Review: Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins

When Grace Emerson’s ex-fiancé starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she’s seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right? Someone…exactly unlike her renegade neighbor Callahan O’Shea. Well, someone with his looks, maybe. His hot body. His knife-sharp sense of humor. His smarts and big heart.

Whoa. No. Callahan O’Shea is not her perfect man! Not with his unsavory past. So why does Mr. Wrong feel so…right?

Grace Emerson is really not over her ex-fiance and the fact that she has to endure her cousin’s 3rd wedding is really grating on her nerves – especially since said ex is here with her sister, Natalie…whom he’s dating. Can it get more complicated? Not only is she there by herself and having to endure her relatives “kind” utterances, which is enough to make her rather be anywhere but there, but Natalie is now saying that she’s going to break it off with Grace’s ex so as to not hurt her sister any longer. What’s a girl to do? Well, make up a boyfriend, of course! He’s kind, he’s charming and of course she’s so over her ex so no need to worry. I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing in Grace’s place.

Then there’s the new neighbor, Callahan O’Shea, who is hot, hot, hot but they don’t meet under the best of circumstances to say the least. Besides their horrid first meet and greet Grace finds out that Callahan has just gotten out of prison – definitely not someone she should be attracted to – but she kinda is. Yet she’s fighting it because, you know, he’s a criminal and they just can’t be trusted.

Can I just say I really, really, really liked this book? Yeah? Ok, I will…I really, really, really liked this book. This was one of those impulse buys that had such a huge payoff for me. I picked up my ereader and I did not want to put it down until I was done. I don’t even think I ate dinner that night. The kids were gone, the hubby was off with friends and I stayed up ‘til the wee hours of the morning finishing the book and smiling to myself while I read. (and then read it again the next day)

I really liked Grace and her crazy, crazy family – even with the issues they had. The glimpses into her classroom (she’s a teacher) were fun. I liked her gay best friend Julian, who was also looking for love, and their relationship. And I really liked Callahan tremendously…he was an honest and pretty darned up front guy. But what I enjoyed the most from this book was the relationship between Callahan and Grace. It was just refreshing in its simplicity – yet it really wasn’t simple at all – if that makes any kind of sense. They were just so great together and I could really see this relationship happening. I suspend belief on a regular basis when I read – even with contemporaries – but with this one I didn’t need to and I loved that.

The sense of humor in this book is great as well – dry in some parts but just great. For example: Grace had been looking for a date for her cousins wedding with no luck. Her friend Kiki is questioning her the day of the wedding

…”So, Grace, did you find a date?” I grimaced. “No. I didn’t. It won’t be pretty.” “Oh, shit,” she said. “I’m so sorry.” “Well, it’s not the end of the world,” I murmured bravely. “You sure about that?” Like me, Kiki was single. And no one knew better than a single woman in her thirties that hell is going to a wedding stag. In a few hours, my cousin Kitty, who once cut my bangs down to the roots when I was sleeping over at her house, was getting married. For the third time. In a Princess Diana–style dress. (more conversation ensues) …“So you’re going stag,” she said in the same tone as a doctor might use when saying, I’m sorry, it’s terminal. “Well, I did try, Kiki,” I reminded her. “Johnny who delivers my pizza is dating Garlic-and-Anchovies, if you can believe it. Brandon at the nursing home said he’d hang himself before being a wedding date. And I just found out that the cute guy at the pharmacy is only seventeen years old, and though he said he’d be happy to go, Betty the pharmacist is his mom and mentioned something about the Mann Act and predators, so I’ll be going to the CVS in Farmington from now on.”

This whole exchange had me laughing outright. Many, many more great moments occur in this book but it’s not all light. The parts where Grace had to deal with her ex and her sister together made my heart twinge in sadness for Grace every time and there were a few other periods of conflict that got me as well. But overall it was pretty fun. I could go on and on but I have to stop sometime, right? I recommend this book (and I’m not even a fan of 1st person pov!) to anyone who enjoys a great contemporary. If you enjoyed reading Just the Sexiest Man Alive I think you will very much enjoy Too Good To Be True.

Rating 4.25 out of 5

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