Books & Spoons Review for BEST LAID PLANS by Brenda Jackson

3/3/2018

Love wasn’t supposed to be a part of the deal…

Even a famed matchmaker like Nolan Madaris’s great-grandmother can’t get it right every time. Nolan, the notorious fun-loving ladies’ man, could never connect with someone as straitlaced as tech whiz Ivy Chapman. Yet the scheme Ivy proposes is tempting—they can pretend to be a couple, just long enough to satisfy their families.

But someone forgot to clue in their hearts

What happens, though, when Ivy’s plan to get her relatives off her back has an unexpected side effect: getting her into Nolan’s bed? Houston’s number one womanizer may have found the only one who can truly satisfy him, body and soul. But with a man from Ivy’s past determined to be part of her future, both she and Nolan will have to decide what’s fake, what’s real and what’s worth fighting for…

A sensual, adorable, and eloquent romance that had me swooning and sighing from one moment to the other.
I have said it before yet it bears to be repeated: Brenda Jackson can tell a story that seduces the mind and heart of the reader while the tale smoothly flows off the pages.
The Madaris family is a known and established book series, yet it was easy to jump into the story even if you haven't met the family before. The binding love, loyalty, and commitment the whole extended family has for each other is a beautiful thing to witness, and something to learn from, for sure.
I enjoy the pretend-relationship storyline, especially when it sizzles and swoons like this one did. Nolan Madaris and Ivy Chapman might think they are just pretending, but the fire, the chemistry, the connection between them is true, nearly a visible force, that even they can't deny for long.
I loved how the relationship developed over time between Nolan and Ivy. They are both stubborn, determined not to fall for what they feel are manipulations from their elders. Nolan is willing to go to great lengths to make sure there is no chance for anything to develop between him and Ivy, ever. Yet the first actual face to face meeting ignite the spark, and then it just takes its time to smolder until the adoration between them turns into an inferno.
Two smart, sharp, professionals who both have been hurt in relationships before, who both share the attributes of loyalty, honor, honesty, and dignity, who both love technology, their families, and jogging try to outsmart the grandparent who knows it the best. Mix in the alluring temptation of the attraction they feel for each other, sensual seduction of mind, heart, and body, fun with the family, and a dash of suspense and danger, and you have an intriguing story that was a pleasure to read and impossible to put down until the very satisfying, beautiful ending.
A well-written story that leaves you smiling and feeling all good, warm, and fuzzy inside. Ah, it was just perfectly lovely.
~ Five Spoons

In 1994, Brenda Jackson’s first novel, Tonight and Forever, was released. Since then she has had more than 100 novels and novellas published (the first African-American author to accomplish such a feat) and has over 3 million books in print.
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Brenda is the first African-American author to have a book published by Harlequin Desire and the first African-American romance author to make the New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller lists within the series romance genre.
In 2012, Brenda received the Romance Writers of America’s Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award—one of the highest literary awards a romance author can receive. In 2013, she was recognized by the mayor and the city of Jacksonville as being a Trailblazer in the literary field.
In 2010, she collaborated with Five Alive Films to turn her Truly Everlasting title into a feature film. Brenda’s 2011 novel A Silken Thread is scheduled to be filmed with Debbie Allen attached as director in 2015.