Fans of Christina Lauren, Colleen Hoover, and Jill Santopolo will love this breathtaking story about first love, second chances, and starting over from New York Times bestselling author Corinne Michaels. Teagan Berkeley is trying her best. A single mom raising a precocious teen, she may have given up on her dreams, but she’s accepted her life in her small beachside hometown. Now the one … she’s accepted her life in her small beachside hometown. Now the one person who abandoned her when she needed him the most has returned, bringing back memories of what might have been.
Derek Hartz arrives in town with a teenage daughter-and he’s full of guilt over his failed marriage and the way he ended his friendship with Teagan. He’s determined to set things right with her, but first he needs to gain her trust, something he’s not convinced he deserves.
As Teagan and Derek open up to each other-and confess their deepest secrets-it’s impossible for them to deny what’s always been between them. But just when their happily ever after is within reach, their complicated history surfaces again and threatens to keep them apart. Forever.
Brand new stand alone from Corinne Michaels did not disappoint.
Loved Teagan and Derek’s story. I felt the heartbreak all those years ago with Teagan having to stand and watch her best friend marry the girl that wasn’t her.
“There was the man I wanted to marry, marrying someone else. I couldn’t do or say anything. I was trapped, watching it, pretending my tears weren’t because my heart was being torn from my body.”
Their story of coming back together plus two teenagers in tow, hand me completely in knots. But I seriously could not put this book down. The dynamic from a single mom raising a teenage daughter was so in tune.
Without a doubt, this is a that I will be rereading!
An angsty friends to lovers/second chance story that you will be unable to put down, this is a story about learning to forgive and moving forward. Beautifully written.
5 blissfully romantic stars!
Oh, Corinne Michaels, you have captured my heart and swept me up into a pile of swoon! I’m a sucker for a second-chance-romance, and while this isn’t exactly second-chance, it’s close enough, and it certainly has all of those feels – the longing, the emotion, and the feeling of finally, as two soulmates come back together in an absolutely gorgeous love story that I couldn’t put down.
Derek and Teagan met in their small-town high school, and though complete opposites (she was the popular mean girl and he was a bit of a nerd), they became unlikely friends which developed into them becoming each other’s other half. The best of friends, they knew each other inside and out and were there for each other in all the ways, Teagan was even standing by Derek’s side when he got married, heartbroken that she missed her chance with the man she secretly loved, but willing to let him go so that he could be happy. And then it all fell apart.
Thirteen years later, Teagan is a single mother to a fantastically precocious 13 year old daughter and regrettably still living in her home town and working in her parent’s business. It’s not the life she wanted for herself, and she’s lost her dreams along the way, but she’s put her daughter first and made the best of it. And then Derek returns to town.
“I’ve missed him. He was more than just the man I loved, he was my everything. He knew all my truths and lies. Derek was a part of my soul and when I lost him, he took it with him.”
Derek is now a widower with an angry and grieving 13 year old daughter of his own. He knows that he did wrong by Teagan all those years ago, and now he’s determined to make it up to her. He knows it will be a hard journey, but she’s the girl he’s always loved, and he’s hoping that he’s finally going to get his chance.
“She’s my something real. Hell, she’s my everything that matters.”
OMG, I’m getting all tingly and excited all over again just writing this review and thinking about this story! I could feel everything and I honestly loved every moment of watching these two reconnect. Teagan is so hurt. She’s rightfully confused and angry and still grieving the loss of Derek in her life – both as a best friend and as the man she still very much loves. Derek has a lot of explaining to do and he wastes no time putting it all out there for Teagan, expressing his pain and his regret, and making it clear that he’s there to regain her trust, and oh, the feels!
“I don’t think I could handle the loss again.”
He wraps his arm around my back, forcing me to put my hands on his chest. “Then hold on and don’t let go this time.”
“You’re the one who let go last time.”
The regret fills his eyes. “And I won’t ever make that mistake again.”
We get to see and feel it all in beautifully expressive detail, and I loved it so much! And the romance! Teagan and Derek’s love for each other is so evident, and they don’t hold back when it comes to rehashing the past, getting everything right out there, acknowledging their mistakes and moving forward to recapture their friendship… and more. It’s a beautiful journey as we watch them laugh, tease and cry together, and as their feelings come more and more to the surface, it’s exciting and blissfully romantic as it all unfolds.
“We’re two broken souls, searching for something real and have found each other.”
