Reporter Cleopatra "Cleo" Graham should be celebrating after breaking a huge story involving the mayor of New York City's affair with a former staffer. Instead, she's in big trouble with the billionaire owner of the magazine where she works because she inadvertently thwarted his political aspirations at the same time. Her boss (and former husband) Tom manages to save her job but decides that it would be best for her to get away for a while, so he sends her out of town on assignment. Her new story involves a runaway groom who recently left his fourth bride at the altar, and the most recent bride is suing him for damages. Cleo is shocked when she learns that the man at the center of the story is none other than her former childhood best friend, Benoit "Ben" Fournier. Ben and Cleo haven't spoken since she left for boarding school fifteen years ago, and she's not looking forward to seeing him or her hometown of Pt. Jude again. Left with no other choice if she wants to keep her job, Cleo heads to Rhode Island, hoping to gather the information she needs quickly so that she can get back to her real life in New York. The more she digs, however, the more suspicious the lawsuit against Ben seems. Will she be able to get out of town without losing her objectivity - and her heart - to Ben?
There were a lot of things to like about this story, particularly the genuine conflict between Cleo's need to do what was best for the story and what was best for her old friend, as well as the intense chemistry that flared between her and Ben even after so many years apart. I also empathized with everything Cleo went through as a teenager leading up to her departure for boarding school. However, there were a few aspects of the story that bothered me as well, mainly Ben's insistence that Cleo had to be all in on a romantic relationship immediately. They had only been together for a few days after being apart for fifteen years; she wasn't wrong that it was unfair of him to expect her to uproot her life and move back to Rhode Island with him right away, no matter the circumstances with her job.
Despite those (relatively minor) annoyances, I enjoyed this story and would recommend it for all contemporary romance and romantic comedy fans. I hope that there will be future stories set in Pt. Jude featuring several of the secondary characters from this book.
*Review copy provided by the author via Nisha's Books and Coffee PR. All opinions expressed are my own.
About "The Groomsday Prophecy"
A gender-swapped Runaway Bride-inspired small town romance set in the coastal enclave of Pt. Jude, Rhode Island.
Superstar reporter Cleopatra Graham may have just brought down the mayor of New York but her crack reporting put her high flying job in jeopardy. To make amends, her editor sends her to her hometown of Pt. Jude, Rhode Island to report on the small resort town’s “runaway groom.”
Benoit Fournier, owner of Pt. Jude’s acclaimed French bistro Babe’s on the Sunnyside, can’t seem to make it to “I do.” The dashing chef ended all four of his engagements (and counting) at the 11th hour, always while the bride was halfway down the aisle.
Ben also happens to be Cleo’s childhood best friend. They haven’t seen each other in 15 years, not since the summer night — her last in Pt. Jude — when she kissed him, ran, and disappeared for what she thought was forever.
Now Ben’s scorned ex is suing him and Cleo’s on the story. But as Cleo learned on her last assignment, reporting has consequences. Will she betray their old friendship and damage his reputation; or can both Cleo and Ben find their way to a happily ever after?
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