Anticipation by Sarah Mayberry (Brothers Ink #2)
Contemporary Romance
Released: April 1, 2015
Self Published

Reviewed by Mandi

Favorite Quote: This is me, fucking you, he told her with his eyes. Don’t ever forget it.

If you like a friends to lovers trope, this is a must read. Eddie and Blue have been friends forever. Eddie owns the tattoo shop where Blue works and they share everything together. They laugh, they give each other a hard time – each is very important to the other person. Both don’t have the best track record in the romance department. Eddie is gorgeous and knows it. Women flock to him and he is very happy to welcome all of them. A lot of times he gets semi-serious with someone, only for her to become jealous of how close he is to Blue, and things fizzle. But Eddie could care less because there is always another woman waiting.

Blue has been in love with Eddie for as long as she can remember. Blue grew up in foster care, so her friends as an adult are her family, and this includes Eddie and his twin brother. While Blue has affection for his twin, it’s Eddie she lusts after. But she would never cross that line into romance because she knows how Eddie can’t keep a girlfriend long-term.

One day while crossing the street, Blue gets hit by a motorcycle. She is very seriously injured  and while waiting to see if she is even alive, Eddie realizes he loves her. That he couldn’t live without her. Eddie becomes extremely protective and bossy with Blue’s recovery, admittedly suffocating her. Blue likes the attention, but one drunken night when things end up in the bedroom, Blue starts to panic that she has ruined her friendship. Will these friends succeed as lovers?

“I’ve known Eddie for ten years. I’ve been drunk with him, high with  him, sober with him. I have seen him at his best and his worst. I know him better than anyone else in the world, Maggie. I know who he is, what he’s like. He’s terrible at relationships. Terrible. But he’s great at friendship. I know that if I needed him, he would be there in a shot. No questions asked, no holds barred. I am not risking all of that for – at best – a few weeks of being in his bed. It’s nt worth it. Not in a million years. I’d rather be his friend forever than his lover for a while.”

This book is aptly titled. The anticipation of these two getting together almost killed me. Sarah Mayberry tortures the readers (in a good way) with Eddie and Blue. Both so in love with the other but both too darn stubborn at different times to let their guard down and let the romance in. At first, Eddie takes Blue’s friendship and relationship for granted. It’s after the accident he truly realizes how much she means to him. And then he wants her, badly. And it’s hot. But Blue just can’t trust that Eddie won’t walk after a few months, and that would truly destroy her. What I really loved is that while Eddie must face his womanizer past, the bigger part is that Blue must face her failures in the romance department too. She thinks it’s Eddie who has to change, but she finally realizes that it is her fear of committment that is holding her back – and that all plays out so well.

When they finally get to the bedroom, the sex in this book is so hot. Damn. Smexy approves.

“Haven’t you ever wondered?” she heard herself ask, her voice barely more than a whisper. “About us? How it would be?”

He was so close she could see his pupils dilate as her words hit him, the dark pupil swallowing the green of his irises. Then he spoke, and his words tipped her world upside down.

“Every fucking day of my life.”

Oh my god Eddie and Blue. Just do it already!!!

Highly recommend this one.

Grade: B+

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