This was so juicy and sweet!! I love the tension between Sawyer and Fallon. Their relationship was so fun to watch blossom throughout the book and just seeing all the characters band behind Fallon and her grandpa was just so lovely. I really enjoyed this book and absolutely sped through it!!

What a truly wonderful, entertaining, funny and emotional story. A story that had me laughing, crying, and falling totally and utterly in love with Sawyer Castle and Fallon Long. A small town romance (it could even be classed as second chance/enemies to lovers), with a whole host of secondary characters that made for some addictive reading. As well as our two MCs we’ve got the fun loving brother, the sassy best friend, and the truly wonderful grandfather. I loved the honesty throughout the story, and the fact that Sawyer and Fallon speak their feelings and discuss their hopes and doubts, totally refreshing. As someone who’s had parents, grandparents and aunts with dementia it was quite an emotional read for me. Meghan Quinn though wrote tastefully and considerately, and I continued reading on through my tears, enjoying this sweet, funny and timeless love story.

The Runaway Groomsman is a hilariously (laugh out loud) sweet and heartbreaking second chance small town romance.
Sawyer finds himself in a high profile scandal that leads him to the small town of Canoodle where Fallon is caretaker of her aging grandfather and his beloved (aging) mountain cabins. Turns out Fallon and Sawyer have met before, unbeknownst to Sawyer. As Sawyer extends his stay in Canoodle it makes way for the slowest burn romance ever. As much as I loved Sawyer and Fallon, the supporting characters are just as loveable. This sweet read lacks the steam level you typically find in other Meghan Quinn books, but was an easy enjoyable read.
***Trigger warnings: loved one with Alzheimer's, cheating ex

Note: This review is for an ARC and is my unbiased opinion.

Another new Meghan Quinn release, another winner in my book. I had so much fun reading Runaway Groomsman. It made me laugh, smile, and swoon as a romantic comedy should. Here are a few -- no bunch of reasons I loved it:

* The prologue was PERFECTION. What a way to start a book!

* Canoodle was the cutest small town in the mountains. The way it was described made it easy to imagine every piece of the town and surrounding land. I love the history embedded in it. The cat versus dog thing was cool.

* This was probably the slowest burn I've ever read from Quinn. There are some forces behind that, so it takes some time for Fallon and Sawyer to get together. One could almost say this book could have been a love triangle, but thankfully it wasn't. I knew going in that Fallon and Sawyer would end up together with their dual POVs.

* Fallon was a good person. She stood by her family through thick and thin. She knew what was most important in life and she did it. I appreciated how she took time to think through her feelings.

* Sawyer was a mess at first. It was completely understandable. I loved how he worked things out and how it brought him closer to Fallon and her grandfather. I also loved how he was a screenwriter and sometimes thought in romantic comedy. You'll get that when you read it. It was fun.

* Like I said before, Fallon and Sawyer took a while to get to the romantic side of things. Once they did, it was full speed ahead and I was there for every minute of it. I adored them together. Adore might not even be strong enough word.

* The side characters in the book were FABULOUS. Seriously fabulous. Fallon's best friend Jaz was a HOOT. Their friendship made me so happy. I loved the banter they shared. And then Jaz and Sawyer's non-friendship was even more awesome. Jaz was larger than life and I would not be upset if Quinn decided to give us her book. Sully, Fallon's grandfather, was another character who shined. I loved his grumpy but sweet disposition and his interactions with both Fallon and Sawyer. There were a lot of other townspeople and Fallon's parents to add to the fun as well. Oh, and I can't forget Sawyer's brother. Roarick was another gem.

* Faithful fans of Meghan Quinn's book are going to love all the little extras she put in. I can hear them now screaming in excitement when they get to those parts.

* The third act drama didn't leave much time for angst or worry on my part.

* Julia. Made me smile every time I saw it. (IYKYN)

I know I'm a broken record when it comes to Meghan Quinn's books, but I just love them so much. Her Montlake releases are a little tamer and I guess you could say more mainstream and less zany than her self-published, but that doesn't make them any less enjoyable for me. Runaway Groomsman is the perfect example of that. I can't wait to read what she has in store for us next.

Cute rom com, has same feel and format as most. Easy to read, started and finished in day and a half. Good option for anyone wanting a chic lit or womens fiction. Had a hallmark movie feel to it, could see this being one of their movies or a lifetime type movie. Epilogue didn’t leave much room for a follow up book with other characters as we were told how things turned out for them as well when it could have been a great follow up story.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

No one makes me ladylike snort like Meghan Quinn.I swear, every time I read her book I think to myself "Where in the world she comes up with this stuff?!" Overall, fun,light and easy read.

