Cutting it Neat for the Wedding
Series: The Glenbriar Series #9
Author: Margaret Amatt
Published July 31st 2024 by Leannan Press

Goodreads Synopsis
Is the best man also Mr Wright?

Perpetually single Hayley McBride – hairdresser and hopeless romantic – is delighted when her brother asks her to help plan his wedding. Until that is, she’s forced to work with her brother’s best friend, Oliver Wright - a cold and aloof divorce lawyer and a man who's always hated her.

Oliver has seen enough broken relationships to know love doesn’t last. Being his friend’s best man is just a formality. What is there to do other than ensure his friend’s younger sister, Hayley, doesn’t waste too much money on a one-day event?

But Hayley has a knack for making people smile, and Oliver has struggled for years to resist her. As they work together, he starts to wonder if he’s been living in denial.

Hayley keeps chipping away at his walls, and uncovering a different side to him, but can she risk her heart on such a committed cynic?

They must decide whether to take a chance on love or stick to being nothing more than Bridesmaid McBride and Mr Wright the best man.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

After her brother becomes engaged, hairdresser Hayley McBride finds that she needs to spend her time with the one man she can’t stand, her brother’s best friend Oliver Wright, to plan the joint ‘sten’, and take up their roles as chief bridesmaid and best man. However, though both act like they hate each other, those feelings rude a lot deeper, and after a week in London together, the attraction between the two is too hard to fight any more. But they’re from different lives, and with Oliver’s new job in London, and Hayley determined she wants to marry and have children in Glenbriar, do they have any chance to be together? 

Wow, this book blew me away. I expected it to be a nice summery read, perfect for my holiday, but didn’t expect to be hooked by it so much. I literally read the book in two sittings, and could barely put it down to sleep. Hayley and Oliver have known each over pretty much their whole lives, but whereas Hayley is a very outgoing and social person, Oliver keeps himself to himself, and doesn’t have many friends other than Finlay. Asked to help plan the ‘sten’ - a joint stag do and hen party - and take on all the roles of a best man is so far out of his comfort zone he is drowning. But Hayley is there to pull him up, and she never lets him forget it. I almost wish the ‘only one bed’ plot line was used when they were in London, but even though it wasn’t, the time they were there, with everyone thinking they were a couple, and Oliver seeing what his future could hold, was perfect. It was hard for him to get over some of his trauma from his mother’s death and father remarrying so quickly when he was young, but Hayley helped him see how happy he could be, and the ending was the perfect one for this couple. 

Dates Read:
July 31-August 1, 2024

Rating
4 Stars