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A Week with the Best Man
One week… …with the guy she’s desperate to resist!
Returning home isn’t something buttoned-up businesswoman Harper Addison does often. She’s too focused on earning money to support her family. Now she’s back to be her sister’s maid of honor—which means spending a lot of time with the best man and her former teenage crush, Cormac Wharton. The laid-back billionaire sees far too much of the real her—but surely she can resist his charms for just one week…
Returning home isn’t something buttoned-up businesswoman Harper Addison does often. She’s too focused on earning money to support her family. Now she’s back to be her sister’s maid of honor—which means spending a lot of time with the best man and her former teenage crush, Cormac Wharton. The laid-back billionaire sees far too much of the real her—but surely she can resist his charms for just one week…
- GenresRomanceContemporary
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 27, 2019
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Ally Blake
351 books224 followersAustralian romance author Ally Blake loves reading and strong coffee, porch swings and dappled sunshine, sparkly notebooks and soft, dark pencils.
She also adores writing love stories. Having sold over four million copies of her Harlequin Mills and Boon novels worldwide, she is living her dream.
Alongside one husband, three gloriously rambunctious kids, and too many animal companions to count, Ally lives and writes in the leafy western suburbs of Brisbane.
Find out more about Ally’s books at www.allyblake.com.
She also adores writing love stories. Having sold over four million copies of her Harlequin Mills and Boon novels worldwide, she is living her dream.
Alongside one husband, three gloriously rambunctious kids, and too many animal companions to count, Ally lives and writes in the leafy western suburbs of Brisbane.
Find out more about Ally’s books at www.allyblake.com.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 2, 2021
This is a good story that pulls at your emotions. I appreciated that there was a dual POV in this story. It makes it easier for me to connect with the characters.
I liked the FMC, Harper. She's a strong and confident woman. She stands her ground and is more than capable of fighting her own battles. There was a lot to admire about her. She also had her faults because nobody likes a perfect character. She was too protective and controlling of her little sister, it all came from her heart but was misguided. She had some growing to do and the author did a great job with her story arch.
I also liked the MMC, Cormac. I never once bought his assurances that he's easy going and laid back. He was trying too hard to convince himself of this. I felt like he was coasting or even hiding from life with his choices. He's a great character though; protective, sensitive, caring, and loyal (to a fault). I loved the way he "courted" Harper. He also had a solid growth arch.
Their romance wasn't a smooth one, they both brought a ton of emotional baggage to the relationship. They share a similar background, they both had rough childhoods and struggled with living through it. It was this background that made their connection and romance more believable. They both said things to each other that I found harsh, their emotions too close to the surface. Yet, I was pulling for them to work this out, they both deserved happiness and love. Cormac about took my breath away with their first kiss, so swoon worthy.
The HEA was sweet, I loved the whole thing with the photo booth and the mentions of it afterwards. The epilogue was good but left me wanting more. I wish the author had actually played it out instead of telling the reader what was planned. I can see this couple going the distance and finished the book with a smile on my face and a happy heart.
I did have one issue with the book (that didn't alter my rating though), I hate it when authors have a "secret" that they don't share with the readers. Harper had two of them that caused her to act like a raging a b**ch towards Cormac and others. Since the author refused to share with the reader what these secrets are/were, it made it hard to like her in the beginning. The reader wasn't clued in on her motivations and instead she came off as an ice cold, emotionless, b**ch. It was only after the reader finally knew the secrets that I warmed up to Harper and really started liking her.
This is a somewhat clean romance. There is no swearing, there is sex but it fades to black and is off-page.
I liked the FMC, Harper. She's a strong and confident woman. She stands her ground and is more than capable of fighting her own battles. There was a lot to admire about her. She also had her faults because nobody likes a perfect character. She was too protective and controlling of her little sister, it all came from her heart but was misguided. She had some growing to do and the author did a great job with her story arch.
I also liked the MMC, Cormac. I never once bought his assurances that he's easy going and laid back. He was trying too hard to convince himself of this. I felt like he was coasting or even hiding from life with his choices. He's a great character though; protective, sensitive, caring, and loyal (to a fault). I loved the way he "courted" Harper. He also had a solid growth arch.
Their romance wasn't a smooth one, they both brought a ton of emotional baggage to the relationship. They share a similar background, they both had rough childhoods and struggled with living through it. It was this background that made their connection and romance more believable. They both said things to each other that I found harsh, their emotions too close to the surface. Yet, I was pulling for them to work this out, they both deserved happiness and love. Cormac about took my breath away with their first kiss, so swoon worthy.
The HEA was sweet, I loved the whole thing with the photo booth and the mentions of it afterwards. The epilogue was good but left me wanting more. I wish the author had actually played it out instead of telling the reader what was planned. I can see this couple going the distance and finished the book with a smile on my face and a happy heart.
I did have one issue with the book (that didn't alter my rating though), I hate it when authors have a "secret" that they don't share with the readers. Harper had two of them that caused her to act like a raging a b**ch towards Cormac and others. Since the author refused to share with the reader what these secrets are/were, it made it hard to like her in the beginning. The reader wasn't clued in on her motivations and instead she came off as an ice cold, emotionless, b**ch. It was only after the reader finally knew the secrets that I warmed up to Harper and really started liking her.
