Book Review: The Wedding Confession

Title: The Wedding Confession
Author: J.J. Knight
Genre: Romance, Humor

What It’s About: Ensley James stares at the horror in front of her–her best friend, Ronnie is dressed in her Mother’s bridal dress in order to honor her own mom, who passed away a bit ago, on her own wedding day. In front of them is Felicia, Ronnie’s step mom, dressed in a white Vera Wang dress, with a veil and baby breath in her hair. Felicia tells Ronnie that she will be walking her down the aisle as her father does not feel well. Ensley grabs red wine and champagne, and trips, throwing them both on Felicia. Felicia, in turn, throws a fit and has the security guard of the country club that the wedding is in escort Ensley out. He tells her to take a walk for 15 minutes and then come back because Felicia’s tantrums are well known. As they walk around, they come across the groomsmen and one of them steps out on the premise of checking whether Ronnie sent a spy. It’s none other than Drew Daniels, Ensley’s childhood crush, and her brother’s best friend growing up. Alas, he had always made it clear that she was annoying and too young for him.

He decides to go with her to keep an eye out and gets the impression that the security guard is trying to get rid of Ensley. Sure enough, the guard lets her out the back door along with Drew and then shuts the door, bolting it behind them. So they begin walking around and they think they are close because they hear the music but cannot find a way in to show up to the wedding. Then, it starts pouring, so they ride it out in a tool shed and Drew suggests that Ensley undress and let the clothes dry. He had already seen her boobs when the dress slid down and he also takes his clothes of when she does in order to even out the odds and let the clothes dry. His anatomy also had a different idea about Ensley, so he tries to hide away his reaction. Ensley, on the other hand, has a different idea–to try to see if she got a reaction out of him, and ultimately confesses having a crush on him.

He finds her some coveralls and she gets dressed in them. Then,. they sit on the cot talking–mostly she does the talking and he grunts. He does admit that he only has had one night stands; that is it, but does not reveal why he does that. Things quickly escalate and they are making out, with him touching her with the coveralls opened. They are interrupted by a car coming and it is all of their friends coming to rescue them. Ronnie’s sister tells Easley that their father is furious with Felicia and he ended up walking Ronnie to the altar while Felicia got changed. Drew had only looked at Ensley while they were in the limo with nothing else to say.

Drew goes back to his veterinary clinic in Atlanta and Ensley goes back to her Bank Teller Job in Alabama. But neither can stop thinking about the other. Ensley reaches out via email and in the meantime Drew adopts a stray cat he was checking out in his clinic, naming her Sasha after Ensley’s mom who died when Ensley was 5, which then caused their father to be catatonic with grief nearly 20 years later. He had always gone over to the James’s along with other kids and they would leave things behind because they knew that the four James children–Garret, Ensley, Lila, and Tillie (in that order of oldest to youngest)–did not have much.

Ensley is obsessed with trying to figure out more about Drew from the picture of the cat, which he called Snowball in the Email, as he did not want to reveal that he named the cat after Ensley’s mother. Tillie, who is Ensley’s roommate, tells her that she is moving out to move in with Lila who is pregnant after who good-for-nothing Ex left her. As a result, Ensley has to figure out her living situation.

Ensley sends Drew a very imaginative and risqué email. He also writes one but then decides to delete it, except Sasha startles and in the ensuing chaos, the email is sent to Ensley. He tries to undo it and then decides to apologize. Ensley responds to his email, while he sends her a text apologizing for the email, only for her to tell him that she did respond to him. He calls her, and they briefly talk.

The next day at work, Maria, his tech tells him that his receptionist is going to quit, and when he talks to Ensley later because she calls him, he tells her his problem. Drew does try to be nice to the receptionist the next day, but the woman quits a day early because he had yelled at her. Drew texts that to Ensley, and she asks him about dates instead. He ends the conversation as he refuses to discuss his one night stands and why he doesn’t do more than that, relationship wise.

Ensley broods and pines after him, so she goes to Tillie’s bar and her sister makes her a drink for her. She also tells Ensley to message Drew and see if he replies. She does, asking him about the receptionist. While she waits on a response, a guy tries to hit on her, and Tillie comes by, watching him like a hawk. When Drew responds, Tillie tells the guy to move to another spot. Drew tells Ensley that they haven’t found anyone and on Monday, they’ll have to make do. Ensley asks Tillie about her days off and about visiting Lila.

On Monday, Drew is at his veterinary clinic working, while the others try to take on the role of the receptionist. He gets told by one of his employees that Ensley James is there and he tells them to put her in his office. When he does have time to see her, he over hears her answering calls in his office and doing a great job. He tells her she’s hired and Ensley panics because she did not quit her job at the bank, and came only to help out and figure out whether there is something between them. Still, she settles into the role, helping Vera, a tech who doesn’t know how to deal with phones and later Maria shows her the billing. Drew knows that he will struggle with his attraction to her, but he is determined to have a professional relationship with her.

A couple of days go by and on the third day, Ensley buys donuts and a coffee, bringing the donuts for everyone else but the coffee for Drew. She also grabs a donut and brings bot to him. Although he claims he doesn’t eat sugar, he inhales a donut and then agrees to take her out to dinner.

That night, Ensley gets dressed up real nice and Drew picks her up, also dressed up in a suit. He takes her to an Italian place and they wine and dine. Ensley challenges him to take her on three dates, no strings attached, and they can have sex or not. Drew agrees, and struggles with his dick, which seems to have a mind of its own. They go for a walk afterwards and they make out in the shadows of the trees that are blocking the wind. She’s on his lap but they both realize that the way she is dressed is not conducive to them having sex on the bench.

