Rendezvous With A Romance

I had a hard time getting into this one. They were already mate-claimed when it starts and they had a lot of starts and stops in the passion department and every time they turned it off like it was no big deal, which made it and them hard to believe. Also, they are best friends and have been for 20 years or so; and yet, they don’t know they love each other until much later into the book, and act surprised when they acknowledge it internally to themselves. I don’t get that. It was obvious from the start they loved each other, respected each other, depended on each other, wanted each other in their lives, yet they were unsure whether they loved each other?  It didn’t make sense. She also sometimes came across as if she teased him with the mate bond, strung him along and he was ok with that when we find out later he knew she was his mate of his heart from the moment they met 20 years ago.  It didn’t add up. I did like returning to New Orleans and to Jasmine’s haunted house. Loved every scene at the house. The excursion into Faerie was exciting and the conflict was good, I just didn’t like how the relationship developed. I think I would have much preferred if from page one they acknowledged their love and mate bond and went into the story already an established couple.