by Raine Miller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 15, 2016
More steamy than dreamy. Do yourself a favor and skip to the good parts.
Brooke Casterley is barely holding it together, working two jobs and caring for her aging grandmother. Caleb Blackstone, on the other hand, has everything he could want—money, women, and power. Why does all his success feel so hollow? Could it be that Brooke is what his life is missing?
Brooke works in Boston as an interior design assistant and commutes daily from tiny Blackstone Island, where she lived with her grandmother until her grandmother took a fall and landed temporarily in a therapy facility. She works as a cater waitress in her spare time, as much for the distraction from her tragic past as for the extra money. Caleb's family is enormously wealthy so he's never really wanted for anything that money could buy. He's gorgeous, so he's never needed to pursue women. He's a good businessman, and taking over Blackstone Global Enterprises from his father has kept him busy. But it all feels a little hollow. Until he meets Brooke. He briefly cruises her at Starbucks and then she winds up being a waitress at a charity cocktail event he's attending. When a creepy party patron gets hands-y with her, Brooke breaks his nose and runs away after speaking briefly to Caleb on her way out like a suburban Cinderella. Using all the tools at his disposal, Caleb finds out where she works and sends flowers and then pursues her by hiring her to redecorate his apartment. Brooke's past has convinced her that she's unworthy of romantic love, so it's up to the billionaire playboy to convince her otherwise. Overall, Brooke is an easy heroine to root for. Caleb's romantic stalking, on the other hand, seems more creepy than swoon-inducing. The sex scenes are pretty hot though.
More steamy than dreamy. Do yourself a favor and skip to the good parts.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5039-3963-9
Page Count: 316
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
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by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 18, 2014
Hoover is one of the freshest voices in new-adult fiction, and her latest resonates with true emotion, unforgettable...
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New York Times Bestseller
Sydney and Ridge make beautiful music together in a love triangle written by Hoover (Losing Hope, 2013, etc.), with a link to a digital soundtrack by American Idol contestant Griffin Peterson.
Hoover is a master at writing scenes from dual perspectives. While music student Sydney is watching her neighbor Ridge play guitar on his balcony across the courtyard, Ridge is watching Sydney’s boyfriend, Hunter, secretly make out with her best friend on her balcony. The two begin a songwriting partnership that grows into something more once Sydney dumps Hunter and decides to crash with Ridge and his two roommates while she gets back on her feet. She finds out after the fact that Ridge already has a long-distance girlfriend, Maggie—and that he's deaf. Ridge’s deafness doesn’t impede their relationship or their music. In fact, it creates opportunities for sexy nonverbal communication and witty text messages: Ridge tenderly washes off a message he wrote on Sydney’s hand in ink, and when Sydney adds a few too many e’s to the word “squee” in her text, Ridge replies, “If those letters really make up a sound, I am so, so glad I can’t hear it.” While they fight their mutual attraction, their hope that “maybe someday” they can be together playfully comes out in their music. Peterson’s eight original songs flesh out Sydney’s lyrics with a good mix of moody musical styles: “Living a Lie” has the drama of a Coldplay piano ballad, while the chorus of “Maybe Someday” marches to the rhythm of the Lumineers. But Ridge’s lingering feelings for Maggie cause heartache for all three of them. Independent Maggie never complains about Ridge’s friendship with Sydney, and it's hard to even want Ridge to leave Maggie when she reveals her devastating secret. But Ridge can’t hide his feelings for Sydney long—and they face their dilemma with refreshing emotional honesty.
Hoover is one of the freshest voices in new-adult fiction, and her latest resonates with true emotion, unforgettable characters and just the right amount of sexual tension.Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-5316-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2014
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by Taylor Jenkins Reid ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2014
Reid’s tome on married life is as uplifting as it is brutally honest—a must-read for anyone who is in (or hopes to be in) a...
An unhappily married couple spends a year apart in Reid’s (Forever, Interrupted, 2013) novel about second chances.
When we meet Lauren, she and her husband, Ryan, are having a meltdown trying to find their car in the parking lot at Dodger Stadium after a game. Through a series of flashbacks, Lauren reveals how the two of them went from being inseparable to being insufferable in each other’s eyes—and in desperate need of a break. Both their courtship and their fights seem so ordinary—they met in college; he doesn’t like Greek food—that the most heartbreaking part of their pending separation is deciding who will get custody of their good-natured dog. It’s not until Ryan moves out that the juicy details emerge. Lauren surreptitiously logs into his email one day, in a fit of missing him, and discovers a bunch of emails to her that he had saved but not sent. Liberated by Ryan’s candor, Lauren saves her replies for him to find, and the two of them read each other’s unfiltered thoughts as they go about their separate lives. Neither character holds anything back, which makes the healing process more complex, and more compelling, than simply getting revenge or getting one’s groove back. Meanwhile, as Lauren spends more time with her family and friends, she explores the example set for her by her parents and learns that there are many ways to be happy. It’s never clear until the final pages whether living alone will bring Lauren and Ryan back together or force them apart forever. But when the year is up, the resolution is neither sappy nor cynical; it’s arrived at after an honest assessment of what each partner can’t live with and can’t live without.
Reid’s tome on married life is as uplifting as it is brutally honest—a must-read for anyone who is in (or hopes to be in) a committed relationship.Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-1284-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Washington Square/Pocket
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2014
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