The Best Man

Jasper Falls, Book 2

By: Lydia Michaels

Narrated by: Ashley Trumpler

Patrick fell for Julie in kindergarten when she shared her snack with him. As her childhood best friend, he adored and protected her for years, until she gave her heart to someone else. Loving Julie meant letting her choose her own path, so he did the gentlemanly thing and bowed out of her life, but never stopped loving her from afar.

When Patrick returns to Jasper Falls for his brother’s wedding, Julie is there - alone - and he decides it’s time to hang his heart on the line, but Julie has been keeping secrets, too.

Is it ever too late for a first love? When it comes to Julie Cook, there could never be another. And, this time, Patrick Clooney is determined to prove himself as the best man.

©2021 Lydia Michaels (P)2023 Lydia Michaels

The very best man

The Best Man is the second book in the Jasper Falls series by Lydia Michaels; book one wake my heart is posted for review if you want to check that one out as well!

The Best Man is the story of Patrick Clooney, and Julie Cook. Patrick has returned to Jasper Falls for his brothers wedding to Maggie (book ones characters) where he will be the best man and to set up his medical practice in Jasper Falls. Pat convinces Julie’s twin sister, Jo to attend Ryan’s wedding as his date. Jo is tired of her mother setting her up on random dates. She feels like her family is judgmental and she's honestly not into men.

When Patrick and Jo arrive at her home Jo blurts out that she and Patrick are engaged, it was a heat of the moment blurt it out to get her mom off her back but this is one mistake you don't make in Jasper Falls, the rumor had circulated before the next day!! and

Patrick’s first and only love, Julie returns home for Ryan’s wedding alone. Patrick has loved Julie since kindergarten when she shared her pudding with him. He was a coward and never told Julie how he truly felt so she moved on and he lost Julie to Lance.

One of my favorite parts was how the title of the book is a sneak into Julie and Pat’s love story. I can't wait to see what is next in this series. Lydia is a author that I really enjoy and always pick up!

10/10 recommend.
I received this audio from valentine_pr
The narrators did amazing and I really enjoyed this audio book!! Narrated by Ashley Trumpler.

Another great Ashley Trumpler narration!

Patrick was going to have a horrible morning. All his friends are at his and his best friend Josephine's place shoving shot after shot towards him wishing him farewells. He has just completed his degree and residency and is on his way back to Jasper Falls for his brother's wedding and to open his medical practice.

Jo has been getting message after message from her mother about attending the wedding...wanting to set her up with every single male as her date. Except Jo is gay and not out of the closet to her family and is determined not to return to their hometown and her mother's disappointments. So he jokes that she can tell them he is her date.

Patrick has been in love with Jo's twin Julie since kindergarten, but she moved to Maryland with her douchebag boyfriend Lance.

Julie is driving home for Ryan's wedding and wondering if she made the right decision. Her fiance is an arrogant, controlling jerk who only voices his criticism. She is so tired of being gaslit. Enough is enough. After their last fight where he told her they never discussed him attending the wedding, she told him she was leaving him.

This is book two of the Jasper Falls series and is was nice to be reacquainted with all the family and friends again. Patrick finally tells Julie his feelings, but Julie is not only on a rebound but she is holding a secret.

Like all of Lydia Michaels books, it is very well written and the characters are amazing! Ashley Trumpler did an amazing job narrating this story. I fell in love with her narration from listening to Wake My Heart, book one of this series, and I look forward to listening to more books read by her in the future.

Outstanding Narration

The Best Man is an estranged-childhood-friends-to-lovers, small town romance told in dual, alternating third-person POV. It is the second installment in the Jasper Falls series, and though it is technically a standalone, I felt as though I would have benefitted from reading the first installment before this one. Though the plot was easy to follow and still enjoyable, I suspect a lot of world-building for Jasper Falls and the community there occurred in the first book.

I went into this book fairly blind, just knowing it was set in a small town and involved a couple who met as children - two of my favorite tropes. The story caught my interest immediately, and even had me guessing for the first few chapters who exactly Pat’s love interest would be. Jasper Falls is the quintessential romance small town, and a place I wish were real so I could visit. After being guilty of judging a book by its cover and expecting a closed door romance, I was pleasantly surprised when the relationship turned steamy! Pat’s ceaseless devotion to Julie for so many years, even from afar, was endearing, and his self-admonishment over letting his fear stop his past self from shooting his shot felt very relatable.

Ashley Trumpler was a new-to-me narrator, and her performance in this audiobook blew me away! There was so much emotion in her delivery, it had me feeling everything the characters felt. This amazes me especially because it was in third-person POV, which I find more difficult to connect with than first-person. Particularly descriptions of Julie’s previous relationship, and the emotional abuse she endured, tore me apart. There were parts of the book that didn’t work for me - mainly the very short timeframe for their reconnection and subsequently Julie’s moving on from a very traumatic long-term relationship - which I think would have caused my rating to be a 3-star if I had read it, but Trumpler’s delivery was so fantastic that I couldn’t stand to rate this less than 4-stars overall.

Touching Story

Because this was my first book by Lydia Michaels, I didn't know what to expect. This twist on the best friend's sibling trope more than pleasantly surprised me. The Best Man exemplifies the adage that people come into your life for a reason. Patrick is reunited with Julie just when she needs a kind, thoughtful, genuinely nice guy in her life. He shows her that she is worthy of a trusting and honest relationship as she rediscovers her personality's feisty, clever side.

