Who loves a steamy reverse age gap romance with a sexy as sin surfer? Who doesn’t? Come meet Josh, your next book boyfriend.
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
Thank you, John Lennon. You certainly have me pegged.
I had a plan for my life and it did not include walking in on my boyfriend schtupping his secretary.
What’s a girl to do? If you’re saying to relocate … his secretary.
What’s a girl to do? If you’re saying to relocate across the country, ding-ding-ding—we have a winner.
My new plan was no plan at all. Just work and fun in the San Diego sun. I wasn’t looking for love but it found me, regardless—in the form of a gorgeous, golden surfer.
The only issue? He’s thirteen years younger. Oh, and his friends hate me.
And, because the universe has a warped sense of humor, my ex just transferred to my San Diego hospital, gunning for a second chance after his illicit tryst went south.
So many choices, so little time. Do I follow my heart and veer into unknown territory or return to the path I’ve always known?
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Alchemy Unfolding is a well-written age-gap romance that will keep you rooting for this couple until the very end.
Addy is done with her life in New York. She’s done with her uncaring boyfriend of four years and her mother who has controlled her for far too long. At 39, Addy sees her life slipping away and after her breakup, she decides to take a traveling nurse position in San Diego and start a new adventure. Her first stop? The beach. There, sitting on the warm sand, her life changes when she brings her camera to her eye and sees the man who looks and surfs like a God.
Josh is everyone’s dream book boyfriend…mostly. He’s young at 26 but he knows what he wants out of life, which isn’t something Addy is used to. He’s waited to meet the right woman to start his life with and he believes that woman is Addy. He just has to convince her of it. That’s going to be harder than it sounds, though. Addy is VERY hung up on the fact that she’s older than him and he’ll tire of her eventually.
I would like to say that Addy overreacted about the age difference, and she did a bit, but it was driven by Josh’s friends who were not kind to her. They were excellent at finding the edge of that insecurity and picking at it until the wound started to bleed again and remind Addy why it was a bad idea to have such powerful emotions for a man so much her junior.
While there was a lot of miscommunication, and many times a simple discussion could have solved the problem rather than running away, Addy was facing life changes that had her heart and head in turmoil. She was ill-equipped to deal with the power of Josh’s love when she was so used to her ex who had none. Speaking of her ex, he showed back up in her life just to make things even harder for Addy. I think the only good that came from that was her ability to call her mother and talk to her, really talk to her, and learn that some of the things she’s believed all these years about her mother weren’t true.
In the end, it’s up to Addy to decide if she can not just learn to love Josh, that part was easy, but learn to trust Josh. Trust in his love and that he has her best interests at heart. M.L. Broome made us work for every bit of joy and happiness we got throughout the book, but she made up for it in the end. Love isn’t black and white. Love is what happens in the grey parts when we don’t know if we should follow our heart or our head. For Addy, Josh taught her how to get out of her head and learn to trust her heart and his.
Angst lovers, hold on to your hats. This one will make you feel like a yo-yo doing Walk the Dog, Around the World, and some tricks that haven’t been invented yet. But holy wow, is it ever worth it! We get an older woman/younger man with a hero who is kind-hearted and truly good to the depths of his soul, and the swoon factor is off the charts.
Addy Perkins is an ER nurse who realizes she needs a change when she arrives home to find an extra person in the bed she shares with her boyfriend of four years. She chooses San Diego as her next place to land and meets young, stunningly handsome surfer, Josh Gibbs, on her first visit to the beach. Her heart is still bruised from being cheated on and their thirteen-year age difference doesn’t sit well with Josh’s friends, so Addy and Josh have more than their share of problems to overcome.
This is a new novelist for me and I’m so glad I took a chance on her. When she had me laughing during the first scene I knew it was shaping up to be a terrific read, and I wasn’t disappointed. Addy and Josh’s story is funny and heartfelt, steamy and electric, and so darn angsty I got lost in the emotions.
Everything about this book is excellent, from the storyline and writing to the characters who are so authentic and relatable they’ll own your heart in no time at all. If you love finding writers you can follow throughout their careers, Broome is a guaranteed bet, so start reading Addy and Josh’s story today!
