ABOUT THE BOOK

Sometimes The One you’ve been looking for… is the one who’s been there all along.

Reason #1: Finn is Maggie’s best friend. They don’t have secrets. Which means they know exactly how disastrous they would be as a couple. They bicker, they annoy each other, but they also have one hell of a good time together. Outside the bedroom, of course. Why would they risk ruining a great thing just to satisfy years of curiosity?

Reason #2: Finn is stable and secure while Maggie acts on any wild hair she gets. She’s always looking for her next adventure. But it’s been a while. Everyone around her is moving forward with their lives, leaving her floating alone in open waters. And when she’s offered the job of a lifetime in Key West—hundreds of miles from their hometown of Shell Grove, SC—it’s too enticing to resist. Besides, it’s not like she’ll ever be the kind of woman Finn would want to settle down with anyway.

Reason #3: Losing Finn would destroy her. That’s exactly what would happen if they ever took things too far and it blew up in their faces. But ever since that job offer was put on the table, Finn is putting a whole lot of other stuff on the table, too. Suddenly, Maggie and Finn are forgetting all of their rules. And she’s wondering why it’s taken them so long to be bad when it feels this good.

Maggie wants more adventure? Fine. Finn will give her all she can handle. She’s avoiding commitment? No problem. He’ll keep his thoughts on the subject to himself. But he’s not letting her take that job in Key West. She has no idea what she’d be throwing away. It’s taken him a long time to see things clearly, too, but his vision is 20/20 now. And he’s not letting his best friend—who might just be the girl of his dreams—go without putting up the fight of his life. All he has to do is show her he can be so much more than just the BEST FRIEND.

MY REVIEW

I can always count on Melanie Munton to give me a fun love story filled with memorable characters. In fact, there is nothing better than a dirty-talking southern gentleman who realizes he is in love with that one stubborn sassy woman he’s known for years.

Reasons Why Not to Date the Best Friend is told in first person dual perspectives. Maggie Breedlove is a marine biologist who owns a scuba diving school in the small town of Shell Grove, North Carolina. She loves her town, her job, and her friends, but she’s been feeling lonely and restless. When a fantastic job comes her way, she can’t pass it up, but can she leave her life and her best friend, Finn, behind. Finn Caldwell had a plan to be a professional football player, but when he was injured he had to find another gig. With help from his best friend Maggie, he opens a successful bar in Shell Grove and recruits up-and-coming musical artists to play there. Everything is going great until Maggie considers another job. How can she leave the town she loves? How can she leave him? He must convince her to stay because he realizes he can’t live without her.

It is heartwarming to watch Finn, this normally secure man, fall head over heels and come up with a slow sexy seduction to persuade her to stay. Everything he loves about Maggie was right there in front of him all those years and boy, it’s hot to watch the bad boy Finn in action.

Maggie is a hellion wild child who loves to pull pranks and do adventurous things that have her on a first-name basis with the cops in town. I understand Maggie’s need to finally fulfill her dream to work with sea turtles, but to leave her life and friends would be difficult. It’s a tough decision for anyone especially when the man she knows best is showing her how much he wants her to stay. When Maggie opens her heart, it’s a sexy treat to watch her meet him halfway.

This lovely story is a slow burn at first, but then it starts to heat up and wow, I couldn’t wait to see Finn and Maggie’s happy ending. Throw in all the wonderful friends I met in the previous books and most especially Berkeley, the golden retriever, and you get a refreshing taste of southern living in a small town.

Thank you once again to Ms. Munton for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

Shell Grove Series in order:

1. Reasons Why Not to Date Public Enemy CEO
2. Reasons Why Not to Date Your Nemesis
3. Reasons Why Not to Date the Best Friend

BUY THE BOOK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melanie is an Amazon bestselling author who prefers all her romance to come loaded with wit and heavy doses of steam. She’s all about fictional escapism, the beach, a tall glass of wine, and a guaranteed happily ever after. She wishes she could be as cool and clever as even half of the characters she creates. Unfortunately, 100% of her creativity goes into her writing, so there’s zero left over for real life at the end of the day. 

Melanie grew up in a super small town in the Midwest but now lives in Savannah, Georgia, and adores it. Her daughter and husband are her entire life. She and her husband met while earning their anthropology degrees (random, right?), and their shared passion is to travel the globe. She has a horrible chip addiction, and she gets sad when her wine rack is empty.

At the end of the day, she is a true romantic at heart. She loves writing the swoony and spicy of romantic comedies, and the sexy and dangerous of suspense. She aims to make her readers weak in the knees, laugh out loud, maybe sweat a little, and above all, fall in love.

Follow Melanie on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Bookbub.