Narrator Ashley Trumpler effectively conveys Julie's doubts as well as her fragile mental state in her narration. The Irish accents are also well done. Trumpler's voice for Patrick's Irish mom was fantastic!

This touching story is a quick listen that will make you smile.

Patrick & Julie!

Patrick returns back to Jasper Falls with his best friend Jo for a wedding. He has been in love with Jo's twin, Julie since they were six years old. Never taking the chance to win her heart, he thinks it's over now that she is engaged to the horrible, Lance. But when Julie comes home too, things begin to change. Could this be the chance these two deserve? I love Jasper Falls. The people are welcoming and interfering, the best kind of small-town!! The dynamic of Jo with her parents is dealt with as the relevant issue it is. Patrick is the sweetest man, patient and comforting. Julie is a mess, and Lance is a mean, horrendous man. Fun getting to know them all, love the storyline and the outcome brought a huge smile to my face!

Ashley Trumpler is a new narrator to me, and I enjoyed her voice. She has a warmth that generates through the narration creating that feeling I love. She has a good array of voices and her pacing is perfect! I will definitely be looking for more of her work.

short & sweet novella !

Sweet, short novella in the Jasper Falls series.

Patrick, Ryan's brother, is coming home for Ryan and Maggie's wedding, and to open up his medical practice.
Julie is the girl he fell in love with since kindergarten but he never had the courage to start anything with her. When he finally wanted to make a move, she became involved with someone all wrong for her.

They get their shot at love when she returns for the wedding, but she's been broken down by her narcissistic fiancé (who she left!).

I wish this book had been expanded a bit more but it's a short and sweet ( and a touch of spicy) novella that fans of this series will enjoy. Readers will love having more of this lovable, crazy big family and a peak at Ryan and Maggie's wedding.

Ashley Trumpler narrates this story as well as the previous book, Wake My Heart. I love when she voices the matriarch of the clan on the mountain!

Great characters

We're back in Jasper Falls, this time for a wedding and a bit of the one who got away romance for Patrick Clooney. This second in the series picks up where book one left off and can be read as a standalone. That said, I'd recommend starting at the beginning because there are so many terrific characters in this series, and you'll want to meet them all. Plus, it's just a truly awesome book.
Patrick and Julie's story is a bit lighter than the first book in the series but just a bit. It definitely hits on some emotional topics with Julie's past relationship. And that's where I had problems with this one. Without giving too much away, I'll just say that things happened a little too quickly between Pat and Julie. I get that Pat's been in love with her since they were kids, and they've been friends all the while, but it felt really rushed to me. Nevertheless, as I already mentioned, this series is packed full of great characters, and too fast or not, the storyline held my interest.
Ashley Trumpler was back for the narration, and she does a phenomenal job. She captures the emotion perfectly, so whether the characters are excited, scared, angry, sad... you feel it.
All things considered, The Best Man is an entertaining story with lovable characters - except a couple, but we've got to have someone to hate when things are getting all angsty.

Enjoyable

This was a good addition to the series. Not as emotional as the first book but still pulled at my heart strings as Julie did her best to break the bonds of her emotionally abusive relationship with her ex. ( A real piece of work that I would love to smack down).

Returning to Jasper Falls for Ryan and Maggie’s wedding she finds herself stressed on numerous levels having finally had the courage to leave her ex. Patrick has been in love with Julie for years but through a series of miss communications and loyalty finds himself engaged to her twin sister Jo, just when it seems that Julie is finally free, or is she?

The last thing Julie ever expected was to fall in love again, but Patrick is persistent and slowly she opens herself up to him and the chance to love and live again. Jo and Julie’s mother is a character that I dislike and I was cheering as they finally stood up to her overbearing ways.

Ashley Trumpler's narration was easy to listen to and brought the characters to life for me.

Amazing!

This is my second book by Lydia and the second book in this series, even though it wasn't as emotional as the first book, the author still managed to deliver a story that grabbed hold of my heart and hit home for me in a few ways.

Patrick has been in love with Julies since they we're children, but Julie has only ever seen him as a friend. Should Patrick be honest about his feelings for her? Or will he risk losing her all together?

A MUST READ!

5 Stars!

Emotional and Entertaining

4.5 Stars for The Best Man
Audio Review
I’m loving my visits to Jasper Falls even if I’m reading the series back to front. Julie and Patrick’s second chance at love is a great addition to the series and once again Ashley Trumpler’s narration was easy on the ears and she did a great job bringing the characters and their journey to life.
Patrick is back in Jasper Falls to take over as the towns doctor and to be best man at his brothers wedding, what he didn’t expect was to come face to face with his first love who has also returned for Ryan and Maggie’s wedding.
Miss communications and misguided loyalty lead Julie to walk away from Patrick but it seems they are now both single and back in Jasper Falls for Ryan and Maggie’s wedding and we all know weddings bring out the romance in us all. So will this time around be any kinder to Patrick and Julie or will an overbearing mother ruin this time around as well. Will this couple be prepared stand up for what they truly want….. guess you need to read or listen to the hook to find that out.
I really enjoyed this quick listen, it’s a great addition to the series, it’s emotional yet entertaining, it has some great characters as well as one that’s not so easy to like and it’s a wonderful journey that I recommend to all small town romance/second chance lovers.