ARC Review: And the next Thing You Know . . . (Why You? #2) by Chase Taylor Hackett

Blurb:

Not the one you’re waiting for . . .

Jeffrey Bornic is getting over his ex. Really. So what if the rising-star attorney is angrily sleeping his way through most of Manhattan’s male population? When the time is right, the perfect partner will show up. And Jeffrey knows exactly what he’ll be like: an ambitious, polished professional who’ll make the ideal other half of a fabulous power couple.

Theo McPherson is definitely not that guy. He’s a short, fiery red-head who works in the arts and wears sneakers held together with duct tape. If it weren’t for the fact that Theo is his best friend’s little (literally) brother, Jeff would be crossing the street to avoid him. Theo, meanwhile, has nothing but contempt for guys in suits, and seems to have deliberately set out to make Jeff’s life miserable, all while grinning at him in that exasperating way that he has.

At least it’s hard for Jeff to keep moping over his ex when he’s butting heads with Theo—and suddenly wondering if the last guy he’d ever fall for might be exactly that . . .

Todd's rating:

Profuse Gushing Alert!

I loved this story so freaking hard. Period.

Once "Jeffrey" (not Jeff) met Theo for lunch with Jeffrey's best friend, Rebecca, Theo's sister, then immediately proceeded to nip any of Theo's thoughts of future "dates" in the bud, I was sold. That shit was pure comic genius.

“... I’ve just come off a pretty bad break-up,” I said with a touch of melancholy in my voice, a carefully practiced sadness in the eyes, “and I’m simply not ready to jump into a relationship or dating or anything right now, okay? I know, I’m probably just too sensitive.” There was a noise from the other side of the table—it was almost, not quite, a snort. “But please, no hard feelings, all right, Theo?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way! You’re clearly a great guy—fabulous really—and honestly, it’s just a question of lousy timing. It’s totally my loss.”

Fabulous really! <-- *snort* Yes, I fucking died then and there, guys.

So, as you might imagine, as the story began, “Jeffrey" had a very high opinion of himself, and Theo loved nothing more than putting a bitch in their place. Stat.

This story was so rife with snark and banter, as these two polar opposites sparred off against one another, it was such a delight to witness, so I was all in right from the start.

Then you have Tommy, Jeff's ex-boyfriend's best friend, who just happened to be working at Jeff's law firm now. When Tommy and Theo, aka Twinks United, got together, Jeff seriously had to watch his back. Which was awesome to see the confident, arrogant, prick of an attorney brought down so handily.

I loved Tommy so much that I've pretty much decide that I *must* go back and read book 1, which I'd previously decided to skip. Tommy was an amazing supporting character and made me laugh so hard.

Snark and banter (cough-flirting-cough) aside, the main drama in the story came from a truly terrible thing that Jeff did behind Rebecca's back to further his career, plus Jeff wasn't out to his very conservative family.

When Jeff's awful deed was discovered by Theo, that was THE END of the Jeff & Theo show. Permanently. Maybe. Okay, for a while. This is a romance, after all. ;- )

The story definitely included a good number of genuine feels. Like the red shoe laces. *GAH* I loved that scene so hard and may or may not have swooned just an itty bit. Allegedly.

One thing that the book did not have, though, was on-page steam. Those scenes were entirely glossed over; however, while I would have undoubtedly enjoyed them, I didn't ultimately feel that they were necessary for the story to feel complete.

There was one 'almost' cheating scene, where Jeff was in feeling denial and had told Theo that he had "no interest" in them sleeping together again, which did piss me off. But, of course, Theo being Theo showed up and put the kibosh on that little Grindr "meat and greet" so hard. It was a funny scene, but made me think much less of Jeff, at least for a while.

For the SJW types out there, I must also mention that the MC's weren't the most sensitive when it came to referring to others as fat, ugly, old, balding, girly, and the like. I didn't find including those particular derogatory words added *anything* to the story, instead, they made me cringe when I saw them on-page. So just a warning, there before buying this book.

The story ends with Theo and Jeff happily together, exclusively, and planning their future, so I really enjoyed it. Tommy also got a final chapter, with his romantic future looking decidedly up, so yay for that, too.

While the story was not perfect, it was pretty damned perfect for me, so I'd rate it at around 4.5 stars.

My copy of the book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair, unbiased review.

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