A romance for the over 40.Breast cancer survivor Edie Williams is ready to live.Divorced. Mother of two. She’s planned the vacation of a lifetime for a reboot, only to encounter an awakening adventure—Tommy Carrigan.Manager of the band Collision, Tommy Carrigan has his plate full. Independent. Carefree. He’s on an annual holiday with his band family, when the unexpected happens—Edie Williams.Love …
when the unexpected happens—Edie Williams.
Love might be just what the doctor prescribed,
but can it survive the world of rock-n-roll?
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If you enjoyed The Sex Education of M.E., you’ll love After Care, another romance for the over-forty from L.B. Dunbar. Continue the adventure previously published in Love Notes, the newsletter of L.B. Dunbar.
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This book was amazing! I absolutely love Tommy & Edie more than words can express! I felt so connected to their love story like I was right there with them. That is what LB Dunbar’s words did to me. This is a second chance romance and I love that they are in their fourties. Not only is it a second chance at love, but for Edie as a breast cancer survivor, it is her second chance at life! Tommy offers her everything in life she has never had and never really knew she wanted. He is bada$$ and alpha and sexy as hell! Together they are sweet, steamy, sexy and just so flat out honest and real they drew me in like a moth to the flame.
I swooned so hard for Tommy!
I just wanted to say I loved this book! The over 40 love story is not told enough. You don’t “age out” of wanting to be loved. (I say this with 50 staring me in the face.) Tommy Carrigan is the most gorgeous, Alpha, frustrating, lovable man. Edie is a very unsure of herself and in remission from breast cancer. They are an unlikely couple, but they compliment each other well. This book is about family. Family doesn’t have to be blood-related if they love you from the heart. 5 stars!!!
L. B. Dunbar totally captivated me and kept me up until the wee hours of the morning with her 40+ romance called After Care. I actually snuck out of bed to read just one more chapter but could never put it down. Reading a story with interesting characters whom you can relate to due to your similar life experiences was amazing. So many of the thoughts and feelings that the heroine Edie felt and lived were bang on target for me. From her self-esteem issues, feelings of inadequacy, and her internal battle of realizing she was desirable and could have feelings for another man. And how could you not fall head over heels for the silver-tongued silver-fox hero, Tommy. OMG, he may have had his faults, like any other warm-blooded male, but he wore his jeans just right with boots you might want to lick and that southern drawl and healthy libido were panty-melting at it’s finest.
Edie had been through a lot, she had faced an unknown future, but meeting Tommy brought her alive again. I found I related to Edie’s insecurities and understood exactly how she felt. Joining the dating scene again after many years of commitment to one man is a scary thought and a whole new world. I enjoyed the ride, living vicariously though Edie as she enjoyed the vacation of a lifetime and an amazing vacation fling, until she floated down from her cloud and reality set in.
This book had it all for me. True to life scenarios with a little fantasy that could very well happen to some lucky lady. Tommy and Edie may have lived two totally different lives, but they were totally right for each other and they were beyond amazing together. Their story was sweet, emotional, and full of love. Tommy not only rekindled Edie’s fire but mine as well. I know I’ll be watching for more stories by this author. When I read, I want to feel connected to the characters, I want to feel like they are real and that is what I felt while reading After Care. I totally recommend this book for anyone who loves a good romance with some real-life challenges thrown in the mix, but especially for those women out there who have already lived a lifetime and starting that second phase of life where they find silver and scruff to be sexy and they are ready for a reawakening.
This book was amazing. After Care by L.B. Dunbar was real, emotional and delightful. This story about an over 40 couple held my interest from start to finish. These two complex characters Edie and Tommy were so different and from completely different backgrounds yet they just fit together perfectly.
While this was a romance between an older couple, I loved how the author balanced it out by showing relationships with the younger couples in the story and it goes to show you can find love at any age.
Interesting storyline, amazing characters and steamy scenes, this story was a roller coaster of emotions and will give you all the feels.
Apart from romance, it was a story about family, about surviving cancer and living life to its fullest.
This fascinating page-turner was a phenomenal read and I would highly recommend it. I absolutely loved this novel.
*I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of this novel.*
This wonderful book is more my genre. 40 plus. It’s refreshing to read a book about a woman who has gone through a lot. Having kids, divorced and beat breast cancer. She finds love with a badass 40 plus manager of a rock band.
I hope to read more books with mature adults. Definitely recommended and 5 stars.
When Edie Williams meets Tommy Cardigan in Hawaii, it’s the most unusual of settings
They’re both older, with family baggage and both survivors in their own lives. I’m so glad someone wrote about a woman’s love story , yanno. A woman who’s over 40, who does NOT have the perfect body, who’s life has two adult kids, an ex and fake boobs (Fuck Cancer) in it. A woman who’s confident yet so vulnerable. She’s lost herself in taking care of her family, her kids, her career, her husband. Now when she eventually survives two major disasters on her life, Cancer & Divorce , she’s finding her feet in the late sunshine in her life. More power to her !!! She discovers herself, through the eyes of Tommy, the eternal bachelor !
