I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.
This is a book that makes me smile. I smiled throughout the entire book. The setting is like many books with a supposedly ugly duckling and hot guy but it is so much more. Daisy is the baby among her 3 sisters. The "wingman" Mason is asked by his brother to keep Daisy occupied while he talks to her sister. But Mason is really a good guy and feels bad for even doing it. Daisy does find out however and is obviously hurt, but comes up with a way for Mason to make it up to her by being her date for her sisters wedding. But, of course, that is too simple. This romance has to be believable. I don't want to give too much away but the story goes from there. A "fake' romance and true love in the end. I loved this story so much because it was quiet long but you needed the length in the story to give you the background and to put the characters in enough situations to make you love them and it worked. I was cheering for Mason and Daisy throughout the entire book. The book also sets up the next book in the series, which is Daisy's sister, who we learn enough about to make you excited about what is to come.

I definitely think that there are times that you read something and it just fits your mood and what you are needing at that exact moment. ‘The Wingman’ by Natasha Anders was that for me. Reading this time of book at valentines just seemed to fit the romance of it perfectly.

I don’t know if it is because we all have that fantasy of how we have at some point all wished that a certain someone would have noticed us and been stunned by how we now look or act that makes me enjoy this type of book.

Daisy is the wallflower who has grown up being the other one, the McGregor sister that doesn’t get attention and the one people used to get to her sisters but when she finds out that all the attention she was getting from Mason was really about distracting her so Spencer could hit on her sister she is furious. This time though instead of wallowing in self-pity she uses it and convinces Mason to accompany her to her sister wedding as her boyfriend. Luckily for Daisy, Mason is actually one of the good guys and in an effort to redeem himself he agrees to her scheme. What could go wrong?

This was an entertaining and romantic read. Instead of the big reveal of a makeover Mason began to realise just what a catch Daisy was as he got to know her. I think this kind of ‘ugly duckling’ type trope worked well in this instance because Daisy didn’t have to change, Mason got to know her. She was witty, snarky and beautiful already but just had a way of hiding herself and her personality because of those around her. It was an enjoyable read and I will definitely be reading more from Natasha Anders.

2 stars

I am a huge fan of Natasha Anders, The Unwanted Wife is one of my all time favorite romances ever. I knew going into this book it wasn’t going to be like her past ones, less angst and more humor. But even knowing that, I did not care for this one which makes me sad because I was very much looking forward to this book. I found this book to be really boring, and at times it felt very choppy with rapid changing POV’s. I also felt the plot itself wasn’t focused very well.

This book reminded me a lot of her other book His Unlikely Lover (the only other book by Anders I didn’t enjoy) and I think her take on the ugly duckling trope just doesn’t work for me. I already don’t love the ugly duckling trope in general, but I also found the main character Daisy to be really annoying and I didn’t empathize with her at all. And I have a very high tolerance for “annoying heroines”. Mason and Daisy’s family also would seem clued in to her insecurities and yet still always say the wrong thing to her and hurt her feelings.

I have lots of other friends who read and enjoyed this book, so I encourage you to read their positive reviews while considering picking up this book. I tend to have very picky tastes and what doesn’t work for me works fine for other readers. I will still reading anything Natasha Anders puts out, she’s a one of a kind author. This book just simply did not work for me.

Loved this book! I've read all of the author's other books and this is definitely the best one. Great hero, low angst, the book draws you in from the first paragraph.

I enjoyed the book although the set-up was a mash-up of various romance plots. Mason Carlisle, a former poor boy in town, has returned to their small South African town after spending time as a soldier in special forces in Iraq, an underwear model, and the owner of a private security firm to the stars. Apparently, this made him a millionaire when he sold out to return to do … he doesn’t know what. So he’s a hunky millionaire whom all the women in town are intrigued by.

His brother asks him to flirt with Daisy McGregor while the brother makes a play for her sister, Daffodil. Mason and Daisy hit it off until she finds out that it started off as a ploy. She’s tremendously insecure about her looks since she has two older, slimmer, more attractive sisters. She then blackmails him with his guilt at hurting her to be her date for her middle sister’s destination wedding. He insists on taking her out so people will believe that they’re really dating. So now we have the couple faking a romance and the good-looking guy slowly falling for the not gorgeous girl.

It’s hard to get a handle on Daisy’s looks. She thinks of herself as dumpy and frumpy. He looks at her and thinks she’s cute and has a hot body reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe’s. It’s difficult as a reader to get a mental image between her extreme self-doubt and the way everyone else treats her as “the other sister” since her two older sisters are nice and love her, but are also beautiful and rather clueless about how they have made her feel all her life.

