TELL ME
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Abigail Strom
Release Date: October 1, 2017
Shy bookstore owner Jane Finch grew up hiding in the margins of her own life while her vibrant, adventure-loving sister, Samantha, dominated every plotline.
She’s made peace with it, unlike Sam’s business partner, Caleb, who’s always nudging Jane to go after what she really wants.
Why should she care what blunt, brash Caleb thinks? They’ve never had much in common, except for Sam.
After tragedy strikes, they don’t even have that.
Caleb can’t quite remember when Sam’s little sister stopped being like a surrogate sibling to him and became just…Jane. She’s the most intriguing woman he’s ever met, and so much sexier and stronger than she thinks.
On the emotional journey to honor Sam’s memory, the spark they’ve tried to deny becomes an inferno.
This journey was meant to be an ending, but will they discover an unexpected new beginning?
First off, thank you Arabella ~♡AB♡~’s review for bringing this book and this author to my attention. I enjoyed this book so much. I cried and laugh, and let me tell you that I’ve never rooted so hard for a couple as much as I did with Jane and Caleb.
Both are deeply flawed and complex characters whose differences might be too great that love might not be enough!
Yes, you read that right! There were moments in the book where I was like…
Why? Because the conflict is that good. Simple but really effective and it’s not very obvious if we go by the blurb. In fact, I thought initially that it’s going to be something else. But I prefer the direction that the author took. It’s a very mature conflict and she was able to really flesh out the story and each of the characters.
Aside from the conflict, what I also loved about this book was how tight the writing was. Not one scene or interaction was wasted. Everything that you read has a purpose. And the author did a fantastic job tying up all the loose ends and giving readers the answers to questions they have about the characters and the story. It was masterful.
But what really made this book a favorite was its cast of characters. Jane and Caleb felt real. Jane is a shy bookstore owner. At first, I was skeptical because the character sounds really cliched. I mean, hello, shy, plain-Jane bookstore owner? That’s like classic character trope.
But the more you read, the more you see the nuances of Jane’s character. And the same goes for Caleb. He’s a tough nut to crack. He was a very intriguing character. At first, he came off really cocky and was a bit annoying. The moment the two of them are together on page, you could feel the tension that was borne out of their differences despite the fact that there’s definitely an attraction there.
I loved how Anne of Green Gables was used as sort of a backdrop in the story. It was clever and it made me want to read Anne of Green Gables again. It made me curious about the lore behind that series.
Another intriguing layer to this book was Sam, Jane’s beautiful and adventurous older sister who also happens to Caleb’s best friend and business partner. She was the thread that connected Jane and Caleb at first. Her tragic death served as a catalyst for Jane and Caleb’s relationship. I personally didn’t feel that her presence detracted from the romance between Jane and Caleb. I thought that Jane’s feelings about Sam was handled really well. Again, it felt real and it was so heartbreaking.
There are so many thing I loved about this book. I especially loved how the author brought everything in full circle, giving readers what they long for. The resolution wasn’t perfect but it fit the story really well.
Tell Me is a heartwarming story about two people who couldn’t be more different from each other fall in love. It’s a beautifully written romance which I highly recommend you guys read.
GAME ON
…tell me you want this. Take the shot.”
This book was not at all what I signed up for, in the best possible of ways. See, this totally one track reader saw the quote on the blurb and thought, “eeee!!! Another manwhore! GIMME!” And then what I got was an engrossing, unforgettable, and beautiful story that was full of depth and meaning.
With a wonderful cast of secondary characters, Game On was an unputdownable read from beginning to finish. It was full of meaning, emotion, and so much depth, it was impossible not to love. This just may be my favorite Victoria Denault book yet and I can’t recommend it enough.
SLEDGEHAMMER
ACT YOUR AGE
FROM THE RUINS
Layla. She is a single mother of three. These kids. Love ‘em. I’m super picky about kids in books, and these kids had so much character and were essential in pulling Pipe from the ruins. Layla is also just trying to get through each day. She has been through a not-so-great marriage which ended in divorce. Bitter against all men, she is not ready for Pipe….at all.
The only way to describe how Janine’s books make me feel is by sharing this memory. One of my favorite memories that will stay with me forever…I was on the back of my Dad’s Harley. We were riding in the dark on the way home from an outside concert at a winery, and we were listening to one of our favorite songs. At the time, we thought my dad had cancer. Little did we know a couple weeks later, we would find out that by a miracle, he did not have cancer. Anywho, the wind was in my hair. The rumble of the motorcycle beneath me. The stars above me. This memory is SO MUCH. And THAT feeling is Janine’s books.
Janine Infante Bosco lives in New York City, she has always loved reading and writing. When she was thirteen, she began to write her own stories and her passion for writing took off as the years went on. At eighteen, she even wrote a full screenplay with dreams of one day becoming a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
SCANDALOUS
L.J. Shen is an International #1 best-selling author of Contemporary Romance and New Adult novels. She lives in Northern California with her husband, young son and chubby cat.
SHOW ME THE WAY
Can someone please tell me why I’ve gone this long without reading another AL Jackson book? Because I’m seriously disappointed it myself. This book reminded me all the reasons that made me fall in love with this author’s words and made me fall in love all over again. Show Me The Way was a beautiful and highly emotional story of love and second chances. It was perfectly paced, with just the right amount of angst, and wonderfully multi-layered characters that you can’t help but fall for.
The romance is perfectly paced, with flashbacks to Ryan’s past that slowly unveils the reasons for her running. There’s an intriguing element of suspense that keep you turning the pages as urgently as the romance does. I was immediately captivated from the very first chapter and it didn’t let up until the last page.
UNCONTROLLABLE TEMPTATIONS
This is the most vulnerable review I’ve ever written.
A SEAL’S STRENGTH
A SEAL’s Strength is a wonderfully swoony second chance romance that I finished in one sitting.
THE LEARNING HOURS 
This is a story of “hot girl gets the average guy,” and I LOVED it!! He is a champion wrestler, so he has a hot body, but apparently, his face is below average. But she is hot!!! All of the insecurities that a shy, backward girl might have in a typical romance was, instead, on the guy’s side, except from a guy’s point of view. He wasn’t a pansy. Not at all!! He just doesn’t really understand the social cues of a girl who is TOTALLY into him, which makes him adorable and charming without even knowing it. I just want to put him in my pocket. There were so many moments when I said, “Awwww, Poor guy. He doesn’t even see that she is into him.” He’s completely clueless, and even when his friends try to convince him, he still doesn’t believe it because he is so humble and doesn’t think a hot girl would ever go for him.
What is absolutely bat-shit crazy is that he isn’t an alpha, and I loved him!! You guys, I am an alpha whore. So me saying that I loved this guy is a big deal.
Sara Ney is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the How to Date a Douchebag series, and is best known for her sexy, laugh-out-loud New Adult romances. Among her favorite vices, she includes: iced latte’s, historical architecture and well-placed sarcasm. She lives colorfully, collects vintage books, art, loves flea markets, and fancies herself British.
