In the last book I read I was annoyed by abrupt changes in characterization. This was definitely not a problem with Her Best Man; the characterizations were so thinly developed that any change would have been welcome, as it would have indicated that there was some characterization going on. Unfortunately, there were no changes in the protagonists, abrupt or otherwise. They’re the same people on page 249 as they were on page 1.

Macy Vandevier-March is concerned about her best friend Ryan. She’s convinced he’s about to marry a gold-digging con artist named Danielle, so she decides to kidnap him from his bachelor party. This being a book in that new sub-genre of romance featuring madcap, wealthy, child-women, she ends up kidnapping the wrong man and doesn’t discover her mistake until her Lear jet is in mid-flight. The man she’s kidnapped is Dex Haven, best man and owner of The Hip Sip, a cafe/dating service. When Dex learns Macy’s plans he pretends to agree with her. As owner of The Hip Sip he’s planning to use Ryan’s wedding for publicity so that his cafes can be franchised. If Macy is allowed to stop the wedding, all his plans will be ruined and his investors (primarily his blue collar family) will never be repaid. The logic on all of this is never quite clear.

And this is only the first of many things that are touched on, then left to explain themselves. The hero and heroine spend a lot of time telling us what their dysfunctions are, but since they never interact with any of the people causing said dysfunctions, it’s difficult to believe any of them. Macy wants to save Ryan and prove to herself she’s good enough. Good enough for what, or who, is again not very clear. We’re told that she has never done anything that has impressed her mother or father, but since there is not one scene between her and either of them, it’s difficult to form any kind of opinion about this. She claims that everything she’s ever tried has been a failure, so she must succeed at this, but it’s definitely not clear why.

Dex bounces between trying to get Macy to like him and sneering at her for being a wealthy snob. He had a crush on her when they were in college but never did anything about it because of her wealthy background. That’s believable. But then he swings between thinking she’s a goddess and a spoiled rich girl who wouldn’t look twice at a man without a trust fund. That’s all well and good, but he continues to switch between the two views throughout the book. If these two had had an actual conversation about their feelings, then the book would have been a heck of a lot shorter. Macy does tell Dex she loves him, but he doesn’t “hear” her because his mind is on other things.

Two other things compounded the problem of two-dimensional protagonists. One was the short time span of the story. They spent four days together, which didn’t make me believe that their feelings had been proven. Then there was the fact that every major interaction between them and other characters happened off-screen. Part of Macy’s plan to discredit Ryan’s fiancée was to get videotaped evidence from Danielle’s former lovers about how she drove them to financial ruin. Not one of these taped interviews happend “live” – we heard about them after the fact. If the author had included even one of them, it would have made the reader’s investment in Macy and her plan much greater.

Another scene that was never written was the one where Macy tells all to Ryan. Ryan finally showed up after the fact and told Dex what happened. Why should we even care at this point? I realize the focus was supposed to be on Macy and Dex’s relationship, but in order to care about them we need to see how other people view them. Whether or not Macy or Dex’s plans succeed becomes largely irrelevant. If they succeed or fail the outcome will be the same: Macy will go on being wealthy and Dex will work at repaying his family. Which makes the question of whether or not they fall in love also irrelevant. Neither has changed all that much, so it’s difficult to believe that they could sustain any kind of relationship. In the end, that makes Her Best Man a pretty pointless read.