I enjoyed reading how Mason starts falling for her because of who she is and through their conversation, rather than having insta-love based on sexual attraction as so many romances do. There are a bunch of mean women and mean men in the novel who are extremely cruel to Daisy in a high school mean-girls sort of way. Are there really people in this world who are so nasty as adults? Maybe I’ve been lucky, but I never met anyone, much less a whole group of people, who would be so cruel but apparently, this small town is full of them.

I was interested to read my first book to take place in South Africa and would have liked a bit more of the local setting. Daisy is a veterinarian and does go into a township to offer a free clinic there, but we don’t get much of a background on that. I think the author could do more in incorporating what, for a lot of readers, will be an exotic locale.

This is setting up as a series and I look forward to reading about the romance between Mason’s brother and Daisy’s sister.

I was given a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What I really, truly hate about a Natasha Anders title is that I know I'll have to wait a looonng time for the next one (I feel like there's cherry blossom reference in there somewhere, but I'll leave the talented word-stringing for the professionals. You get what I mean). :P For me, Ms. Anders is like Leylah Attar, Lexi Blake or Mariana Zapata. Their books always hit all the right spots, but there are so few of them and they always leave you wanting more. When people ask me what I want for a present, I'm tempted to ask if they could get these talented ladies to publish on a bi-weekly basis. :P

Now, about the book. Mason was practically perfect, like I mentioned earlier. All throughout the book, he acted like a Natasha Anders hero AFTER he realized how much of an a** he was being. Unlike Dante or Sandro or Bryce, he didn't act like a frog for the first several chapters. He was a real prince from the get-go. Sure, he hurt Daisy in the beginning, but it wasn't done with malice. And oh, but his jealous and protective moments were so precious. His caring acts rivaled those of his predecessors - and he didn't even have anything to make up for like those three MOST DEFINITELY did!

Daisy, on the other hand, was me. She's Ms. Anders' tribute to the normal girl, so I couldn't like her more if I tried. Her experiences, her secret desires, her insecurities were mine, and I was rooting for her from the very beginning. Yes, a lot of readers scoff at books where the plain Jane gets the guy because they're not realistic and readers read books for the fantasy and a regular girl has no place in a fantasy. But I respectfully disagree, and I hope there are more readers like me too, so more authors will write about the average girls. That being said, Daisy wasn't perfect. She had a couple of TSTL moments toward the end. I actually felt like she needed to grovel more, and that she got off easy just because ... well, you'll see. :P

The book was well-written, as expected. I feel like Ms. Anders has carved an interesting niche for herself in the romance world. She produces books reminiscent of some classic Mills and Boon titles, only she adds an extra 200 or so pages to give the hero time to redeem himself. Or in this book's case, give the couple time to get to know each other and generate some unexpected heat. I had a lovely time watching Daisy and Mason valiantly fight their pesky feelings for each other. :)

So yes, this book was definitely worth the year-long wait (but please, Natasha, I'll promise you my first-born if you'll promise to publish more often).

I've read Natasha Anders before as I'm no stranger to angsty novels and jerky H's. Her second book in The Unwanted Wife series is still one of my favourites, so naturally I picked this up. Although this one was low on the angst factor, it definitely didn't disappoint. Small town, fake wedding date, ugly duckling plot... what more do you need?

Things I loved:
- Mason!
- The slow burn.. So much yes. This made the sex scenes scorching.
- The back and forth banter between Daisy and Mason

What I didn't like:
- Daisy's insecurities were very irritating and brought up way too frequently. It made it difficult to feel much empathy anymore towards her.
- Ending seemed very rushed.

All in all, if you're into the slow burn novels - I'd definitely pick this up! 4/5.

This is a love story. Just your basic everyday story of two people who meet, date, spend time together getting to know one another and fall in love. Except it’s all fake.

Mason reluctantly agrees to distract Daisy while his brother attempts to gain the attention of Daisy’s sister. The two appear to get along quite nicely until Daisy learns that Mason has no real interest in her. However, due to a lifetime of being the “other” sister, frumpy and unfashionable, she turns the tables on Mason and using his feelings of guilt, she blackmails him into being her date at her sister’s wedding.

Now I’ve read other books with this trope but this author took this story line and added into it two characters who are each charming, fun, damaged in their own ways, and completely unaware they are falling in love. The writing is pure magic. It is all completely believable as the author shows the reader each step of the way how, when, and why Mason and Daisy move from not friends into something more. It is never wordy or bogged down and the pace is fast and engaging. The banter between these two is so entertaining and they are able to laugh at their own flaws even when embarrassed by them. It was especially fun to catch the unspoken/written comparison of Daisy and Mason’s relationship to that of their dogs Peaches, a feisty little furpuff, and Cooper, a huge mixed lab. And if you think an ex-soldier alpha can’t be intimidated then wait until you read about his first meal with Daisy’s parents. Good cop/Good cop (yes both Goods) has never been so hilarious!

