The hot, commitment-phobe surfer is going to find me a boyfriend… but now he wants me for himself. In my small town bookstore, I’m surrounded by book boyfriends, but I’ve never had one in real life. At almost 30, I’m painfully shy, I’ve never been in love, and my bookstore isn’t breaking even. Something needs to change, and I know exactly who’s going to help me—Wyatt Rhodes, the guy everyone wants.
He agrees to be my relationship coach, but his lessons aren’t what I expected. Between surfing, mortifying dates, a town obsession with orc romance, and revamping my store into romance-only, his lessons are more about drawing me out of my shell than changing me into someone new. While we search for my Mr. Right, Wyatt and I become friends.
The laid-back surfer is sweet and encouraging… until I go on a date with another guy, and Wyatt doesn’t want me practicing with anyone but him. Wyatt never wanted a relationship, but when we add praise-filled ‘spice lessons’ to the curriculum, it’s clear he wants me. He’s leaving town and I’m staying to run my store, so it can’t work, but that doesn’t seem to matter to him. He’s supposed to find me someone to fall for but instead, we’re falling for each other.
I know of Stephanie Archer from her wildly popular Vancouver Storm Series, a series that is centered around a professional hockey team and the women that change their lives. What I was rudely unaware of was the series she wrote before that, The Queen’s Cove Series. This small coastal town series focuses on the four Rhodes brothers, and the women who capture them, body, heart, and soul. Oh, and did I mention small town gossip at its best? Archer brings her signature wit, swoony build-up, and emotionally layered storytelling to this friends-to-lovers romance with a side of spice.
Meet Hannah. Hannah runs a small-town bookstore that’s equal parts charming and barely hanging on. She’s painfully shy, romantically inexperienced, and nearing thirty without ever having had a boyfriend, or a first love. She’s the kind of woman who lives in her head, surrounded by fictional men who raise the bar impossibly high. Real life? Not so dreamy. Her store isn’t making money, her confidence is on shaky ground, and something has to give.
“The guy of my dreams was sweet, chivalrous, friendly, and above all, loved books.”
Her solution? Enlist the town’s most eligible bachelor and human golden retriever, Wyatt Rhodes, to be her relationship coach. Hannah wants to be a hot girl and time is running out.
Wyatt is a hot surfer with zero interest in settling down, literally the last guy you’d expect to volunteer as tribute for a heart makeover. But Wyatt says yes in exchange for her help with his social media presence, focusing on sponsorship opportunities and upcoming surfing competitions. The plan is simple: help her break out of her shell and finally land a boyfriend.
Wyatt assigns Hannah “homework” lessons, in an effort to push her outside her comfort zone. My favorite, laugh-out-loud lesson? She has to approach and ask out 10 men in town. She’s horrified. Mortified. Already spiraling. But Wyatt is completely serious. And supportive. He wants her to build confidence and realize that rejection won’t destroy her. So, she tries. And it’s chaos. She approaches men at the coffee shop, on the sidewalk, even a guy working at the hardware store. If he is of dating age and passes her by, she must ask him…which is painful when she realizes that a lot of them are married. Cue the panic, the awkward apologies, and Wyatt laughing his fine ass off while watching from a safe distance like it’s his favorite reality show. He’s amused, yes, but also genuinely proud of her for trying.
“You didn’t say they had to be available!”
—Hannah, red-faced, after striking out with yet another married man, while Wyatt tries not to keel over laughing.
But what’s unexpected? The jealousy he feels. His protectiveness peeks through every time another guy smiles at her, and that possessive edge is chef’s kiss foreshadowing for what’s to come.
His “lessons” go way beyond dating strategy. He teaches Hannah how to surf, helps her rebrand her store into a romance-only sanctuary, and slowly pulls her out of her shell with praise, patience, and his casually devastating charm. As they spend time together, friendship forms. Then flirtation sneaks in. And before long, the man who was supposed to help her find someone else starts acting real territorial. He wants to be the only one she practices with. He’s giving more than friendly encouragement. And their “homework assignments”? Let’s just say they’re not exactly PG.
“Don’t practice with Beck.” His voice was low, barely above a whisper. His gaze locked on mine. “You want to practice? You practice with me.”
After the “spice lessons” start blurring lines, there’s no going back. Hannah, who’s never really been wanted like this, starts seeing herself through Wyatt’s eyes. He adores her quirks, champions her bookstore dreams, and showers her with praise that’s both affirming and, uh… deeply flustering. And Wyatt? This man who swore off relationships and emotional entanglement? He’s falling hard, and it terrifies him.
But Wyatt’s just passing through as his dreams are set on seeing the world through his surf competitions, and Hannah’s heart is rooted in their hometown. Falling for him was never part of the plan… but love, like waves, doesn’t always follow the rules.
“You were my practice guy… I lied when I said you were my practice guy.”
If you love small-town charm, slow-burn tension, and a cinnamon roll hero who can’t stop praising the shy girl he never saw coming, this book is for you. The Wrong Mr. Right is perfect for readers who swoon over emotional intimacy, flirty banter, and heroines finding their voice, not just in love, but in life.
*I did want to make note of the sub-plot of Hannah’s grief over the death of her mom. Hannah’s mom passed away before the events of the story, and her absence is deeply felt throughout the book. She wasn’t just Hannah’s mother, she was her best friend, her biggest supporter, and the inspiration behind her bookstore. The loss shaped everything about Hannah: her fear of risk, her struggle with confidence, and even her love of romance books, which were something she and her mom shared. Grief isn’t front-and-center in the plot, but it saturates Hannah’s emotional world. There’s a quiet ache in her day-to-day life that Stephanie Archer handles with tenderness and respect, never heavy-handed, always heartfelt.*