Summary
He was my boyfriend’s best friend—and the bane of my existence. I wanted to hate Luke Taylor. I did hate him. I just never hated him enough.
Now, a decade later, tragedy has brought us back to the place where it all happened—my best times, and my worst.
Our lives have changed, but that pull between us is just as strong as ever.
Only this time, it’s more dangerous too.
Excerpt
It wasn’t that long ago that I could get through an airport without being recognized. I miss that.
Today my sunglasses will remain on. It’s one of those obnoxious “I’m a celebrity!” moves I’ve always hated, but that’s better than a bunch of commentary about my current appearance. I slept most of the way from Lisbon to San Francisco, thanks to my handy stash of Ambien, but I’m still fucked in the head from the call I received just before I got on the flight…and it shows.
Donna has always been a ball of energy, cheerful and indefatigable. I can’t imagine her any other way. Of all the people in the world, why does it have to be her? Why is it that the people who most deserve to live seem to be taken too soon, and the ones who deserve it least, like me, seem to flourish?
I’ve been promising myself that I just need to hold it together a little longer, when the truth is that I’ve got three straight weeks ahead of holding it together with no end in sight. But if I think nothing of lying to everyone else, I’m certainly not going to quibble over lies to myself.
I duck into the bathroom to clean up before I head for my luggage. My hazel eyes are bruised with fatigue, my skin is sallow. The sun-kissed streaks the colorist added to my brown hair won’t fool anyone into thinking I’ve spent time in the sun lately, especially Donna. Every time she’s visited me in LA, she has said the same thing: “Oh, honey, you look so tired. I wish you’d come home”, as if returning to Rhodes could ever improve anything.
I step back from the mirror just in time to catch a woman taking a picture of me from the side.
She shrugs, completely unashamed. “Sorry. You’re not my taste,” she says, “but my niece likes you.”
I used to think fame would solve everything. What I didn’t realize is that you’re still every bit as sad. You just have the whole fucking world there to watch and remind you you’ve got no right to be.
I walk out before I say something I’ll regret and head down the escalator to baggage claim. It wasn’t until I started to date Cash that I understood the kind of chaos that can descend when the public thinks they know you—but today there’s no crowd. Just Donna waiting near the base of the escalator, a little too thin but otherwise completely fine.
She pulls me into her arms, and the scent of her rose perfume reminds me of her home—a place where some of my best moments occurred. And some of my worst.
Review
(audiobook) I know this book isn’t for everyone. It’s heavy on drama, and the main female character, Juliet, can get on your nerves if you don’t understand where she comes from. Me? I loved it, and I related to Juliet a lot.
Hard to describe her without giving away all her secrets that are slowly revealed. She left her family really young, and ended up living with the Allens. Danny Allen was her boyfriend, and his father was a pastor. She thought she didn’t deserve Danny, she didn’t deserve to live with the Allens. So she worked hard and tolerated a lot to earn her place, while never feeling like it was enough. Past tense, because that was then, seven years ago. Now she’s a famous singer and she’s back.
And there’s Luke, Danny’s best friend, womanizer, and now a successful surfer. There’s always been something between them–hate on the surface, but it was more complicated than that. He’s back too, and they have much to talk about.
The story is exclusively told through Juliet’s point of view, so Luke’s feelings and thoughts are only seen through her prism. Due to her lack of self-esteem, she’s quite the unreliable narrator. Also, the author alternates between chapters in the past and chapters in the present. Both timelines are chronological though. Still, piecing together what happened then when there are so many informations hinted at but not revealed until way later, is a tough work for the reader. A work I enjoyed though. Some events I guessed, others surprised me. The book is a puzzle.
Be aware that there isn’t a lot of positivity in this story. There are good people who do bad things with good intentions; self-absorbed people who don’t realize that what they do hurt others; sanctimonious people who judge and condamn; egostistical people who are only there for themselves; people who hurt before being hurt; and really bad people who should be in jail. And all those people are seen through Juliet’s eyes who think so badly about herself that she absolves them and decides she deserves to be treated that way. Also expect a lot of tragedies. Heavy, I told you.
The intimate scenes are hard to define as sexy. There’s some dubious consent on page, and straight assault off page. Even the main characters have mostly hate sex. A couple of interactions are really hot, full of passion and feelings–positive feelings, I mean.
The narration sold me the story. The female narrator expressed all Juliet’s nuances, her resignation, her anger sometimes, her general self loathing, and helped me understand the character. The male narrator only played the male characters in conversations, but he did great too, giving each character a voice. Absolute perfection.
Quickie
- Series: The summer #1 (can be read as a standalone)
- Hashtags: #second chance romance #small town romance #celebrity romance #love triangle #angst
- Triggers: cheating, bullying, psychological abuse, dubious consent, domestic abuse, homophobia, assault
- Main couple: Juliet Cantrell & Luke Taylor
- Hotness: 3/5
- Romance: 4/5
- + the narration was absolute perfection
- – I didn’t believe in their love
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