Corrine has created two wonderful characters in Teagan and Derek. They are funny, smart and sarcastic, and they have a fantastic sense of playfulness about them, which balances out the emotional stuff so well. I loved Teagan’s strength and vulnerabilities – she’s so relatable! And the relationship she has with her daughter is amazing. And of course I fell in mad love with Derek as the devoted single father who made mistakes in the past but who is making amends and fighting like hell for the woman he loves… *dreamy sigh*
“I love you more than I thought I did before.”
Creating a great dynamic are their two daughters. They don’t get along… at all. Watching Teagan and Derek navigate that, be there for their girls, and develop relationships with each other’s girls is so amazing, and the themes of family are beautifully written.
This book made me laugh and swoon, and I even got a bit teary. There are some dramas for them to sort through, but it’s dealt with sensibly without being dragged out, and their relationship is functional and pretty much angst-free. It’s a fun, sweet, sexy and swoonily romantic story that you can easily and happily lose yourself in, and I loved it so much!
5 stars!
So much emotion! Elizabeth @ Carolina Chic’s Read
All I Ask by Corinne Michaels is filled with Love, Friendship, Loss, Misery and healing…. So Much Emotion! What happens when you are in love with your best friend and you never utter a word? When life moves on and friendships are ton apart and life happens, how do you fix it? You have to lay it all on the line to heal.
This is one of the best stories to date from Corinne Michaels, truly her stories get better and better with every word.
5 Highly Emotional Stars!
Teagan and Derek have been best friends since high school, and she’s got a problem — she’s in love with him and he’s going to marry someone else.
The start of this book is really terrific and pulled me right into this second chance / friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story. I felt compelled to find out what was going to happen to Teagan and her daughter. A former mean-girl, all that matters is her daughter, and she wants nothing to do with her sperm donor for good reason.
When Derek comes back into Teagan’s life after thirteen years, it takes some time for Teagan to get over what he did to her. And then there is the matter of Derek’s daughter who goes to school with Teagan’s daughter and who just might be one of the mean-girls.
I loved the beginning of this story and how they recapture (with some trouble) their former feelings for each other. But once they get there, that’s when the pace of the book slows down some until an incident with Derek and Teagan’s daughter causes everything to blow up. And then there’s a bit of twist at the end that had me hoping they could somehow, someway make things right between them again.
The story kept me engaged for the most part, although there were some slower spots (for me). If you are a fan of “true love / first love” stories, this standalone might be for you.
An ARC was provided. This is my honest review.
I love second chance romances and friends to lovers. When I started reading All I Ask by Corinne Michaels and realized it was both, I was very happy. This story grabbed me and kept me glued as the story unraveled.
Teagan is a single mom, has an ex-boyfriend or left her and her unborn child, was in love with her best friend and trying to please everyone else.
Derek recently lost his wife and moves back to the small town where he grew up.
Teagan and Derek were best friends but that was years ago.
All I Ask tells the story of forgiveness, friendship, sacrifice and love. There are flashbacks to their teenage years, moments in the present and the craziness of their teenage daughters.
Can these once best friends admit their true feelings and find their happily ever after?
I just loved these characters, Corinne’s writing and the story. This is a must read, happy story!
I am a huge fan of Corinne Michaels and read everything she writes and I have from the time she started writing. And books like All I Ask are the reason why. It was absolutely amazing and I loved it. A story about second chances, new beginnings and was angst-filled and emotional. I just devoured it. Teagan and Derek are both starting over as single parents. Their journey was a roller coaster of a ride and I was completely captivated by the story and the characters from start to finish.
We see Teagan and Derek both in the present and past as we follow their journey. Teagan and Derek became the best of friends while in high school. They were everything to each other and when feelings started to blur, neither was honest and instead went down very different paths. Now both are single parents and Derek is back in town. But life is never easy. I loved both characters so much. Their story was honest, real, heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once. This is a must-read for sure!
Read and reviewed for Sultry Sirens Book Blog.
Happy reading!
All I Ask is a standalone read, that is set to pull at your heart strings and have you reeling up until the very last page. I was so anxious to finally get to read this book and it didn’t disappoint. It’s full of heartache, joy, love, and passion.
“She’s the air, the ocean, and I would drown in her if I could.”
But we all know life isn’t easy and sometimes it even breaks your heart. That’s how it is for Teagan and Derek. Teagan and Derek may have grown up together and been best friends, but life and circumstances drifted them apart. But it’s been thirteen years since they’ve seen each other and Teagan thinks she is doing alright. Her daughter doesn’t totally hate her and she may not love her job, but it’s a job. She’s determined to give her daughter the best life she possibly can.
“You’ve been the part of me that’s been missing.”
With Derek back in town, he feels like a downright failure. His marriage and now his daughter hates him. Life isn’t looking too good for him but the moment his eyes land on Teagan it’s like a hurricane of emotions. It seems like no time has passed at all between these two but they both know that’s a lie. They have pain, hurt, anger, and confusion with each other. Emotions and feelings they never got closure for.
“She’s my something real. Hell, she’s my everything that matters.”
But as they start to embrace their friendship again and get footing with their new lifestyle of being in each other’s worlds. Things get shook up and feelings get heightened. Love isn’t easy. It’s down right messy and with their past…it’s painful.
“I want us to stop thinking. I think it’s time to start feeling.”
Teagan and Derek were such a joy to read. Their pain was bleeding out all over the page. Michael’s writes their story in such a way, you feel everything down to the tip of your toes. All I Ask is a love story about second chances and redemption. It’s a beautiful read. One that I had so much fun reading and exploring with these characters. I practically read this book in one day because I had to know what happened to these characters. Such an emotionally, gorgeous, and fun read.
“He’s the piece of me that’s been lost. He’s the love that I’ve been desperate for.”
Uplifting, heartwarming, and romantic!
All I Ask is a delightfully charming, emotional novel set on Chincoteague Island, VA that takes us into the lives of two main characters; Teagan, a young mother who after falling pregnant in college has spent the last decade struggling to make ends meet, ignoring small-town gossip, and enduring the heartache of losing her best friend, and Derek, a loving father who after unexpectedly losing his wife returns home where ten years earlier he not only left behind his best friend but also his heart.
The writing is emotive and warm. The characterization is spot on with a cast of characters that are multilayered, brokenhearted, and endearing. And the plot is an irresistible blend of friendship, familial tension, heart, hope, grit, attraction, chemistry, miscommunication, tender moments, and enduring love.
Overall, All I Ask is a poignant, sweet, enchanting tale by Michaels that I absolutely devoured, highly recommend, and is without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the year!
4.5+ stars
Teagan pushed pause on her dreams when she had her daughter 13 years ago, when the man she loved cut off contact with her, as did the father of her baby. Now, raising her daughter by herself, she is resigned to the life she built living in the small apartment above her parent’s antique shop. She has been more or less stuck where she’s at, barely making ends meet and putting her daughter at the center of her whole world. But now Derek has returned and she has to face the hurt for her past that she worked so hard to bury.
Derek is back in town with his own teenage daughter. His reasons for returning are complex and have him struggling to find his footing as he returns home with his daughter and a load of grief. He is also facing the woman he cut off contact with 13 years prior, the woman he didn’t realize he loved until it was too late.
Thirteen years is a long time to hold on to secrets, pain, and hope, but Teagan and Derek both have kernels of all three. Derek has his work cut out for him to build up trust with Teagan again, especially with all the ways she has been hurt over the years. These two have so much chemistry, that even when they are trying to build back the friendship they lost it is clear they are fighting more.
I loved the way this story was built. It was as much between Teagan and Derek as it was between their daughters. Derek and Teagan were a bit of a mismatched pair in high school, and their daughters fit the same molds, only in reverse. The struggles Teagan and Derek worked through in high school echoed the struggles their daughters faced when they met.
This story had all the feels and is a great second chance at a first chance kind of story. I loved the way their history played into how everyone around them saw their interactions in the present. I was pulled into this story and even when I had to put it down, found myself wondering what was going on in the book.
All I Ask… is to matter.
All I Ask… is to be loved.
All I Ask… is to be something to someone.
All I Ask is for Corinne Michaels to give me more. This second chance, one that got away, friends to lovers story is terribly romantic down to the evil plotting. Teenagers, temperamental townfolk, and rumors are not enough to destroy them hut their hidden secrets are.
All I Ask is that you read it. I know you will love it. I know you will be Team Tea. I know that it’s going to hurt but the best things in life do. Love is not always easy.
All I Ask…
There is so much hurt and so many words left unsaid between these two. But there is also this crazy, beautiful love. I felt so bad for Teagan because she didn’t do anything to deserve what happened to her. Losing her best friend…her person almost destroyed her. I wanted to blame it all on Derek but as the story goes on we learn about what they both went through. It was so hard to place blame on anyone. Sometimes bad stuff just happens to good people. But they are both wonderful people who are just trying to figure it all out as they go and trying to navigate their feelings too. There is so much emotion in their story and I was pulling for them to make it the whole way through. I loved this second chance love story and how it shows us that sometimes even when you feel broken there can be such beauty in starting over. I loved Teagan and Derek’s story and always look forward to reading more from this Author.
What can I POSSIBLY say about this book that gave me sooooooo many INCREDIBLE emotions from the heart-wrenching ANGST right from the first chapter (OMG!!!), to the glorious and emotional epilogue that left my heart a happy, mushy mess…with ALLLLLL the FEELS in between??!!
Teagan and Derek’s second-chance love story took me on a roller coaster ride of EPIC proportions! I was completely captivated by this gorgeous, sometimes gut wrenching and heart-shattering story that has made it on to my TOP READS EVER list! There were times while reading that I had to stop and give my heart a break from the FEELS! There were also times when I wanted to seriously punch a few of the characters in this novel (Derek being one of them!)!!!
Ms. Michaels has PERFECTED the “torture them with feels” aspect of writing to the point where she has earned her “Elphaba” nickname 100%!!! All I can say is this book will RIP YOUR HEART OUT, STOMP ON IT, SMASH IT TO SMITHEREENS….and then put it all back together again! I can’t recommend this book highly enough! It’s a DEFINITE MUST READ!
5 Beautiful Stars
Teagan and Derek have been best friends since high school, until suddenly they weren’t. Both secretly had feelings for the other, but both too scared to say anything. Now, thirteen years later, they are brought back together again when Derek and his daughter move back to his hometown. I absolutely adored the relationship between Teagan and her daughter, Chastity.
All I Ask is the epitome of second chance romances and I loved every single page. Corinne Michaels has completely outdone herself with this heartbreakingly beautiful story of two people who overcome so many obstacles to find their love for each other still burns as strong as it always has. This one definitely brings all the feels and will leave you an emotional mess.
Angela – Alphas Do It Better Book Blog
I loved this story so much!! This is a wonderful friends to lovers, second chance romance. Derek and Teagan’s story has so much emotion and feels!!
So, this was quite the heartfelt, and at times heartbreaking, second chance romance. There are times when she (and by she I mean the queen Corinne Michaels) hits you with her witticisms, especially between Teagan and Chastity, who you will LOVE . Then she can turn around and make you feel the heartbreak, that Teagan has felt, that Teagan & Derek have felt and been through, that Everly and Chastity are going through, though different, still beats your emotions up. There are so many emotions throughout, so many gripping parts to this story, and you’ll completely be immersed in all of it. I loved them all (well, not all. And you’ll know who’s not worthy when you read), and felt totally emotionally invested. Teagan is amazingly strong and brave and gave those traits to her equally amazing daughter Chastity. And Derek is swoon worthy and trying so hard with his daughter Everly, who has a lot to get through. It’s real life and it hits you in the feels! All of them!! I don’t want to tell you anything more so as not to give anything away. Just know you’ll love this story, you’ll love these characters, you’ll just love it all!!!
4.5*
This second chance romance of a mature couple with real life baggage will pull on your heartstrings. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey this seasoned couple, Teagan and Derek, tackled.
Across the miles and spanning the years, their feelings for each other may have been tainted but never died.
When circumstances bring them in close proximity, the pull between them is undeniable.
All I Ask is a heart fulfilling story. I love Corrine Michael’s books, and this story was no exception. I was enamored with Derek and Teagan. They rocked each others world. They were the missing link for each other. I had smiles for days after reading this story.
Derek and Teagan don’t have it easy. Its not just the two of them anymore when it comes to the big relationship decisions. Their story flowed effortlessly. It was like it was meant to be told. I loved it all and felt everything the characters were feeling. There was a little angst when the past steps in. But I knew these two could prevail through it all. I highly recommend this read!
Tell me something real .
It’s incredible this author has to have you hooked from the very first page.
My feelings were all over the place and I haven’t even finished the prologue.
This is kind of a second chance romance, but it’s really their first time at making it real. And oh my, was it real.
One thing that I thought was so incredible about this book was that there weren’t vilains (except for Keith, he was a jerk and I despise him). There were good people, normal people, making good and bad choices. Choosing right or wrong ways.
Sometimes, it wasn’t even a matter of right/wrong, good/bad, it was about having to make a choice based on what people thought was right.
The thing is they have to play with the cards life dealt them with, and more often than not, life is fair.
There were a lot of miscomunication between Teagan and Derek, but what can you expect from two people so young who love each other deeply and are terrified of losing what they have? How can you blame them for their choices.
And when life finally brings them back at the same place, there are so many things they need to overcome, new people they need to think about, old secrets they need to finally reveal.
This was such a powerful story about forgiveness, friendship, loyalty, deep love, grief, pain, wasted opportunities, new chances.
What a wonderful journey.
4.5 Tell me something real stars. Another great read by Corinne Michaels you won’t be able to put down. Derek and Teagan’s connection draws you in from the beginning and their journey hold you until the end. Their best friends/second chance storyline is full of angst and learning to forgive. A must read.