Ultra Meital Reviews: Wedding Favors (Bluewater Bay #7) [Lucas & Gabe] by Anne Tenino

I LOVED this one! We got the background story to this one in the previous installment in the short novella "Helping Hand" which was a sweet "coming of age" story. This one takes place 12 years later, when Lucas returns home to his best friends' wedding. It was hinted that Audrey might have an interest in Zach (Lucas' older brother) and so when SHE returns home about a year before they rekindle their interest in one another. Lucas isn't sure about returning home, and anyhow, he doesn't intend to stay after the wedding.. he just has to figure out where to live after he and his boyfriend broke up.

Since Gabe is Zach's best friend it's obvious he is going to meet Lucas not only at the wedding but in many other arrangements before the ceremony. Gabe actually wants that.. He doesn't like the way things ended between them, especially as Lucas have been ignoring him over the years in the few times he DID come home to visit his family. Lucas is hurt. Still. Gabe was his first crush (dare I say love?) But as it seems, Lucas was also Gabe's first crush and a guy he hasn't been able to get out of his system. So now they have to find a way to put what happened in the past - right there - in the past, and see what they can do in the present. Which is half the problem of this story really.. With the present they find a way for them to work but looking into the future is something they are both unsure of how to do.

I loved both Gabe and Lucas, I also loved the way they see so each other. Gabe really understood Lucas and his artistic mind, he was patient with him. It was funny but also interesting as it was accurate how Gabe treated him like the horse he was training, trying to get Lucas to get closer to him and make the first move, so he won't spook him or make him do something he isn't sure about. It drove Lucas crazy! But I do think it was done beautifully by Gabe who new Lucas maybe better than Lucas knew himself, or rather he truly accepted him the way he is, something Lucas never experienced before.

There were A LOT of Laugh Out Loud moments. The way his father changed was HILARIOUS! But besides that, I can honestly say that Audrey and Lucas drunk were the FUNNIEST drunks EVER (I hate drunk and NEVER BEFORE found any of those incidents funny.. well, until this book!). There were two instances I literally had to stop reading because I couldn't for the life of me stop laughing and snorting. The first one is the reason no REAL Lumberjack would wear a full on beard like all those Lumbersexual wannabes and the second, is what the hell Douchebonnet means. I'm still giggling here just THINKING about it!

With all the misunderstanding between these two, and the fact NEITHER of them is capable saying what he actually WANTS, their relationship buildup was sweet and tender. There was so much patience there, caution. I really liked that. The conclusion was so so beautiful. I couldn't have asked for more.. It takes these two about half the book to actually get to being together, and once they do.. well.. be prepared for a sex-fest.. ;)

HIGHLY Recommended this one! I loved it SO SO much.

Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 265 pages, 3-4 December 2016 / On GoodReads

ABOUT THIS SERIES

Welcome to Bluewater Bay! This quiet little logging town on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula has been stagnating for decades, on the verge of ghost town status. Until a television crew moves in to film Wolf’s Landing, a soon-to-be cult hit based on the wildly successful shifter novels penned by local author Hunter Easton.

Wolf’s Landing’s success spawns everything from merchandise to movie talks, and Bluewater Bay explodes into a mecca for fans and tourists alike. The locals still aren’t quite sure what to make of all this—the town is rejuvenated, but at what cost? And the Hollywood-based production crew is out of their element in this small, mossy seaside locale. Needless to say, sparks fly.

This collaborative story world is brought by collective authors, each contemporary novel stands alone, but all are built around the town and the people of Bluewater Bay and the Wolf’s Landing media empire.

This series was a way of me getting to know a few unknown to me authors as well as enjoy some authors I've already knew I loved. Generally speaking you can pick any book in this series and read it as a standalone, just know that most of the side characters mentioned have their own book. It means that at times there are quite a lot of "name dropping". It could be fun if you're highly connected to the previous books or annoying when you're not. This is why it's hard for me to give this series an overall review as some books I absolutely LOVED and others I didn't which made the ride quite "bumpy".

That's part of the reason I decided to put this series aside after the 17th installment (with 5 unread books by "hit or miss" authors). I would have stopped a bit earlier truth being told but I DID want to give a chance to authors I already know I enjoyed, but in the end I felt a bit uncomfortable continuing to support this series - or rather its publisher - considering it's recent revealed "shade".

Books:

1. Starstruck By L.A. Witt [Levi Pritchard & Carter Samuels] (Published 3 November 2014) ★★★★
2. There's Something About Ari By L.B. Gregg [Buck Ellis & Ari Valentine] (Published 8 November 2014) ★★★★★
3. Hell on Wheels By Z.A. Maxfield [Nash Holly & Spencer Kepler-Constantine] (Published 29 November 2014) ★★★★★
4. Lone Wolf By Aleksandr Voinov & L.A. Witt [Hunter Easton & Kevin Hussain] (Published 20 December 2014) ★★ (DNF 25%)
5. The Burnt Toast B&B By Heidi Belleau & Rachel Haimowitz [Ginsberg Sloan & Derrick Richards] (Published 11 January 2015) ★★★½
6. Lights, Camera, Cupid (Bluewater Bay #6) Valentine's Anthology (Published 7 February 2015) ★★★★
    [ Just Another Day [Levi Pritchard & Carter Samuels] by L.A. Witt ★★★ ]
[ Nascha By Amy Lane  ★★★★★ ]
[ No Easy Way [Cary Teijan & Dylan James] By S.E. Jakes  ★★★★½ ]
[ Helping Hand [Lucas Wilder & Gabriel Savage] by Anne Tenino  ★★★★★ ]
[ I'll Be There [Nash Holly & Spencer Kepler] By Z.A. Maxfield  ★★ ]

7. Wedding Favors By Anne Tenino [Lucas Wilder & Gabriel Savage] (Published 11 April 2015) ★★★★★
8. The Deep of the Sound By Amy Lane [Cal McCorkle & Avery Kennedy] (Published 13 June 2015) ★★★★★
9. When to Hold Them By G.B. Gordon [Doran Callaghan & Xavier Wagner] (Published 15 August 2015) ★★ (DNF 49%)
10. Rain Shadow By L.A. Witt [Jeremy Rose & Scott Fletcher] (Published 17 October 2015) ★★★
11. Stuck Landing By Lauren Gallagher [Anna Maxwell & Natalya Izmaylova] (Published 12 December 2015) ★★ (DNF 38%)
12. How the Cookie Crumbles By Jaime Samms [Frederic Jackson & Blaire Caruthers] (Published 13 February 2016) ★★★¾

13. Selfie By Amy Lane [Connor Montgomery & Noah Dakers] (Published 16 April 2016) ★★★ (DNF 51%)
14. All the Wrong Places By Ann Gallagher [Brennan Cross & Zafir Hamady] (Published 12 June 2016) ★★★½
15. Bluewater Blues By G. B. Gordon [Jack Daley & Mark Keao] (Published 15 October 2016) ★★★★★
16. No Small Parts By Ally Blue [Nat Horn & Rafael Cortez] (Published 19 December 2016) ★★