A Proposal at the Wedding - Gina Wilkins (HSE #2319 - Mar 2014)

Series: Bride Mountain (Book 2)

It's the perfect place for a wedding…and Paul Drennan's lovely daughter will make a beautiful bride. But Bride Mountain Inn co-owner Bonnie Carmichael only has eyes for the father of the bride. Too bad she's already married -- to the inn itself. Still, if anyone could make her think of her needs, her wants, it's this sexy single dad….

Marrying off his only child, Paul can taste freedom for the first time in two decades. What's not on his agenda is falling for a young woman with commitment for a middle name. The only aisle Paul wants to walk is on the arm of his daughter…until spending time with Bonnie makes him rethink his future plans. After all, the strangest things happen at weddings….

Very good book with fun moments and emotional ones.  Bonnie is co-owner of the inn where Paul's daughter is getting married.  From the moment they ran into each other - literally - there have been sparks flying between them.  Paul doesn't understand his fascination with Bonnie, who is pretty well tied to the inn, when he's about to be free for the first time in twenty-one years. But he is, and the more time he spends with her, the deeper it goes.

I really liked both Bonnie and Paul.  She was the driving force behind the three siblings reopening the inn after they inherited it and she is the one who is there 24/7.  The first couple times she met Paul, when his daughter was planning her wedding, he knocked her right off her feet.  After he helped her up, she noticed a zing of attraction.  At the beginning of this book, they encounter each other at the farmers market and take the time to talk to each other.  When Bonnie discovers that he's interested in learning to cook healthier meals for himself, she offers him a spot in her cooking class.  The classes bring them closer together and soon they are spending what time they can together.  It isn't as much as she would like, but as busy as she is she'll take what she can get, and some of it is quality time indeed.  Paul has made it pretty obvious that he's really looking forward to his upcoming freedom, so Bonnie doesn't quite know what to expect of their deepening relationship.  She suspects that she is falling in love with him, and wants more than he may be prepared to offer.  When he breaks things off rather suddenly, telling her she needs more than he can give her, she blasts him for being arrogant and condescending in telling her what her own needs are.  I loved the way she didn't just sit back and take it.  The couple of weeks before his daughter's wedding were hard for her because she really missed him.  I really liked the way that her brother and sister were there to support her without trying to tell her what to do.  I really loved the daughter's wedding and loved seeing Paul grovelling later on.

Paul was a great character.  One of the things I liked best about him was what a good father he was.  Even though he and Cassie's mom had never married they had stayed good friends even after she married.  He was treated as just another member of the family.  I also loved seeing the great relationship he had with Cassie.  It's obvious that there is a lot of love and respect between them, and I loved their teasing.  His easy participation in the wedding planning is great.  He'd been so sweet and embarrassed when he knocked Bonnie over those times, and then blown away by how beautiful he thought she was.  He's a little worried about how fascinated he is by her.  He is eleven years older than she is and well past the stage in life where he sees her.  But he can't resist trying to spend some time with her and is happy to find her amenable to the idea.  He does make it pretty clear that he's not looking for any kind of commitment.  I really liked the way that he doesn't get mad when she isn't always available to go out with him, or when something happens to mess up their plans.  When he suddenly starts seeing her in a different way it kind of freaks him out and he says some pretty stupid things to her.  It took a little while for him to realize just how idiotic he had been, but I loved the way he came out of it at the end.

I loved Paul's daughter Cassie.  She is one of those girls that really has it all together.  I loved seeing her tease Paul about everything from his eating habits to his clumsiness around Bonnie.  I also liked her not so subtle way of pushing them together.