This is a somewhat clean romance. There is no swearing, there is sex but it fades to black and is off-page.
August 25, 2019
Ultra successful negotiator Harper returns to her hometown with serious reservations about her younger sister’s wedding and an attraction she does not want to feel for the best man who left a sour impression on Harper the last time they saw each other.
I loved the relationship between the sisters, that Harper’s story isn’t solely focused on her finding romantic love, it’s also about these two young women trying to figure out where they stand with each other now that Lola is grown and no longer in need of a substitute parent, so there’s this challenging and loving journey they’re on to transition from a mother/daughter dynamic into something more along the lines of equals and friends.
The backstories for both Harper and Cormac were really well-crafted, you could understand and more importantly feel how and why their pasts still weigh heavily on them and affect the present way they live their lives. I also felt like those backstories, the similarity in that each struggled with their parents and with keeping a roof over their heads, it made it so much easier to buy into the connection they form in only a week’s time than maybe it would have been had they not had something so important and so emotional in common.
The plot does include a couple misunderstandings that perhaps that character could have cleared up long ago, but for the most part, I think it made sense why that character let it fester in their heart rather than do some fact checking, given their age at the time, the upheaval, and the trauma with their parent, I could see wanting to hold onto that anger and/or hold onto the belief that it was in part another person’s fault.
With sweetness and swooniness (the photo booth and really every mention of it thereafter), along with personal histories for the heroine and hero that give the story depth and elicit empathy, A Week With The Best Man is a truly satisfying read.
I loved the relationship between the sisters, that Harper’s story isn’t solely focused on her finding romantic love, it’s also about these two young women trying to figure out where they stand with each other now that Lola is grown and no longer in need of a substitute parent, so there’s this challenging and loving journey they’re on to transition from a mother/daughter dynamic into something more along the lines of equals and friends.
The backstories for both Harper and Cormac were really well-crafted, you could understand and more importantly feel how and why their pasts still weigh heavily on them and affect the present way they live their lives. I also felt like those backstories, the similarity in that each struggled with their parents and with keeping a roof over their heads, it made it so much easier to buy into the connection they form in only a week’s time than maybe it would have been had they not had something so important and so emotional in common.
The plot does include a couple misunderstandings that perhaps that character could have cleared up long ago, but for the most part, I think it made sense why that character let it fester in their heart rather than do some fact checking, given their age at the time, the upheaval, and the trauma with their parent, I could see wanting to hold onto that anger and/or hold onto the belief that it was in part another person’s fault.
With sweetness and swooniness (the photo booth and really every mention of it thereafter), along with personal histories for the heroine and hero that give the story depth and elicit empathy, A Week With The Best Man is a truly satisfying read.
October 17, 2019
Novel in a Nutshell - Harper returns to her home town just in time for her sister's wedding and pre-wedding celebrations, with the hope of putting a stop to it. However she bumps into her high school crush, Cormac, who also happens to be best man at the wedding, and sparks fly.
My review - I did enjoy this book, though it took me a while to warm to the main character of Harper. Even by the end of the book I wasn't entirely sure I liked her, though I guess I understood why she'd turned out like she had. I'm also not sure why she hadn't taken more time to find out if the family secret was actually true or not. Still, I liked the character of Cormac, and welcomed the light relief of Harper's more stable sister Lola.
One slight gripe is the over use of certain phrases in the book - flaring nostrils, the tic of muscles in faces, and characters coughing out a laugh. Just a small thing really, but the constant use of these phrases started to grate on me by the end of the book.
My review - I did enjoy this book, though it took me a while to warm to the main character of Harper. Even by the end of the book I wasn't entirely sure I liked her, though I guess I understood why she'd turned out like she had. I'm also not sure why she hadn't taken more time to find out if the family secret was actually true or not. Still, I liked the character of Cormac, and welcomed the light relief of Harper's more stable sister Lola.
One slight gripe is the over use of certain phrases in the book - flaring nostrils, the tic of muscles in faces, and characters coughing out a laugh. Just a small thing really, but the constant use of these phrases started to grate on me by the end of the book.
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July 21, 2020A sweet story about a best man and a maid of honour falling in love around a wedding. Harper's sister is marrying into the wealthy Chadwick family, of whom she knows a secret about. Added to that, the best man is her high school crush Cormac. They have both been abandoned by parents and don't have much faith in love, but together, they both realise what is important to them in life.
July 16, 2024
Loved this story of Cormac and Harper. Who would of thought that a crush on your High School crush would never go away? Ask Harper but would her feelings be reciprocated by Cormsc in return. Looking forward to reading more of Ally Blake's work.
October 7, 2021
Couldn’t stop thinking of my husband and I during this book. Truly a beautiful romance.
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December 28, 20222.5 stars
August 6, 2025
Great/reread list, and I knew it was headed there from the second page, which bodes well for the author's other books. I love Harper, the heroine so much, undoubtedly because she is halfway to being my ideal character, someone honorable with Machiavellian training.
Aug '25 back to 4 stars.🤷♂️
Aug '25 back to 4 stars.🤷♂️
July 18, 2019
A fun weekend or holiday read - full of charm.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews