Canoodle is quirky and fun and the people of this town are genuine: exactly what Sawyer needs to heal and find himself. If you’re a fan of small-town romance like me, this will be your favorite part of Runaway Groomsman.I’m certain several of Quinn’s readers will throw their books or e-readers in anticipation of Fallon and Sawyer’s physical coupling. This is where she “edges” her readers the most. I thought Quinn handled their situation and Sawyer and Fallon’s subsequent fall into feelings well. Yet, it acts as a wrecking ball of attraction when Fallon realizes Peter’s ineptitude at accepting her choices. It never feels untoward while Peter is in Sawyer’s life. Quinn actually crafts these moments in ways that have you pining for them together. However, Sawyer and Fallon maintain boundaries and hide their attraction while she’s with her former boyfriend. If you’re sensitive to FMCs starting with a boyfriend and then ending with the MMC, then you might have issues with her. Her story arc involves her finding someone who accepts her choices and “sees” her. Fallon is an indomitable force in Runaway Groomsman.He grows wise the longer he stays in Canoodle. You cannot help but come to adore Sawyer in this story. He learns what matters, and it takes him from the wreckage of his former relationship to a relationship with Fallon that feels abundant and life-giving instead of life-taking.

His growth comes from living in a small town such as Canoodle and through a bit of mentorship by Sully, Fallon’s grandfather. He doesn’t just learn this through falling in love with Fallon. He moves from being a somewhat shallow spurned man to a man who finds his purpose. I love when writers remind us of the perils and twists of writing, and Quinn does this well in this book. It feels very Inception-esque if that had a place in the world of romance. As he and Fallon’s feelings develop for each other, he’s writing the things that you’re reading about him and Fallon and Sully and Joanne (Fallon’s grandparents). I mean, Sawyer is a screenwriter who needs to write a romance movie under his contract with a movie studio.

There is something meta about Runaway Groomsman.

The Runaway Groomsman is a textbook in romantic edging Meghan Quinn keeps you suspended in the friendship and eventual love of Sawyer and Fallon, and you’ll thank her for making you wait. You’ll feel various emotions as you read this book: humor, sadness, joy, and love. Meghan Quinn’s newest story, Runaway Groomsman, is the sugar that gave it to me.

Tropes: spurned MMC small-town romance forced proximity friends to lovers slow burn soulmates

The runaway groomsman