The Best Man (The Blue Heron Series Book 1)

Reviews

1. 

   Smitten with Reading – September 24, 2024

   A rating….
   My Review:*sigh* Kristan Higgins books are my happy place and I’ve been saving this one because I love them so much. It did not disappoint. Everything about this book was good. From Levi and Faith and how much they truly don’t like each other, for different reasons. Then there’s Jeremy, Faith’s former fiance, who’s just too sweet…and a bit clueless…to be real. But oh, I could so see him as a great best friend for both Levi and Faith.Faith is a real girl. She has real girl curves and is epileptic. She has a dog she loves, a family she lovingly tolerates, and a secret that she’s hidden for twenty years. In the meantime, she’s tried to be as perfect as possible to make up for it. The one flaw in her perfect world….Levi, the guy who’s never liked her…oh, and yeah, he ruined her wedding to the perfect guy. So what that he was gay and no one including her realized it, they still had a good thing going. But Levi has never made it any secret that he only endures Faith when she’s around.Levi grew up as one of the poor kids. He always watched Faith from afar with her perfect-princess persona, always helping and volunteering and being too sickly sweet to everyone. It drove him nuts and he never saw the person below that facade, even though she dated his best friend for years. Now Faith is back and their paths keep crossing, showing Levi a completely different person than the one he thought he knew.For the first half of this book, the story unfolded with a chapter from the present followed by a chapter from the past. I’m not a huge fan of this many flashbacks, but it worked for this book because so much of who these people are and what has put them where they are at in their lives rests in the nuances of the past.It was interesting watching the way the characters, especially Levi, have evolved from the past. At first, I really wasn’t sure I was going to be able to like him, but by the end, I was in love. *sigh* Such a great character and he is so perfect with Faith. He’s a much more introverted person although he’s always helping people and showing his feelings in little subtle ways. Faith is all out there. The two of them together were great.There was also this huge cast of characters from this tiny town…and a lot of them are just that…characters. It was fun to get to know everyone in the town. My favorites:*Jeremy*Sarah, Levi’s little sister.There was also a great moment with Levi at a car wreck that just melted my heart. I was so happy that K. Higgins included that little touch.Overall, this was another FANTASTIC read from Kristan Higgins. I am so happy that it’s the beginning of a series. I LOVE upstate NY and this little tow

2. 

   Claire D – September 24, 2024

   The writer uses a down-home style of writing that didn’t appeal to me
   I thought the story was pretty good, with a slightly different twist than many of the “standard” romance novel story lines, but I really had a hard time getting used to the informal, Sarah Palin-esque voice the author employed. I did manage to get into the story eventually, and I liked the book, but I didn’t love it. The biggest plot point I had trouble swallowing was everyone’s continued pity for the author so long after the aborted wedding, which was cancelled because the groom was gay. Under those circumstances, why did everyone in the community treat her the way they did? I felt like they would have been more supportive. Also, as a design professional I actually laughed out loud when the author mentioned that the landscape architect was working alone on a major project with a very generous fee, especially at her relatively young age. But that’s probably a nit-picky detail that I only noticed because I work in a similar field.Overall, this is a pretty light-hearted read about a girl that goes home after an extended absence and finds love where she least expects it. The characters are a lively bunch, and there are even a few really humorous scenes that are both noteworthy and sweet. If you like an informal writing style with some over-the-top gag humor then you’ll probably like this book a lot. If not then you might still like it, but it will be a little more of a stretch.

3. 

