After Charlie’s on-and-off-again girlfriend gets married, he and his best friend Millie decide to marry and have a Christmas wedding. This arrangement means Millie can have the family she longs for and Charlie can pass on his title. Giles, Charlie’s other best friend, who has always been Millie’s rival for Charlie’s attention, agrees to be the best man. When Charlie needs to spend several months in Scotland on business and Giles steps in to help with the wedding planning, sparks fly between the bride-to-be and the best man.

I’m a big fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope and I liked this twist on the fake relationship trope. The attraction between Giles and Millie is brilliantly shown as is the deep friendships between Millie and Charlie as well as Giles and Charlie. Having Giles step in for Charlie provides a great forced proximity conflict and Pembrooke did a fantastic job of showing Giles and Millie fall in love, and demonstrating that Giles makes a better match for Millie than Charlie.

Christmas Bride’s Stand-In Groom, Giles and Millie’s love story, is a duet with Miss Right All Along by Jessica Gilmore, which Charlie finds love with his sister’s friend Liberty. After reading Christmas Bride’s Stand-In Groom, I eagerly await the release of Charlie and Liberty’s story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Harlequin Enterprises ULC for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.