“I hadn’t been me in so long, I didn’t recognize myself when I looked in the mirror. When I smiled at my reflection after my time with Tommy, the tinges of a new me appeared, and a hint of the old me dusted off cobwebs. Where you been?”
“Waiting for that explorer, returned from the sea with his new ways of thinking, to show me what he had discovered. Through sharing his learnings, I found me. I was drowning before, but now I could swim, or at least be brave enough to wallow in the shallow end.”
The story is quite ordinary, in the sense, woman meets man and they have instant attraction and mind blowing sex later fall in love. The EXTRAORDINARY things are the characters, in their personalities, sensibilities and premises. Dunbar has very courageously dealt with the topic of desirability in older women. Her complex regarding her breasts, her “should i / shouldnt i ” dilemma. Her ironic similarity between Edie and her daughter Masie’s crossroads on life.
I loved the story, I’d have loved to see the problems of older women more.
Life’s too short to delve on risks and diseases and social constraints, go for what your heart desires at ANY AGE. Older women are not dead, I loved the concept and Eddie’s bravery. #WomenPower
why always settle for wine, when some days call for champagne?
And champagne my fellow women, is good any day of the week
4.5 “Family Loves Unconditionally ” stars
L.B.Dunbar gave me a book hangover! I stayed up till 5am to finish this book. Couldn’t put it down at all!
I won’t put any spoilers in here cause i’m not that mean. The instant love between Edie and Tommy is off the charts! Like all great love stories, time and space (and their own big mouths) get in the way of a HEA. Finally they catch a break. whew, i didnt know if that would work or not! lol
Edie’s daughter finds romance as well….but that is another whole story! lol
This book tells of a woman who beat the odds against Cancer. She is now living her life to the fullest. Granted she started out slow but it always takes time to figure things out. A whole new attitude towards the world is just what we all need.
If you dont read this book…..your missing out!
Just looking at the cover, I knew I would devour this story. I have heard of this author but sadly never read any of her books. I’m glad I took the chance. This 5 star story was just plain amazing.
Edie is a 43 year old divorced cancer survivor that spends 10 days in Hawaii with her 2 kids. What she didn’t expect to find is the sexy, tattooed, silver haired Tommy. What she didn’t also expect to find, is to make close friends that she would eventually call family. That’s all I will say. This story needs to be experienced first hand, trust me.
I love Rocker stories, and this book definitely plays off of that. Tommy is the manager of an up and coming Rock Group. Eddie is a divorcee, and mother of two. They meet while on vacation in Hawaii. Neither are looking for a relationship, and besides that, they live completely different lives.
Eddie is recovering, and reclaiming her life. But it’s gonna take something special to help her become who she knows she can be. Tommy is everything she wants and needs. He’s hot, successful, and wants Eddie, despite everything that is going on in her life. This has all of the makings of a fantastic vacation fling. Until feelings get involved.
I love how amazing Tommy is with Eddie. He is super supportive, and just what Eddie needs. And I think Eddie is just what Tommy needs, too.
This story is just what you would expect, and totally unexpected, at the same time. Its a great love story, but at times, I couldn’t fathom a way for them to find their HEA together. Its a fabulous example of finding love when you least expect it, reclaiming life after tragedy, and reinventing yourself as a mature adult. Definitely a book I’d recommend to anyone!
~5 +++ STARS~
OMG!!!! WHAT A READ! I have yet another top read of 2018 and an all-time favorite! L.B. Dunbar has proven that love can be just as passionate and sexy in your 40’s as it is in your 20’s and 30’s.
Edie has traveled to Hawaii with her daughter, Masie, 18, and son, Caleb, 22, as a new beginning. She is trying to figure out who she is after surviving breast cancer and a divorce. A chance meeting at a swimming pool will forever change her and make her believe in happy endings again!
Tommy is the band manager for his niece’s husband. He is on the road constantly and always busy with the guys in the band. He has no time or desire for a romance. That all changes when he lays eyes on Edie. He will reconsider everything he thought he knew about romance!
The chemistry between these two is HOT, HOT, HOT!!!! Edie and Tommy showed me that earth-shattering passion isn’t just for those in their 20’s. These two will definitely cause your temperature to rise.
Oh Lord, Tommy!!! He just proves that a man can be sexy at any age.
“He wasn’t a young man, but all male. There was a certain sexiness about an older man, one no longer lean with a six pack, but firm, with a rounded chest and tight abdominal muscles.”
It wasn’t just his sex appeal that grabbed ahold of my heart…nope…he had a whole lot of good stuff going on inside of him. Edie was interested in knowing all of him. She knew he was strong and had a good heart. He did everything for his niece, Ivy, and the band.
