Not So Happily Ever After

This is a love story about Will and Mac. She lost her virginity to him and she thought that was it, but he’s back in her life and isn’t going away. First she thinks it’s a fling and then she’ll go back to university but it’s so much more.
Phillips writes characters you fall in love with. This is a lovely read from beginning to end.

I received a free, advanced copy of this book from NetGalley.com. This is my unbiased and voluntary review. It is a delightful story about a second chance with a friend to lover. And despite the title, they do get their HEA.

I have not read the previous books in the series, so read this as a stand alone. Mackenzie has two older twin brothers, Harry, a geek and Lucas, a professional athlete. Her mother was a reward winning physician, who expected Mac to follow in her footsteps, since she was the only one of the children who showed any interests in science. However, her real love is her art, which delegated to a hobby, after she made a death bed promise to her mother. Will Hamilton is Lucas’s best friend. Growing up, Mac also was very close friends with Will. Will, also had a similar experience, in that after his father died, he promised to help his mother with the family business, a bank, while he is really interested in building an outdoor adventure business with his friends. Meanwhile, Lucas and a team mate set up the Rainbow Star Foundation, similar to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Both Mac and Will are helping with major fundraiser. All of this is background from the other books, that I was able to glean from the narrative the author provided.

Right after Will’s father died, his girl friend broke up with him because she didn’t do family, after which he decided the single life was for him. But two years ago, at the Christmas Gala, Mac and Will kissed under the mistletoe, and they didn’t stop with a kiss. But a misunderstanding the next day, left them both hurt and no longer in the friend zone. This year, Lucas needs both of their help handling the immature lead singer of the band they have booked. They are both eager to get back their friend, but can them keep things in the friend zone, when their hearts yearn for something more?

I enjoyed reading this book, as I love second chances. While I was first confused by all the characters, the author, skillfully woven into the narrative, the characters, their nature and relationships. I would go back and read the previous books, after enjoying this one.

Enjoyable return to London and this fun cast of character with this being Will and Mackenzie’s story. While this is the third book in the British Bad Boys series it is easily read as a standalone. Will and Mackenzie are great characters and I chuckled throughout the book at their sexy banter. Will and Mac have some history to get past but once they do their relationship really begins to change. Will this just be a friends with benefits fling or will it turn into a whole lot more? You’ll want to grab a copy of this one and find out. I definitely recommend it.

3.75 stars–NOT SO HAPPILY EVER AFTER is the third instalment in Christina Phillips’ contemporary, adult BRITISH BAD BOYS romance series. This is investment banker Will Hamilton, and med student/artist Mackenzie Carter’s story line. NOT SO HAPPILY EVER AFTER can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Mackenzie and Will) NOT SO HAPPILY EVER AFTER follows the friends to lovers, best friend’s little sister / friends with benefits relationship between investment banker Will Hamilton, and med student/artist Mackenzie Carter. Two years earlier Mackenzie Carter crossed the line with her brother’s best friend Will Hamilton, and in the resulting aftermath Mackenzie lost her best friend and the man that she loved when Will didn’t show up for her gallery showing. Fast forward two years wherein Mackenzie, now about to enter her third year at med school, struggles with her future direction including her ongoing attraction to the man that broke her heart. Enter Will Hamilton, Lucas Carter’s best friend, and the man with whom Mackenzie had fallen in love. What ensues is the friends to lovers, best friend’s little sister / friends with benefits relationship between Lucas and Mackenzie, and the potential fall-out as our couple keep secret their forbidden affair, as Mackenzie prepares to return to university, leaving a heart broken Will behind.

A promise to her dying mother meant Mackenzie Carter’s career had all but been procured by a university scholarship, but our heroine’s heart was destined for something else . Two years without her best friend, and the love of her life, pulled Mackenzie away from her art, and head long into her studies, studies she had no desire to continue or proceed. Will Hamilton has no idea why Mackenzie Carter pushed him away two years earlier but family obligations prevented Will from looking too closely, obligations that tied our hero to a job he no longer enjoyed.

The relationship between Will and Mackenzie is one of second chances, of a sorts, between former best friends who spent one glorious night together but the aftermath destroyed any hopes for a future. Mackenzie has never stopped loving the man who broke her heart but miscommunication, secrets, and family commitment meant Will and Mackenzie went their separate ways. The $ex scenes are intimate and seductive without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful secondary and supporting characters including Lucas and Violet (Once Upon a Player #2), Lucas’s friends Caleb, Harry and Alice (Cinderella and the Geek #1), Atomic Fire, boy band member Jake Myers, and their manager Jax; Lucas and Mackenzie’s father and his girlfriend Margo, and their friend Duke; as well as Will’s mother Cynthia, and her boyfriend Jeremy.

The world building follows several paths –from boy band melt-downs, to the lack of communication between parent and child, and the misunderstanding between former best friends. The multi-troped relationship between Will and Mackenzie has out couple treading a fine-line between secrets and lies, secrets they fear will break their family’s hearts.

NOT SO HAPPILY EVER AFTER is a story of family and friendships; secrets and lies; second chances, and startling revelations. The premise is engaging and energetic; the romance is emotional and encouraging; the characters are sexy and spirited. NOT SO HAPPILY EVER AFTER has a little bit of everything including romance and love; heart break and grief; humor and fun. I did have a small issue with the numerous thoughts and ‘asides’-we spend an inordinate amount of time inside the characters’ heads.

Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) So Wil is Mac’s brothers best friend and two years ago they had a one night stand, and Wil was supposed to meet Mac the next day but he never showed up, breaking Mac’s heart when they finally saw each other they both said some harsh words and for two years avoided each other and their relationship was never the same. Now Lucas asks Wil for a favor putting him and Mac together and they both realized how much they missed each other’s friendship and more even though they are both lying to themselves claiming that they wont go there again, but that doesn’t even last a week. As they agree on a friends with benefits situation until Mac goes back to Uni their feelings get deeper and deeper and then they have another blow out all due to misconceptions and their own feelings into the mix. Buuut they do get an HEA, I enjoyed book but there back in forth in there inner thoughts drove me a little crazy.