In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with a contemporary romance from Marie Harte and The Only Thing proves that; characters you want as friends, humor, fun, and hot sexy times her books are awesome! ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures
Blurb:
What do you do when a “fake” relationship is so much better than the real thing?
Hope Donnigan is finlly getting her life together. She’s working a job she likes, has some amazing friends, and is steering clear of Mr. Wrong. Now if only she could get her mother to understand that. Maybe a hot tattoo artist from the other side town is just the ticket to teach her mom a lesson.
J.T. Webster fell for Hope months ago at his sister’s wedding. So when she propositions him to be her fake boyfriend to get her mother off her back, he’s all in. The only problem is J.T. had no idea their pretend relationship would be better than anything real he’s ever had…
As a lover of Marie Harte and her Donnigan/McCauley/Webster “ecosystem” I’ve been waiting for this book and I wasn’t disappointed. I 
suspected this paring awhile back and I loved the way it played out. There is something about a couple who has such a combustible chemistry that despite knowing it might be messy if they end things, they simply can’t stay away from one another. The Only Thing features two people both a bit gun shy about relationships for different reasons realizing that while their heads try to say no, their bodies and eventually their hearts are all in.
J.T. Webster is a gifted tattoo artist with his own business and loves his Dad, his crazy sister Del, and his cousin and aunts with all his heart. J.T. is brawny and he’s been known to throw down when he has to but as his hands are his livelihood he prefers to use his brain when he can even though most people assume he doesn’t have one. Ever since meeting Hope Donnigan at his sister’s wedding, he’s found it hard to not think and fantasize about her. J.T. knows his reputation as a lady’s man follows him wherever he goes, but when Hope asks him to be her pretend boyfriend to drive her mother up a wall; he has no qualms about telling her yes.
I loved this pairing and the fact that they had so much in common, more than either of them ever expected. J.T. seemed to be a calming force for Hope and he respected her brain as well as her beauty, but even more than that he loved her work ethic and her independence. Hope seemed to center J.T. and made him feel whole and happy, something he can’t remember ever really feeling before. They were good for one another and I loved watching them try and keep their hands to themselves and progressing more and more into a physical relationship that was smokin’ hot.
I absolutely loved seeing the characters from previous books and the ragtag group of artists at J.T.’s studio. They added humor, depth, and attitude to this story. There were a couple of things that kept me from giving this book five stars; Hope and her mother Laura had a difficult relationship and it honestly was the basis for Hope and J.T. getting together and I kept waiting for there to be some tiny bit of resolution between mother and daughter. It was such a dominate part of this story and I felt like it kind of got left flapping in the wind. Secondly while it was easy to see these two falling hard for one another even though they didn’t want to admit it and while they finally did, I would have like to see how they were faring a couple months down the road so I’m hoping we catch up with them in a future book. The ending was just a bit rushed for me and I needed more.
In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with a contemporary romance from Marie Harte and The Only Thing proves that; characters you want as friends, humor, fun, and hot sexy times her books are awesome!
Leave a Reply