You never forget your first love. But you should, if you’re marrying his best friend. “Absolutely the BEST read of the year!” – A Naughty Book Fling Manwhore Brendan and good-girl Erin have waged a war of mutual disdain for years, both of them trying to forget that, once upon a time, they got along a little too well. But when Brendan returns home just as Erin prepares to marry his best friend, … too well.
But when Brendan returns home just as Erin prepares to marry his best friend, she will have to decide if the life she’s created for herself is as perfect as it seems, and if her feelings for Brendan are just cold feet–or a sign that maybe, long ago, she chose the wrong guy.
If you love angst, second-chance romance and plot twists you never saw coming, buy Drowning Erin today!
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Wow, This is the third book I have read by Elizabeth and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors!! Her writing is absolutely beautiful and she knows how to make everything so vivid. I can get lost in her stories and love every minute of it!!
I started this book unsure of how I would like it. I hate when the guy is a manwhore because I hate hearing about all his past conquests and the thought of her already being engaged made me nervous when I started this. HOWEVER, The author does and amazing job of not going into any unnecessary detail of his past sexual encounters and the engagement was called off before anything happens!! So for those of you who may have read the excerpt and have those same reservations….no worries!! READ THIS BOOK!!!
Drowning Erin by Elizabeth O’Roark is a slow burn, enemies to lovers, forbidden romance told in dual POV and alternating between the past and the present. The story centers around the relationship between Erin and her fiance’ Rob’s best friend, Brendan.
Erin and Brendan used to work together, and despite an initial attraction to one another they never really got along. Brendan always seemed to go out of his way to be a jerk toward her and Erin couldn’t stand him and his manwhore ways.
After spending four years in Italy, Brendan has returned to Colorado and much to Erin’s disdain, Rob offers him their pool house as a temporary place to live right before leaving the country on business for an extended time. While Rob is away, some family crises arise and Brendan steps up to help Erin. They start to spend time together and develop a friendship.
Erin has many secrets and Brendan is the only one who knows these hidden parts of her life. Rob’s business trip continues to be extended again and again by months at a time which frustrates Erin, but when she finds out that he’s been spending time with a particular female coworker, she’s had enough and breaks up with him telling him they can re-evaluate their relationship after he returns.
Now that Erin is free, she and Brendan succumb to their physical chemistry with the understanding that it’s temporary. Brendan doesn’t want a relationship and Erin doesn’t want Rob to know about them, so they’ll stop seeing each other when Rob returns to the country. But emotions are messy, and that’s all much easier said than done.
Will Brendan fall in love with Erin and change his mind about relationships or will he break her heart? Will Erin get back together with Rob and break Brendan’s heart? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
I really enjoyed Erin and Brendan’s story. It was emotional and angsty in the best way possible. Frustratingly fantastic! I couldn’t put it down.
You fell in love with Brendan in Waking Olivia. This is his story. While at times I was cringing (I don’t like cheating), some parts were very hard to read for me. There is a lot of character depth to both Erin and Brendan. You also get a bit of Will and Olivia (while you don’t need to read Waking Olivia I highly recommend it, it’s an amazing story).
Erin has so many things going on you can see why she’d drowning. Then you have poor Brendan all up in his head trying so hard to not get what he most desires. He feels he doesn’t deserve it.
3,5 stars
* I received an ARC of this book and this is my voluntarily, honest review of it *
‘Drowning Erin’ isn’t the first book that I read from the writer Elizabeth O’Roark. The books that I have read from her, I enjoyed them very much so I was looking forward to her new book. Especially because this book is about Brendan Langstrom, the younger brother of Will (who was the main character in the book ‘Waking Olivia’). And Erin Doyle is best friends with Olivia (the female main character of ‘Waking Olivia’). So, as hoped and expected we also saw a little bit of that couple in this book too. It was wonderful to see them back after loving their story so much in ‘Waking Olivia’.
From the moment that Brendan and Erin met there was something between them. But for difference reasons none of the two acted on the feelings they felt. And then the moment to react passed away and life went on. Erin got a relationship with Brendan’s best friend and Brendan went to Italy. So she wasn’t much confronted with him but now some years later Brendan is back. And Erin’s boyfriend wants him to stay with them for a while, something that Erin doesn’t want but nobody asked her opinion. So now Erin sees Brendan more than she wants and the fact that Erin’s boyfriend has to go away for his work to The Netherlands and he will be away for some time is also something that Erin isn’t happy about. During his absent things happen, things that make that Erin and Brendan are seeing a different side of each other. Old feelings are coming to the surface and at the end they will have to decide if they made a wrong decision all those years ago. And can they make the right one this time or was it never meant to be?
This story takes place a few years after ‘Waking Olivia’. I must confess that I was a little bit hesitant about reading this book because of the mention in the blurb that Brendan was a manwhore. I’m not that fond of manwhores but I decided to trust the writer with this story.
One of the things that I loved about this story was the fact that the story was told from both POV’s and not only that but it was also told in the present and past time. The fact that we saw the present time through Erin’s eyes and we saw the past through Brendan’s eyes gave the story more depth to me. It certainly have me more insight in Brendan’s thoughts and feelings. Something that I really needed and liked. With each chapter we also got more insight in Erin’s thoughts and secrets. The writer really built the story slowly out.
I found both characters likeably and I enjoyed the story. At the end of the story it became clear that Brendan had a real fear of commitment, where it came from I don’t know but sometimes you can have a fear without a ‘real’ reason for it.
It was only at the end of the story that I had some doubts about the story because I got the feeling that Erin was going to make the wrong choice! The fact that she had doubts again at the end of the book, made that I wanted to shake her but luckily for her (and me) she did make the right choice at the very end.