This is written in both POVs with a nice little epilogue one year later. May the chicken dance commence!

Will post review on Amazon closer to release date.

Natasha Anders is one of my favorite authors. I can always count on her books to have angst and groveling. This book is a bit different, but I still enjoyed it. There were some parts that I felt dragged on and I wanted to shake some sense into Daisy, but the author laid tge groundwork well, therefore the reader could understand why Daisy was the way she was at times. Then there is Mason, the complete package. Sigh.

This was a great, enjoyable read! I truly enjoyed the development of the relationship between Mason and Daisy. Can't wait to see more from them!

This was my first Natasha Anders read but not my last. Appreciated all of the differences in culture shown in the book, as well as all the sameness of what love means...
The Ugly Duckling theme was a little too pushed for me...but understandable... The fella was a good guy with conflicts of his own... but was a stand up guy. Our gal needed to get an understanding of who she was and own it.
The only issue was a bit of back and forth between them... and an unwillingness to actually communicate their feelings sooner.

I don't even remember when I started reading 52 Book Minimum, and we have very dissimilar taste in books, but I actually kind of love reading book reviews for books that I'm never going to read, and I love people who take the time to fill their reviews with gifs. So, despite the fact that she doesn't like Squirrel Girl, I continue to read her blog all the damned time. I don't usually add to my to-read from there, though, because she reads a lot of, as she puts it, porn.

But I was recovering from the Death Flu and I read her review of The Wingman by Natasha Anders, which was glowing, and which ended with the point that it was available to Read Now on Netgalley, and here we are. I read the porn. I am a reader of porn. Your finer contemporary erotic romance.

Nah, I'm just kidding. I mean, I'll admit that I usually get my porn from fanfic, because I don't have to worry about anyone making me care about their characters. But as promised, this book was adorable. Daisy is so likeable, and her sense of herself as the not-attractive one is really well-told. She's the "other sister"--not the pretty one, not the cute one--and in their small town, that kind of thing sticks. Mason would normally never look twice at her, but when his brother wants to chat up her sister, he agrees to play you-know-what.

So, here's the thing--being hit on by the wingman is not by definition a bad thing. I mean, sure, a guy who isn't actually attracted to you was chatting you up, so maybe it's...dishonest, a little? But no, even that, you had a conversation with someone who didn't want to take you home--that's not inherently gross. I will admit, however, that the way it went down was uncool, so it makes sense that Mason feels like a heel and Daisy feels like he owes her one, and sexy hijinks ensue.

There was a decent amount of the usual stuff that makes romances eye-rolly--Mason is ex-military and pretty fond of barking orders, and I'm sorry but boundaries are not a starting place for flirtatious negotiations--but overall this was really about two people who realize they like each other and become more attracted to each other as they get to know each other. How about that, huh?

In sum, everything that Kelly said in her review, and please enjoy this picture of Daisy's dog, Peaches.

(I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley for honest review.)

I've read almost everything this author has written, this one was just missing something. Daisy was a little too shy, she frustrated me with her always in awe of her other sisters and not quite matching up so why bother attitude. Mason was funny, sexy and the perfect balance of alpha. I had no real problem with his character.

The story flowed well enough, I just had no mad love for it.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were likable. It was fun to see the change in he saw Daisy throughout the book. I definitely want to read more by this author. I read it in one evening.

I must admit, I was nervous picking this one up because I am a huge fan of Natasha Anders previous books, she is famous for creating some of the biggest arsehole heroes in the indie romance arena, and when I discovered that this story was a total 180 from her usual, I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy it as much as past books.

I am disappointed to say that I was right to be worried, this story was lacking for me, and I found it fairly boring and bland. The heroine was very self-deprecating and spoilt my enjoyment of the book with her constant paranoia about her weight/plainness, and whilst I did appreciate that this was the whole point of the plot; that the hot guy in town ends up finding her interesting and sexy in her own way, it was a bit too much for me.

The Wingman, although not for me, was a sweet book with a nice message - I hope many people do enjoy this story more than I did.

This was my first Natasha Anders book and I'm loving it! I love the setting, the dialect ( I'm imagining the lovely accents in my head ).
The wingman was very true to form. The characters were very realistic, the fact that Daisy is not perfect and it was most definitely not insta lust or insta love was different and new. Your literally seeing them fall in love as they go and can relate to the struggles and issues they have to deal with.
I loved Mason! he is Sexy, sweet, humble gahhhh his blushes are too cute! and Daisy's transformation from shy, frumpy wallflower to a confident, sassy woman made me proud.
This book is a cute, low angst read where you can expect to ooooh, ahhhh, gasp and maybe throw a little cuss word here and there. Very Entertaining read!

