I adored One and Only, the first book in this series, so I jumped at the chance to read and ARC of this book, It Takes Two, when I spotted it on NetGalley. I accepted an ARC in exchange for an honest review, and the fact that it's taken me five years to finish the book tells you something.

Jenny Holiday writes beautiful stories that make the reader feel the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Her humor is spot on and always makes me laugh. This book was no different. I laughed at some of the banter and wit between Wendy and Noah. The way she depicts the four female friends and their bonds is what makes this story work for me.

Because the plot did not hold my attention. I was hoping for the same warm, fuzzy, happy feelings that I found with One and Only and maybe it was me, but I had a super hard time connecting to Wendy and Noah. We're talking about two highly intelligent people who have harbored feelings for each other for over a decade. They've tried to avoid each other, but really, come on. One good, open conversation and you could've solved everything long before now. Mostly, I found myself annoyed and wanting to put them in a room together so they could bang and talk it out.

However, if you're looking for a series that has awesome female friends, lots of wedding humor, and will give you all the feelings (including annoyance, sorry!), be sure to check this one out :)

This was an entertaining read. I liked the writing style and I enjoyed both the characters and the plot.

3.5 stars

This was cute. I enjoyed the first book more, which surprised me, but I enjoyed the story in this one. I wasn't as hooked on it as I was on Jane and Cameron's story and that did make me a little sad. I was really excited for Wendy and Noah;s story because I love that kind of trope, but it didn't hook me like the first book. It was cute, but I think I wanted something deeper. I will say it definitely got me excited for the next book for sure!

I enjoyed this romance book and thought it was engaging. I like the character development and thought it was smart and entertaining.

Favorite Quotes:

Maybe this hadn’t been a good idea. Maybe the correct number of times a man should accompany his little sister wedding dress shopping was actually zero… And, ignorant as he was about such matters, he’d had no idea how long it took to put one of those things on— or how many helpers it required. Each new dress required a small army of overly Botoxed women in Chanel suits to carry it into the fitting room, and, from the sound of things, to hoist it onto Jane.

She still thinks she’s doing the ‘low-key’ thing… So she can’t get too out of control because that will violate her image of herself and create a disturbance in the force.

“One and done. Two and through.” That was Gia’s motto…

“We have a nice ‘hot for teacher’ experience. Or we do a Los Alamos package— your dancer will arrive attired in a scientific lab coat and hand out sex toys emblazoned with the phrase ‘Caution: nuclear fallout.’” Wendy cracked up. A person really could order up anything in Vegas, it seemed.

“I have no plans to get married either.” Gia raised her glass again as if to punctuate the point. “But ‘spinster’ implies, like, dust and cobwebs.” She made a vague gesture at her body. “Ain’t nothing getting dusty here.”


My Review:

I have hit my favorite jam with this delightful series and will profess to be near gleeful with the knowledge of having the next book already locked and loaded on my kindle for immediate perusal. Every book in this beguiling series has been an expertly balanced mix of clever levity; smart, endearing, yet somewhat emotionally damaged characters; insightfully observant, smooth and alluring writing that hits all the feels; volcanic sensual scenes; and engaging and Pez related storylines. It feels like nirvana. I do hope Jenny Holiday isn't easily startled, as she seems to have gained a rather rabid fangirl.

A funny story that begins with the bridesmaid being attracted to the bride’s brother Noah for years. Wendy Lu who he actually adds a name to it and makes her name become a character from Whoville. Getting together again now for his sister’s wedding is bringing up emotions for both of them from the past and for Noah, he is finding himself looking at Wendy as a strong beautiful woman. Not the girl he remembers. He is also wondering why after he left for college and would come home he would only see her a few times in all of these years since. But he knows that she and his sister are still best friends and he remembers the two of them doing things together until he left for college. Wendy is falling back into the happy spot of seeing Noah at times more so now that Jane her best friend is getting married and she is wanting to do more things with Noah, the guy who broke her heart when she left her and at the prom. He did not leave her he never showed. This has created the women she is today and she will do anything to beat Noah and there you have it. The two bachelor and bachelorette parties become a completion and at the wedding, it will be voted on which one is the winner. This is where the story really takes off. It was already good but here it just gets better. The answers begin to happen and Noah becomes well he becomes a guy. I will leave it at that. This is a fun book with a good story, with good characters. Funny moments, serious times, and overall a very good book. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