"Warmth spreads through my veins, like the sun i sbeing injected directly into them. I can't remember the last time I had human touch, and yet, here I am two days in a row, privileged to feel Fallon tight in my embrace. And the way her head rests against my chest, like...like she belongs to me. It makes me feel powerful, like I actually matter."

Meghan Quinn does small town romance sooo well. This was one of the cutest, funniest, sweet ooey-gooeyest books I've read in a minute, AND I LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT. Highly recommend if you're wanting a cheesy, small town romance.

After running out of his best friend & exs wedding, one shoe down, middle fingers up, Sawyer Castle finds himself in Canoodle, CA. Canoodle is the perfect place for Sawyer to escape the public eye the incident, and work on his next movie script. After a drunken arrival, Sawyer ends up staying at the Canoodle Cove Cabins and meeting Fallon Long.
Fallon is too busy taking care of her grandfather and fixing up the cabins to invest more attention to Sawyer. Between fixing the cabins, writing a new screenplay, taking care of Sully, and everything else inbetween, this relationship's course is a slooooow burn.

I loved these characters so much. Fallon's love and relationship with her grandpa definitely pulled on my heartstrings, and had me smiling and tearing up. Sawyer is suuuch a great romance hero. He is a romance screenwriter who grew up watching romance with his mom and brother, he knoowsss how to make a girl swoon. Quinn is great at making you fall in love with side characters and that includes Jaz, Tank, Fallon's dad and papa, and the rest of Canoodle.

I really recommend anything who loves small town romance, good banter, fun side characters, and sweet emotional reads pick this up when it's out!


Thank you to NetGalley, Montlake, and Meghan Quinn for the early copy of this book!

↠ 5 stars

I can ALWAYS count on Meghan Quinn for a funny, feel good romance - Runaway Groomsman totally hit the spot! It was a low-drama, sweet, slow-burn love story filled with lots of humor, amazing side characters (Jaz!, Sully), and a hero truly worth swooning over. Sawyer was perfection - he knew when to laugh at himself, when to apologize, and was just a solidly good guy; you couldn't help but root for him to get his life figured out and find his happily-ever-after. Fallon was mature, selfless, and just completely lovable. The town of Canoodle was so perfectly crafted, I didn't want to leave it! I just adored this book so much!

I hate that I didn’t love this but Meghan Quinn is another one of those hit or miss authors for me. This was no where near the vicinity of A Not So Meet Cute.

Sawyer is forced to be best man at his former bff’s wedding to his ex-gf. In the midst of the wedding he runs off and lands in Canoodle where he drunkenly meets Fallon and her bff Jaz and ends up staying at Fallon’s rundown motel where he ends up helping her renovate it.

This had moments of cuteness. I laughed at some parts for sure. However the relationship between Fallon and Sawyer doesn’t even exist until like 40% through. So much is focused on Sawyer and Sully and Fallon and Jaz/Sully/Peter/everyone but her alleged romantic lead. So much about Grandma Joan. This took slow burn to the brink. And lacked the spice Meghan usually peppers so nicely into her stories. Also Jaz is supposed to be cool and edgy and she just comes across bitchy and childish at some points.

I didn’t feel the chemistry here nor did I even really care. It just didn’t resonate. It’s a good option if you want a mindless read on the beach with characters you don’t care about and a plot that just sort of meanders it’s way around to a conclusion. It’s so forgettable that I literally had to go back when writing this to look up the MMC’s name. I forgot that quickly. 😬 I hate that I didn’t like it but I will still read the author in the future. Just didn’t hit a home run with this one.

This book was fun, sweet, and heartfelt. It’s the kind of book where I loved the side characters almost as much as the main ones.

Sawyer, a successful screenwriter, pulls a perfect Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride when he makes a dramatic exit at his exes wedding. Running away from the scandal, he finds himself in a small town where he ends up staying in Fallon’s grandfather’s cabin. The catch? Fallon and Sawyer had already previously met when they went on a lacklustre blind date… which Sawyer doesn’t remember. What follows is a genuine slow burn romance between Sawyer and Fallon full of swoon worthy moments.

If you enjoy second chance and small town romances, this is the book for you.

4.5 stars

This light-hearted slow burn romance captured my attention from the very first chapter. The characters are lively and the banter between them is quite frankly hilarious. 'Runaway Groomsman' portrays many different themes, but the most important one is individual growth. Sawyer is an absolute dream, patiently waiting for Fallon to realize that it's been him all along. The book highlights the importance of family, trust, and the magic of small towns. In a way, this book reminded me of a cute hallmark movie I would like to watch on a rainy day...instead, I read it on a rainy day!

So.. mixed feelings about this one which is why I rate it 3 stars. Good plot, weak execution with a lot of potential.

