The Goodbye Guy was packed with sexy heat, emotion, and two characters that grew and changed throughout. I loved this story! ~ Slick – Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews
Synopsis:
Rachel Bradford is finally living her dream as the star of her own interior design show. But ratings are slipping, and if she wants to save the show, she has to set an episode in the hometown she fled. Worst of all, she’s going to have to work with the cocky bad boy who humiliated her.
Single dad, Beckett Colburn plans to turn an old fire station into a neighborhood bar. He’s blindsided when he discovers his family made a deal to turn his dream into a reality TV project. He’d rather run into a burning building than work with his childhood nemesis–on camera.
But it’s not easy with a TV crew in town stirring up trouble, spreading rumors, creating buzz. Not to mention the inconvenient sudden attraction that sparks every time Rachel and Beckett fight.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed The Men of Lakeside series by Natasha Moore which features characters over the age of 35. The Goodbye Guy brings together childhood/teenage enemies who both have something to prove and to do it, they must work together. I felt the plot was well thought out, the friction perfect, the attitudes they had realistic, and the seeing each other in a new light illuminating.
Rachel Bradford loves her work as an interior designer on a home improvement network, but her ratings have slipped and in order to get a new contract she must return to her hometown and renovate an old fire station into a bar. Rachel has a difficult past with her hometown including a strained relationship with her overbearing parents and her younger brother and sister in law who emulate her parent’s perfectly. Add in the gossip of a teenage dare gone wrong and Rachel worries that her public image might be tarnished.
Beckett Colburn feels like his dream is finally coming to fruition. Nine years after returning to Lakeside with his then baby daughter in tow, he’s about to open a casual, comfortable bar he hopes will draw the locals as well as the summer tourists. Finding out his brother, the mayor and his father have agreed to let a design show come in to revamp the space without asking and the fact that the designer is the girl that always looked down on him and his family makes him realize that his family still doesn’t trust him and doesn’t think he’s capable of making decisions on his own.
Despite both characters being close to 40, their childhood baggage still remains. Rachel continues to feel that she has to prove her worth to her family, a family that doesn’t consider her successful because she’s only a designer. Add in their upper crust thinking and she just doesn’t see eye to eye with them. In addition she feels that she can’t have a relationship or family because in doing so it will kill her career. Beckett knows leaving town the way he did and not returning for over a decade was not the most responsible thing to do especially because it left the family salvage and restoration business short-handed. He feels like he’s proven his worth since he’s been back yet he also feels like his family still sees him as the teenage troublemaker who can’t be trusted. Having two characters with this many issues made it difficult for both of them to listen, let go, and trust, but they were able to clear the air about what happened during high school and they both agreed they were pretty awful to one another and they did move past it.
I enjoyed Rachel and Beckett together, I felt like she really listened to him and understood how much the bar and it being successful meant to him. He realized that she worked very hard to please her clients and wouldn’t sabotage his bar. They both had trust issues and because of the nature of the show, he had to let go of the project he’d worked so hard for and let her take over.
On the personal front the chemistry between these two was scorching hot, but what surprised me was how from the first time they were together feelings came into play. Because Rachel was “playing the part” of her on screen persona, Beckett never was able to grasp what was real and what was for the show which led to quite few misunderstandings. Neither one was the best at communicating which quite frankly drove me crazy.
I loved the contrast in their families and how much Rachel enjoyed being around his family and how he didn’t let her family’s high and might attitude get to him. I think Rachel really began to see the way her parent’s treated others and taught her and her brother to be the same way was wrong and she appreciated that while the Colburn family was not wealthy, they worked hard and did something meaningful and productive.
I can’t end this review without mentioning Beck’s daughter, Holly. She was energetic, kind, and so full of love. The fact that she was a fan of Rachel’s show and had even used one of her designs to makeover her bedroom was adorable. I loved despite never being around kids, never wanting kids Rachel fell hard for Holly.
There’s a fine line between love and hate and that was well explored in this book. The Goodbye Guy was packed with sexy heat, emotion, and two characters that grew and changed throughout. I loved this story.
4 stars
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