This was a very breezy and light read, that was great as a break in between some heavy reads! There wasn't necessarily anything noteworthy about the story or characters, but it was well-written and entertaining!

Jenny Holiday's It Takes Two is the second book in her Bridesmaids Behaving Badly series. It was so good I couldn't put it down!

I am struggling with this author, as I don't love her writing style and feel she's a bit too graphic with her sexy scenes. Love the idea of the story, but the execution did not work for me.

I read this a while ago but I’m only now getting around to post my review. This is the second book in the series and if you haven’t read the first book, it’s alright because this can be read standalone. This second installment was funny and sweet and all that you can expect from a bridesmaid comedy.

After reading the first book in this series, One and Only, I was curious to see how the wedding trope would be continued in It Takes Two. After all, Elise was married and Wendy was still very much single at the end of book 1 so I knew that it wasn't set around the same time. Flash forward a year (give or take a few months) and we have an entirely different wedding but the same tropes and I was equally excited for another sibling and best friend book. Noah is Jane's older brother and he and Wendy have been orbiting around each other for YEARS - most of it filled with animosity and general avoidance after the big thing that happened when they were young that caused Wendy to stop crushing on Noah and start actively disliking him instead.

As you can expect, Noah is mostly clueless as to why Wendy's attitude towards him has changed and so there are several missed opportunities for them both to communicate. But overall there are lots of sparks between these two. Unfortunately, there was a lot more telling than showing when it came to their relationship. It seemed like Noah would try for more but Wendy was always pushing him away. But what bugged me most is that they never really seemed to talk or hang out. They'd meet, engage in sexy times, and then Wendy was tossing Noah out on his keester. I wish there was more of them growing and coming together and naturally falling in love instead it all seemed a little forced. So while I liked It Takes Two, I didn't love it as much as One and Only.

received in exchange for a honest review.

This was a hoot but also I got a little annoyed.

Noah was a great guy. He made a mistake in high school and does regret it. Only for Wendy this stays with her and she never lets it go. That annoyed me. She did use it to help propel herself to become a great lawyer but she also uses against Noah even now.

When Noah and Wendy are finally in the same place due to his sister’s wedding she begins the competition. The one to one up him and show him that she isn’t the same. Only Noah already knows this. When he made that mistake years ago it wasn’t maliciously but out of his obligation to provide and protect his family. He didn’t think and in high school we do that. Now he can see Wendy and respects her. He also accepts his attraction to her. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t take her up on the competition they fall into.

Wendy is a good character but at times annoying. She takes things to far and it does seem to at times be irritating. The competition for the bachelor and bachelorette party for one. She was sneaky and conniving and that was wrong. She went to far in her desire to win but it did work out for everyone in the end. How? They end up giving into their attraction and we see the wedding party outside of the low key wedding deal.

That was a wee bit annoying as well. The I am not bridezilla over the top trying to prove this by Noah’s sister as she keeps saying she is doing a low key wedding with a fancy dress etc. Didn’t jibe. I love how she helps her brother see though that he needs to live his life and that she and her mom can provide for themselves. This was hard for Noah to let go of and it does affect his relationship with Wendy. He takes his responsibilities seriously and continued even in adulthood beyond when he had too. He was a caring person and was thrown into adulthood earlier than expected and he shouldered it well. Only he couldn’t stop and at times he was blind to those around him and what they could do. Wendy helps with this and so does his sister.