I really enjoyed this book. The reverse age gap was a great new read for me, I just wish she would have let it go a bit faster. and the friends being mean, I just think that was unnecessary after the first time. That’s just my taste though, nothing against the writing, or the author. Josh and Addy were great characters and the story line was a new one for me so I enjoyed the book.
This is an awesome reverse age gap with so much sexy tension that you will HAVE to drop everything to keep reading. Josh and Addy are great characters that bring an amazing chemistry despite all that is going wrong for them. Watch these characters learn about themselves and find a love unrestrained once they let go of what other people think and simply focus on each other.
What a beautiful story!
Romance at its best! With all the ups and downs, and passion of all kinds, this story is a book you won’t put down until you finish it. Josh and Addy are perfect for each other and despite outside forces, find their way home. Absolutely one of my favorites stories and this author is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Please do yourself a favor and pick this one up. You will not regret it.
I haven’t read very many age-gap romances, but this one drew me in right from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down. Broome’s writing is excellent and Addy’s inner monologue had me chuckling more than once. Her character has quite a few confidence issues that cause obstacles for her and Josh, along with other outside influences that test their relationship, in the form of nasty exes and jealous friends. It was kind of a roller coaster ride, but that just made the hea all the more satisfying. Can’t wait to read more from this author. Would recommend to contemporary romance readers.
I picked up Alchemy Unfolding because of a social media post as the cover caught my attention. That along with the blurb had me one-clicking. Reverse age-gap isn’t a common trope but I really like it so I had to give it a shot. I was hooked and couldn’t pull myself away. Addy’s fight to find herself and build a life were admirable but she kept falling back on old habits. When she meets Josh, she is holding him at arm’s length like her life depended on it. He is a hot surfer/model who is totally into her and she is so sure that he couldn’t possibly be interested in her. A pattern develops and the push and pull were exciting at first. But Addy doesn’t grow or change, she keeps doing the same things. This became annoying about three-quarters of the way through. Josh isn’t blameless, he allows his friends that keep butting their noses where it doesn’t belong to be all up in his business. They keep saying awful things to Addy and he doesn’t put it stop to it. There is one moment where he has to attend a party for work and his ex is going to be there. He doesn’t tell her and when she confronts him about it, he only says he won’t go if she doesn’t want him to. Why wouldn’t he ask her to go with him? She didn’t bring that up with him directly, she just sees it as a sign he doesn’t want to be seen with her. I am glad they finally got a happy ending but I was wrung out by their on again-off again. This is well written and I couldn’t put it down but man did Addy need some therapy, serious therapy so she could break this cycle. I would have liked to see Josh’s view of events as I think it would have been very enlightening. I would have loved to have given this higher marks but I just couldn’t do it in light of Addy’s juvenile and evasive behavior.
I am completely in love with this beautiful age gap book! M.L. Broome really knows how to bring all the feels and her writing is so good!
Addy is an almost 40 year old nurse that just catches the man she’s been with for 4 years cheating on her with his secretary. But she finds she doesn’t really have any emotion about it so she decides to make a drastic change and moves across the country to California where she meets an amazing man named Josh surfing on the beach one morning after a rough night out at the club. He’s only 26. But Addy has issues with their age difference (as do his friends) but Josh wants her regardless.
Josh is a really great guy! He’s so romantic and I swooned over and over through it all! There was quite a bit of drama and heartache but it had a perfect HEA!
This book had a lot of potential. The storyline was really good but the characters let it down for me.
I liked Josh’s simplistic way of love, if you wanna be with someone then why not? But his constant lying and sketchy behaviour got old after a while. Addy was way worse; her insecurities were understandable but it was infuriating when she would just decide that Josh didn’t mean what he said even though he was literally saying it to her face.
Despite that, it was very well written and I would be willing to read more from the author.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
This book had me all in knots. Loved how it started, hooked me right away. Loved Josh’s honesty and genuine heart. Abby and her dumb decisions got on my last nerve. Wanted to punch her multiple times. She is emotionally stunted and listens to the wrong people. Age is nothing but a number and other people’s opinions about you are none of your business. Can’t fault a book for having a character that evokes strong emotion, even if it is a negative one. One of the signs of a good author. Really enjoyed this story. Even if Josh’s friends are terrible.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.