“He had a strong heart to keep theirs happy. He did everything for the band, everything for Ivy. Tommy Carrigan had a solid, outer shell, but I wanted to know more about what lay underneath.”
Edie has to be one of my all-time favorite female heroines. Yes, I said heroine. She is indeed a warrior, and she not only fought for her life but also fought to find herself again. She was a wife and a mother. She never envisioned spending her time after Masie leaves for college alone. She didn’t want to be alone; she wanted someone to tell her things would be alright when she wasn’t sure. She wanted someone to love her. She deserved it, and Tommy was lucky to find someone who loved him for who he was as a person, not anyone else.
As with all of Dunbar’s books, it isn’t just the steam or sexiness that makes up the story but the emotions and the characters’ relationships with one another. I loved the relationship Edie was able to have with the boys in the band, even Gage, but most especially with Ivy. Their bond was so special. She understood what Ivy was experiencing as a mother. She understood that many times our identities as mothers overshadows everything else, and before we know it, we sometimes lose our own as we help our children find theirs.
Both Edie and Tommy wanted to be seen as just as themselves. That is what drew them to each other. They didn’t see the “other stuff,” just each other.
“I understood his need to be seen for him—a man. It reminded me of me. I didn’t want to be viewed as a divorcee, or a mother of two, or a breast cancer survivor. I just wanted to be recognized as an independent woman—one who wanted to be loved and was willing to give love in return.”
Dunbar does have some little gems hidden within the pages of the book. There are some questions about Tommy’s past and what secrets he may be hiding. Plus, the way she describes Hawaii makes me want to pack my clothes and hop on a plane right now!!!!! And, if you have read her previous books, she gives us a tiny glimpse of one of my favorite places and one of my favorite couples.
Dunbar has proven time and time again what an amazing talent she is. She can write paranormal, contemporary, and dark romance. She can take the legendary Knights of the Round Table and make them into modern rock gods. Now, she has completely turned the genre of steamy, contemporary romance and turned it on its head making it all her own!!!!!
LB’s done it again! Served up the perfect antidote to the usual twenty-something dish of romance books. Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re nothing wrong with that genre, heck, I devour it regularly, but being in the group of women who are over that age group, it’s nice to change it up, once in a while. It keeps things real, and that’s what LB does best.
EdieWilliams is the woman in question here. She’s a newly divorced 40+ mother of two grown up kids and has recently been given the all clear in her struggle to fight breast cancer. She and her children are on vacation in Hawaii when she meets Tommy Carrigan.
Tommy isn’t as carefree as Edie thinks, he’s gone through his own losses and come out the other side. He’s in his forties as well and the manager of a well known band called Collision, although Edie had never heard of them. Sparks fly when they first meet, leaving Edie flustered and confused. As well as giving her the first… well, let’s keep that under wraps for now.
After Care took us through a lot of different aspects of life, which LB dealt with respectfully and with candour, even a little bit of humour. I loved Tommy and Edie, I was rooting for them from the first page to the last.
I can’t recommend this book enough. Grab your copy today.
Favorite Quotes:
I was forty-three. I should have been in the prime of my life. Where was that sexual libido return everyone promised me would happen? Oh, right, it walked out the door with a younger model—blonde, thin, and cancer-free under her skin.
Marriage was hard work. One in two marriages still ended in divorce. I wasn’t a statistic; I was a trend.
When leaving the hospital, aftercare was always part of the experience. What you did after—the procedure, the treatment, the incision that cut deep. However, nothing could have prepared me for how I’d take care of myself after Tommy Carrigan. There was no list, no instruction manual online at patient dot com for matters of the heart.
I just want to be close to you… No one’s ever talked like that about me, and I just want to capture it for a little while. I want to hold onto it, if I can. For just a little bit.
I bet you’re used to leather and lace, and I’m one-hundred percent cotton.
You’ll never be an excuse, darlin’. Always my reason.
My Review:
Being an, ahem, mature woman on the plus side of forty, I couldn’t help but notice that bookstores have a rather limited selection of engaging offerings featuring vibrant and appealing main characters within my demographic of a platinum-haired goddess. Interesting female characters of my age tend to be written as secondary players, and most typically are the younger heroine’s indulgent or eccentric auntie. With this in mind, I found L.B. Dunbar’s After Care to be a refreshing and welcome change of pace and have a deliriously gleeful urge to erect an altar of pink typewriters in her honor. Not only were her characters highly appealing and alluring, they were smart and well seasoned. The premise was unique and relevant while the storylines were multi-layered, well-crafted, and wily. However, the writing wins the blue-ribbon prize as Ms. Dunbar’s word-craft was delightfully textured and insightful, witty, thoughtfully observant, hit all the feels, and sizzled and snapped with sensuality. I was quickly invested in the tale and remained happily engaged throughout. Ms. Dunbar has a new fangirl.