Do You Take This Man by Denise Williams: Book Review

Do You Take This Man

BY Denise Williams

Rating: 4.5/5 
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Steam: Explicit
Publisher: Berkley
Pub Date: September 6, 2022
Thank you so much Berkley and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC. All opinions are my own.
Available: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop

Do You Take This Man Synopsis:

Divorce attorney RJ would never describe herself as romantic. But when she ends up officiating an unplanned wedding for a newly engaged couple in a park, her life is turned upside down. The video of the ceremony goes viral, and she finds herself in the unlikely position of being a sought-after local wedding officiant. Spending her free time overseeing “I dos” isn’t her most strategic career move, but she enjoys it, except for the type A dude-bro wedding planner she’s forced to work with.
 
Former pro-football event manager Lear is a people person, but after his longtime girlfriend betrayed him, he isn’t looking for love. He knows how to execute events and likes being in control, so working with an opinionated and inflexible officiant who can’t stand him is not high on his list. He’s never had trouble winning people over, but RJ seems immune to his charms.
 
Surrounded by love at every turn, their physical attraction pulls them together despite their best efforts to stay an arm’s length apart. Lear refuses to get hurt again. RJ refuses to let herself be vulnerable to anyone. But when it comes to happily ever after, their clients might not be the only ones saying “I do.”

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Do You Take This Man Review:

To be completely fair in this review I have absolutely adored everything Williams has written up to this point. And Do You Take This Man is no exception to my Williams love. This book was full of character development, steam, banter, and an entertaining plot. Obviously I loved it.

RJ is prickly divorce lawyer who has her walls up high. I loved her transformation and growth in the book. Plus that she ordains weddings is the icing on the cake for me (hahaha). Her back story through her work relationships are beautiful. I adored the way she is there for her friends throughout the entire book and a focus on that was superb. I loved RJ and honestly wish she were my friend IRL.

Lear is definitely a MMC that is going to have a divided audience. Peeling back each of the layers that he’s carefully constructed creates an even better character. He starts as a bit of a prick. As the story unfolds and you start to get more glimpses of him. With Williams’ writing giving small clues you understand why and end up fully in love with this sweet man. I adore characters like this, especially when they’re handled like he is in this book.

While the book is fully centered around a character driven plot and their character arcs, there are enough secondary plots to continuously help propel the story forward while bringing out key elements of the characters. It’s incredibly done and you don’t realize how masterful it is until you’ve finished and sat with yourself a long time.

Williams is an expert story crafter, and I don’t think myself or anyone else can properly sing her praises. Plus she made me love a grump/sunshine character duo, which honestly I’m not the biggest fan of.

Long Story Short:

Do I recommend this book? Yes! 1000% yes I recommend picking up this book. The banter, wit, chemistry, and character development are all top notch in this book and I think it will appeal to almost every contemporary romance reader. Plus we all need more prickly heroines in romances.

If You Liked This One…

I highly recommend checking out her other books. I LOVED Fastest Way To Fall (even more than this one) and How to Fail at Flirting is a debut that is not one! Otherwise, I’d check out Emily Henry’s novels. Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation also feel very similar. Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert and All The Feels both feature pricklier heroines!