I enjoy the story but just like that Will and Brendan are brothers, they’re also both very different from each other and that is the same with their books. But that isn’t a bad thing, that makes life just interesting. Each character has to tell their own story.
I fell in love with Erin and Brendan.. I also love their story all together. I got worried for a little while that the ending wasn’t going to what I was hoping for mostly, because I didn’t want Erin to end up with the wrong person. I could not be happier with the ending though I wish their story just kept going, because I didn’t want it to end. I am also learning when I’m reading Elizabeth O’Roark’s book I am a cry baby, because they are that good. Elizabeth O’Roark has a way with creating a story that you can picture and watch it play out the whole time your reading.
5.5 amazing stars!!!
Have you ever started a book and after reading just a few pages thought “This is going to be an amazing story”? That’s how I felt the entire time while reading Drowning Erin. It’s told in dual POV that kept alternating from the past to the present. Once I started I was riveted to my seat and finished it in one sitting. I felt the hairs on my arms stand up, and I had a strong sense of foreboding, almost from the start and I wasn’t disappointed. I live for stories with substance, with meat on the bone so to speak, and this story delivers it by the pound.
Make no mistake about it; it’s a romance, just not the hearts and flowers, easy breezy romance so many of us love to read. If that’s the kind of story you’re looking for, look elsewhere because, this book is not for you. If you can handle angst, this is what you’re looking for; it’s the kind of romance that’s messy and emotionally draining but leaves you satisfied at the end. All the feels, as we like to say, in spades. It’s is going on my Top Ten of the Year list.
Erin Doyle’s known and hated Brendan Langstrom, for years. He was, and probably still is, a manwhore as far as she’s concerned. He was the original one and done man who didn’t want, or believe in having, a relationship.
“Relationships were remarkably easy to avoid if you know what you’re doing: don’t take a girl out who isn’t going to sleep with you, and don’t sleep with girls who will expect a call the next day. It’s that simple.”
They met one summer working together and her best friend, Olivia, later married his brother, Will. To top it off Brendan was also Rob’s, her fiancé, best friend. He’s told Rob a thousand times he’s making a mistake. It comes as a big surprise to find out he moved back to Colorado, after living in Italy the last four years, and Rob’s offered to let him stay in their pool house while he looks for someplace to live, without consulting with her first. As upset as she is Erin should be used to Rob making decisions without informing, much less asking, her in advance. One thing he can’t seem to make her do is set a date, or make plans, for their wedding.
When Rob goes on business trip to Europe, for an extended amount of time without consulting Erin yet again, she and Brendan begin to spend time together. Everyone’s mentioned how much he’s changed, something happened with a girl he met overseas, and that relationship damaged him. With Rob so distant, figuratively and literally, Erin starts to question her life, and choices, until now. Her coworker, and friend, Harper knows something’s up and questions her relationship with Rob.
“I don’t expect her to understand because she didn’t grow up like I did. But I’m not looking for excitement. I simply aspire to the absence of pain. And therefore, I have exactly what I want.”
Not every page is heavy and wrought with emotion; there are moments of levity, especially when Erin meets Brendan’s “dates” and engages in conversation with them. I want to tell people who insist they don’t “do” angst that is the book they need to read, to dip their toes into this particular pond, and get a taste of it. And yes, in case you’re wondering, it’s a true romance with a HEA ending!
This is my first book from this author, but it won’t be my last. I loved this book. Once I started reading I didn’t stop until I was finished. Even Though you know what will happen in the end, the book held my attention from the first page. This author has a very nice style of writing.
I really liked the characters. Erin and Brendan are likeable, but also very developed and complex characters. The author did a great job of showing their emotions and their motivation.
I recommend this book. You won’t regret reading it.
Second chance? Enemies to lovers? Slow burn? All of the above!
After reading the blurb on this book, I fully expected it to be a quick read. I was not prepared for the roller coaster ride or the anticipation I would feel.
Erin O’Doyle and Brendan Langstrom hate each other. Passionately. But is it really hate when all you can think about is being with the other person…in every way.
Erin doesn’t even realize how much of herself she has given up to be with her fiancé, Rob. She’s a fixer. She wants to please everyone around her, even if it’s at the cost of her own happiness.
Brendan doesn’t believe he can be happy with one girl forever, especially if it’s not Erin. Except he’s been Rob’s best friend since grade school. And you can’t move in on your best friend’s girl.
Drowning Erin is about finding yourself just as much as it is about finding your one true love.
Will Erin end up with the right guy? Will she do what she can to please those around her, just as she always has? Or will she realize the person who knows you best, faults and all, is who can love you best? Elizabeth did not rely on the steamy scenes to stir emotions. She leads you to the edge and then backs you away so many times, you begin to wonder just how this all might end.
Absolutely the BEST read of the year!!! Deserves far more that 5 stars for sure!! I am in awe over this phenomenal written book. Drowning Erin ranks up there with my favorite of all favorite reads! I floved this whole read from beginning to end. I love a good love triangle and this one met ALL of my expectations. This new to me author has a gained a fan for life with me!! I have been searching for a book just as good as my favorite of favorites love triangle for some time now and this one did it for me.
Erin, Rob, & Brendon’s journey through this book goes from past to present allowing the reader to understand the reasons for this love hate relationship that Erin and Brendon have for one another.
There really is so much that I could say about this book, but I really would go on and on about how good it is and would reveal too much of the story. I want the WHOLE BOOK WORLD to know just how GREAT this story is. Go get this and start reading ASAP!!!
Happy Reading Everyone!!!