Love Happens Anyway is a sweet story of a man, Derek, who feels pressure from his parents to find the right guy and a man, Luke, who’s had to change his life to fit his new circumstances.

The story is told in first person POV, alternating chapters between Derek and Luke. I believe that this is the only first person POV story that I’ve read by RJ Scott. I have to admit that first person POV isn’t my favorite but I’ve come to realize that the author has a lot to do with my enjoyment of this POV. RJ Scott is on my list of favorite authors and she did a great job telling this story.

I love fake boyfriend (or girlfriend) stories, add in the fact that this is a Christmas story and that makes it all that much better. The fact that Derek is paying for Luke’s services as a boyfriend complicates their growing relationship. Once they finally start talking to each other things start to work out.

I usually judge books by how much they engage my emotions. I admit that it took a bit longer for that to happen with this story (Derek was kind of a jerk in the beginning) but once I became fully invested in Derek and Luke’s situation the tears came. That’s a perfect indication of how much a story touches my heart. There were wonderful and respectful mentions of nine-eleven in the story. Luke’s father and uncle were heroes and casualties of that terrible day.

I have to mention how much I love the cover for this book and the great way it ties into the story. I’m also quite fond of the name that RJ has given to one of the kittens. ?

RJ Scott always delivers an HEA for her characters and I loved the epilogue that gives an insight into how Derek and Luke are doing a year down the road.

Reviews for RJ Scott

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I knew Marcus was six-two, just a little taller than me. I knew he had blue eyes, and dark hair with red tones in certain light. He had a brother, but they didn’t see each other much, being that his brother was in the Navy. His parents were retired in Florida, but they’d had Marcus and his brother Adam late in life. Marcus was twenty-nine, same as me with only a few months separating our birthdays, and he was a firefighter. Oh, and he was a good, kind man who was thoughtful all the time and treated me like a prince.“That’s such a shame. Anyway, how are Marcus’ kittens?” Mom asked. I pulled myself back to what she was saying. It was never good to not pay full attention to anything Mom said, otherwise you’d end up agreeing to all kinds of things she’d throw at you when your defenses are down. I loved her dearly but she was sneaky like that.

Which is how I got myself into this mess with Marcus in the first place.

“They’re fine.”

“Did he find good homes for them?”

“Absolutely, the last of them went to a widowed grandmother in his apartment block.”

“Socks? The dark one?”

I glanced at my notes. “No, you remember Socks went to his uncle; Spider went to the old lady.”

“Oh yes, of course, although why someone would name a kitten Spider I don’t know.”

“There were spiders in the house where Marcus found the kittens.”

“I still don’t understand how there could be spiders in a burned-out house.”

Shit. “Spiders are hardy.”

“You said the house was razed to the ground, dear.”

Now I was losing the will to live. “Well, maybe the spider was outside. Mom, I need to go, Moira is at the door and she needs me to sign off on the new AbbaLister raisins account.”

“Of course dear, just, please tell Marcus he is welcome at any time. We so want to meet him and thought it’d be better at the house.”

“I will, I know he’s keen to meet you.”

“Oh good,” she said, and I knew I’d fucked up and somehow given her an opening. I’d never mentioned once that Marcus wanted to meet them, because that would just give them the impetus to take matters into their own hands. My worst fears were confirmed. “Oh, I’ve had the most wonderful idea.”

Oh God, what?

“Your dad and I are coming into the city on Monday; book us dinner on any night, or lunch, breakfast, anything. I want to meet this young man of yours and if it has to be in a restaurant then so be it.”

“I’m not sure—”

“Derek, he can’t be busy every night next week, and every lunchtime, goodness me, we’ll even take a quick coffee if that is all he can manage.”

Shit. Shit. And double shit.

“I’ll see what I can organize.” I kept my tone regretful, to at least give the impression I would try to organize them meeting Marcus, but that it would be unlikely.

We finished the call, and I replaced the handset in the cradle, fighting the urge to throw it against the wall, sit and cry at my desk, or maybe, less drastically, move to Montana and become a cowboy.

So many lies.

There was no Moira standing at my door. It was still closed and I’d lied to my mom.

There were no kittens, I made those up, and the spider story. The word spider came about because when I’d been talking to my mom about Marcus and the kittens, a tiny spider had crawled over my notes.

I closed the notebook in which I had the names of five kittens with their various characteristics listed.

Mom wanted to meet Marcus, any night, any lunch, anytime.

Which sucked big hairy balls.

Because that was another thing I had made up.

There was no Marcus either.