One Hot Summer Wedding

by Falon Ballard, Marjorie Lakewood (Narrator)

A surprise invitation from her estranged bestie whisks one woman away to a destination wedding, where her past and possible future collide, in this forced-proximity short story from USA Today bestselling author Falon Ballard.

It’s been ten years since Lucy last saw her childhood friend, but when she’s invited to Sara’s Costa Rica wedding, she can’t say no. She starts wishing she had, though, after running into Beckett, Sara’s still-hot older brother. He and Lucy are stuck sharing a hotel room. It doesn’t take long for old feelings—and old wounds—to resurface. But maybe this time, something new will blossom too.

Falon Ballard’s One Hot Summer Wedding is part of Summer Lovin’, a sweet and sultry collection of short summer romances that turn up the heat—and the heart. Read or listen to each short story in one easy, breezy sitting.

Genres: Romance, Novella, Audiobook, Short Stories, Contemporary, Summer, Fiction

Audible Audio

Published May 26, 2026

About the author

Falon Ballard is a Los Angeles native who has been writing stories her whole life. After graduating with a degree in Creative Writing, Falon embarked on an eight-year teaching adventure before opening her own event planning business. When she’s not trolling Etsy for the latest merch from her favorite fandoms, she’s hanging out at Disneyland with a pretzel and beer in hand.

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection really isn't hitting like I hoped it would, I don't know what's going on...

I would never forgive if someone I thought a friend did that, they honestly weren't angry enough, because who does that..
Also, ten years of not seeing each other and yet they are so ready to jump right in, absolutely NOT, especially since he didn't recognise her at first, like what are we doing??
I did love the zip line and the butterflies, so I guess there's that. 

[Krysta ꕤ · Rating 1 out of 5]

congratulations, that was terrible.

[aira · Rating 2 out of 5]

which best friend are we talking about here?

[Alya ( 20 comments restriction ) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Are any of these gripping lol 🙄

[Mai H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girl, that's not your friend

[mandie ੈ♡˳ · Rating 4 out of 5]

*immediately adds all of falon's books to my tbr*
give me the beach setting, the best friend's brother, the secret years long crush 🤌🏼

[Kelly Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

now this one i loved

This was a really so cute one. I could relate to the characters and story didn’t fell rushed or cringy at all even with it being such a short read.

[R.R.R · Rating 3 out of 5]

𖤐⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ 2.5 stars ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆𖤐

it fine ig her bestfriend is shit though

[ashlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

losing faith in this series💔

[lauren ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

you want me to believe this man was in love with her his whole life but didn’t even recognise her 😭 also her friend was such an awful person and like she just didn’t care ? girl GET UP

also the 16/19 thing and him waiting for her to turn 18 (when he would have been 20/21) gave me the ick so bad

[kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

maybe im just a bit too petty but all i could think about is how mad i would be at the sister .... like no way ur gonna admit what you did then everything just moves on??? idk

[veerali · Rating 2 out of 5]

girl, your bestie HATES you. cut her off! right now!

[Anila · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m losing faith that any of these novellas are going to be good…

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

And yes… the fact that it had 🔥 made me give it extra points 🤣🤣🤣.

Lucy (26) goes to her childhood friend’s wedding in Costa Rica and sees her childhood crush there as well- Derrick (28), her friend’s still HOT AF older brother 👀.

But maybe… maybe… the crush she had on him was wasn’t exactly one sided 👀👀👀.

I liked this!!!
But

I didn’t like her friend’s excuse to put distance between her and Lucy’s friendship 🤬 🙄

Give me a F’ING break 🙄

Also. I wish we had an actual epilogue 😭

I LOOOVED that we ACTUALLY get a good 🔥 scene 😮‍💨

No FTB here 👏🏻😉

And… ANNNNND… Beckett’s a giver 🥵💦

Overall, I liked it

⚠️safety squad⚠️
-no cheating/sharing/owd/omd
-condom
-HFN/HEA?

[angelpompom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her best friend is a real piece of work

[Em (semi-hiatus) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This never rose above ‘meh.’

[Vanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

this shouldve been a full length novel like this it just feels rushed but it was fun

[Анастасія ꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

багато років тому, подруга та сестра головних героїх дізнавшись про їхню закоханість і не хотіла щоб вся дружба зруйнувалась, збрехала головним героям, і в результаті на багато років дружба між жгг та сестрою з братом всеодно зруйнувалась, хоча на початку жгг звинувачувала бекетта в усьому, незрозуміло чого.

[Kate Dash · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️
Miscommunication was main force of that story. Old miscommunication and jealousy. Anyway, we have happy end hooray

[Olga Rudnitska · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️

Той випадок, коли герої могли бути разом, але за них вирішили інші🤬🤬

Добре, що врешті решт вирішили все.
І присипали спайсіком в кінці

[Lorna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story 3.25 stars. Narration 4.5 stars
This was really way too short. It’s a sweet contemporary romance with a side of spice. It takes place at the island destination wedding of the ex-best friend of the mfc. Childish reasons for the estrangement of the friends and lies on the friend’s part caused all the problems. It’s too hard to establish personalities beyond the surface level in a listen that took one hour at 1.5 speed. I just needed more of a story.

[Hare Llow · Rating 3 out of 5]

-1 star because what a terrible friend 💀

[Amanda Blanche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, quick novella read. Brother’s best friend, second chance romance. Miscommunication trope.

Wanted something quick and easy and this fit the bill. With novellas I find it hard to get the depth you would want - and I think if it had been an actual book then I would have liked it more - less insta love - more yearning and drama.

[paula ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐

How can you be so shameless as to leave your friend's wedding to sleep with her brother? (Even though her sister is the reason you two never had a chance.)

I would have liked to give it a higher rating, but the ending felt too rushed. I think they could have waited a little longer.

[kaz ruby 𐙚 ‧₊˚ ⋅ · Rating 3 out of 5]

the way the “wedding” was like one page LMAO

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This started off with some promise, enemies to lovers type vibes, but I got immediate red flags when the male protagonist admitted he liked our main girl when she was still in high school. And he didn't even recognise her at the airport. No thank you.

[Lia Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I liked the ex best friend and ex best friend’s brother angle. I don’t fully see why the FMC would want to go to the wedding but I guess if I don’t think too hard about her reasoning it works.

[Kayla | Kayla Reads Smut · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was the chemistry in the room with us? I’m confused how this man supposedly back in the day wanted to date her and then when he sees her again he doesn’t recognize her? Huh 🤔 and the reasoning why her and her best friend fell apart was dumb. Like yall aren’t friends but she randomly emails you to be a bridesmaid? Like I get this was a novella but the plot was all over the fucking place

[ren ౨ৎ (in a tiny slump) · Rating 4 out of 5]

the way i would've thrown hands with my best friend if she prevented me from being with a man like beckett. 👊

[Celeste | bookrecs_by_celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute! A spicy novella to add to your tbr!