Another day, at the clinic, a boy brings in a cat with her babies–a stray. A woman comes in with two dogs that startle the cat and it runs out through the open door. Ensley follows and drew also goes after her, finding her in a tree, holding the cat and terrified of getting off. He gets Toby, one of his employees, to bring a ladder and take the cat from her back to the clinic. Then, Drew gets her down, and kisses her. He is surprised that his body calms down after the kiss, something that only happens after sex for him.

He cannot help himself and twice more that week he gets Ensley in his office, where they make out. He takes her out on another date and wants to take her home to undress her first. But they go and have a good date. He takes her to his home and they start making out only to be cock blocked by Sasha–he admits to Ensley that he named her after her mom. They search for the cat all over the house, finding her under the dishwasher and spending the evening washing the cat. All three of them fall asleep on the couch, and the next morning, Ensley wakes up and enjoys being snuggled against Drew. Tillie calls her, Drew wakes up and they go get some food for all of them before she takes Tillie to the bus.

Drew invites her over the same day, and makes an omelette for them both. He finds it natural that Ensley is there. They enjoy their conversation and then take a walk around the pond, where she challenges him to make 10 skips on the water–if he loses, she gets a fourth date; if he wins, it’s up to him what the prize is–he wants to get naked. A crowd gathers, and someone guesses that the prize is for him to get her naked, to Ensley’s surprise. He wins and they go back to his place where they have sex multiple times.

On Monday, it’s busy as hell and Ensley gets two calls from Cindy, her manager at the bank. The lady tells her about the position change and that she is leaving; that they have a new manager and asks Ensley to come back sooner so they can say goodbye. Drew overhears the conversation and gets angry at Ansley, yelling at her that she lied to him. Ensley doesn’t know how to answer or what to tell him, and before she can even say anything, he storms out. Drew tells Maria to fire Ensley and she tells him to do it himself. Todd is the one that informs Ensley that Drew told Maria to fire her. Ensley asks Todd to convey the message to Drew that she will leave at the end of the day, which Todd does. He also tells Drew that he’s not surprised that she’s leaving this way as she doesn’t want to be yelled at again.

Ensley goes home and spends the remaining time off with Tillie before she has to go back to work. On her first day back, she is surprised that Jane now has privileges that she didn’t before and meets Milton, the new manager, who is making a new employee suffer to open a safety deposit box that has been broken. Ensley tells Cindy that this is not great at all. Garrett visits the sisters and takes apart all the furniture Tillie wants to take to Lila’s with her. Tillie tells him about Drew and Ensley, and Garret ultimately tells Ensley a bit about Drew’s background–the reason he has always disavowed relationships was because he found out that his dad was cheating on his mom, and his dad used him as the lookout. Drew’s father then tried to implicate him, stating that he was in on it. Drew had a lot of anger around it, which was good for football. Ensley sends Drew a message.

In the meantime, Drew works at his clinic and gets a new receptionist, who seems to be exactly what he needs until he hears her muttering that the animals should be drowned while cleaning the reception area. He fires her on the spot, and then hires Tatiana, and she treats him like a five year old, remind him to ask nicely. Toby comments to hime that the only reason that they still work for him is because they see how much he cares for animals, but it sucks to see that he doesn’t approach humans that way; treating Ensley worse than a dog. Tatiana tells him that Ronnie and her husband, Franklin, are there. He meets them in his office and Ronnie tears into him telling him that of course Ensley would not quit her job if she knew she wasn’t safe considering how she grew up. She tells him that Ensley has been in love with him since she was twelve and it’s time for grand gestures to show her if he feels the same way. And if she doesn’t want him back, then it’s what he deserves after breaking her heart. Once they leave, he reads the message from Ensley and calls his mom. She tells him that he is not like his father, who is incapable of love, and since he loves animals, there is capacity for love in him. She asks him if Ensley ever knew how he felt about her and why he really hung around Garrett when they were kids, before telling him that nothing ever really escaped her.

Back at the branch, Ensley has been forced to wear toned down outfits, per Milton’s orders, and he also orders her to clean the plans while Jane sneers at her saying that she finally has to work. Earlier that day, Ensley had put in an application for the branch in Marietta, which is close to Atlanta and even that is better so she can be closer to her sister. While she is cleaning the plants, Drew shows up and apologizes to her, whisking her away after she says that she applied to a role in Marietta.

Six months later, Ensley rushes to the hospital from work, where Drew meets her. Tillie is helping Lila get settled. The nurses mistake Drew for the dad, and he holds Lila’s hand through the delivery. Lila names her daughter Rosaline and Tillie takes pictures. When Lila falls asleep and Tillie leaves, Ensley and Drew are left alone. He asks her if she remembers the window-spying incident, and then tells her that he fell in love with her that day and wants to give her everything she deserves. They kiss, and the nurse walks in on that. She says it’s disgusting that he’s making out with the sister after the other one had given birth to his baby. Lila wakes up and says that is their family.

Some time later, Ensley and Drew attend church for Toby’s and Tatiana’s wedding with their dogs. After the ceremony, they are the only two left a church and he asks her if it makes her think of her mom. She says yes. He tells her that the reason why the wedding between Toby and Tatiana was so rushed is because she is pregnant and most likely will be leaving the clinic. Drew would like to have her back at the clinic, but knowing how she feels about a couple working together, he proposes to her. Ensley accepts on the condition that they elope.

My Thoughts: This was such a cute, feel-good short read. I loved the banter between Ensley and Drew, and both of the characters themselves as well as the backstory. Personally, I found it adorable that they were both in love with each other, and only finally admitted it as adults.