If you follow the blog or my reviews at all, you probably know that I am a huge fan of brother's best friend romance stories. They are my crack, and I can't get enough of them. Seriously it doesn't even matter what the book is about beyond that detail or who the author is as I will read every last one. But I was excited for When Stars Collide by Micalea Smeltzer because I have really loved books by her in the past. Unfortunately I had mixed feelings here, and while I liked some things, there were others that just didn't work for me.
When Thea wakes up in Vegas and finds herself married to her brother's best friend, she should be excited since she has always wanted Xander. But she knows that her brother will never approve of them together. While Thea wants to separate as soon as possible, Xander isn't about to let her go now that he finally has her. Xander finally convinces Thea to give their relationship a real chance, giving them until the end of summer to make things work. But can he show Thea that they belong together in just a few months?
The one thing I didn't have problems with here was the characters. I loved them together and couldn't get enough of them. Thea and Xander had so much history, and you could tel that they knew each other inside and out. Their connection and chemistry was so strong and natural, and they were the perfect fit for one another. But I did think that it was a bit weird that Thea originally fought the idea of them so much when she had wanted him for so long and it was never a question of their feelings. It was hard for me to understand her reaction based on her reasoning. If she had been opposed more due to their age or the fact that they went from friends to married over night I would have understood more, but her main reason seemed to be that she feared what her brother would think.
Another issue I had was that all of this happened right at the start of the book, and it came off as feeling super rushed as though we were thrown into a story already in progress. I would have liked to have seen some of them leading up to the night they got married, as it felt like we were missing part of the story. This is the second book in the Light in the Dark series and is a standalone story, though I haven't read the first in the series I wonder if maybe I would feel differently about the start of this one if I had. Regardless, if this is meant to standalone I think that the beginning was a bit rough for those that don't know anything about these characters or this world. The other big thing that didn't work for me was the fact that about 70% of the way through the story there was suddenly a bunch of random new drama thrown into the story. It felt unnecessary and as though the author was trying to fill the rest of the story as though she didn't know quite what to do with the characters. It came off as forced and didn't seem to fit with with everything else up to that point. While I liked how things ended up for the characters, it just didn't fit. I still liked a lot about this book, and the relationship between Xander and Thea was sweet and sexy. I just wish that some of those other things had been different as I think that this one could have been a great story, but in the end for me it was just okay.
**ARC Provided by Give Me Books**
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