The romance was explosive with some great banter. The characters overall were wonderufl. Just at times a few were annoying. The low key wedding I am not bridezilla went over the top at times but added to the entertainment of the story as well. The banter between Noah and Wendy was fun and sexy. The competition a hoot at times but it was their discovery of their love and in particular Noah’s journey into figuring out himself and where he wants to be that was wonderful.

To be honest, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about Wendy after meeting her in the first book of the series. She's a total badass and focus on her career. I enjoyed the multicultural aspects of the story and the shenanigans Wendy and Noah got up to. This is a fun series overall.

Wedding romance books can be awesome or horrible I’ve found. Fortunately, It Takes Two definitely falls into the fun and enjoyable side for me. This is the second book in Jenny Holiday’s Bridesmaids Behaving Badly series. I admit, I didn’t finish the first one. I just lost interest part way through. That is not the case for Wendy and Noah’s story however.

Wendy Liu is best friends with Jane Denning, the bride-to-be. She is both excited and apprehensive about Jane’s wedding because she knows things will never be the same between them as friends. There’s another reason for Wendy’s apprehension. All the wedding festivities means that Jane’s brother, Noah, will be back in town. Wendy hasn’t seen Noah since high school when he stood her up at the prom. She’s never forgiven him and does all she can to avoid him. Unfortunately, that just isn’t possible with the wedding gearing up.

Wendy and Noah are both lawyers. They both are runners. Noah is very attracted to Wendy but he also knows he doesn’t want to ruin their relationship, or what he perceives as their relationship. As the wedding proceeds, he grows closer to Wendy again but doesn’t understand the walls she is putting up. When a bet regarding the upcoming bachelor and bachelorette parties turns their simmering attraction into reality, Noah and Wendy both have to decide how they want to proceed.

There is something super powerful about this book that drew me in instantly. I really enjoyed the frenemy aspect of it that Wendy sees in her relationship with Noah. They banter and bicker and it starts off not quite sexual but yeah… it moves there in a really fun way. Wendy has been hurt a lot in the past. She hasn’t had an easy life and neither has Noah. That fact bonds them in ways that are unexpected and comforting.

I really liked Wendy. I love her adventurous personality. I appreciated her love for travel and new experiences. I really understood her devotion to her aunt, her remaining family, and wanted to hug her during some tumultuous moments of health for her aunt. I also really enjoyed the friendship between Wendy and Jane. It makes me want to sit down and read Jane’s story now with a fresh eye.

There is a static, crackly feeling throughout this entire book whenever Wendy and Noah are on the same page. It really draws you in and keeps you riveted on their romance. Falling in love was not easy for either of them but then, it became one of the easiest things they’ve ever done. This book left me with a happy sigh at the end.

(In fact, I enjoyed this book so much I don’t think this review adequately expresses that. But the tl;dr version is this book is worth your money and your reading time. It’s a friends to lovers story, of sorts, but also, SO MUCH more.)

Wendy and Noah had some really great chemistry in this book!! Usually, the first book is just the set up to the second book and while this was somewhat true - I really enjoyed both. I found that seeing the characters in the first book in this one...really made it more well-rounded. I would definitely recommend anyone who loves a good romance to start this series. Can't wait for the next one!!

I was given an ARC by Netgalley at no cost and no expectation of a review.

3 1/2 STARS!

✦ Best friend’s older brother

✦ Both are lawyers – defendant (her) and prosecutor (him)

✦ She loves to travel, enjoys casual sex/fuck buddies; he’s a strict workaholic, all about his responsibilities, and sticks to relationships only (no casual sex ever)

✦ Mostly enjoyed! It had some fun moments and rivalry between the two. The sex scenes were pretty hot, and I especially loved their first time when he proved her wrong (that men won't go down during a 1NS)

✦ Buuuuut a few things rubbed me wrong towards the end (re: pregnancy scare). Spoiler: she's not actually pregnant. But I didn't love how she said she "never thought she'd be the kind of woman who needed to use The Morning After pill", which reeks of slut shaming. And then he gets mad that she's planning on taking it, and why isn't she talking to him about it first (uhhhh, in 2018, with everything going on, I don't need a hero questioning a heroine's reproductive rights and her own damn agency and body). Also, the scene that caused this, when they fucked without a condom, didn't fit these two and their story considering that in their first scene they did not have a condom around and decided not to do any PIV and instead stuck to oral, and then at the end of the book we get a scene where they had access to a condom but he forgot until mid-fuck and they carried on anyway and then freaked out after he came? What?! That doesn't fit!

