Ophelia thought wedding planning would be fun.

But with her nightmare of a mother-in-law, she’s struggling to adjust to life with a ring on her finger.

Thankfully her best friend of over ten years, Breaker, agrees to be her faithful ‘man in waiting’.

While nervous to play the part, Breaker takes his title very seriously.

That is until he starts to realise that it’s not nerves he feels at all.

But a weird, butterfly sensation directed at his soon-to-be-married best friend . . .

Genre: Romance Fiction 

Tropes:

• Friends to Lovers 
• Billionaire

My Thoughts:

A Long Time Coming is the third book of the Cane series and also the third book I’ve read by Meghan Quinn. I had very high expectations for the series following their hype on BookTok. The series follows three billionaire brothers: Huxley Cane (A Not So Meet Cute), JP Cane (So Not Meant To Be) and Breaker Cane (A Long Time Coming). When it comes to reading, I have a very short memory if the book doesn’t have a big enough impact. This problem did lead me to set up this blog and create a book journal, so that I can keep on top of how I felt about different storylines and the authors style of writing. Before reading A Long Time Coming (Book 3) of the series, I couldn’t remember my thoughts on each book, but since reading the final book, I remember some of my thoughts. After reading the final book, I’ve come to the conclusion that book 1 (A Not So Meet Cute) and book 3 (A Long Time Coming) are the books I enjoyed the most in the series. Book 2 (So Not Meant To Be) has to be my least favourite as I felt the storyline was slightly dragged out, which lead me to procrastinate reading (it took me 14 days to finish). 

When it came to reading the final book, I was very apprehensive following my opinion of the second book (So Not Meant To Be). The series had gained popularity among BookTok, which instantly had me intrigued. However, after reading the complete series, I have to say the hype is slightly overrated, as the series was mediocre (in my opinion). 

A Not So Meet Cute – Quite literally, not a meet cute. The story follows Lottie on her quest to find a billionaire boyfriend, who finds herself strolling around luxury neighbourhoods where she ‘accidentally’ bumps into Mr-married-to-his-job; Huxley Cane. Huxley presents Lottie with a deal…pretend to be his girlfriend to help him seal an important business deal. The two go from strangers to lovers (literally) and have to navigate their facade in order to fulfil their deal. 

So Not Meant To Be – This story follows Lottie’s sister, Kelsey and Huxley brother, JP in a dislike/work place romance. Kelsey is a hopeless romantic on the quest to find her true love. When a business opportunity means that Kelsey and JP need to spend time together in order to close a deal, the pair go from dislike to like. Kelsey is reluctant to give into JP’s games, denying their connection and that their relationship is nothing more than professional. However, JP is giving it his all, in the hopes that the two will eventually unite. 

A Long Time Coming follows Breaker Cane, brother to Huxley and JP Cane; who is an avid geek and has a very close and long term friendship with Ophelia (Lia) Fairweather-Fern. The story follows best friends Lia and Breaker in their usual routine of Friday night geek dates and takeaways. However, Lia becomes engaged to boyfriend Brian who is the prime example of always wanting to please mummy dearest. 

With the recent engagement, Lia is thrown into full wedding planning mode as The Beave (Brian’s mother) has stated the wedding must take place in the summer – meaning in 6 weeks time. Despite not being Brian’s biggest fan, Breaker supports best friend Lia in all wedding appointments, which leads Breaker to the realisation that their friendship will change after Lia is married. Subsequently, Breaker decides it’s his time settle down. However, Breaker struggles to form connections with any females presented to him; which leads him to realise (with the help of his brothers) that the women he’s been looking for all long, was right in front of him for the last 10 years – his best friend Lia. 

When wedding planning becomes all too much for Lia and the lack of support from her future husband Brian sends her over the edge, she calls off the engagement, leaving Breaker with the opportunity to make his move. 

With the help of his brothers and sister-in-laws, Breaker begins showing Lia signs that he is the perfect man for her and that they have everything in common. The storyline takes part after Book 1 and 2, which is important to know as the previous storylines make an appearance and are referenced to in Book 3. Book 3 also contains spoilers of Book 1 and 2, to anyone who hasn’t read them and intends to. 

Starting off with the prologue, this had me praying that the book would eventually get better and take a different direction in the form of character personality. The prologue introduces us to Lia and Breaker during their college days and during their initial meeting. During this, it is made very apparent that Lia and Breaker share a big passion for board games and all things superhero and just in general, ‘nerd’ hobbies. At one point in the prologue, a reference is made to fan fiction between two characters from supernatural and how they should’ve been lovers and not brothers. This had me cringing so bad as an almost 23 year old, who is wayyy past the celebrity/influencer fan fiction. This part really had me wondering whether I could suffer the rest of the book, if this is the road it was going to go down. I feel like the author was intending to be relatable for all the people who used to read fanfics on WattPad, but I just felt like it was a painful and cringe flashback. 

Luckily, after the prologue, the story did take a small diversion away from the fan fiction. However, ‘nerd/geek’ hobbies were still referenced throughout. The whole story gave me The Big Bang Theory vibes, in the sense of characters being obsessed board games and characters from movies. I absolutely loved The Big Bang Theory and have nothing wrong with people who are similar in personality to those characters – I just wasn’t expecting the characters of A Long Time Coming to share the same interests. However, I was able to look past it as it hasn’t mentioned heavily; although it was mentioned a lot, just not in detail. 

Throughout the plot, I was routing for Lia to find her voice and realise that she deserved so much better than Brian (ew Brian). When it came to the build up of the story, I got such a rush from Lia when she eventually told her stuck up mother-in-law where to go; which lead to her realising her worth and calling off the engagement. I did however anticipate that the build up would happen at the alter or on the morning of their wedding, where Lia either runs away before making it down the aisle, or after Breaker stands up during the objections part of the ceremony. However, the actual build up still had me drawn in and ready for the next part. 

When Breaker finally came to terms with his attraction towards Lia and was getting advice from brothers Huxley and JP, it was giving me Taylor Swift’s How You Get The Girl (Taylor’s Version) vibes! Just how they gave Breaker advice and pointers on how he could help Lia see their potential together in a natural and progressive way, without scaring her off. 

I think that A Long Time Coming was a light read that I unexpectedly enjoyed. Out of the series, I enjoyed Book 1 and Book 3 the most, as I just felt like the storylines didn’t drag, whereas Book 2 had me internally screaming and eye rolling at the female protagonist and how she gave off ‘pick me’ girl vibes. I don’t think the series is a one that I would revisit at all in the future. I believe I’ve read it and can say I have my own opinion of it, that BookTok seriously overhyped this one – leading me to have high expectations in how much I would enjoy it. I also think this was similar to Lauren Asher’s Dreamland Billionaire Series that gained popularity on the internet. It was an alright read, but not a one I would jump to read again. After reading the series by both authors, I have to say I’m apprehensive to read other books by them, along with Ali Hazelwood. 

My Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Georgia

♥