Rowena’s review of Wrecked (Barnes Brothers, Book 1) by Shiloh Walker.
Hero: Zach Barnes
Heroine: Abigale Applegate
In the nineties, Abigale Applegate and Zach Barnes were the most beloved sitcom child stars in the world. Then they grew up and left Hollywood behind…
Whatever happened to Abigale Applegate?
She’s been wondering the same thing.
With her Hollywood dreams long gone, Abigale now has a nice, neat, uncomplicated life—until the day her perfect fiancé needs to talk. Dumped, a little more than shattered, and totally confused, Abigale turns to Zach, her best friend since forever, to help her pick up the pieces. He does it with a gift—a copy of Wreck This Journal. She can vent her frustrations, and sketch out a new plan. Zach just hopes he’s part of it. Because he’s been in love with Abigale his entire life.
When the journal falls into Zach’s hands, he discovers Abigale wants a new man. And fast. Nothing more than a hot distraction. Zach has a strategy, too. He’s going to be that man. It’s his last chance. Abigale might be out to shake up her life, but Zach’s out to reinvent it. Now, all he has to do is convince Abigale that life can go as planned…
Like many people, I’m such a sap when it comes to those friends to lovers love stories and this story was another great example of why I love them so much. I haven’t read very many books by Shiloh Walker but I’m thinking I will definitely be checking out more of her contemporaries because I thought she did a great job telling Zach and Abby’s story.
So Zach and Abby are child stars all grown up. They were on a sitcom together when they were kids and they stayed best friends after the show got cancelled. It’s now years and years later, both Zach and Abby are adults and they’re both out of the Hollywood spotlight (though not completely because can you ever get out of that spotlight?), living in Arizona. Abby has her own catering company and Zach has his own tattoo shop. Abby is getting married and Zach is going to let her.
Even though he’s been in love with her almost his entire life.
When it comes to best friends, I think Zach is one of the very best written best friends that I’ve read in a very long time. There wasn’t a thing that Zach wouldn’t have done for Abby and the wealth of love that he had for her only strengthened his resolve to make her happy. I found it almost impossible to believe that in all the years that they’ve been friends, Abby never once noticed his feelings for her but hey, stranger things have happened so why not?
This story was good. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and I enjoyed Walker’s writing style. It was fun and all of it felt so real. I appreciated Walker’s efforts in this, I was wrapped up in every single thing that happened between Abby and Zach. Through all of the boneheaded thoughts, fights and everything else, it was a fun ride that I’m glad to have been a part of. I definitely want to see more stories from this cast of characters so I’m hoping that there will be stories for Zach’s brothers.
Grade: 4 out of 5
This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.
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