Best Man: Close Proximity Book 1, Lily Morton

I was charmed immediately by all of Jesse.  He's so dang funny with the way he gets into incredible situations all in the name of helping people.  His ideas for dates were superlative and I honestly wish either I or someone I date could be that insightful and creative and excited.  And his insults when inserted into "polite" conversation are hilariously perfect.  The way he is with Zeb is honestly the best part for me.  There's a bit of insecurity that's well-founded because of Zeb's behavior, and while I wish it could always be sunshine and roses and shared umbrellas, no great love can exist without some conflict.

Speaking of conflict, Patrick is a horrible excuse for a human and a whole lot of me hopes he never gets a book of his own because I just don't want to see him happy.  That's quite uncharitable and unforgiving of me, but I kind of just don't care.  He's horrible to everyone, can't understand one iota of fidelity, does despicable things, and is generally the most unpleasant person in the entire book.  I find him worse than his homophobic, hate-spewing mother.  Since the big misunderstanding moment revolves around Patrick, which is unsurprising, I can't say I can give the book a full 5 stars because I think there could be a less predictable way to get Zeb to wise up, but since Zeb blinded himself so thoroughly to Patrick in the name of honoring his own word, maybe not.  Anyway, I didn't like it but can acknowledge that the device worked.

And then there's Zeb.  Zeb had absolutely wonderful moments.  His love and care for Jesse in the end was perfection in all of its sweetness, earnestness, and adoration.  The road to get to that point was filled with frustration because he willfully refused to see beyond certain things for longer than necessary.  Harping on the age gap and his uneducated views on the nature of Jesse's age got really old really quickly...pun perhaps intended?  Once he opened his eyes to what Jesse was really all about though, that was when the magic started happening.  His dysfunctional and disturbing relationship with Patrick was gag-worthy at times and I wanted to slap him upside the head at multiple points of the story.  But despite all the ranting about poor Zeb, I felt he was and eventually proved that he was the perfect partner for Jesse.  He lived up to every good thing I wished for them.

This was such a fun read and the book made me happy.  I laughed out loud at a couple moments, which is huge if you knew me, and caught myself smiling so many times.  I'm definitely putting this on my re-read shelf and will be cherry-picking all the best bits for when I need a pick-me-up or to feel the warm and fuzzies.

Zeb Evans doesn’t do messy.

The product of a disorganised and chaotic childhood, Zeb likes order and control, and as the boss of his own employment agency he can give that to himself. Life runs along strict lines and he never mixes business with pleasure. Everything in his life lives in neat, alphabetized boxes. Until Jesse.


Jesse Reed is Zeb’s complete opposite. He’s chaos personified. A whirling cyclone of disorder. He’s also charming and funny and a very unwanted distraction.

Which is why it comes as a complete surprise to Zeb to find himself asking Jesse to pose as his boyfriend for a few days in the country at a wedding.

Zeb doesn’t do impulsive, but as the time away progresses, he finds himself increasingly drawn to the merry and irreverent Jesse. But can he bring himself to break the hard-won lessons he’s learnt in life? And even if he can, how could Jesse be attracted to him anyway? He’s so much older than Jesse, not to mention being his boss.

From the bestselling author of the Mixed Messages and Finding Home series comes a warm and funny romance about one man’s fight for control and another man’s determination to circumvent it