Thursday, 1 March 2018

✪ Claire Contreras ✪ THEN THERE WAS YOU ✪ #SecondChancesDuet1 ✪

©  Bianca  Janeane 




• Book #1 in the #SecondChances Duet
• release day March 1st
• Book #2 will be out 15 March!
★★★★★
4.5 Stars

Love and the right timing were two things I didn't believe in.

Love is about walking to the edge of the cliff and taking the leap together.
Timing was never on our side.
My first mistake was hooking up with my best friend.
My second came years later, when we met again, and I fell for her.
My third was letting her go, because I had to. Because a love like this wasn't built to withstand the winds coming in our direction.
Love and timing.
I didn't believe in either.

Then there was you . . .



ARC received for an honest review



It is always a joy to read one of Claire Contreras' story, and Then There Was You was no exception.

I didn't really know much about it from the blurb, so I did go in pretty blind.  It did take me a little while to get into things, but once I did I read the whole thing in one go.

Tessa and Rowan's story is sweet, and frustrating, and gah.  It has been a day since I finished reading and I still don't know if I love or loathe Rowan.  I wanted to nut punch him at times lol.

Their history is tender and sweet, as well as heartbreaking and frustrating and annoying.

There is this character that I hate hate hate. She is a total b!tch and I want to punt her from one side of the room to the other.  There are also so many other selfish, unlikable characters (they are meant to be unlikable though!)

I so completely want Rowan to remove his head from his sphincter!  I go from thinking he is a complete douchenugget to him being kinda swoony.  He made my head spin, so I can completely understand how Tessa feels.

There is so much that needs to happen in this book, but being a duet we know it is not going to happen right away, but it will happen.  We are left on a bit of a cliffy, but it is only a few weeks till the second part comes out, so we don't have to think about it too long!

Let's hope our lovelies can find their way to a HEA!



Tessa has been friends with the two Hawthorne brothers Rowan and Samson her whole life. One day she and Rowan became more. But it was never meant to be forever - Rowan doesn't do love and forever. And then he left for college, where he hooked up with Camryn. And then he forgot to mention to Tessa that his dad was buying her dad's company.
Now, five years later, they're all back in Ithaca. Rowan kinda wants Tessa back. She's the only woman he ever felt anything for. Even though love is not his thing.
But Tessa is still mad. And Camryn is still around, she wants to marry into the Hawthorne family.
And Rowan kinda thinks Tessa is dating his brother - but they're only best friends. Plus Tessa will leave town soon.
LOTS of things happening and complicating the lives of our darlings - and not everything will be cleared up in this book - BUT, book #2 will be out in 3 weeks ☺

What will happen to Tessa & Rowan?
Will there be a HEA?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT!

 ____________________________________ 


That was adorable and a bit heartbreaking.



At the very beginning I was a bit confused. First, the blurb didn't really tell me much. And then I started reading and I still didn't know much about things. BUT, once I met everyone and halfway got what happened and what is happening, it was ok ...
It's a big story, with lots of past and present and hopefully lots of future for our darlings.
But first poor Rowan has a huge fight on his hands, if he wants Tessa back! But he also doesn't want her back, because he doesn't do serious and he has to concentrate on the company, and Tess is leaving soon anyway. LOTS of problems to overcome for our darlings!
And we love every second (and also every Rowan-goes-jogging-without-a-shirt-on-moment) of that journey! ☺

There's also lots of family in that book. Both sets of parents and grandparents are very interesting characters. We don't like most of them. And then we have Tessa's siblings. Did we meet Freddie in a previous book? It felt like he was supposed to be someone we already met. A bit weird. Or maybe we'll hear his story one day soon.

Amazing first book in this duet - can't wait to see where book #2 will take us - hopefully to a very happily ever after!!! ☺

THEN THERE WAS YOU was a really exciting & sweet & heartbreaking second-chance-romance-family-drama-thingy! Run to your nearest amazon for your own ROWAN - this one is MINE!!!

There were some tiny things I didn't love. Like I mentioned before - it was a bit confusing at times. And it was also a bit too much. There are so many people, when we only want to hear about Tessa and Rowan. And all this back and forth with them. It got on my nerves a bit. I wanted them to be together, and I knew going in that it wasn't going to end happily ever after in this first book, but some of that drama could've been avoided. I don't like it when authors create unnecessary drama. I hate Camryn and I hate that Rowan doesn't really care how Tessa feels about her. He should've thrown Camryn out of his life years ago. And he should've stood up to his family ages ago too. He seems a bit weak with all the business and family aspects. BUT - I really enjoyed reading the book and I can't wait to read the second one - I want that HAPPY END - but I'm also afraid that book #2 will have some more heartbreaking moments for us too .... 




 LiNKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR 





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Claire is a New York Times & USA Today Best Selling author, mother of two, wife of one, owner of three dogs, and breast cancer survivor.

She enjoys writing anything from children’s stories to erotic suspense, but her most notable work is a contemporary romance. When she’s not writing, she’s reading and dreaming about places she wants to visit.

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