Florist Laney George has a successful business, amazing friends and big, big dreams–oh, and a broken heart. But she’s working through that last one. Then the man she hoped to never see again shows up–and Laney’s carefully ordered plans are experiencing technical difficulties. Celebrated Author Adam Fitzpatrick planned to be in St. Clair for no more than a day. Sign the books, and get out. Same … get out. Same story, different day. What he didn’t count on was Laney George, who happens to be the star of his somewhat fictional tale. She broke his heart years ago, and he’d gone a bit mad. Okay, maybe a lot mad–and he put everything in his book, never imagining it would be a world-wide best seller.
Now that he’s seen her again, he wants answers. But it isn’t just her that draws him in. It’s the town, something is happening and for the first time in years…he can write again. If only he could convince the woman who hates him most to start a new chapter in their story.
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A sweet small town, second chance romance that was perfect read for this cold winter day.
It is a second instalment o Belles of St. Clair series and it is the story of florist Laney George and author Adam Fitzpatrick. Our main characters are meeting again after 16 years on book signing and when he sees her, he decides to stay in town longer where he is Laney’s next door neighbor. She is not very happy to see him again since part of his first book is based on her and she fears that someone will recognize that.
I liked that every new chapter of the book starts with a quote from Adams first book.
There were lot of characters that were wonderfully entwined together, some of them are loveable others not so much. I found it funny how some fans asked pretty personal questions and it was interesting written. The ending was very sweet and I liked it. Cant wait to read other book from this author.
Once in a Blue Moon is my first read by Amanda Ashby and even though it’s the second book in the Belles of St. Clair series I didn’t feel like I needed to have started at the beginning, but I’ll definitely be checking out this author’s backlist.
I LOVED this read. Second chance romances are a favourite of mine and Laney and Adam made for entertaining reading.
The dynamics between this pair were well written. Laney’s reluctance to see her ex again and her worry about her life changing due to his appearance (and the hype surrounding his book) were understandable and believable.
Adam was still holding on to his grudge even though life had changed for both of them and I was a bit peeved with him when I found out what his issue was… talk about thinking about himself and not talking to Laney…. In saying that I also felt heart sorry for him when we found out about the crumbling of his marriage and I have to say, given their history, I don;t know that I could have stayed in touch and had a relationship with my ex the way he did.
Laney’s friend/sister in law was a bit of a buzz kill for me at times. Laney has been widowed for several years now and she’s entitled to live again and move on, but it felt like she was expected to live a solitary life thinking about her husband!
This was a really sweet book, It had humour, tears, attraction and heat. I liked that the main characters are a little older and therefore, personally, I found them more relatable and we cannot forget Violet, the awesome little rescue dog who loves having her nails painted!
A solid 4.5* and most definitely recommended.
Heart tugging moments with the perfect amount of sass had me enjoying my first read from this series. The world building was great and I could really visualize the community and characters. The emotions were clear, even when the character was confused and helped pint a picture of what took place from both perspectives. I found the view of their art and profession quite enjoyable and would love to see pictures of some of those floral displays. The addition of a quotation from the “book” at the beginning of each chapter was a great and I loved seeing parts of what has had such an impact for this couple! This is an enjoyable read with entertaining characters, though to be honest Violet took the cake for me!
Thank you NetGalley and Entangled for the chance to read this book and share my opinion. Thank
The premise of the book was sweet, and Adam and Laney had cute moments. But the thing with his brother and ex-wife and how that was handled bugged me a little.
My review…..
Laney runs a flower shop in a small town, she loves the job and where she lives. But when Laney has an itch, she just has to scratch it, that leads her to all sorts of predicaments… adopting a dog, marrying a man after one date, and buying property to boost her flower sales.
She’s also a widow, almost five years now, and she still misses him.
Adam is a famous author, but he never forgot St. Clair or a certain someone in that little town. She broke his heart and he wrote about it…..
When Adam is seen in town, Laney panics, will the town put the clues together and find out she was the one who stalked? Except it wasn’t really her stalking him, everything he wrote about her was lies, (well some of the milder things were her, but only fun and silly things) it was his way of venting, she’d broken his heart and he’d been angry. She hadn’t let him explain himself.
But that hasn’t stop Laney from worrying about the community putting all the clues together and working out that Laney was the infamous “Nina”. And I got the impression she was upset that he had twisted what they had into a story. But again I feel we were missing pieces but that they will be added along the way.
