Christina Lauren – 4/5 Stars
Read this if you:
· are sick of the misunderstanding/poor communication trope
· love a small-town romance (even if it’s just a movie set)
· are looking for an unputdownable love story
Synopsis:
On a two-week vacation to London with her grandmother, Tate Jones meets Sam Brandis and his grandfather, Luther, and the two fall for each other instantly. Tate, who is usually very closed off, shares her biggest secret with Sam – she is the long-lost daughter of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. When her trust is broken, her world falls apart and she is left to pick up the pieces alone. Fourteen years later, Tate is making a name for herself in the film industry and is cast in a movie that she knows will be her first big break. When she steps onset and sees Sam for the first time, she is forced to confront the man who betrayed her and decide if she can forgive him for doing the wrong thing, even if it was for the right reason.
My thoughts on the book:
Okay… Sam and Tate forever! I could have used another 100 pages in this book to hear more about their love story. This book was a little different from most of the books I’ve read by Christina Lauren – it was a bit more serious and had less of that feeling that everything easily fell into place. As usual though, Christina Lauren sucked me right in and made me feel every emotion that Tate experienced, from falling in love for the first time, to getting her heart broken, to finding herself in a position to rekindle that old flame.
When I first starting reading this book, I felt as though it would be a little YA, which is not usually a genre I enjoy, but I was pleasantly surprised when it jumped forwards 14 years and the main characters were grown up. I was also really prepared for the betrayal to turn out to be a misunderstanding (and nothing annoys me more than poor communication), but I loved the turn the story took when Sam fessed up to what he did.
I absolutely loved reading about Tate’s journey from a small town girl with a big secret to a huge star and loved that deep down, she remained the same girl who was sometimes insecure and felt like she wasn’t good enough. The secondary characters were also as great as ever. From her strict (and a little scary) grandmother, to her wild best friend, they all added so many layers to the story and I was even a little bit sad that Tate’s chemistry with Nick just fizzled out.
While I absolutely loved the story told in this book, it started off so strong, then dragged through the middle and I felt as though it ended so abruptly, just when things were finally starting to happen. I felt as though I was really invested in how all of Tate’s relationships would pan out and I feel as though I didn’t get the closure I needed at the end of the book.