Book Review: The Path to Loving Him

I may have a new favorite Meghan Quinn book – The Path to Loving Him is the last book in the Almond Bay series and follows the oldest Rowley sibling – Ryland.

I have been waiting for Ryland’s book not knowing if it would come and I’m so happy it did. Ryland is the oldest Rowley after his older sister, Cassidy, passed away from breast cancer the year before. Now he is the guardian to his 4 year old niece, Mac, and lives in his small hometown of Almond Bay with his sisters Hattie, Aubree, and their significant others. He is a teacher and baseball coach at the local high school and the novel starts out with him being mad that a new assistant coach is being hired without his input.

Gabby Brinkman loves baseball and helped privately coach her brother as he was growing up and now he’s playing for a minor league team waiting to be called up to the majors. She’s had a rough life and it’s been her and her younger brother, Bennett, on their own for a long time. So when she interviews for a teaching position and the assistant coach position in Almond Bay it is a dream opportunity. Of course there has to be a hitch. Gabby may know who Ryland is because he coached her brother – but he doesn’t recognize her when he sees her at the bar. Gabby doesn’t think she’ll get the job so she has no qualms about a one-night stand with Ryland. But, she does get the job and now the two have to work together. Oh yeah, and he’s the landlord of her new garage apartment.

This book was so fun. I loved the storyline and the characters. Both Ryland and Gabby are such good characters and you can see both of their points of view and understand their actions and thoughts. They are both wildly attracted to one another and get along amazingly well with similar interests and both had traumatic childhoods so they understand one another. But, they both want to try to maintain boundaries because they have to work together. However, their friends with no benefits situation hilariously keeps failing and they keep saying “this is the last time” etc.

It was great to see the other characters from the series again and also Maggie (Hattie’s bff) and Brody from Bridesmaid for Hire. My favorite though is Mac. Mac has been adorable and hilarious in the previous books – The Way I Hate Him and The Reason I Married Him so her being a more prominent character in this book was awesome. I actually did cry reading this book (both times during Mac scenes) which surprised me since Meghan Quinn books usually make me laugh out loud more than get emotional. But, this one had me tearing up!

I’m sad the Almond Bay series is over, but I’m hopeful this isn’t the last we’ll see of these characters!

Read this if you want a spicy small town romcom.

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