As I expected, I really enjoyed this one, significantly more than the previous one and that one wasn't even bad! This one caught my interest even though I'm not really a fan of this author and just read her on occasion, because it's kind of second chance, which is my current fave trope (they didn't date but feelings were involved and then they were apart). It's also brother's best friend (with an age gap, which I'm always intrigued to see whether it finds the balance where it makes sense and isn't creepy or a power issue), and takes place in Italy in the present day scenes. We met Maya and Hark (Conor) in book 1, as Eli's sister and best friend slash business partner, and there was a vibe, at least on her end. Hark is 15 years older and we find out through tense current moments while they're on Eli and Rue's destination wedding trip with a small group of people and through flashbacks from the past 3+ years that they did have something going on behind the scenes. He was adamant that nothing was happening beyond friendship and couldn't happen; they mostly talked on the phone until he cut off contact about ten months before the wedding. She fell in love with him, he was overly concerned about how problematic it would be because of the age gap and potential power dynamics (no spoilers, but the stuff he is concerned with feels like excuses all the way along. They absolutely should be considered and in some situation could be an issue, but I was on her side). The wedding itself seems to be cursed, with issue after issue cropping up, and over the week leading up to it the two are forced to spend time together and deal with their stuff. Some people may not agree, but it felt like a massive slow burn to me, but I was here for it for the most part. I liked Maya as a character, and the way she would tease and joke with him (and others), and her specific style of humor appealed to me as it made their banter top notch. I also liked seeing other characters we'd met before. I usually prefer dual POV but after it being done strangely in the last book, I was relieved to find it was just her POV, especially as it kept going and it was clear that the reader benefited from not knowing Conor's thoughts and feelings until later. Overall, this is definitely my fave book by this author and has made it way more likely that I'll consider her books again in the future.