Plot- 3.5/5
Spice- 1/5

Tropes- Second chance, small town romance, love triangle.

The plot revolves around Sawyer, who's runaway from his ex girlfriend's wedding (hence the title- Runaway Groomsman), after causing a scene which is caught on camera he decides to settle in temporarily in a small town where he meets Fallon, with whom he had a bad dating experience.

The writing is pretty good, but could be better. It's written in dual POV- Sawyer and Fallon's. Some of the parts had just too many dialogues between Jaz and Fallon and it got kind of boring.

Sawyer single handedly carried this book for me. Reading his POV and reading about him from Fallon's POV just made me admire him so much. He's such a likable character. From the moment I read the prologue till the epilogue Sawyer stayed charming. Honestly, Fallon came off as bland to me compared to him. The supporting characters - Peter and Sully are full of personality and equally likable. Jaz is a complex character, there are parts where I liked her and there are parts where she was simply annoying and needed to be smacked in the head (sorry not sorry).

What did not work for me?
The plot was clearly set for a slow burn, especially cause we see Sawyer putting in so much effort to get to know Fallon and yearn for her so much. Whereas Fallon did not put any effort to get to know him and she immediately switched to "I love you." All the chemistry and tension was carried out by Sawyer and Fallon was just there. She did not pine for him. She did not yearn for him. She didn't match his chemistry and when she said "I love you" it genuinely came out of nowhere and from slow burn it became insta love.

Another thing that put me off was the constant swearing. I can handle ample amount of cussing in books but once you start to take God's name in vain it is a massive turn off for me. I hope Meghan Quinn (if she ever reads this review) realises that she is a talented writer and using 'Jesus', 'Christ', 'Goddamn' repeatedly (annoyingly) doesn't make you hip, it's seriously not required.

Lastly, the drama that happened with Annalise towards the last 20% of the book. Was it required? Absolutely not.
The last 60% of the book was written in a very rushed manner which didn't sit well with me.

If this is something that interests you I would say go for it, you might end up enjoying it more than me. I would say it's worth giving it a shot only because of Sawyer. I really did admire him. I'll look forward to reading more of the author's works.

eARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.

Runaway Groomsman is a fun and entertaining romcom from Meghan Quinn. I have enjoyed quite a few of Meghan Quinn’s books and this book was one of the best. I really enjoyed the relationship and slow burn between Sawyer and Fallon. I also really enjoyed the interactions and relationships with the side characters such as Sully and Jaz.

Overall this was a fun and enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of easy read romances.

A fun romantic comedy about a groomsman who runs away to a small mountain town.

Since the male main character (Sawyer) is a screenwriter of romantic comedies there is a nice thread of narrative where he narrates some of the scenes as if he were writing a screenplay. This meta theme gives the book a unique perspective. I also really liked the subplots about the town which is perfectly quirky (a cat vs. dog mayor election is one great example).

I loved the female main character who is working to renovate the cabins since she took over for her Grandfather with Alzheimer's (which is full sub-plot thread, so please be mindful if that is a sensitive spot for you or other readers). The banter is funny and there were of course many hilarious absurd situations various characters found themselves in.

My general issue is the miscommunication trope at the end of the book - it was unnecessary. I felt that this book could have happily and easily ended when the main couple got together. The couple had overcome the "problem" there was no need for a third act conflict and it wasn't well executed in my opinion - it generally just left a bad taste for me for the whole cast of characters. Also the portrayal of "friends" who are really in love with you plotlines got a bit creepy after a while (but I generally find the "friendzone plotline" creepy so that's more of a personal note).

Fallon is a RN who left her nursing career in Palm Springs to take care of her beloved Grandfather and his deteriorating motor park in Canoodle, a tiny, quirky little town in the San Jacinto mountains in California. Fallon had spent wonderful time with her grandparents in Canoodle when she was a child. Her grandfather is now widowed and struggling with Alzheimers. Fallon wants to rehab and restore her grandparents’ motor park, while caring for her grandfather. Her boyfriend (Peter) now visits her to help as much as possible. Peter is pretty great, but Fallon wonders if something in their relationship is missing. She also hasn’t told him that her move to Canoodle is probably permanent. Meanwhile, Sawyer is a romance screenwriter who gets manipulated into being the best man for the Hollywood wedding of his ex to his former friend. The paparazzi catch him escaping from the wedding. When Sawyer sobers up, he finds himself in Canoodle. Multiple coincidences have brought Fallon and Sawyer together again, after they once had a forgettable, bad blind date in Palm Springs. This is a sweet and very romantic story, with both characters’ points of view. Sawyers is a romantic fantasy but has some very normal weaknesses too. Fallon tries to do the right thing and grows as well; I liked that she is smart, strong and open to discovering some of her preconceptions are wrong. Her best friend, grandfather Sully, and other characters are well written. This story developed very naturally, once past the initial craziness and coincidences. When I finally got to the HEA, it was extremely satisfying.

