3.5 Star read.

Cassie and Kirk are best friends from college, sharing a house, a love of sports, foods and movies-best friends. And that's just the way he sees her. Cassie is tall, rather athletic and low maintenance. She's returned home from living in Australia to attend her extremely high maintenance's sister's wedding. Between the sister and the mother, I wasn't sure who was worse. They treated Cassie like dirt.
Cassie left California for Australia when Kirk married another wealthy girl, wealth marries wealth. And they don't marry girls who are 6 ft tall. Cassie nurses her wounds there, working for her Aunt and Uncle and has a great job. She returns back only once, to attend Kirk's wife's funeral.

The story opens as they have dinner together. Cassie is a little stand offish, Kirk picks up on it a little he completely understands the issues with her mother and sister and even offers to let her live with him while she's there. As things turn out that night, she ends up staying with him.
Cassie is understandably sensitive to the open and blatant criticism by her mother and sister. Kirk isn't any help when he comments she looks "nice" and deems her acceptable. He's courting a businessman and in order to get the daughter off his back asks Cassie to be his make believe girlfriend. Cassie turns every head in the place and Kirk almost swallows his tongue, but he doesn't say a word. Meanwhile, these two have kissed and are headed down the path to no return, Kirk gets Cassie revved up and himself, then totally runs the other way and shuts down. Right in front of her.
It's about at this point, I've had it with Kirk. These are two adults (supposed) who behave no better than middle school kids. Kirk also absolutely refuses to discuss his marriage with her and isn't always nice about his response to her. She thinks it's because he's still in love with the wife, a little truth would have gone a long way here.

She endures a lot of crap prior to her sisters wedding, Kirk realizes he's upset Cassie and drives to Carmel to get her. (one of the first of his very gone wrong errors), they manage to talk some things through and consummate their friendship, I can't even use the word relationship because clearly it wasn't one. Things just prior to the wedding go from bad to worse and Cassie moves out of Kirks house; she realizing he's hurt her once too many times. (WAKE THE HELL UP) She's goes home to her Mothers the day before the wedding where her mother begrudgingly tells her she has to bunk with her sister on the sofa bed, but not to stress out her sister. Her mother is more concerned that Cassie couldn't patch things up with Kirk because he's a Rochester. Rochester = money, status etc. Kirk doesn't live that way, but her mother's warped sense of values... enough said. When her sister comes home to Cassie crying and Cassie spills the story, her sister gets angry. Which was slightly redeeming on her part. When Kirk realizes Cassie is gone, he drinks himself into a stupor and blows his business deal. Cassie was again, part of that deal and she's sick of being someone's bargaining chip. Kirk's cousin Lex steps in to salvage things. Lex was ok (not) in the first book... we didn't see much of him here. What we did see was decent, he's married and so he gets it now. He tries to tell Kirk.... yeah but Kirk is an ass.

Kirk pretty much blew the book for me. Right from the beginning he was self serving and focused on himself. "Let's catch up" Sure, that's what you say to your best friend after 7 years. The person who was like an appendage. He treats her lightly and makes her a chip, even though he doesn't go for the low blows like her mother and sister do verbally, he doesn't have to. His actions undermine and contradict any little bit of confidence this woman has/ had after trying to put him behind her. His mixed messages and the rest of the bad behaviors he pulled were downright despicable. Granted he hurt himself too, but frankly I didn't care. Cassie deserved better. He made it a point never to live or act entitled but there are many ways to do that that have nothing to do with money and his was acting like he deserved her and he could do as he pleased. He should have walked away until he got his proverbial sh** together, and explained himself. There's nothing wrong with telling the other person I don't know, instead of spinning some bs story that only hurts them. The one thing I will say is that he was consistent in his behavior; that of a jackass. Misgivings, you bet. I had a billion of them.

**arc from NetGalley and Entangled for a fair review**