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Review
4.5 “I need us to be us” stars!
Addie has a core group of guy friends and to them she is just “one of the guys.” They are thick as thieves and as close as can be but things are changing now that one of them is getting married. Addie’s up for groomsman duty but the fiancée isn’t too keen on her being with the guys so she’ll have to be one of the girls for the wedding. Now, she is stuck wearing a dress and heels and doing the girlie stuff she’d rather avoid just to make the bride happy and people are seeing her in a different light.
Just One of the Groomsmen is so much fun. Once I started I couldn’t put it down. It’s a sweet, lighthearted friends-to-lovers romance that had me grinning like a fool and falling in love alongside Addie and Tucker.
Addie is tough, witty, and entertaining. She likes being comfortable and has no desire to dress to impress. I love her confidence in herself and the fact that she is who she is. Tucker is a sweet, sexy lawyer who has it made. At least people think that’s the case. On the outside things look wonderful but on the inside he is far from happy. He surprises everyone when he leaves his job and moves back to the town he grew up with. It’s the town his friends still call home and the town where he can finally find happiness again.
Tucker and Addie missed each other over the years when they lived in different cities and life got in the way. Now that Tucker is home, they can finally spend time together but things aren’t the same. Tucker is noticing things about Addie he’s never paid attention to before. Things are swirling in his gut when he thinks about her in a way that is completely foreign to him. He’s never thought of her as more than a friend but now that he’s felt a spark, there’s no denying the attraction.
More and more it felt like he was seeing her for the first time, yet he still had all the good memories attached, too, which made it hard to feel neutral or suppress feelings he shouldn’t be having. Couldn’t be having.
And Addie is feeling things too. Everything is getting jumbled in her head and I loved watching her try to figure things out.
Obviously she needed new spark plugs or to fix her faulty wiring because she was misfiring, feeling things for the wrong guy, and that could mess up everything.
Addie and Tucker have always been a little closer to each other than the rest. They offer up their feelings a little freer and rely on each other a little more. It’s clear that they have a special connection and I believed in their friendship. The banter is fantastic and they are so great together. When they start to feel things that are far from just friendly, the sexual tension skyrockets. They heat the pages as they acknowledge the change and I wanted them to dive right into more as soon as possible.
However, even though going from friends to lovers is new and exciting, it can also be scary, and the progression of Addie and Tucker’s relationship it’s really well written. The fear of ruining their friendship, the fear that the excitement would eventually die off, and the fear that they could ruin everything make them think twice. Those fears are real and understandable, and becoming more is not just risky to their own friendship but to the group as a whole. There is so much more to think about than just the two of them and in the end they must decide if becoming more than friends is worth the risk.
The story isn’t overly angsty but there is definitely conflict, and thankfully, the drama isn’t drawn out too long. Though there were moments I thought things could have been handled a little differently, the story played out nicely. The big gesture at the end is so swoony and sweet, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I love Addie and Tucker and am so glad I read their love story!
I loved the secondary characters. Addie, Tucker, and their friends have such a close and comfortable relationship. I loved that their friendship felt genuine. They are always having fun and they always have each other’s backs. I’ll add that I am so glad Will decided to marry Lexie. I ended up really liking her and loved the friendship that evolved between her and Addie. I adored the whole gang and I desperately want more. Can’t wait to see whats up next for the Getting Hitched in Dixie series.
Overall, I really enjoyed Just One of the Groomsmen. It’s the first book I have read by this author and it certainly won’t be the last.
*ARC generously provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
Getting Hitched in Dixie
