Title:Best of My Love
Author:Susan Mallery
Series:Fool‘s Gold, #20
Narrator:Tanya Eby
Published:April 2016, Brilliance Audio
Length:8 hours 28 minutes
Source:Publisher
An irresistible new love story from the #1
New York Times
bestselling author of the Fool’s Gold series, set in a town
Library Journal
calls “so appealing, readers will want to start scoping out real estate.”
To overcome her painful past, baker Shelby Gilmore goes on the hunt for a friend—a male
friend—to convince her stubborn psyche that men can be trusted. But
where in a town as small as Fool’s Gold will the petite blonde find a
guy willing to not date her?Dark, charming Aidan
Mitchell puts the “adventure” in Mitchell Adventure Tours…and into the
beds of his many willing female tourists. Until he realizes he’s
inadvertently become that guy—the one-night Casanova—and worse,
everyone in town knows it. Maybe Shelby’s boy/girl experiment will help
him see women as more than just conquests so he can change his ways and
win back his self-respect.As Aidan and Shelby explore the
secret lives of men and women, the heat between them fires up the Fool’s
Gold rumor mill. If no one will believe they’re just friends, maybe
they should give the gossips something to really talk about!
My thoughts:This is the latest in Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series and can I just tell you how much I love this series…it’s like catching up with old friends. You know you are going to get a sweet romance, a few laughs (especially if Edie and Gladis are around), and a heartwarming story and that’s exactly what I found in this latest installment.
I loved the idea behind Shelby and Aidan’s journey to their HEA. An “experiment” where they are just going to be friends and get to really know the opposite sex – for Shelby so she can overcome her trust issues, and for Aidan so he can overcome his Casanova status. Will it work? Can they just hang out, do things without “sex” being on the table? What will their friends and/or the whole town think – after all, this is Fool‘s Gold, a town that really isn’t that big?
Watching Shelby and Aidan as they went about their “experiment” was fun, especially as they alternated between their guy/girl activities…I about died laughing when Aidan had to attend the baby shower, but he was a good sport about it. And in the end…I think they both ended up learning valuable lessons about the other sex – perhaps Susan Mallery is on to something here!
While most of the story focused on Shelby and Aidan, we did get to catch up with lots of familiar characters. One thing I did notice was the frequent mention of where Aidan’s brothers moved to – Happily Inc. When I went looking to see when the next Fool’s Gold book was coming out, I found that there is no next book…yet, but there will be a new series coming out next year, set in Happily Inc and three of the Mitchell brothers (Aidan is a Mitchell!) will be the first Happily Inc heroes…very interesting!!! Does this mean Fool’s Gold has come to an end…or is she just taking a break?Either way, I have loved each and every Fool’s Gold story…if there are more, I’ll definitely read them and if this is the last, than that’s ok, too. It’s been a fun series and at some point, it does have to end and why not end on a high note, right?
Audio thoughts:Tanya Eby does such a good job with the narration of this series. She has such a light-hearted, almost whimsical way with her voice and it comes across with the characterizations. I really enjoyed listening to the last few books on audio because of her narration.
Books in this series:
1. Chasing Perfect 12.5 Christmas on 4th Street
2. Almost Perfect 13. When We Met
2.5 Sister of the Bride 14. Before We Kiss
3. Finding Perfect 15. Until We Touch
4. Only Mine 15.5 Yours for Christmas
5. Only Yours 16. Hold Me
6.2 Almost Summer 19. Marry Me at Christmas
7. Summer Days 20. Best of My Love
9.75 Halfway There
10. Just One Kiss
11. Two of a Kind
I can't believe this series is on book #20! I love the sound of this one. It's been awhile since I've visited Fool's Gold so this may be a good way to revisit. The whole guy/girl activity thing sounds very entertaining.
I need to give this series another chance. I know the first one was written quite some time ago.
I loved this one as well!