A Long Time Coming, Meghan Quinn

Garabrandt Reviews

Dec 19

Title: A Long Time Coming

Author: Meghan Quinn

Pages: 450

Genre: Contemporary Romance (sub-genre: friends to lovers)

Is this book part of a series? Yes, this is book three of the Cane brothers series.

I discovered this book via... Netgalley working with SourceBooks (Bloom books)

Published: Netgalley says it comes out January 2nd, 2024. Goodreads and Amazon both say it is out now- Kindle Unlimited patrons can read it for free.

A witty take on a romantic comedy classic, My Best Friend's Wedding. Steamy, laugh-out-loud, and full of charm, these two best friends heat up the pages while proving true love might be right in front of you.

Have you ever heard of a man-in-waiting?

Yeah, neither has my best friend's soon-to-be monster-in-law. Ooo, sorry, I meant mother-in-law. Nor has she heard of the term, what the bride wants, the bride gets.

With wedding planning underway and a short timeline, my best friend, Lia, has recruited me to help her battle the snarly beast that is Mrs. Beaver. Not scared at all, I accept the challenge as her man-in-waiting--aka, man of honor--and take matters into my own hands.

The only problem is, with every second we draw closer to the wedding, I'm starting to see my best girl in a different light.

She's always been beautiful to me, but now . . . I find myself staring a touch too long. My hand lingering for one more minute. And when she's upset? Allowing her to sleep in my bed.

And before I know what's happening, it hits me like a ton of bricks. I'm in love with my best friend. Not just in love, but infatuated.

No one compares to her and nothing seems to distract me from that realization.
Not the girl I try to date while I help plan Lia's wedding.
Not her angry fiancé who thinks I'm growing too close.
And not the looming deadline of her nuptials.

Which means, there's only one thing left for me to do. Prove to Lia I'm the one she should be with instead. But with the pressure of her engagement, the stress from her soon-to-be mother-in-law, and the breath-stealing nerves running through me, I'm finding it a lot harder to claim the girl than I would like to admit.

Say a little prayer for me . . .

I need to begin by explaining that I have not read the other Cane books ( A Not So Meet Cute and So Not Meant To Be). I don't feel like I missed out on anything by reading this one first- it can absolutely be read as a stand-alone novel. That said, characters from both books do play a large part in this book and I ended up falling in love with them. I have already started Huxley's story and will be reading JP's as well.

Now then, let's get started. I loved the friendship between these two, even if it blurred a lot of lines (you let her sleep in your bed in the past and didn't realize you loved her?). The story of their meeting at the Secret Scrabble Society, with her just being brutal and him taking it with a smile is hilarious. I love Breaker for the fact that, even though he liked her, the second she said she wanted a friend he decided that that was what he'd be. For ten years. To the point that he thought he had given up those feelings. Seriously, I can't even imagine. Their taco dates, Password marathons and game nights were adorably charming. I loved their interactions.

I also loved that once he finally figured out his feelings, he was still going to let her be with whoever she wanted; was going to be whatever she wanted. The fact that he was still her best man, picking dresses and cakes by her side and shielding her from Brian's mother was the sweetest thing. Getting advice from his brothers (and some help from the absolute best hype-men ever), he went about trying to show her that they could have everything. Their friendship, the things they enjoyed, didn't necessarily have to change... just evolve. Tacos might lead to sex now.

This was a fun, fast read that I didn't want to put down. Even though it was well over 400 pages it felt short. I wanted more. Now, when the relationship evolved there were long, explicit sex scenes (level six spice), but there was still a good story. I feel like sometimes when the main characters discover their feelings the plot takes second place... I can honestly say that I didn't find that to be true here. Add to that, the eARC I recieved has black and white sketches! (Most are extremely tame.) Now I want that for all the books. Weirdly, the eBook currently on Kindle Unlimited doesn't have these. I don't know if it's because this was a different publisher, if there will be a new eBook edition, or if this will be in the new edition of the paperback... or if it will be there at all. If it isn't, I think I am going to miss it.

For me, this is a five star book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.