Jag Jensen and Ellen Love had been best friends their whole lives until he turned thirteen and started noticing girls his own age, but that didn’t mean he stopped watching out for eleven-year-old Ellen. By his senior year in high school, baseball had taken the front seat in his life, with a scholarship to college and a pro career looming on the horizon, when sophomore Ellen caught his attention and they struck up their friendship again. Although Ellen wanted more, Jag didn’t want to drag her into what he knew would be a crazy life, but love has a way of deciding one’s future, and eventually they became a couple.
Ellen followed him to California as he began his pro career, but his wild and hectic lifestyle screwed everything up.
Now Jag is lost, realizing he’s never been without his best friend in his life. Learning to live without Ellen doesn’t settle well with him, so while trying to remain at the top of his career, he also wants to get his girl back, which proves to be more difficult than he thought it’d be. Will Ellen give him another chance or does that sort of thing only happen in the sappy romance novels she always used to read? Jag hopes she’s willing to try again as he puts his heart on the line for the woman he knows will always be his forever and a day.
REVIEW
My rating = 5 stars
*ARC provided by the author in exchange for my honest review
This is the second book in the True Love trilogy. The first book Discovering Us left the reader with a huge cliffy that was a total shocker so I was anxious to get right back into the story of Ellen and Jagger to find out what the heck had happened and how this would impact on their story.
This book is told entirely through Jag's POV and it revisits some of the story from the first book but shows us what was going on in Jag’s mind which I gladly welcomed and helped me to understand just what he did and the reasons behind it. I must admit by the end of Discovering Us I found myself not liking Jag very much, I just wanted to punch him and when Ellen left (yes that major cliffy!) I was feeling he got what he deserved.
However saying all that Finding Us just gave me Jag back. I started to fall back in love with him especially with all the effort he put in trying to win back the love of his life (which he finally realised!) Ellen. I loved that he manned up and stopped trying to be polite to the biatch model, through her efforts to thwart the relationship that Jag and Ellen had. I still didn’t understand why Jag did not retract what the biatch said in the press interview that resulted in Ellen’s running so I was hoping to find out in this book but it wasn’t clear. I was so happy to see Ellen take Jag back though (not without a lot of effort on his part I might add!)
I absolutely loathed the agent and surely he was not that evil to not try and help Jag get out of the advertising contract? Oh yes he was, doubly so! I was kind of reading through my fingers as I knew what was coming up and I totally, totally understood Ellen’s reaction (again!). To tarnish her beautiful dream of her well thought out and dreamt about future, in the flick of a camera lens was another stab at her heart. Again I questioned Jag's ease to still do the darn contract, surely he could have got out of it after what happened the first time? But finally he gets it and how hurt Ellen is, he will never again put her through this and knows he must protect her at all costs from his crazy promotional work in future. First he needs to get a new agent!
Just when you think nothing else could happen that would result in the epic curveball from last time, Ms Bentley does it to us again in this book! Oh my word my nerves are shot to hell. But then we underestimate the biatch model on the block and she does the ultimate in her plan to split them up, and with evidence so resounding how can Jag make Ellen see he is innocent? But then something else happens that threatens the other love of his life, his career.
I just loved this book as much as the first but this time the cliffy is an even more fingernail biting epic. Could this be the end of everything for Jag? My heart was in my mouth and I just don’t know how I’ll cope till I get the final book. Hurry up with book 3 please, my book hangover is killing me already! Another great angst ridden journey of a read and I loved it! Five stars.
Harper Bentley has taught high school English for 21 years. Although she’s managed to maintain her sanity regardless of her career choice, jumping into the world of publishing her own books goes to show that she might be closer to the ledge than was previously thought.
After traveling the nation in her younger years as a military brat, having lived in Alaska, Washington State and California, she now resides in Oklahoma with her teenage daughter, two dogs and one cat, happily writing stories that she hopes her readers will enjoy.
AMAZON / AMAZON CA / AMAZON UK / SMASHWORDS / BARNES & NOBLE
REVIEW
My rating = 5 stars
This is the first in the True Love trilogy and I will warn you now there is a big cliffy but don’t worry as the second book, Finding Us, is also now available so no banging your head against the wall like I did on my first read a few months back. Not to say I didn’t like it, quite the opposite as I loved it but OMG what pitfalls and anxiety was thrust upon me! It still had the same power to sucker punch me in the gut the second time around too. But then I love books that do that to me!
Jag Jensen and Ellen Love have known each other their whole lives, from being playmates in the neighbourhood to finally becoming a couple. But it took a long road to get there and this is what this book is all about, hence the title, Discovering Us.
From the age of thirteen, Jag suddenly becomes distant from his tomboy friend Ellen and as all adolescent boys his attention span flips from boyhood pranks to girls. Lots of girls! His love of baseball also sees him focusing on developing his skill which over the years he gradually goes up in the ranks to be facing a life in the spotlight of a pro career.
Ellen was devastated to lose her best friend but she struck up a new one in Rebecca. Over the years she has transformed from the tomboy into the beauty she is today. Well doesn’t that just catch Jag’s eye and he wants his friend back. Whoo hoo – what happens next is a gorgeous budding romance which develops into something far more than both could ever imagined. Even through separation due to Jag’s baseball playoffs all over the states, they have still remained strong. As such after three years Ellen moves to be with him permanently in California. How was she to know the bitch from down the condo block who was 'all that', was out to catch her man big style.Grrr
Ooooh don’t you just love to hate a bitch and get yourself all tangled up in angst and WTFery? I loved how strong Ellen was throughout all this and annoyed at how unaware Jag of what this woman was trying to do to him and Ellen.
However, Ellen is made of strong stuff and after suffering in silence for so long, even with Jag’s constant reaffirmations of his love, but when there is a blatant visual giving her the wrong information she has had enough! Don’t worry dear reader Jag is not a cheater but in this book I so wanted to shake him at times and then on the other hand I wanted to squeeze this man so hard.
Yes there is a whopper of a cliffy that had me sat there with my mouth open screeching No way! WTH? No! No! And on my first read it was worse. Better the second time as I had the Finding Us waiting on my kindle to be read. Phew! I needed it.
A great emotionally charged read and even with the cliffy – a five star read for me!
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