Title: Fool Me Once
Author: Catherine Bybee
Series: First Wives #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel
Available: Now
From Weekday Brides to First Wives, a dazzling series about four women and their alliance of newfound friendship, unexpected love, and second chances.
Cynical divorce attorney Lori Cumberland lives by one motto: Love is grand, but divorce is a hundred grand. With one failed marriage under her own personal belt, Lori had fallen hard and early—and it isn’t something she plans on repeating. She’s content focusing on the temporary marriages of her rich and famous clients. When she joins some of her recent divorcées on a celebratory cruise, her only vow is fun, sun, and new friends. But Lori finds herself tempted by a jury of one.
For Reed Barlow, falling into the world of private investigation was easy. He knows the law and knows how to avoid breaking it—all while doing his job. His rule to live by? No emotion, no involvement…until Lori. His charming smile and cocky attitude distracts Lori and lowers her guard, which is exactly what Reed desires.
But what appears as a one-time-only flirtation may be a plot orchestrated by Reed. As he’s taking his investigation to a dangerous level, it’s Lori who could end up in jeopardy. Reed has only one shot for Lori to grant him a second chance. But if he comes clean with her, he blows his cover. And that just might cost him the opportunity for an alliance of family…and of love.
Source: ARC from Montlake Romance via NetGalley
Despite being a Catherine Bybee fan and having read most of her other books, I’ve not yet read any of the Weekday Brides series. As such, this whole set up and all the characters were new to me. I don’t think that stopped me from enjoying the book, but I did get the sense that I was missing out at times because I didn’t know all the side characters and how they fit into everything.
However, that didn’t bother me too much (it just made me want to catch up with the previous series). Instead it was Reed’s long-running deception that got to me. Things start off pretty well, with Lori and her three friends/clients heading off for some decadent fun in the Med. There is luxury and flirting and lots and lots of drinking and Reed drops in with a sexy smile and stalkerish ways and all is well.
Except, to be honest, I just wasn’t quite feeling it. I liked Lori and her protective ways with the other women, but at the same time they were all a bit naive in the way they let certain people in. Reed himself proves he’s not above some pretty shady behaviour, but there’s attraction, so it’s all fine. And Reed proves himself to be a bit more of a gentleman off-screen by trying to keep the women all safe.
Up to a point. He could have mentioned a few of his suspicions, but that might have risked his cover and… well. Yeah. That bothered me a little. What bothered me more was the way he continued to deepen his relationship with Lori when they returned home, without telling her any of what was really going on. Even when his reasons for investigating her start to change course, he’s still digging into her business and invading her privacy, and sure his motives might be good at times, but his methods really aren’t. I don’t care if he knows he’s being a jerk about it, he’s still being a jerk.
Reed’s douchebaggery aside, I liked a lot of the characters here. I liked Lori, I liked her friends, I liked all the people connected to Alliance, I even liked Reed, and yet I didn’t quite love any of it. The plot is okay, although the threat level felt pretty tepid for most of the book, and I was intrigued at the hints of future stories for each of Lori’s friends. But the romance never quite won me over. Part of that was Reed’s deception, but a lot of it was down to Lori and Reed and not really knowing what kept them together beyond the initial attraction.
All of which leaves me feeling a bit ambivalent about this one. I liked it enough to finish it, and it definitely piqued my interest in more – both before this one and after – but Reed and Lori’s actual romance left me rather underwhelmed.
Fool Me Once is Out Now.
Visit Catherine Bybee for more details.
