Book 54, 2024
Mr. Important by Lucy Lennox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Good thing today is a holiday, because I stayed up hella late last night to finish reading Mr Important by May Archer and Lucy Lennox. It's the second part of their "Honeybridge" series of male/male romance. Story is told in alternating first-person pov by the main characters, Reagan Wellbridge and Thatcher Pennington.
On impulse, Reagan hooks up with a hot silver fox at a NYE masquerade, only to discover his anonymous hook up is none other than Thatcher Pennington: his parents' friend, father of Reagan's friend, and oh yeah, his boss. Reagan's intentions to pretend nothing happened go up in smoke when he's tabbed to accompany Thatcher on a two-week PR tour by bus. In such close, constant proximity, will Reagan be able to keep his hands to himself?
By the time Thatcher realizes he mistook one masked man for another on NYE, it's too late. As he wonders how to handle the situation, a PR nightmare crops up and he's compelled to go on tour to show their brand, PennCo, in a positive light. When the woman he's scheduled to travel with gets sick, Thatcher ends up traveling with Reagan. He'd never paid much attention to the Wellbridges' son, but now that they're forced to spend so much time together, Thatcher realizes just how smart, charming, and talented Reagan is, not to mention how stunningly attractive he is as well. Will he be able to keep his hands to himself...and will he want to?
What a lively story! Reagan has been longing to prove (to himself and everyone else) that he's more than just a photogenic backdrop to his father's political campaign. Working at PennCo was meant to allow him to showcase his social media skills; instead, he's felt stifled there. Now that he's been shoved into the limelight on tour with Mr Pennington, Reagan finally has a chance to shine. Thatcher has always been content to leave the running of PennCo in the competent hands of Layla James, but now that he sees the results that Reagan is getting via social media, he has a newfound respect for Reagan and the marketing tool. As the two of them succumb to their mutual attraction and grow closer, they both fear the repercussions of their involvement. Eventually, they'll need to decide what's most important to them. The characterizations in this were amazing, from Reagan's ability to shift into whatever persona suited the situation, to Thatcher's taciturn disdain for the need to go on tour. Even the villainess was portrayed well, as in I wanted to punch her in the face. One of my favorite characters was McGee, the driver of the bus. The plot moved at a good, sensible pace, and it was laced with humor.
Favorite lines:
♦ Not fascinating. He was a jerk this morning, and we don't waste our fascination on jerks.
♦ "You look terrified. Like you expected to find a cute little bunny waiting for you in the bus and instead found a rabid beaver who might tear you limb from limb."
♦ "They're going to think I can't do the work, which is bullshit, or that you don't like me, which is ridiculous because I'm a fucking delight."
♦ "Layla's side-eyeing me like she's a fucking flat-earther who thinks I'm showing her doctored pictures from outer space."
♦ "Living up to other people's expectations is a losing game. You need to live up to your own. And if that's not good enough for the people around you, find new people."
♦ "Opportunity knocks, but it doesn't pick locks. You gotta open the door."
♦ "Is this one of those things where you've been kidnapped but can't say so directly? Cough if you need me to call the police."
♦ I glared at him, but activity behind Reagan's curtain saved McGee from getting a fat lip to match his nose and eyes.
Sheer delight! Lots of laughs and heat, but with enough drama and angsting included to save it from being nothing but fluff. Five stars!