Review: My One and Only by Kristan Higgins.

Rowena’s review of My One and Only by Kristan Higgins.

Hero: Nick Lowell
Heroine: Harper James

Just when she thought she had life and love all figured out…

Divorce attorney Harper James can’t catch a break. Bad enough that she runs into her ex-hubby, Nick, at her sister’s destination wedding, but now, by a cruel twist of fate, she’s being forced to make a cross-country road trip with him. And her almost-fiancé back at home is not likely to be sympathetic.

Harper can’t help that Nick has come blazing back into her life in all of his frustratingly appealing, gorgeous architect glory. But in Nick’s eyes, Harper’s always been the one. If they can only get it right this time, forever might be waiting—just around the bend.

Kristan Higgins is one of my go to authors for great contemporary romances. I don’t mind stories told in first person and I think that Higgins does a wonderful job of telling great stories. It wasn’t any different in this book. The whole lovers reunion type stories are usually a hit with me and while I couldn’t get enough of this book, I didn’t exactly love it.

Right from the jump, it was hard for me to like the heroine, Harper James. She’s a divorce attorney who keeps throwing her nose into everyone’s business. Her first marriage turned sour and it’s made her itchy on the subject of marriage. She won’t marry for love the way that she did with her first marriage so this time around, she’s going in with her eyes wide open and with a more business like attitude. She’s dating a gorgeous firefighter who is a hit with all of the ladies in town. They love them some Dennis and he belongs to Harper. Harper plans on marrying Dennis because she’s not getting any younger and she needs to get on with the get down and just as she starts the most awkward proposal ever, she gets a phone call from her sister about her upcoming wedding #3 and that ends her proposal and when she finds out who her sister is going to marry, it sends her from the restaurant.

Her sister, Willa is going to marry Harper’s ex-husband’s brother.

Now, I understand being concerned for your sister marrying for the third time. I also understand the concern she’d have about her sister marrying so quickly after meeting the guy but the way that Harper went about trying to dissuade Willa from marrying Chris was not the way to go. It got on my bleeping nerves. Harper’s whole attitude toward Willa’s upcoming nuptials to Chris and to everything else in her life got on my ever loving nerves. She wasn’t one of those too stupid to live heroines but she was one of those I think I know everything and you should listen to me heroines and those heroines get on my nerves equally as much as the TSTL ones.

So Harper and Dennis jet off to the wilds of Montana for the wedding and Harper runs into her ex-husband who she still has feelings for, Nick. Nick is looking good these days and Harper is glad that she is too. She’s also glad that she’s got a strapping young lad of a boyfriend that makes her look good in front of her ex-husband and just like you know is going to happen, the bickering begins almost immediately.

A huge bulk of the story takes place on the road when Nick gives Harper a ride to the nearest airport which is hours away from Montana and it is through this road trip that you begin to go through the emotional roller coaster. There were times when I laughed, times when I wanted to choke both Nick and Harper out and then times when they were just too cute for words. It all happened on the road trip.

Usually, when a story unfolds you pick a side and you stick to it but that didn’t happen this time around with me. As the story is unwinding and things are starting to clear up for me, I didn’t think one person was right over the next one. I thought that it was unfortunate that the both of them let things get the way that they did.

I enjoyed getting to know Harper’s family at the wedding. I thought BeverLee was sweet even though she came off annoying because you could see how much she loved her family. When Willa first came onto the scene, I thought she’d be a spoiled little brat but she wasn’t, she was just the younger sister and I liked her. Their Dad may not have been the most welcoming person but he wasn’t an unlikeable sort, he was great. Heck, I even liked Dennis.

Higgins writes a story rich with fantastic characters and while the main couple bickered their way to the happy ending, the entire book isn’t bad. The book is good and I’m sure there will be lots of people who enjoy it more than I did but because I spent a good part of the book annoyed at both the hero and the heroine, it chipped away at my enjoyment of the book but I’m glad I read it because duh, it’s a Kristan Higgins. Would I recommend this book? You won’t see me shouting from the rooftops but it’s an enjoyable read for fans of the author.

Grade: 3 out of 5

This book is available from HQN. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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