Review: Her Best Laid Plans by Cara McKenna

Her Best Laid Plans by Cara McKenna

Publication Date: April 15th 2014 by Harlequin

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

About the book:

Experience Ireland—the dramatic beauty, the warm hospitality…and the smoking hot local guys!

Imagine nursing a pint in a cozy, authentic country pub, far from Cork's busy city pulse. Getting here took you a plane, bus, taxi and…um, bicycle. But just as you're resigning yourself to drinking beside grey-haired farmers, you see him—a man with the looks and charm to soothe any heartbroken girl.

He's your bartender. Your really, really gorgeous bartender.

For American Jamie Webb—recently dumped and housesitting for two weeks—Connor Kelleher is like a six-course feast after a 23-year starvation diet. But it's gotta be casual. She's just begun rerouting her life after a three-year man-related detour. Still, a sexy romp (or twenty!) with Sexy McBartender?

But what happens when Jamie's best-laid plans for no future plans with any man begin to change?

My Thoughts:

Her Best Laid Plans was a satisfying romance and one HOT novella, but I didn’t expect any less from Cara McKenna.

Jaime’s life plan derailed after her long-time boyfriend broke up with her.  She was to support him through med school and then he was to return the favor when he finished and she went for her degree in architecture.  Now that Jaime’s put her life on hold and delayed college, she’s two years behind with nothing to show for it. Loser ex!! With the summer off and no plans until she starts college and a new job in the fall, Jaime travels from Boston to Ireland determined to have a good time.  Things are looking up when the gorgeous Irish barman, Connor serves her a Guinness at the local pub. Yet, what Jaime thought of as a vacation fling turns into something so much more. Connor has found a place in her heart and settled in deep.

Connor works at the family’s pub saving every dime to go back to college for his engineering degree.  He’s wasted years on a misspent youth and plans on correcting that in the fall. When Jaime walks into his bar he falls hard for her and starts imagining a future:

“I fell harder for you in a week and a half than I have for any girl I dated for ten times that long,” he said. “If this isn’t worth turning my life inside out for, I can’t imagine what is.”

This romance ticked all the boxes for me in 85 pages! Even though Jaime and Connor’s relationship happens in ten days it didn’t feel like insta-love to me at all. They used every free minute getting to know each other.  And oh, I liked some of the ways they did that:

She sucked in a breath, back arching.

“Good,” he murmured. “Let me figure you out.”

She smiled at that, unseen. Of course he’d want that—to mess around and discover how she worked, how to make her respond.

Oh my, and yes, please!!

This was HOT! Connor and Jaime’s time together was intense, passionate and yet so very sweet.  I was desperately hoping they could work things out in spite of living on two different continents.  A HEA is a requirement for this romance junkie, and let’s just say I had a smile on my face by the end.

 4 Suns

Connect with Cara McKenna:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads