Title: The Best Friend Problem
Author: Mariah Ankenman
Genre: Romance (Romcom)
Book Blurb:
Prudence Carlson has been lucky in life. A fulfilling wedding-planning business run with her girlfriends in Colorado, plus the best guy friend ever in her firefighter bestie Finn. All that’s missing from it is a baby. Luckily, it’s the twenty-first century—Pru can take matters into her own hands. She doesn’t need to find true love to create the future love of her life.
Except all this talk of babies and insemination and...Pru and Finn cross a line they never expected to. Sure, one night of passion won’t change their close friendship. Until Pru goes in for a fertility check-up to find… she’s already pregnant.
As best friends, Pru and Finn have survived college, new jobs, and bad breakups, but can they survive crib shopping, birth classes, and late-night cravings?
Especially when Finn has never considered himself even remotely Daddy material?
Excerpt:
Finn sat at one of the tables with a woman who was chatting away, vibrantly waving her hand in the air as she spoke. She didn’t look like a serial killer. Light blond hair, cute black dress, spiky red shoes Pru knew Lilly would kill for. A pleasant smile lit her face as she continued speaking, barely pausing to take a breath. Pru didn’t see what was so wrong with this woman that Finn needed to text her for backup.
But he had. So here she was. Duty called.
“Hey, Finn. I’m so glad I found you.” She hurried over to the table, making sure she sounded breathless, as if she’d run the five blocks from her apartment. Must have worked because Chatterbox immediately closed her mouth. “You have to come home right away.”
Blondie glared at Finn, a murderous rage suddenly lighting her eyes. “Oh shit, not again!”
Huh, maybe she was a serial killer.
“You’re married, aren’t you, you bastard!”
“What?” Finn held up his hands. “No, I’m not. This is my friend Pru.”
She’d say one thing for her bestie: He may not know how to break off a date well, but he sure as hell would never use a cruel lie to do it.
“Oh, sorry.” Blondie winced. “I don’t mean to jump to conclusions but I’ve had a few bad experiences with guys saying they’re single when they’re not.”
Pru nodded. Preaching to the choir, sister.
“So, what’s wrong?”
She glanced over at Finn. Oh right, she was supposed to be rescuing him.
Usually they used the “personal emergency” excuse. Vague, urgent, but nothing horrible. Tonight, though, Pru found herself in a mood. Finn had dragged her away from important donor research. Not that he knew that, because she hadn’t shared her plan with him yet—or anyone else, for that matter. And here he was with a woman who seemed perfectly nice, if a little chatty, and he couldn’t work up a single “I don’t think this is working”?
Trying her best to hide her smile, she shook her head sadly. “It’s Bruiser.”
“Bruiser?”
“His dog,” she said, answering the confused woman’s question.
Finn’s chair scraped loudly, threatening to tip over with the force as he stood. “Bru Baby? What happened? Is she okay?”
She felt slightly guilty for the look of panic in her best friend’s gaze. Slightly. He deserved some panic for being such a wuss that he needed a rescue from an easily escapable date.
“I think she got into your fungus cream again.”
His eyes narrowed, catching on. “Oh, did she now?” “Yup.” She rolled her lips to keep the laughter from escaping.
“You have a dog?”
He turned to face his date, panic abated since he knew Pru was messing with him and his fur baby was fine. Finn didn’t have any fungus cream in his apartment. The annoying guy didn’t even have the decency to get athlete’s foot and create a bit of physical disgust she could crow to Mo about.
“Yes. A rescue. Adopted her two years ago.”
His date gave a sort of smile-frown. “Oh, that’s sweet, but I’m allergic to dogs. And cats. All animals, really. I tried to get a hamster once, but I ended up with red eyes and a swollen throat two hours in.”
“Oh. I guess this won’t work out, then.”
For crap’s sake! She came all the way over here to rescue him, and all he had to do to get out of the date was mention his dog? Finn owed her big time.
“I guess not, but it was nice to meet you. I hope your dog is okay.”
After making sure his date had a ride home—because even if he couldn’t break a date, Finn never left anyone stranded—they made their way out of the bar and onto the streets.
“I can’t believe you used my dog as an excuse.” Finn glared at her. “We agreed never to make it personal.”
“And I can’t believe you still can’t tell a woman ‘things aren’t working out’ like a grown-ass man.”
“Not all of us are as blunt as you, Pru. Some of us have sensitive feelings that bruise easily.”
She snorted, rolling her eyes, because if there was one thing Finn didn’t do, it was bruise easily, in his feelings or body. Her bestie was a rock.
Still, he did care about others to the point of sacrificing his own happiness at times. Finn cared too much. Probably why he became a firefighter. Finn hated seeing anyone in any kind of pain.
“Fine. I’m sorry for using Bruiser as an excuse.”
He grinned, the left side of his mouth ticking up higher than the right, as it always did. Slinging an arm around her shoulders, he gave her a squeeze.
“It’s all good. Thanks for bailing me out. Bailey was nice, but I couldn’t get a word in edgewise with that woman. She talked nonstop from the moment we sat down until you showed up. The minute she said she likes Wes Craven movies I knew it was a bust.”
“You could have just told her about the time you cowered under the blankets like a big ol’ baby during Chucky.” Pru chuckled. “That would have turned her off in a heartbeat.”
He glared, nudging her with his hip as they walked. “I didn’t ‘cower like a baby.’ I was checking my phone and didn’t want the light from the screen to affect your viewing.”
She snorted. “Sure, you were just being considerate.”
“I was. Besides, that doll is creepy as hell.” He shuddered.
“Toys should not come to life, especially with the soul of a serial killer inside them.”
Her bestie would run into a burning building without a thought about the danger, but that same guy was too scared to watch anything with psycho killers or ghosts. She did not get it.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
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Nook: http://bit.ly/2NA2jMm
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Kobo: http://bit.ly/2XrfL9W
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2Jpvcp7
What makes your featured book a must-read?
Laughs galore, tons of spice, gal pals inspired by The Golden Girls, a sexy and sweet firefighter best friend, a cute dog, oops baby trope, and a happily ever after!
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Author Biography:
Bestselling author Mariah Ankenman lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains with her two rambunctious children and loving spouse who is her own personal spell checker when her dyslexia gets the best of her.
Mariah loves to lose herself in a world of words. Her favorite thing about writing is when she can make someone’s day a little brighter with one of her books. To learn more about Mariah and her books, visit her website https://mariahankenman.com/ follow her on social media or sign up for her newsletter.
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