The characters were nicely written. I had to laugh at Adam, realising he could write whilst being around Laney, but battling his anger and then guilt regarding Laney. Could he convince her to give him another chance?
Laney was a hoot, she usually acts on itches she gets, but with Adam, she was determined not to. Her quirky manner was fun (weaving flowers through her dogs collar and painting it’s “nails”) regarding Adam with scepticism, if he wrote about them the first time, what’s your stop him from doing it again?
This is book two in the series. And I’ve read the first one, but it’s not a problem to read them out of order.
Laney George has been abandoned by the people she loved ever since her childhood and has finally found a place of love and acceptance in the quirky little town of St. Clair. Join her on her journey as her first love sweeps into town, drudging up painful memories of her past and wanting a second chance. Does she risk her heart to be rejected once again? Or does she play it safe to avoid, once again, being abandoned as she has been her entire life?
This book had a lot of push and pull between the two main characters, with the back and forth there where times that the book felt like it dragged. I felt sometime the author tended to repeat some of the story as well. I loved Tilly hands down she was my favorite. She is quirky and you never knew what was going to come out of her mouth. She also always said something wise she just made me hope that I have some one like that in my life. Sex is talked about and indicated but never described in detail so may be suitable for most readers. Over all the story was a cute read but you do need to be patient when it drags. I would say if you read the first book grab this one it was fun catching up with the other characters from that book.I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley. I was under no obligation to post a review and have given my honest opinion
Ashby brings class to an often times heartbreaking tale of forgiveness. Once in a Blue Moon is a trek through conflicting emotions, long withstanding mistakes and perhaps a second chance to make everything right. Yet, foolish pride can be a bitter pill to swallow when it comes to matters of the heart. A hauntingly, predictable tango into love.
I voluntarily offered to review this book with no obligations and my opinions are honest
It was a great book!
Laney and Adam didn’t work out, so they broke up.
However, Laney never forgot about Adam.
How can she forget when we wrong a bestsellng book about their break up ?
That is how they reconnect.
Because of the book tour, Adam finds himself in St Clair.
Old wounds are open, but the attraction is sitll there for both of them?
Will they give love a second chance ?
The characters + storytelling were very captivating
It has all the ingredients that you need for an awesome book!
Once in a Blue Moon by Amanda Ashby a heart-warming five-star read. St Clair just sounds like such an idyllic place to run away to, it really feels like one of those places that you could run away to and start-over, much like Laney George managed to do, she may have moved with her husband but she became someone new when she moved in. The place just has the magic, and its that magic that meant that Adam Fitzpatrick came for a book signing and reading and found the inspiration for a new bestseller, as he had one amazing story wrote about an ex-girlfriend and the following novels have been lacking something and have been minor flops, he needs the inspiration, but is it St Clair that inspire him or a certain ex-girlfriend, one who moved on and away. This was an inspiring story, and a great one to bring you some joy to your life.
A powerful and amazing story about love, loss, forgivinees and happiness. Laney has a broken heart after everyone around her leaves her eventually. Adam was her first love. Now he is in little town Saint Clair where she now loves. They reconnect. But can Laney trust her heart to Adam this time? Awesome.
This is my fourth Amanda Ashby book and once again, I just loved her heartwarming story. This author writes complex, flawed characters who struggle and lose hope and are disappointed and then rise above the hardships life has handed them to find happiness again. This is especially true about her main characters as well as the wonderful cast of supportive characters that add depth to this already rich story. In addition to wonderfully written characters, the setting of her story becomes a real place for her readers – one with it’s own unique flavor .
I fell in love with the main characters, loved the humor, the sadness and the insanely tense and drawn out chemistry between Adam and Laney. I highly recommend this book and this author. 🙂
I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily providing my honest review.
Laney has a secret!
Laney George is finally picking up the pieces of her life after the death of her husband and thinking about dating. Laney never told anybody that she had dated author Adam Fitzpatrick a long time ago when he showed up in town for a book signing. Laney never wanted to see Adam again after they had broken up and then he used their relationship in his best-selling book Blue Moon. None of the books that Adam wrote after Blue Moon were as popular as Blue Moon and seeing Laney helped Adam in writing his next book but Laney wasn’t happy he was living in town.
Laney and Adam both had reasons for being upset with each other especially Laney feeling that he had based one of the characters in Blue Moon on her. The setting of the book in St. Clair with all of the quirky characters made the book for me because I could picture each of them. I would give Once in a Blue Moon 4 ½ stars if I could.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.