I downgraded one star because it took faith to get beyond the first chapters. Honestly, who would actually say “…I’m not sure I can possibly take any more of this fanciful mockery of a union?” And the coincidences of Fallon and Sawyer having had a blind date between his 5-year relationship with his ex and her relationship with Peter and then meeting up again in the tiny town of Canoodle was excessively far-fetched. However, this is a great romance once you get back those little bumps in the road. Highly recommended!

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and a thank you to Montlake for allowing me to read this.

Runaway Groomsman is out 11th October 2022!

I LOVED this book. I was excited to read it purely based on the premise and it didn't disappoint!

I would give this a 3.5/3.75.

I really enjoyed the dynamics between all the characters - I felt they all went through great character development and the story premise was enjoyable to read. I loved the romance and all the representation of Alzheimer’s was presented well and showed the good and hard sides of living with the condition as well as caring for someone who has Alzheimer’s.

I adored the relationship between Fallon and her grandfather and the bond they clearly shared, it was touching to read. Parts of the book were predictable and the relationship was slow burning but still well done.

If you like a slow burning, small town, light hearted romance this might be the one for you!

This was so fun to read! It gives major "My Best Friends Wedding" and "Runaway Bride" vibes. If you love Rom-Com's, you'll love this.

Thank you to Montlake and Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I’ve willingly read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.

I’ve read quite a few Meghan Quinn novels and RUNAWAY GROOMSMAN was definitely unique. While it still had the quirky characters and zany antics, plus some pretty great banter, RUNAWAY GROOMSMAN had a more serious subject matter.

After being forced into being his ex-best friend and ex-girlfriend’s wedding, screenwriter Sawyer makes a grand (and hilarious) exit and finds himself laying low in a small town in the California mountains where he becomes reacquainted with Fallon. Fallon left her job as a nurse to help her grandfather, Sully, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, with his cabin rental business and to care for him. Sawyer and Fallon get closer as he helps her renovate the cabins to bring in a steadier business, allowing him to heal from previous heartbreaks while also coming up with (and maybe living?) the inspiration of his next movie.

Though RUNAWAY GROOMSMAN was enjoyable (I loved getting glimpses of the quirky town of Canoodle, California and its inhabitants) and it will bring attention to how difficult a disease Alzheimer’s is (and how simultaneously difficult and rewarding caregiving can be) I thought the story dragged on a bit too long. I kept waiting for something to actually happen—for the relationship between Fallon and Peter to finally end so she and Sawyer could explore their feelings for one another, and then for the inevitable conflict to occur.

I have read a couple of Meghan Quinn’s books in the past, and have really enjoyed them. They are fun rom-coms that never fail to bring a smile to my face. While this one was still an enjoyable read, it probably wasn’t my favorite of hers.
We follow the story of Sawyer, a groomsman that runs away from the wedding of his ex-best-friend and his ex, as he rolls in to a small, sleepy town and meets Fallon, the granddaughter of the cabins for rent in town. While he’s there, they begin to get to know each other, start fixing up the cabins…you see where this is headed.
There are some really great points to this book. I really loved the relationship between Fallon and her grandfather, and the author did an excellent job of portraying the pain the family experiences with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
There were parts that didn’t work for me either. The characters didn’t really seem to have a ton of chemistry, strange as that sounds. There are parts of the story that I just don’t think are necessary, and they kind of combine for making a less enjoyable read. Some of the “com” moments in the rom-com fell a bit flat and a little too zany for me as well.
That being said, I will still be a fan of Meghan Quinn and can’t wait to read her next one. Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This one drops in October!

Meghan Quinn has crafted another hilarious romantic comedy with Runaway Groomsman.
This stunning author has another fantastic book to add to a long list of great reads.
Quinn is a must-read author for me and I've enjoyed everything she has written.
This book was light, fun, sweet and heart-warming, It was genuinely funny, and made me LOL quite a few times.
Sawyer and Fallon, I couldn't get enough of these two.
These two characters grew so much throughout the book, and each of them are felt like they were dealing with real life issues most face today.
This book is so wonderful! It felt really real--all of their feelings and emotions that they each felt.
If you're looking for a fun, snarky, sweet romance this is a Quinn novel you won't want to miss!
A book so beautifully done, this one definitely gave me all the right feels!
I'm a huge fan of Quinn's rom coms, and this was another great read from her.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Montlake,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.