“This is highly inappropriate.” “Why?” he rumbled in my ear. “Because you’re so young, and because I’m now your boss.” “That just makes it more exciting.” Not even a year after marrying the guy she’d thought was the love of her life, Cora Knowles is already requesting a divorce. To her recollection, philandering was not a part of her wedding vows, and she wasn’t about to stand by while ‘Sally … stand by while ‘Sally from accounts’ rolled about on her Egyptian cotton sheets.
While trying to soothe her broken heart with copious amounts of cake and liqueur chocolates, her best friend, Olivia suggests that the best way to get over someone, is to get under someone else. Problems arise when the one Cora ‘gets under’ turns out to be the the son of the Director of Prosecution—her boss. Worse still, he’s young. Younger than Cora originally thought, and younger than she’s comfortable with.
But, when the attraction is undeniable, Cora needs to decide whether she’ll turn her back on the enigmatic Brandon Sharp, or take a risk and follow her heart, even though she promised herself she’d never do that again…
more
Short review. (KU) Bran and Cora had steamy sexy chemistry from the first moment they met. I really like both Bran and Cora but there was times I wanted to shake both of them and lock them in a room so they could work out their issues. As mature as Bran was there were times that his age did show, he also had issues from his past to work through and to understand that you shouldn’t let one person’s betrayal be held over others head. Cora’s ex Jack is a straight up prick who was determine to ruin Cora’s career and life because she didn’t take the whole he was cheating on her with a shrug and take him back.
Never Again is a really well written older woman, younger man contemporary romance. There is an excellent blend of steam, angst, humour and life baggage woven into a story that totally held my attention.
As well as the older woman, younger man issues, Cora has an almost ex-husband that you just know is going to be a source of trouble. Cora and Bran’s first meeting was also meant to be their last, at least as far as Cora was concerned. Life and Bran have different plans, and boy some of those plans are a little kinky and a LOT steamy. Wowsers this pair have enough chemistry to melt your kindle.
They both keep secrets from each other which inevitably come and bite them on them on their ‘arse’. I love that these books are set in Australia, with their almost British vocabulary. Although at times I wanted to shake Cora, I also totally got her reasoning. In fact this was one of the things I loved about the book, actions/decisions that you knew were stupid (“Oh that’s so going to blow up in your face” stuff) were well explained/reasoned away.
I can’t put my finger on why I loved this story so much, or what exactly it was that captivated me. What I do know is that I totally LOVED this book, I virtually read it in one go, not wanting to put it down. I was just totally captured by Cora and Bran and am sad that I don’t have the words to do their story justice. Whilst I’ve only read a few books by this author this is by far and away my favourite so far and I happily recommend it.
Favorite Quotes:
For me, social media was about sharing the best of my life and spying on other people’s. That’s why, when I found out my scumbag of a husband was cheating on me, I didn’t share a single tidbit of information with the world. I quietly changed my relationship status from ‘married’ to ‘it’s complicated’, then proceeded to cut the crotch out of every single pair of pants he owned.
There might be plenty of fish, but last night, I caught a shark. How am I supposed to go back to fish after I had shark?
“I’m not responsible enough to have a baby. I’m selfish and conceited and I don’t love anything other than my own reflection.” “That’s not true at all. You love money too.”
Addicted? You’re blaming this on a disease, Jack? As far as I know there is no legitimate disease that causes accidental dick insertion.
My Review:
Doing a bit of damage to her philandering husband’s head with her laptop after catching him bumping uglies with a coworker caused Cora a heap of trouble on the job, it appears that prosecutors aren’t supposed to be violent. Her wily cheat of a husband turned out to be full of shocking surprises for the oblivious Cora. But lucky for Cora, she was too distracted by her new intern to be as torn up over the death of her marriage as she could have been as despite her transitional age of twenty-nine, she had quickly turned into a sex-obsessed teenaged boy after one sampling of the dimpled and freshly minted twenty-year-old sex god. They scorched the sheets and many other flat surfaces. Oh my, this one was a sizzler. Packed with expletives, erotic and salacious sensual scenes, scintillating and naughty banter, this one would definitely straddle the line of adult contemporary and erotic romance, but there was a rather sweet romance occurring between all the smoking hot sex. Written from a first person POV, the storyline was entertaining and relevant while the writing was engaging, cleverly amusing, and while heavily sensual it was also emotive. The story featured a large and memorable cast of quirkily endearing, intriguing, deeply flawed and wounded characters.
Recommended by two book friends. I love older woman younger man reads. Bran can definitely teach other men how to treat a woman, so loving and caring. For such a young man he was very dominant and bossy I loved that about him. The hard time Cora faced with the breakdown of his marriage, seriously his ex is an immature asshat. She’s an amazing character, the break up made her stronger and I love her and Bran together