When her friends order her to take a vacation, successful chef Jilly O’Hara is less than enthused. She may be overworked, but a trip to the mountains is not her idea of fun. Especially when she’s roped into an outrageous scheme to pose as a happy bride—all to fulfill the kindly resort owner’s dreams of once again hosting a lavish wedding. But the ruggedly handsome make-believe groom may just make it tolerable….
Walker Hale has kept to himself since his return from active duty—but the next thing he knows, he’s also playing along with the wedding charade. Even this jaded loner isn’t immune to Jilly’s quirky charm…or her beauty. But vacations have to end sometime, and they’ll soon have to decide if the feelings between them were more than pretend.
Jilly is a carefree, spur of the moment, nothing weighing her down successful, responsible kinda gal. She created her own salsa line, and now has a hugely successful restaurant, plus she is helping her BFFs rebuild Harbour House. Life is good! Well, life was good (or so Jilly thought) until she has a big health scare in the middle of a busy shift at her restaurant. After getting orders for “no stress” from her doctor, Jilly’s friends decide to send her on a relaxing vacation, but Jilly doesn’t know how to relax and she doesn’t find out what kind of vacation until she’s already there.
Walker is home from Afghanistan, with his dog Winslow, and has a quiet, secluded life on “his” mountain top. He is away from his pushy family, away from everyone in town that fusses over him and that is how he likes it. That is, until he meets Jilly in the airport and is amazed at how Winslow instantly takes to her. On one of his weekly trips to town, Walker runs into Jilly again and he starts to feel like maybe he is missing out on something by staying on the mountain.
My fav line: “….I think I loved her the first second I saw her overturn her suitcase and spill two dozen Tastykakes all over the airport floor…” ~Walker
What can I say about this book? Only that I have been waiting what seems like FOREVER for it to come out! I read A Home by the Sea when it came out….a YEAR ago, and just loved it. I was glad that The Accidental Bride was just as good as AHbyS. The romance in the book isn’t overdone, or sappy. The friendships are realistic, almost to the point that you wish you could pop over to Summer Island to visit. My only complaint about the book is that I have to wait for the next one….hopefully it will be less of a wait this time.
Oh! This really isn’t a big deal to most, BUT, some characters are from New Hampshire…that was cool! NH isn’t in too many books, so it is always fun when it pops up! 🙂
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Oh sounds wonderful and sweet, great review!