I am curious to see what Gia's story is like next.

I didn't think Jenny Holiday could top One and Only, but she's done it again with this book and written a story that's both lighthearted and emotionally compelling. Wendy is maybe more complicated than Jane, but that only makes me love her more. Jenny Holiday is one of my new favorite authors and I'll buy anything she writes now!

It Takes Two was my first book by Jenny Holiday, having missed that it was the second in a series. That did not stop me from enjoying this fun romance. While I generally am not a fan of stories of long separations over misunderstandings, this one was sweet, funny, and well-told. I'm interested in reading more from Jenny Holiday.

I admit I was very curious to try a Jenny Holiday’s romance, after hearing Twitter-praise amidst murmurs of rom-com … BUT, I’m not a rom-com fan. Sex and the City is puerile (Holiday takes a sentimental nod to it here). I like some gravitas to my roms; I like wit, but not humour. With lawyer (*moue of disappointment*) romantic leads, Holiday had several prejudicial strikes against her. Add protagonists who watch baseball over hockey (even though, as a Toronto-set romance, *shudders* that would mean Leafs), I can’t really say I was disposed to love this. I’m also not a fan of wedding settings, especially contemporary wedding settings, with their propensity for destination, vineyards, officiates in place of synagogues, rabbis, priests, and churches, imams and mosques. I sound like a cranky, old lady, but I might as well own it and enjoy it. It’s my crank and I’ll cackle and snark if I want to. So, the series premise: weddings of (best) friends, wedding planning, brides and maidens of honour, dress disasters, bachelor and bachelorette parties. In the case of series novel #2, It Takes Two, the heroine is Wendy Liu, best friend to bride Jane. The hero? The bride’s brother, Noah Denning, the guy who took care of Wendy when her father died, the guy Wendy’s been sparring with for years … and the guy who also stood her up at the high school prom.

Holiday develops Wendy and Jane’s friendship, which I enjoyed. I like it when heroines have important relationships outside of the hero. Wendy and Jane, other than a childhood propensity for being bookish and studious, were linked by a common tragedy. They lost their fathers and bonded in their exclusive “Dead Dads” and “Lost Girls” Clubs. In stepped older brother Noah to take care of them (as well as his grieving mother). This heightened sense of responsibility is Noah’s characterization’s sole “humour”. Holiday’s romance is very much about the heroines. I am happy to say, however, that this is not women’s fiction. It’s very much Wendy’s story: her vulnerabilities, her weaknesses, her hurts, but also her strength, humour, hard work, and honesty, with herself and others, but also her come-to-Wendy moment with Noah and all the emotional baggage it entails.

Jane’s wedding brings Wendy and Noah together time and again as the narrative follows the wedding plans, the bride’s brother and best friend’s roles tantamount to its success … throwing two antagonists together. Why the antagonist when Noah was as “there”, supporting and cheering Wendy through her high school years, as he was for his sister. It goes back to the night Noah stood Wendy up at the prom and broke her heart. As a result, Wendy is hesitant with her feelings and carefree about her lovers, thanks when she fell in love and was, as she perceives, rejected. Noah, needless to say, in a duh-dude way, hasn’t a clue why Wendy is either scarce through his Toronto visits (he lawyers in NYC), or antagonistic. The wedding, however, sees them spending more time together than they have since he moved to NYC seventeen years ago. This is how and why Noah and Wendy’s romantic roosters come home to, well, um, roost, though they have way more wild monkey shenanigans than they do sleep.