   Alpha Reader – September 24, 2024

   Laugh-out-loud and the occasional lip-quiver
   Faith Holland comes from the beautiful wine country of Manningsport, California. Her family own the famous Blue Heron Winery, and two great big farm houses where their great-greats all grew up too. But Faith moved to San Francisco three years ago, after a left-at-the-altar, broken-hearted incident and now she rarely ever goes home. But when her older sister, Honor, tells her to come home and help their father before he marries a gold-digging harlot, Faith is on the next flight home and intending to stay for an unspecified time.Despite reservations at bumping into her old fiancée Jeremy – high school sweetheart and the man who broke her heart (and seemingly ruined her for all other men, since he’s still the last one she’s ever been with) – Faith is drawn home by her own guilt. When she was just a little girl she was in the car with her mother when a speeding motorist slammed into them, killing her. Faith feels a great deal of guilt because she told everyone she was having an epileptic fit which distracted her mother, and Faith has been trying to make amends ever since.Once home, Faith is tip-toeing around Jeremy, putting up with everyone’s sympathetic eyes and trying to pry the claws off dad’s unintentional girlfriend . . . but the real thorn in her side turns out to be one Levi Cooper. Once town bad boy, Jeremy’s best friend and the “best man” who decided her wedding ceremony was the perfect time for Jeremy to come out of the closet. Levi went and joined the army fresh out of high school, but now he’s home in Manningsport and police chief – caring for his teenage sister after their mother died, and still seems to have a deep hatred for Faith – who he snidely nicknamed Princess Super-Cute in high school. Never mind that Faith and Levi have another side to their past that both of them are reluctant to delve into . . . even when sparks begin to fly again.`The Best Man’ is the first book in the new contemporary romance `Blue Heron’ series from Kristan Higgins.Insane, I know, but I’d never read a Kristan Higgins book until `The Best Man’. Of course, I’d seen her on many a bookshelf and recommended-reading list . . . but her covers always seemed too cutesy to me, suggesting her romance stories might be all sugar, no spice. But after reading everyone rave about her new `Blue Heron’ series, I decided to put my assumptions aside . . . and now I’m eating my words.Faith Holland is a hopeless underdog if ever there was one. She’s had a three-year drought since being left at the altar by her closeted fiancée, who she’d loved since high school and already had baby-naming plans with. Since Jeremy, Faith has had a succession of dating disasters – and when we first meet her, she’s right smack in the middle of another one. Though hilarious, it’s also quickly apparent that Faith is desperately lonely and still scarred by her failed relationship (which, really, had been doomed from the beginning – so Faith has never actually had a proper relationship in her whole life).Upon returning to Manningsport to help out her family (save her dad, and also redesign the old barn into an ideal wedding and special occasions venue) Faith is forced to re-open old wounds. Everyone in this little town still has deep sympathy for the girl who was left behind. Never mind that Jeremy is the local doctor and universally beloved by all, that just makes everyone pity Faith all the more.The one person who isn’t buying into the whole “woe is Faith” thing is Levi Cooper – Jeremy’s best friend, dreadful best man and perhaps the one person in Manningsport who never bought into Faith’s goody-two-shoes act. As such, Faith feels Levi’s contempt for her radiating off him every time they bump into each other (like when her dog, Blue, winds up under a neighbours’ house or Faith is found dangling from a bathroom window – long story).`The Best Man’ has quite a lot of stories and histories to set up in order to fully understand (and sympathise) with certain characters. In the beginning we get Faith’s perspective on her high school romance with Jeremy, and the fateful day it all fell apart. From Levi we get the beginnings of his high school friendship with Jeremy and events leading up to the wedding that would have never worked. And from both Faith and Levi we get a little extra history about a brief moment in high school when the two of them entertained the thought that maybe they had a little chemistry themselves. . . all of these interwoven with Faith’s return to Manningsport and those same sparks flying again between her and Levi.Higgins beautifully sets up this little Manningsport town and all the old histories and personal ties within the community. I actually really liked the backwards-and-forwards narration, even when reflections of the past seemed to keep repeatedly hitting Faith like an anvil. I was very wrong to assume that because Higgins has a tendency to feature cute and fuzzy animals on her covers, that her stories would be sickeningly sweet and easy – far from it! Both Faith and Levi have a lot to overcome within themselves and their histories to be together, and Higgins has indeed (though not unbelievably) piled on the dilemmas, for Faith especially.But I loved Faith, maybe all the more for her hard lot in life. She’s still a laugh-out-loud riot and quick wit. Though Levi’s memories of teenage Faith are of a sugar-coated suck-up, in reality Faith has a thorny side that she doesn’t mind subjecting Levi to – and that just made me love her all the more.I really liked that Faith and Levi had an antagonistic history that seemed built on false assumptions and damning secrets. It meant they were far from a `love at first sight’ cliché, and much closer to a `Pride and Prejudice’ slow-burn.This was such a fun, easy read that alternately had me laughing-out-loud and lip-quivering in some parts (and, okay, swooning in others) I can’t wait to read the next `Blue Heron’ instalment.

4. 

   Amandine – September 24, 2024

   j’ai beaucoup aimé ce livre car très frais, ça fait du bien. Le seul problème qui m’a empêché de mettre 5 c’est le résumé qui en dit trop du coup on s’attend à ce que l’histoire prenne le tournant décrit. Même si dans ce genre de livre l’histoire est cousu de fil blanc on aime à le découvrir là on nous dit tout.Sinon j’ai adoré.

5. 

   RikaChandra – September 24, 2024

   Right from the start the book was intriguing, and the characters were well thought through and beleivable….and I fell in love with Levi Cooper…and I’m sure most girls who read it will too. Have read this book a gazillion times and still don’t get sick of it. Its funny, light hearted and warm. The jumping back and forth in the timelines was a bit dizziying but I guess it was an itegral part of the plot.