New-to-me author Kat T. Masen’s How to Break my Heart features Aston Beaumont and Everleigh (Eva) Woods who shared ‘a moment’ in high school. It was just a kiss, then Aston left both school and the town of Cinnamon Springs without another word to Eva. Eight years later, Eva’s bestie, Maddy – who is Aston’s younger sister – is getting married and Eva is roped in to help organise the wedding. There are plenty of tropes on display, with best friend’s brother, second chance and forced proximity wrapped in a countdown of organising a  wedding in a month.

Eva runs her own donut café and enjoys small-town life, but she’s never really forgotten that kiss with Aston. She’s keen to help Maddy, though, so she can’t avoid him. Putting together a wedding for a hundred people in a month is no easy job, especially with an over-involved mother of the groom, and an expectation that it will be the full shebang: huge budget, flowers, big white dress, sit-down food, violins, bachelor parties – so no shortcuts.

Aston works for his toxic father in Manhattan and is very protective of his little sister, so he agrees to help out, even though he is up to his ears in work. He is the billionaire CEO of the family business, but his father controls the board and their investment decisions.

When Aston returns to Cinnamon Springs he and Eva strike sparks off each other. There’s the memory of that kiss, heaps of sexual tension, and very quickly, Aston feels jealous of any man that Eva talks to – even though he’s a player and can’t help comparing her with all the other women he’s been hooking up with. He does feel an immediate pull towards Eva and there’s plenty of innuendo and banter between them as Aston lurches from arrogance to sleaze. Eva is still cross with him for abandoning her all those years ago, but she’s also turned on by all his petulance, smirks and crassness. Of course, she doesn’t want Maddy to know she is into Ashton, so they need to be secretive.

Marco, the new doctor in town is on the scene as well, and he and Eva share a few dates, mostly with Aston turning up and (metaphorically) pissing all over Eva to put Marco off. Eva is into this, even though she notices the red flags.

Maddy depends on both Aston and Eva to help her manage the wedding planning and for emotional support. Her father is a noxious influence on their family as he bullies both his kids and their largely absent mother. Maddy’s character provides the push/pull as things develop between Eva and Ashton.

Eva is easy to like. She’s loyal to Maddy, and tries to do everything she can to organise the wedding, manage her attraction to Ashton and work hard in her business, and she genuinely loves her community. Aston and Eva need to work out how to be together, but Eva wants to keep it quiet until after the wedding.

The biggest problem (of several) with this book? I didn’t see any character growth for Aston, who has misogynistic opinions and a frankly appalling attitude towards the women in his orbit. Falling in love with Eva doesn’t change the way he disrespects all the women around him, although this side of his character is minimised once he feels his feelings. We hear over and over again, how sexy and attractive he is, but this relates to his appearance not his identity or personality. When he whinges about his father, it seems obvious that he has similar character traits and is well on the way to being an asshole, if he isn’t one already. Aston’s internal monologue feels either ridiculous:

To burn with desire and lust, to taste the forbidden fruit of the woman I’ve fantasized about for the longest time, is the greatest punishment if our hearts choose to get involved.

… or terrifying, as his jealousy over a woman he barely knows is portrayed as appealing:

Everleigh saw my jealous streak when Dr. What’s-His-Face attempted to touch her and should have learned her lesson.

and 

My calm demeanor is short-lived as once again, Everleigh’s presence evokes this uncontrollable jealousy within me.

How to Break my Heart is told in alternate first-person point of view, which gives the reader both Eva’s and Aston’s mindsets, but there’s often overlap where we see the same scene from both perspectives. For example, in Eva’s head, Aston is at the bachelor party, but in the following chapter in Aston’s PoV, the bachelor party has yet to happen. I’m not sure if this is deliberate, but it’s jarring.

Kat T Masen’s writing style is clunky and unimaginative – “A moan/yawn/sigh/huff/rumble/laugh/squeal/groan escapes me” – full of awkward expression and clichés: “I pinch the bridge of my nose with irritation”, “Will is watching me swirl bourbon aimlessly” and so on.

I might be able to recommend this if Aston had even a tiny ‘aha’ moment about his views on women or if it was beautifully written, but neither of those is the case, so unless you are already a fan of Kat T. Masen and want to read this one for completeness, I can’t say it’s worth your time.