The great strength of Holiday’s romance isn’t the pranks and upman- and -womanship Wendy and Noah share, it’s Wendy and her honest, raw, uncomfortable feelings. As someone who’s watched a lot of friends marry and/or partner (’tis a spinster’s lot), the changes in those relationships are complex and contradictory. On the one hand, you love your friend and celebrate her happiness; on the other, you’re no longer the primary relationship in his/her life. You’re caught amongst love, jealousy, regret, fear, and guilt. All the while, when you’re hurt, you in turn have to put on the celebratory mantle, “rah rah” and even, *gasp*, plan things like showers and bachelorette parties, write toast speeches and put your vulnerable self into a wedding planner’s vision of a *shudder* bridesmaid’s, or maid of honour’s, dress. Wendy is “selfishly, sad that Jane was getting married.” Wendy’s brave-strong-woman face crumbles as she thinks she’s losing her friend and being overwhelmed by her yearning for Noah.

With the death of her mother, Wendy has only her Aunt Mary. As a girl and now woman who earned everything she has on her own, success, apartment, wardrobe, life-style, she sure knows how to put up a mask. Her thoughts are often less than honourable about Jane and Jane’s lovely, poor fiancé, Cameron. In a way, sparring and competing with Noah is a relief, it’s familiar, an outlet and fun. It allows Wendy to hide her hurt, hurt over the changes to her relationship with her best friend and the return of the man she’s still in love with. All of this Holiday does well. The writing is smooth, droll, and pithy. Noah and Wendy banter and contend, challenge and dare each other to the culmination of their rivalry: the bachelor and bachelorette parties.

By besting Noah, Wendy can subsume her confusion and shame over her feelings about Jane’s wedding and yearning to be with Noah. Wendy’s bachelorette party planning borders on the uncomfortable. Wendy doesn’t seem to get any satisfaction, instead ” … she was… ashamed. Ashamed for shit-talking Cameron. Ashamed of wishing Jane wasn’t getting married. Ashamed she was jealous over it. Ashamed of the stupid, juvenile bet with Noah that had inspired her to bring the bachelorette party to Vegas … ” This honesty and delving into her character’s vulnerabilities are what I enjoyed most about Holiday’s romance. All the fun and games of the first half give way to an honest poignancy that I thought beautifully developped. The romance with Noah was less interesting than Wendy’s growth, stumbles and stubbornness, strength and humour. Noah paled in comparison. In the end, I thought he was an instrument to give Wendy everything she wanted and, admittedly, deserved. With Miss Austen, we say that Jenny Holiday’s It Takes Two offers “real comfort,” Emma.

Jenny Holiday’s It Takes Two is published by Forever Romance (Grand Central Publishing). It was released on June 26th and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-ARC from Forever, via Netgalley.

It Takes Two by Jenny Holiday
Bridesmaids Behaving Badly #2
Publication Date: June 26, 2018
Contemporary Romance
Forever

Reviewed by Kini


Favorite Quote: “Oh, I saw that in the store where I bought the condoms, and I wanted to… give you something,” Noah said, like it was no big deal. He chuckled in a way that might have bordered on self-deprecating. “Something besides condoms.” Oh, shit. She was past the point of no return. She burst into tears. Which of course brought him to her side in a flash. Damn him. Damn him to hell. Why did he have to be so fucking thoughtful all the time? Because he was a thoughtful, kind person. That was the terrible truth. He always had been, and he was now. The part in the middle, where he stood her up at the dance? It had been an aberration. “What is it, then?” he asked quietly. She stayed bent over, even though she knew she couldn’t hide from him indefinitely. She needed a moment to… put on her armor. “Please, tell me what’s wrong.” I’m in love with you, that’s what’s wrong. She stood up, met his eyes, and opened her palm. “You got me a Pez.” He smiled uncertainly. “Which I would not have done if I’d known it was going to make you cry.” And you don’t love me back. I tried to harden myself against you all those years ago, but it’s all happening again. “It was more just… that you remembered.”