***Arc kindly provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

Mason and Daisy's story is so good. They have an amazing journey. It's a story that's original, the characters are strong, the writing is perfect. It's a 5 star book! I strongly recommend it!

★Book Basics★

Genre: – Cont. Romance
Series: – Stand Alone
Love triangle? – No
Cheating? – No
HEA? – Yes
Would I read more by this author/or in this series? – Yes
Rating – 4.5 stars

★Review★


Ok, so having read only one other book by this author, which quite frankly was a bit high on angst and hatred for me and left me a tad depressed, this is not an author I have been up for trying again any time soon. However, I read a review that this was a touch more lighthearted than some of her other works I though I would try her again!

I am so glad I did! I loved this book!

The heroine, known as the “other” sister (with her 2 sisters being the “cute” and “pretty” ones) she was used to being in the background, overlooked, made fun of, expected to never have a man etc.

Mason had grown up being known, along with his brother as the guys who were always in trouble, not expected to make much of himself. Only he joined the army, and made a decent life for himself away from home, and had returned after 13 years away.

One night, his brother convinces him to spend time with Daisy so that he can try and get the attention of the “Cute” sister Daffodil.

But Mason ends up actually liking Daisy as a person more than he thought, and having fun. So when Daisy finds out he was being the “wingman” she comes up with a plan for him to be HER wingman at the other sisters wedding.

What follows is a truly lovely story of “friends” to lovers, and learning to actually have confidence in yourself and that everyone has their own insecurities. I loved Daisy’s family, especially her parents. I really really enjoyed it.

What made it not quite a 5 for me? Well, Mason spent a bit too much time in the beginning denying his attraction to Daisy, not believing he fancied her etc…..

And the way everyone viewed Daisy, ok so she was not model tall and slim like her sisters, but from the description, she was pretty, just shorter and curvier yet it seemed like people responded to her like she had hit every branch on the ugly tree on the way down to earth!

And for me the ending felt a touch rushed!

But, it was still a great read, and I would re read it again, I can see it becoming a favourite re read.

Dearest Val, my eternal gratitude for your inability to read “reel” books. If it weren’t for you I would have never discovered this little gem.

The story here is about a trio of sisters with the most ridiculous names ever. Dahlia, Daffodil and Daisy. Thank the good lort this one was about the least puke-inducing member of the family, Daisy. Daisy has always been known as the “other sister.” While Dahlia and Daff are both built like models with perfect long straight hair, Daisy is short and curvy. Which means she’s always felt like the wallflower, but in reality she’s pretty much Emilia Clarke. (I don’t know that I love anyone more than I love Emilia Clarke in Me Before You so that’s about the highest compliment I can pay to a leading lady.)

Daisy is trying her best to disappear into the wall while attending her sister’s Hen Night when she is approached by one of the Carlisle brothers. Jaw-droppingly handsome with a résumé including a stint in the Army, some time as a model and co-owner of a security business, Mason is not the type of guy who would generally pay attention to Daisy. After a couple of drinks and some time getting to know each other, Daisy finds out Mason wasn’t interested – he was sent over as a distraction so his brother could try and get in Daisy’s sister Daff’s panties. In layman’s terms, he was acting as wingman. When Daisy overhears a conversation between the two brothers disclosing the truth, she turns tables and convinces Mason to act as her wingman – a/k/a be her “date” to her sister Dahlia’s wedding.

Okay, so not only do we have a D.U.F.F. situation, but now we have an additional trope of a “pretend relationship." It probably goes without saying that I loved nearly every second of this one. Not only was Daisy hilarious (luckily not at all in a manic pixie dream girl sort of way), but Mason was all ex-military with cropped hair and tattoos so casting him in my brain worked out wonderfully as well. There was NO instalove (in fact, quite the opposite) and despite a hardcore case of blue balls setting in before these two finally took their road trip to Pound Town, when they did it was good . . . . . SO. GOOD.

4 Stars rather than 5 because the pacing wasn’t quite spot on so it probably should have been a bit shorter, there was an extra twist at the end that made Mason recognize his twue wuv that I thought was totally unnecessary (even though the set up that it was coming was presented pretty much through the entire book), and Mason talked about more unreconciled boners than a 14 year old.

Still HIGHLY recommended however, and this is currently a Read Now selection on NetGalley so go get you some.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!