Destination Weddings and Other Disasters

Vaughan brings the fun in her second Belize Dreams contemporary (after Romancing Miss Stone). It’s been 10 years since Julia Stone last saw Carson Miller, the boy who relentlessly picked on her in high school. To her chagrin, they’re thrown back together at their parents’ engagement party. Carson is now helming one of L.A.’s hottest event planning firms, while Julia’s searching for a job after graduating with a master’s degree in hospitality from Cornell. So when their parents decide on a destination wedding in Belize, Carson and Julia are charged with making it happen—whether they make their peace with the past or not. As both try to get along and deliver the wedding of their parents’ dreams, barriers begin to fall. Carson’s penitence over his past treatment of Julia rings true, as does Julia’s rapidly building attraction to him despite their rocky past. Vaughan injects the forced-proximity and enemies-to-lovers tropes with plenty of humor and charm, and series fans will be pleased to check in on the central couple from book one. This is a delight. (July)