Published by Gallery Books on October 2019
Genres: Adult Fiction Pages: 368
Format: eBook Source: Publisher Buy on Amazon Goodreads
Sam Brandis was Tate Jones’s first: Her first love. Her first everything. Including her first heartbreak.
During a whirlwind two-week vacation abroad, Sam and Tate fell for each other in only the way that first loves do: sharing all of their hopes, dreams, and deepest secrets along the way. Sam was the first, and only, person that Tate—the long-lost daughter of one of the world’s biggest film stars—ever revealed her identity to. So when it became clear her trust was misplaced, her world shattered for good.
Fourteen years later, Tate, now an up-and-coming actress, only thinks about her first love every once in a blue moon. When she steps onto the set of her first big break, he’s the last person she expects to see. Yet here Sam is, the same charming, confident man she knew, but even more alluring than she remembered. Forced to confront the man who betrayed her, Tate must ask herself if it’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason… and whether “once in a lifetime” can come around twice.
With Christina Lauren’s signature “beautifully written and remarkably compelling” (Sarah J. Maas, New York Times bestselling author) prose and perfect for fans of Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner, Twice in a Blue Moon is an unforgettable and moving novel of young love and second chances.
This is a hard review for me to write because I so wanted to like this book and it just didn’t work for me.
I was looking forward to another Christina Lauren book with their trademark humor and steamy romance. Alas, this book wasn’t that.
It reminded me of their adult contemporary Love and Other Words, but not for the good reasons I liked it.
The story starts off and both of the main characters are teenagers who meet on a trip in Europe. Of course, there’s attraction and then young love and then betrayal. Fast forward years later, and they are thrown together again. The beginning part was too long and while I understand that the beginning was the big set up for the rest of the book, it could have moved along faster in some ways and slowly develop in others. It felt like I was reading a YA (not bad, but not what I was looking for). Also, the characters weren’t developed enough for my taste.
I kinda wonder if it was the premise that took me out of it. Of course the young good looking boy (Sam) betrayed her (Tate) all those years ago, but he had a really good reason! (sigh.) And of course she can’t stay way from him now, even though she thinks he is married with kids. (of course he is not, btw. duh.) Tate is now a super successful actor who is starring with her incredibly successful father in a new film! The entire second part of the book takes place on set as Sam the screenwriter watches Tate act out his very personal script. Sigh.
The ending was anticlimactic. The most interesting part of the book was actually her relationship with her famous father (think Tom Cruise) and that thread tapered off into nothingness with no closure. I really wanted something to happen there and it just didn’t. Meanwhile, wet mop boy and scattered main female had their ending which was less happy and more accepting.
Their recent ones haven’t been as good as their earlier works so I think I’ll go back and read Beautiful Bastard.