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Review

A Beautiful ending

4 stars

It’s always bittersweet reading the last book in a much-loved series. And as excited as I was to dive into this book, I put it off for a bit because I’m not ready to say goodbye to these characters. But I was unable to resist the pull of Jensen, and I thoroughly enjoyed this final romp with this amazing group of characters.

Jensen is the eldest brother of Hannah, and the best friend of her husband, Will from Beautiful Player. And Pippa is the best friend of Ruby from Beautiful Secret. He lives in the US, she is in London, he is careful, ordered and work-obsessed, she is quirky, loud and a bit lost. On the surface, they have nothing in common, but these two are about to turn each other’s whole worlds upside down.

“I couldn’t decide if you ruined me, or found me.”

When Pippa comes home to find her boyfriend and his “thrusting bum” in bed with another woman, it serves as a trigger for her to take a step back from her life and figure out what it is she really wants. As away to escape the monotony of her life, she very quickly finds herself on a flight to Boston to join her best friend, Pippa, and her friends on a winery trip around the east coast.

Jensen has been in London on business. He wasn’t impressed when he ended up seated next to an obnoxiously chatty woman on the plane, and had to feign sleep in order to get some peace. Now that he is back home in Boston he decides he needs some long-overdue time off and he agrees to join his sister, Hanna, and their friends on a road trip.

It’s no great surprise that Jensen and Pippa are the strangers that met on the plane and then end up on the same road trip with the same group of friends. Despite their awkward introductions, they quickly become friendly, and they set out with Will and Hanna, Niall and Ruby to kick back and relax for two weeks – with lots of alcohol and a whole lot of laughs along the way.

I love road trip books, and I really enjoyed seeing this group of much-loved characters all together laughing, teasing, joking and playing around as they kicked back and enjoyed their journey. I laughed out loud at their antics and banter, and loved the growing tension between Jensen and Pippa. Knowing full well that they are the fifth and sixth wheels of the group, they know they are under watch for a potential hook-up, and it adds a delicious sense of anticipation to the whole thing as they joke about their situation and tease and laugh together.

As I worked to disentangle us, she gazed at me, bemused. “This makes me wary of ever dabbling in bondage with you.”
Silence greeted us, and I unlooped the seatbelt from her neck before looking up and around us at the other passengers.
“We’re not alone, are we?” she playfully stage-hissed.
“There are others,” I confirmed. “They’re regarding you with curiosity.”
“And mild horror,” Niall added.

And eventually all of that teasing and flirting reaches a point where they decide to hell with it and dive on into the holiday fling that seems, to everybody, like a foregone conclusion. These authors write the best steamy scenes, and Jensen and Pippa’s sexy time is absolutely sizzling! Intense and passionate right from the very start, they both acknowledge that what they have together is the best they’ve ever had, and they take advantage of that connection at every opportunity. And they soon realise that it’s so much deeper than either of them ever intended it to be.

This wasn’t what a fling should be. He wasn’t casual, forgettable. He wasn’t flaky or flippant. He was attentive, he was considerate, and—holy fuck—he seemed more committed in spending time with me than he was to sleeping, to eating … It was almost as if this was what he wanted.
But only temporarily.

I loved Jensen and Pippa together. It was so easy between them, and I love the sense of fun that they had as well as all of that sexual intensity, and I really loved watching their ‘relationship’ intensify and grow into a true emotional connection.

I was chatty, he was thoughtful. I was eccentric, he was classic. But when we came together, we worked.

But they are complete opposites and their lives are on different continents. Add in to that the fact that Pippa acknowledges that she has well and truly fallen for Jensen but he has been hurt in love before and is in no way interested in a long-term relationship, and it makes for a very awkward and angsty farewell as their time away heads towards its end.

“It’s too bad I’m too eccentric for you. It’s too bad you’re too busy for me. It’s too bad I’m only learning my heart and you have yours rolled up in bubble wrap.”

It’s a bit of a bumpy journey for them and yes, I was annoyed at some of the decisions that were made, but I loved watching it all play out. Jensen and Pippa both have a lot of growing they needed to do, figuring out what is important to them and then having the courage to fight for it, and that part of the story was really well done, and I couldn’t read fast enough to see how it was all going to happen for them.

The rest of the cast of characters are very much involved. The two couples travelling with them are a big part of the story of course, but Bennet and Chloe, Max and Sara are still a part of the action, and I absolutely loved the group together. Their dynamic is unique, with fantastic relationships between individual characters, and I loved that we got to see that. And I absolutely loved the multiple epilogues! Each couple gets a moment in the end as we check in with each of them – seeing them happy and in love, moving forward in their lives and living their HEAs. It was really beautifully done, and I thought it was a fantastic way to finish out the series.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fitting finish to a series that has given me so much entertainment – laugh out loud humor, fan-worthy sexy time and a whole lot of romance that I have absolutely loved. I’m sad to say goodbye, but am looking forward to many, many rereads in the future.

4 stars.