Book 717: Mr. Right Now – Annabeth Albert

I had NO intentions of reading another Annabeth Albert book right after that, I fully planned to jump into Eric Cervini’s The Deviant’s War (or one of the other half-dozen ARC/galleys I’m trailing), but when I saw this flipping through Kindle Unlimited I of course jumped at it.

This is a holiday novella and comes in at just over 120 pages and I’m honestly mad at myself for not saving it for the holiday season so I’ll have to keep an eye out for other options.

This is a story of happenstance when veteran Russ, burns the Thanksgiving dinner he’s preparing for his family and his neighbor, Esteban, attractive former actor, comes to the rescue to help him impress his family and weirdly connected boss. They end up pretending to be boyfriends to keep Russ from embarrassment in front of his family and the story goes from there.

This book had bits from Albert’s Out of Uniform and Portland Heat series with the setting in Portland and Russ being a recently discharged army (maybe navy) soldier.

If there’s one thing about Albert’s Out of Uniform series that I’ve missed is her nerdy sense of humor. It does pop up every now and then, but not like in her nerdier series or her less hyper-masculine series like this,

‘”That’s sweet. And cats. Plural. There’s a second one you haven’t met yet. Keith lives under my bed, while Lance is the escape artist you know too well.’
‘You named your cats after Voltron characters?'” (Loc. 588)

“Their second kiss was an entirely different beast than the first. Not that Russ was keeping count, but that first kiss had had more parts than the Lord of the Rings finale.” (Loc. 1,009)

I mean Lord of the Rings and Voltron? Be still my heart. That Voltron ‘ship was perfectly placed and timed and just made me happy. I started to re-watch the Netflix series recently and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I loved how relaxed and low key this book was. There was no major drama and the two characters only needed to get out of their own way to make the relationship work. Thankfully, they realize this pretty quickly (it’s only 127 pages after all) and the book ends as sweetly as it begins.

Recommendation: Read it! This was a perfect holiday romance that won’t bog you down and will leave you with a grin on your face and a flutter in your heart. I honestly don’t think you can go wrong with anything Albert’s written (even the few I wasn’t a fan of, they were still great)!

Opening Line: “Russ didn’t consider himself an angry guy, but as he carried the blackened and flaking skillet out to the trash, he was seriously considering violence toward the misbehaving onions that had transformed from raw to charred before he could save his pan.”

Closing Line: “And now that he had it, he wasn’t ever letting it go.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Mr. Right Now
“Man, he’s good at this. Russ felt a surge of tenderness at seeing Esteban treating Russ’s favorite small human kindly. It brought with it an unexpected urge to touch Esteban, one he quashed by helping himself to a little of the appetizer.” (Loc. 404)

“Esteban thinking of him was nice. He hadn’t had a friend take care of him like this before, and it felt good, the psychic equivalent of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls.” (Loc. 884)

“I want you. I’m pretty sure I’m more than half in love with you already. And when you’re willing to give this a try, a real try, you know where to find me.” (Loc. 1,341)

“He needed to be brave if he was going to make that happen. And pants. He needed pants. Pants first. Then courage. And maybe some luck too. But he wasn’t going to be able to sleep without knowing he’d tried.” (Loc. 1,368)

“‘Maybe that’s why I was so quick to agree to pretend to be your boyfriend—I wanted all the benefits of a relationship with none of the risks to my heart. And that’s not reasonable.’
‘No, it’s not.’ Rubbing Esteban’s sides, Russ pulled him closer.
‘But I like your heart. A lot. I’m going to do my best to keep it safe.'” (Loc. 1,412)