Abandoned by Booklikes

Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.

So this was a great romance by Mallery. I just found out she has a series called Happily Inc. that I just heard of it. This is the 5th book in the series. I have read her other series and now want to go back and read the beginning of this one. Readers also get a nice bonus of a short story starring a woman we find out is the adopted daughter of a Crown Prince in the Middle East. She falls for a man living in Happily Inc. Since this book already spoiled they are together though I didn't really need that story to be included. Also not going to lie, the whole secret princess or prince romance trope never has done a thing for me. So I finished it, but loved "Meant to be Yours" much more.

"Meant to be Yours" follows wedding planner Renee and resident novelist Jasper. They have both seen each other around town, and Renee is hoping for a friends with benefits situation. She sees Jasper as wanting the same things she does, no ties, just banter, and hot times between the sheets. Of course things don't go according to plan. 

Renee has a lot of secrets and it takes about a good quarter of the book to reveal them all. At first I was laughing at the reveal and didn't think it made a lot of sense, but it actually worked. She has a good heart, but is scared about opening herself up again. And due to her mother's past, is reluctant to have anything to do with animals (yeah you have to read the book, no spoilers).

Jasper is an ex-military policeman who is suffering from PTSD. He is now a best selling novelist and writes stories starring a detective tracking down serial killers. Jasper is in a fix though, he's supposed to end his series and his editor wants the main character married off or at least happy with someone. Trouble is that Jasper can't write women. At all. When he and Renee gets involved he gets some tips from her and I did laugh at him watching "women movies and tv shows" and that he reads Rory Gilmore for filth. Sorry, that whole part of the book had me laugh out loud. 

What I did like besides the romance scenes was that there is a lot of development into these two characters and the rest of the town. We actually get Jasper doing something pretty crappy to Renee and apologizing and sincerely apologizing. We also get a behind the scenes look at weddings and unlike with the Nora Roberts series dealing with that, I wasn't bored to tears and wanting to wring people's necks because of all of the stupid acronyms they used.

The writing was really good and I would say that this book after ten years or so is going to read as dated since it mentions a lot of events and pop culture moments. Not going to lie though the Rory Gilmore things, still awesome. The flow was great though it felt like we were galloping towards a finish that I would have been fine if it took a bit longer.

The setting of Happily Inc. sounds great and like a fun little town.

The ending was sweet and as I said though the rest of the book shows Cade and Bethany's story which I had zero interest in. And it felt rushed compared to this one.