Book: 50/100
Parker Brown took an event that would have taken most people under and turned it into something beautiful. After the tragic death of both her parents she and her best friends took their respective expertise and started Vows, a wedding venue in Greenwich, Connecticut. Parker is the wedding coordinator, with Mac leading the photography, Emma the flowers and Laurel the desserts. Parker is excited to be planning her three friends’ respective weddings: Mac to Carter, Emma to Jack, and Laurel to Parker’s Brother Delaney. She ignores her own loneliness and chooses to focus on the things she excels at: planning, clothes, shoes and planning.
Malcolm Kavanagh, a friend of Delaney, has the ability to fluster Parker – something that is rarely done. He is cocky by nature and never gets repelled by her “Brown frost”. After he helps her repair her car tires after a small accident, their relationship goes into an interesting direction. He takes her home on his Harley, and Delaney tells Malcolm that he won’t be able to ever get Parker back on the bike. Malcolm takes the bet, tells Parker that he did, wins her trust, and sees her playful side when she orders him to give her Del’s share of the bet.
Parker and Mal gets to know each other better, and Mal heads off trouble when he immediately prevents male drama by telling Del he is interested – cleverly preventing not getting punched like Jack did for hooking up with Emma before he told her honorary brother. Parker gets along wonderfully with Mal’s mother, which charmingly disconcerts him.
As their relationship grows, Parker realizes that there are deep and dark areas in Mal’s life which he doesn’t want to share. Most of it relates to his abusive childhood and an accident that happened when he worked in Hollywood as a stunt double. For Parker, who trusts those she loves unconditionally, it is quite a learning curve to accommodate Malcolm’s trust issues. They have a fight when he witnesses a car accident and is unable to relay what happened, and gets irritated with her for not understanding. As an apology, he buys her fabulous shoes, becoming a fan with all the girls. She accepts it, and him, back into her life. But will they continue to butt heads or find a way to love each other?
Rating: 6/10
Even though I don’t find Parker and Malcolm the most realistic of couples, I do think that the book was well done. It was enjoyable, it wasn’t stretched out, and it finished off the Quartet series nicely. Parker is my favorite character after Laurel – she is intelligent, organized and a fitness freak. She accepts her brother’s protective attitude, acknowledging that it is something that he needs to do. Her compassion and kindness endeared her to me from book one, as well as her sneaky ways to find out information when she wants to.
Read my reviews on the other three books in the series below:
PS: Happy 50 books!
Life of this city girl 