The Best Man

Starred review from January 7, 2013
The path to love is bumpy and strewn with landmines in this surprisingly deep charmer from rom-com queen Higgins (Somebody to Love). Jeremy Lyon admits to Faith Holland that he’s gay—moments before they were supposed to be wed. It takes three years of self-imposed exile from her upstate New York hometown for heartbroken Faith to recover. She returns to find her grandparents feuding and her father embarking on a wholly inappropriate romance. She also runs into police chief Levi Cooper; she thinks he’s super-hot but resents him for never telling her Jeremy’s secret. As she navigates the perils of dating again, family drama, and an identity crisis, perky Faith is slowly revealed as deeply human, deeply troubled, and deeply in need of self-forgiveness and love. Levi is a stalwart and appealing good guy rounded out with an Afghanistan-scarred psyche and a constant struggle to fully accept his working-class background. Emotional resonance balances zany antics in a powerful story that feels completely real.

Starred review from January 15, 2013
When Faith Holland was abandoned at the altar three years ago, she left her hometown for San Francisco to regroup; coming home to Manningsport, she'll have to confront her past and Levi Cooper, the disturbingly handsome chief of police she blames for ruining her life. On the day her fiance came out and left her at the altar, Faith escaped to the West Coast, where she's had a thriving professional life and a comical romantic life. Summoned home for a few months to work the harvest at her family's winery and help with some crisis management, Faith realizes that some things in her small town will never change--for the good or the bad--but she knows the time has come to establish a new reality with her ex, her family and maybe even Levi Cooper, the best man who forced Jeremy to be honest with her and himself on their wedding day. It's so much easier to blame and despise him; if she lets down her guard, she might have to deal with their short but profound shared past and her own guilt and secrets from a long-ago tragedy that has haunted her for most of her life. Higgins' newest heart-tugging romantic comedy juggles a spectrum of emotionally powerful elements, including the death of a mother, the abandonment of a father and a sigh-worthy high school romance gone awry. With her typical engaging voice, compelling storytelling and amusing dialogue, Higgins keeps the audience flipping through pages as quickly as possible, but it is her spot-on ability to make her characters at once funny, authentic and vulnerable--vulnerable to the point of breaking, so they can heal, stronger and better and more able to love--that is her true genius and guarantees most romance fans will both laugh out loud and get teary, sometimes at the same time. Another sweet, touching must-read for Higgins fans and anyone who enjoys a perfect combination of humor and romance.

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Starred review from February 15, 2013

Literally left standing at the altar when her groom (and longtime best friend) reluctantly comes out of the closet on their wedding day, landscape architect Faith Holland leaves her small New York town and heads west. But San Francisco is far from fertile romantic ground and after more than three years away, she misses home. So when a family crisis beckons, Faith heads back to the Finger Lakes and her family's Blue Heron Winery, hoping to lay the past to rest and carve out a future. She never imagines she'll fall in love with Levi Cooper, the local police chief and the man she blames for her wedding day disaster. VERDICT With a brilliant combination of priceless humor, crackerjack dialog, and insightful characterization, Higgins spins a realistic, touching tale of heartbreak, healing, and homecoming graced with an abundance of people you want to know better and a stunning, bucolic setting you won't want to leave. Higgins (Somebody To Love) lives in Connecticut.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2013
Having set out for new territory after being left at the altar by her high-school sweetheart, Jeremy, Faith Holland has returned home to work at her family's vineyard and help her widowed father find love, even though she's been unlucky in love herself. Back home she's forced to confront her former fianc''s best man, Levi, now the town sheriff, who precipitated their wedding-day breakup by revealing that Jeremy is gay. The old animosity between the two gives way to chemistry, especially when they become neighbors and friends, helping each other heal from past heartbreak. Popular romance author Higgins has crafted an appealing novel about second chances. Faith's family is quirky and charming, and her efforts to set up her father and rekindle the romance between her bickering grandparents are heartwarming. But readers will really swoon for the surly-turned-sensitive Sheriff Levi, who proves that he cared about Faith and her feelings right from the start.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)