“What’s the point of being alive if you don’t take a few risks now and then?” That question is contrary to everything Beth Kendrick’s heroine stands for in the fun romp, Put a Ring on It. But, the one time she takes a rash step, she’ll have to live with the consequences.
To say Brighton Smith is not a risk taker is an understatement. She’s an insurance actuary, and she assesses everything before making a move in life. It’s a little too much for her fiancé, and he dumps her. But, it’s too much even for her when he calls that same night and says he married someone he just met. Brighton has a few too many drinks at a bar in Black Dog Bay, Delaware, the town where everyone seems to be a dumped woman looking for a rebound. And, Jake Sorensen is the “designated rebound guy for all the newly single women.” At least he is until Brighton challenges him to do something with her that he’s never done with another woman. So, after those few too many drinks, when Jake answers, “Let’s get married”, Brighton says yes.
Brighton later tries to determine where their rash marriage went wrong. “‘Let’s get married,’ we said. ‘It’ll be fun,’ we said…And now I’m making black diamond poison rings and asking scary old ladies for gossip and trying to wean myself off my sexual addiction to my drive-through husband and relapsing in the middle of the night.” Brighton’s “screw-up summer” isn’t quite what she expects when she falls in love with the husband she just met.
Kendrick’s latest contemporary romance is fun, and funny with a smoldering hot hero and a bright, attractive woman who finds herself way over her head. “In a matter of hours, she’d gone from total burnout to jet-setting party girl.” The characters are spirited and lovable in this engaging, amusing story. And, did I mention that smoldering hot hero?
Put a Ring on It is a character-driven, feel-good romance with the required dog, supportive girlfriends, and happy ending. It’s a light, enjoyable book from Kendrick, who does contemporary romances so well.
P.S. Pet peeve alert. This never has anything to do with the author. Why can’t cover artists ever read enough of the book to put the right dog or cat on the cover?
Beth Kendrick’s website is www.bethkendrick.com
Put a Ring on It by Beth Kendrick. New American Library. 2015. ISBN 9780451474186 (paperback), 320p.
*****
FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of the book, hoping I would review it.
