Best of My Love (Fool's Gold Book 21)

As an avid fan of Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold series, I’ve been waiting for Shelby’s story. Ms Mallery does not disappoint. Both Shelby and Aiden have difficulty in the relationship department. Shelby has difficulty trusting men; she needs to find a guy-friend to help her develop trust so she can find her own happily ever after. After he forgets one of his previous hookups, Aidan realizes he’s not the person he wants to be. When Shelby asks Aidan to “be friends”, he figures it’s an opportunity to change his ways and become a better person.Best of My Love is kind of a twist on the Mel Gibson favorite, What Woman Want. Aidan and Shelby decide to build a friendship for six months whereby they spend time getting to know each other and doing male/female things together. Both agreed not to date or be involved with anyone else during the six months. By the end of their six-month agreement, Aidan has a unique understanding of and compassion for women. Although he wasn’t able to read their minds, Aidan, with Shelby’s help, developed a special empathy with the female psyche. Shelby, with Aiden’s help, developed a willingness to interact with and trust men as both a friend and as a lover. Her most significant challenge was developing the ability to trust her heart.Although Best of My Love isn’t my overall favorite among the Fool’s Gold stories, I really enjoyed this story. For the past several years, Susan Mallery has written over 20 stories based in a wonderful, albeit fictional, town in Fool’s Gold, California. As with other Fool’s Gold stories, Ms Mallery incorporates previous heroes and heroines and other favorite characters into the storyline. I’ve loved seeing how the town has grown, yet remained true to itself over the years. Friends and families remain the heart of the town. The ladies still meet at Jo’s Bar for lunch. The guys get together at the Man Cave. But, the winds of change are blowing. I love how Susan set the stage for the future. It begins with three of Aidan’s brothers moving to Happily Inc, California. I can’t wait to see where she takes it from there.

I enjoyed this book. It is the story about 2 non-functional people who are damaged by their fathers - one is brutal to his wife and daughter and the other was uninterested by anything that didn't affect him or his art. Shelby is a baker who picks the wrong men and can't trust any man except her brother, Kipling. She had been beaten, frequently, by her abusive father.Aidan had learned that love meant '"being stuck" after observing his mother subjugating her life to his father. He only dates tourists who leave after a day or two with no future or entanglement. Then a former hookup returns to Fool's Gold, intending to find him. When, after obsessing about him for a while, she returns prepared to have a real relationship with him, he doesn't even remember her name. Ashamed he decides he needs to change.Shelby wants a husband and family but distrusts men enough to make that unlikely to ever happen. Both of them have lots friends of their sex, hold down responsible jobs, which they love, and have lives they generally enjoy if not for their single problem. Shelby has a proposal - she and Aidan should become friends, with no sexual overtones, for 6 months. After that, they will each go their own way. They tentatively decide to try friendship, even though the town seems amused and disbelieving of it working. They alternate doing guy things and doing girl things. He goes to showers and has Manipedis. She plays poker and outdoor things. He talks with her about feelings and she learns to grunt and share sports on tv.This book is filled with funny passages and emotional scenes. As their friendship grows, they find they are changing and growing. While this is a typical romance novel, there are enough differences to make it enjoyable reading.

Susan Mallery had introduced Shelby and Aiden in previous books and I was really hoping that they would get together. Shelby has a past with men (her father) and she does not trust easily. She comes up with a plan to help her get over her fear. She needs to learn to trust men and she approaches Aiden to help her do that. Aiden realizes his mistakes when his past comes back to bite him. He takes Shelby up on her offer and they become fast friends. Aiden decides he wants a big dog to take hiking and on walks, and he ends up with Charlie, the bichon frise.Shelby helps Aiden get to know his "feminine" side and Aiden does the same for Shelby's "masculine" side. They plan "events" from pedicures to Texas Hold'Em. Everyone in town keeps stating that they are more than friends, which they keep correcting them. Until the one moment where they can no longer stay just friends (which they add the benefits to the equation).This book brought back a lot of fan favorites, which really helped bring the Fool's Gold series to a close. I am really looking forward to Happily Inc and the Mitchell Brothers (Nick, Ronan, and Mathias). I recommended the Fool's Gold series to my mother and she is hooked. It is crazy to think that I have finished the series and she is just getting started. I knew that if I loved it, then she would too. Thank you to Susan Mallery for hitting another one out of the park. This series will always be one of my favorites.

Another winner from the Fools Gold series.

When Shelby offered her friendship to Aidan and he accepted, I wasn't sure that was such a good idea and I didn't really understand their reason to become friends.Then they started their boy date, girl date and I totally got it, it should always be like that between men and women. Aidan was scared at first but by the end of the book, he's able to paint Shelby's nails in front of his brother without shame.When he got a dog, he got a "girly" dog that he took care of. When the whole town kept thinking they never were just friends, I found myself asking AGAIN can men and women be friend?When they started to be friend with benefits, we saw for real that Aidan is the perfect lover, sensual, REALLY hot, with a sweet dominant side. It didn't last long enough but I appreciated it.I wasn't digging the "it's almost the end, we have to separated (In the lasts Fool's Gold books, Susan Mallery took a break from it and I loved it.) but then... I LOVED when the girls went to Aidan to give him support instead of going to Shelby and that the boys invited Shelby to play cards and giving her "man advice"Patience said "Equality between the sexes can be so awkward" That sentence stayed with me because the book had a feminist theme that was so strong and the gender switch theme was a really good part of the book. I wished I had better words to explain how much I liked it.

Good read

Started it and couldn't put it down. Loved it! It's Susan Mallery what more is there to say. One of her best.

Love this series. Can't wait for the next one.