NEVER SAY NEVER
Sadie Gold is ready to take her career to the next level with the role of a lifetime. Finally, she can shake her reputation as a pretty face with more wealth and connections than talent. But Sadie is not prepared for the wild turn her own life is about to take. The man in charge of training Sadie for her most demanding role yet is none other than her first real boyfriend—the one who took her heart and ran away.
WHEN IT COMES TO LOVE
Bo Ibarra is as good-looking and irresistible as ever. Maybe even more so, now that everything once worked against them—Sadie’s pampered and privileged upbringing and Bo’s childhood in a family struggling to make ends meet—is in the past. But the future is still unwritten…and getting there, together, means coming clean about painful secrets and slashing through nasty tabloid rumors while trying to control the attraction that crackles between them. Maybe it’s finally time for them to walk off into the sunset and into a true and lasting love?
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Release Date: Jun 25, 2019
Series: Sometimes in Love
Book: 3
Heat Level: Hot
Publisher: St. Martin\’s Press
Imprint: Macmillan
Price: $7.99
My first Melonie Johnson book, and I came in on the middle of a series. Though, the story stands on its own. I didn’t realize this was a mid-series book until about a halfway in.
The characters were fabulous. Sadie Gold is an actress looking to star in her first big film. It’s make it or break it time for the daughter of a wealthy hotel magnate. Too bad her first day on the job has her running into her once upon a time flame, Bo Ibarra. Bo is a stunt coordinator and a reformed bad boy. The title implied bad, but he’s not as bad boy as they make him out to be. What I enjoyed about both these characters is they fit into the class warfare trope so well, and they reconnect as adults, not kids. I love a good reunion romance.
The read itself is an emotional rollercoaster, as these two rekindle what they once had. From adventures in apple picking to confronting fond and not-so fond memories, Sadie and Bo find navigating their working relationship a bit difficult with their re-emerging personal one. Plenty of conflict, plenty of drama… this is romance with a slight soap opera kind of vibe.
What didn’t work for me is that the conflict petered out mid-way through, and then took a turn for the unexpected. The author built the story in one direction and then did a quick about face, which for me didn’t play into the motivation and goals I’d seen from the characters before. I didn’t see either character truly sacrifice anything to be with the other one. Secondly there were some pacing issues that left me a little confused; as if a scene may have been cut accidently. I want to note that there is a topic that comes into play for Sadie in this book and I enjoyed the author’s take and how Sadie addressed the issue.
Overall, I wanted to love this book, and did enjoy entering the world that Johnson has created, but the buildup and subsequent resolutions were missing a few things for me. For readers who enjoy, Amy Andrews.
~ Landra
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