Bringing Home the Bad Boy
Second Chance, #1
Jessica Lemmon
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing: Forever
Date of Publication: January 27, 2015
Number of pages: 400
This book first hit my radar when Anna from Herding Cats and Burning Soup posted on instagram that her review of another Jessica Lemmon book had made it into this one. Since Anna is a big fan, I took the time to check it out and look into. I was thrilled to see it available on Netgalley. So I put in my request and can now completely understand why Anna is such a fan.The Bad Boy Is Back
Evan Downey needs a new beginning. Since the death of his wife five years ago, the brilliant tattoo artist has shut himself away in a prison of grief that not even his work can break him out of-and what's worse, Evan knows his son Lyon is bearing the brunt of his seclusion. Moving back to the lake town of Evergreen Cove where he spent his childhood summers is his last chance for a fresh start.
Charlotte Harris knows she owes it to her best friend's memory to help Evan and his son find their way again, but she can't stop her traitorous heart from skipping a beat every time she looks into Evan's mesmerizing eyes. Charlotte is determined to stay strictly in the Friend Zone-until a mind-blowing night knocks that plan by the wayside. Now, if they're brave enough to let it, Charlotte and Evan might just find a love capable of healing their broken hearts...
First of all we have Evan. Evan lost Rae, his wife and best friend, 5 years prior to the start of the book. He is a tattoo artist, turned illustrator and doing a pretty good job of raising their son alone. But he is haunted by the memories of Rae and especially her death in their home. So he decides to move to Evergreen Cove, the place where he had only good memories of meeting and falling in love with Rae. It's also closer to Charlie, Rae's best friend, who has become a touchstone for both him and his son.
Charlotte has had a crush on Evan ever since they were teenagers even though all Evan ever saw was Rae. Even though Rae has passed, Charlie refuses to make a move - not wanting to dishonor her friend's memory. But in the last 5 years, Charlie and Evan have become very close, forming a bond that goes beyond friendship.
One of the things that I really liked about this book was that neither of the characters was overly "broken". Did they each have some issues? Yep, of course. But they took turns helping each other out. One being strong, where the other was weak. Also, although Evan was tattooed, he wasn't the cliched biker. And while there was a "rock star billionaire" in the story, that wasn't Evan either. What we had was two fairly normal, everyday people, getting a second chance at love. It was by turns sweet, pensive, sexy and playful. I gave this 4 stars and look forward to the next book.
Aw yay! I'm so glad you checked it out and enjoyed it :) She really does a great job I think making her characters have issues but not swamping them with being too broken like you said. They're never quite what you'd expect from their stereotype.
ReplyDeleteIssues I'm okay with. And I loved that Evan was this tattooed guy, he wasn't the stereotypical he-man, he was more of a family man. It will be interested to see what happens with next bad boy.
DeleteYes. When they are too broken, my mind goes to therapy options - I'm sorry, but the magic penis theory gets so old.
ReplyDelete