Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel

 

Mark Banks feels old at 27. He got his college girlfriend pregnant and married her. He is now recently divorced and between caring for his daughter and his intense job as a trader, Mark does not have time for anything else and he never had a chance to fully explore his bisexual side. Mark’s younger sister, Hannah, is getting married soon after meeting a man and Mark thinks it’s all a mistake. He wants to protect his sister and, after a few drinks, he sends her texts to let her know his feelings. Except Mark doesn’t just send the texts to Hannah, he sends them to her fiancé and the fiancé’s “super hot” best friend, Asher. Mark has a lot of apologizing to do.

Now, Mark has to plan Hannah’s wedding, along with Asher as co-best men, while staying alone with Asher in Miami. Asher is everything Mark wants to hate; he’s rich and successful and a former professional athlete and so cocky that he pushes every single one of Mark’s buttons each time he sees the infuriatingly gorgeous man. But Asher is more than he appears to be and polo shirt wearing Mark intrigues Asher so much that Asher suggests a fling while they are in Miami. A few days of fun is what they both need, but then feelings get involved. Mark and Asher have no idea how to talk about what they want, but their time in bed together is legendary. And just when Mark feels ready to make his move and tell Asher how he feels, he realizes that Asher may be just out of reach.

Sarina Bowen and Lauren Blakely team up here to offer a hot, contemporary novel featuring Mark and Asher. Their story has a prequel, Super Hot Wingman, that the authors have available for free in both ebook and audio formats. The prequel introduces Mark and Asher to readers, as well as each to each other, and sets the tone for how Mark gets himself into an impossible situation. I did read the prequel first and I really wasn’t sure then what the book would bring as I wasn’t exactly loving either Mark or Asher. But there is definitely more to both of them than what we see in the prequel and their full story is fun and hot and sexy.

Mark’s divorce has just become final and he feels like a failure. It doesn’t matter that he only got married because his girlfriend was pregnant and it doesn’t matter that they weren’t a forever fit, Mark is completely down on himself. He doesn’t like Asher on sight. He doesn’t like that Asher is late, and he doesn’t like that Asher is gorgeous and successful and living his best life. Everything about Asher just gets to Mark from the first moment he sees him. Asher is having too much fun getting Mark riled up, but while Mark is out to his family, Asher thinks Mark is straight.

The progression from the men appearing to not like each other, to them calling a truce so they can plan the wedding together, to them agreeing to a friends with benefits relationship, and then to them both wanting more has a great flow. With dual POVs, we see that Asher has some insecurities that certainly play into his self-esteem and that isn’t something he shows many people and Mark starts to realize that he is allowed to have a life for himself while still being a good father.

The men are a great fit and, with fun banter and hot intimate scenes, The Best Men is a contemporary novel that you can sink into and enjoy.