Y’all know I am biased when it comes to Jenny Holiday, I have loved every book of hers that I have read and this was no different. Wendy is prickly and I LOVED her.

When the book starts, Wendy is preparing to be a bridesmaid to her BFF Jane, heroine from book one. But we learn that Wendy is not so keen on Cameron, her BFF’s betrothed. And I was 100% here for it. Wendy knows that logically Cameron is a good dude and treats Jane well, but Wendy is jealous and worried about losing her best friend. Who among us hasn’t had complicated feelings about a best friend and someone they are dating? And then that feeling like you are going to lose said friend? Or is this just me that felt like that? Wendy and Jane have been best friends since childhood after they both lost their dads, they created the “dead dads club”. So part of their friendship is so intertwined with the loss of their parent. As a real life member of the “dead dads club”, I know how much that grief changed relationships, for better and worse, but this isn’t about me. It is about Wendy and I need more Wendy’s in my romance reads. She isn’t all lightness and sweetness, she’s tough. She’ll probably get called unlikeable by some readers. She isn’t outwardly mean, she just has been through a lot. And hasn’t quite let it go. Try not to hold it against her though.

See Wendy was stood up for prom by a young man and she’s carried that hurt for a long time. Since then she’s engaged in casual sex and affairs. And she will NOT allow you to shame her for this. She’s a busy attorney and she’s living the best life she’s allowed herself to live. But deep inside, she’s scared. She’s lost so much already, she doesn’t want to lose more. She doesn’t want to lose herself. She doesn’t want to lose Jane to Cameron. She doesn’t want to lose what is left of her family. She is so focused on loss, it is hard for her to see the love she can gain.

Wendy thinks things like this-
What she hadn’t planned for, though, was getting to that moment. In her imaginings, the successful culmination of this evening involved some very hot sex. Some hot meaningless sex. Some “get the boy out of your system” sex. It did not involve Noah keeping his hand pressed against her lower back, the way guys always did in movies to show they cared about a girl. It did not involve him grabbing her hand and pulling her back when she stepped off the curb slightly prematurely as the light was changing from red to green. Wendy had traveled the world. By herself. She didn’t need anyone to take care of her. More to the point, she didn’t want anyone to take care of her. No, the real truth was that she didn’t want to enjoy being taken care of. Goddammit. Well, she would just have to turn that part of her brain off. She could do that.

Holiday really got me with his passage-
Wendy was a lobster being slowly boiled to death in a pot, the temperature rising so gradually she was oblivious to her impending demise. It was the only way to explain how she’d gone from proclaiming that hand holding didn’t mix with meaningless fucking to hugging Noah in the shower after they’d spilled their guts about their goddamn childhood traumas.

Noah is Jane’s brother and the young man that stood Wendy up at the prom. He didn’t mean to, he was battling his own issues of being the primary support for his family. Noah is the caretaker and continues to be the caretaker because he just doesn’t know how not to. He is a worthy hero for Wendy. As he is the one that broke her heart, he has to be the one to fix it. He’s lovely and wonderful and for the most part he handles Wendy with the care she deserves. Their love story was fun and also incredibly emotional.

Holiday also does a fantastic job exploring female friendship. Jane and Wendy are long term BFFs. They met Elise and Gia while in college and their twosome became a foursome. But Wendy wasn’t as close with the other women as she was Jane. We see not only Wendy and Jane’s relationship. But we get to see Gia and Wendy grow their friendship as well.

But seriously, this book is all Wendy. She’s not perfect, she’s not all lightness, she’s a bit closed off, although never mean or malicious. She is flawed, but of course deserving of love. It was a great story to watch her find and believe in her ability to love and be loved by all, not just in a romantic sense.

Grade: A
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