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.