In Wait For It by Jenn McKinlay, It took an unexpected marriage proposal from her ex-husband to get Annabelle Martin to take a hard 
look at her life. Sure, she’d played fast and loose with her heart in the past, but she’s a free spirit–not reckless like her friends and family thinks she is. Moving from Boston to Phoenix for a graphic design job at her best friend’s company is just the fresh start Annabelle is looking for. But as she settles in at work she finds not everyone is happy to see her step into her new role. And then there’s her landlord, Mr. Daire. She loves the cute guest house she’s renting, but the rules he’s made up are ridiculous.
“Don’t talk to him. Don’t go near him. Maintain a ten-foot perimeter at all times.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Because he is everything you fall for,” she said.
“Charming, funny, handsome, and smart?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “Broken, damaged, needy, and hot.”
So Annabelle sets out to win Nick Daire over, thinking he’s a broody older man. Nope. He’s her age and he’s hot as sin. Then she realizes the battles he’s waging, both physically and mentally, and Annabelle is all in to help him. Surely a little flirting and some kisses along the way couldn’t cause any trouble, right? Not so much. Because Nick isn’t looking for friendship, let alone a fling. After having a stroke and retiring from his successful construction business about nine months ago, the thirty-five-year-old doesn’t even leave his house unless absolutely necessary. Carefree Annabelle is the opposite of what Nick needs. Or so he thinks. Because even with everything he’s dealing with, he’s never felt quite as alive in his life as he does whenever he’s with the sexy artist.
‘I realized in a flash of clarity that everything that had gone wrong in my life had given me everything that was right, namely her, Annabelle.’
Wait For It completely charmed me through and through with its fun modern feel, clever dialogue, and well fleshed out characters. Jenn McKinlay added enough depth of emotion and interesting twists to hold my attention to the very (happy & sweet) end.
“You thought I was a half-dead fossil,” he said.
He and Jackson exchanged a look and laughed.
“In my defense, you do have a lot of rules that resemble ‘get off my lawn’ for a guy your age,” I said.
“I like order.”
Told from dual POVs, Wait For It started off as a comedy of errors thanks to our heroine Annabelle’s impulsive ways and then brought in some serious subjects with both her and our hero Nick’s tragic backgrounds. It was a combination that worked exceedingly well for me. I have seen some mixed reviews online so this might be a hit or miss story for some readers. But I love a romance where the lighter, comical moments balance out the tougher issues the characters are facing down. To me, it makes it all seem more realistic.
I’m a sucker for a grumbly hero with a good heart and boy doesn’t that describe Nick. He was so curmudgeonly that Annabelle at first thought he was an elderly man–before she met him face to face. The letters he wrote about the rules of renting his guest house and any “infractions” Nick thought she’d committed were laugh out loud funny. And yet another reason Annabelle didn’t think he was the thirty-something hottie he turned out to be.
But my heart did go out to Nick for the rough situation he was in after having a stroke so young and wondering what his future would look like. I adored his helpers: Jackson, his personal trainer and close friend, and the Guzmans, the couple who were his housekeeper and groundskeeper. They had Nick’s back and only wanted the best for him. Even if he wasn’t willing to put himself out there…until Annabelle entered his life like a hurricane.
Annabelle, well, she’s probably the character some readers will take issue with at times. I got a kick out of her, myself. Yes, she was a bit reckless and a free spirit who acted before thinking things through. But she was also a people pleaser who was a social butterfly and could charm just about anyone. That’s why it was so comical to see Annabelle think her landlord was a grumpy elderly man only to then find out it was someone her age who was seemingly immune to her charismatic ways. Of course where their attraction was off the charts hot, Annabelle kind of used that to her advantage–until she was smitten. That’s when it got all sorts of complicated. And entertaining.
What do you get with you pair together a broken recluse of a man with an artistic, almost bohemian woman? Pure romantic gold. This slow burn story had me falling in love with not just the characters Jenn McKinlay created, but with her wonderful writing voice as well.
QOTD: I’m pretty new to Jenn McKinlay’s work but she has a huge backlist of books. Have you read anything of hers yet? If so, do you have a favorite you can recommend?
Book Info:
Publication: Expected publication: August 10th 2021 | Berkley |
A woman at the end of her rope moves to Arizona looking for a new lease on life and befriends a handsome shut-in who teaches her about resilience, courage, and ultimately true love, in this funny, bighearted novel about hope and healing from New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay.
Stuck in a dreary Boston winter, surrounded by annoyingly happy couples, Annabelle Martin would like nothing more than to run away from her current life. She’s not even thirty years old, twice-divorced, and has just dodged a marriage proposal… from her ex-husband. When an opportunity to start over arises, she jumps at it and flees to Arizona for a dream job as a graphic designer.
When she arrives in the Valley of the Sun, Annabelle moves into a pool house attached to a mansion with a mysterious owner. Having assumed her anonymous landlord, Nick Daire, to be some old, rich curmudgeon, Annabelle is shocked when she finally meets him and finds that he’s not much older than her and is in a wheelchair. Nick suffered from a stroke a year ago, and while there’s no physical reason for him not to recover, he is struggling to overcome the paralyzing fear that has kept him a prisoner in his own home.
Despite her promise to herself not to get involved, Annabelle finds herself irresistibly drawn to Nick. And soon she wonders if she and Nick might help each other find the courage to embrace life, happiness, and true love.
