Can two wrongs feel oh-so-right? This bride is about to find out—with the bad boy who makes an epic breakup worth her while. Bella: I know I’m a princess. I’m used to getting what I want. But all I ever really wanted was a husband and a family. Unlike my sister, Sophie, I’ll never have a brilliant career to fall back on. So what’s a bride to do when she learns that Prince Charming is a cheating … learns that Prince Charming is a cheating snake just a few days before her fairy-tale wedding? With my fiancé begging for another chance, the only way to save the wedding is to even things out with a little revenge sex—and local bartender Christian Jordan seems like the right man for the job.
Christian: If gorgeous Bella Bigelow thinks sleeping with me will somehow lead to happily ever after, I’m not going to turn her down. The guy she wants to marry is a jerk, and her sister is fooling around with my estranged twin brother, Cain. So what’s the problem—besides falling for a woman who doesn’t know what she wants out of life? All I want to do is whisk her away from that church, take her to a cabin in the woods, and act out all our naughtiest fantasies. And I may just get the chance. . . .
Don’t miss Sophie and Cain’s story in The Hookup!
And look for all of Erin McCarthy’s soulful Nashville Nights romances:
HEART BREAKER | DREAM MAKER | LOVE TAKER
Includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title
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Awful to awkward to awesome! Yes, that is what is going on in this second book of The Jordan Brothers series. I haven’t read the first book yet, but I’m going to catch up with Cain and Sophie again real soon. Actually, this is my first Erin McCarthy book and I’m having a bit of a girl crush at the moment. I got my HEA and it was a very enjoyable ride getting there.
I just loved Bella! She’s graceful, sincere and thoughtful, honest and kind, even when those around her don’t deserve her best qualities. She also a bit naive and entirely too trusting in her dirtbag fiancé. Lucky for her she wished up at the last minute and chose the perfect person to help her out of her situation. Enter Christian Jordan, sexy and aloof with a swagger that borders on comical. A good guy to those who matter most in his life, though certainly not perfect at all. This is a amazing pairing of sweet and a bit raw.
The story unfolds in such a way that I felt anger and outrage followed by vindication. There was some smexy to smooth the jagged edges and then the sweetness of falling in love and the anxiousness of what might come next, followed up with a huge helping of awwweeeee that’s so sweet! I got everything I was hoping for from this book. Thanks, Erin! I’m going to be checking out more of her stories.
She’s a runaway bride…running straight towards the one man who always wants what he can’t have. We met Bella and Christian in book one, The Hook Up, so there some backstory readers need to have. On the night of her bachelorette party, Bell discovers the perfect future she envisioned with her Prince Charming is all a lie and he’s been unfaithful to her. Desperate to have her own HEA she gives him a second chance…but it doesn’t last long. Digesting heart crushing news takes some time and at the moment of matrimony, Bella panics and asks for Christian’s help to escape the wedding she can’t go through with.
Christian is…rough. He’s definitely not the nicest or most charming hero, but I’m loving McCarthy’s new anti-heroes. Christian is Jared from his baby-mama drama; his son is a shining light and everything right that Christian isn’t. He always goes towards unattainable women so he doesn’t have to worry about them getting attached. So his new found fascination with rich princess Bella is confusing to him…but he can’t deny the chemistry. She may be prom and proper, but when he whisks her away from her wedding at the last second, he begins to peel back all the layers that make her beautiful on the inside as well as the outside.
I love that McCarthy gives us a before, during, and and after with this couple. There’s a large part of Bella’s story that focuses on her discovering happiness for herself and BY herself rather than just with a man. (But don’t get me wrong…there is the customary HEA for our girl) Christian may be a bad boy but he’s definitely got some good sides to him, despite some questionable choices. The whole story is filled with self-discovery and some super steamy scenes! Another win from Erin!
I enjoyed Bella and Christian’s story. They definitely had chemistry which led to some great sexy scenes. Along with the heat and chemistry, they had wit and humor and plenty to playful banter. With the crazy way their relationship began, you knew the road to their HEA was going to be a bit bumpy. But with all the bumps and angst, I loved the growth of character they both went through finding their way.
4.4 stars
This is the second book in the series and chronicles the life of Bella, Sophie’s sister who the reader met in the first book, “The Hookup.” Bella comes off as a spoiled rich girl who will do anything to get married but that is not the case. It just takes her a while to realize her worth. Helping her on this journey is Christian, Cain’s brother who is dating Sophie. While Bella is engaged to be married, she learns of her fiancé’s infidelity and has no qualms of continuing his behavior after he is married. After going back and forth, she ultimately jilts him at the alter and calls Christian to pick her up. Christian has his own baggage to deal with and does not need to get involved with Bella. However, sometimes what a person wants and what actually happens are two very different things. Bella and Christian are intensely attracted to each other. Even though they are opposites, can they have their happily ever after? This is one well written storyline filled with Ms. McCarthy’s penchant for snark, steamy scenes and the underlying theme of not judging a book by its cover.
I volunteered to read an advance copy of this book provided by Netgalley.
ARC for honest review with no compensation received by Ne Galley and LoveSwept.
The Breakup is book 2 of the Jordan Brothers series and while a standalone you might want to also read the first book.
Bella know as the “Princess” is getting ready for her wedding and finds out her groom is cheating on her but her mother tells her she should just overlook the cheating and go on with the wedding…Bella decides that she can’t overlook it and leave him at the altar. She calls Christian to pick her up and now she must decide what she wants out of life….
Christian on the other hand has a reputation for sleeping around but there is something about Bella that speaks to him. When she calls he goes to pick her up and while sparks fly between them they both need to grow up and take responsible for their own lives before they can begin to maybe have a life together.
Will these two figure out how to make that happen or will they just “breakup”??
Bella Bigelow is an upbeat, sweet, and happy person. She is also dreading getting married to a man that doesn’t make her feel like she is getting her fairy tale wedding with a HEA. Christian Jordan is a bartender with his Own set of problems. Between Bella and Christian, the pages heat up. The banter between them will have you laughing. Camp, Christian’s son is such a sweetheart and Bella just loves him. In the shadows is Ali, Camp’s mother. She makes you want to not like her. She is also causing problems for the Jordan boys. I love the ending to this book.
These Jordan brothers are not your typical Erin McCarthy heroes…….BUT they sure are fun! I have throughly enjoyed getting to know these two hot mess guys! The second book is wonderful! Bella is a high maintenance gal and Christian is a floater. BUT together they work! Read book one first and enjoy the ride!
This is the second book in the ‘Jordan Brothers’ series. When we first meet Bella Bigelow, she is engaged to be married to Bradley, the man of her dreams. Or is he? Her doubts about her fiance and her upcoming wedding leads her to the small town playboy (and twin brother of her sister Sophie’s boyfriend), Christian Jordan. But what starts as revenge for Bella and lust for Christian may turn into something more.
I really enjoyed this story more than the first book in the series, ‘The Hook up’. Bella is a very naive but sweet girl that struggles to balance her need to please others with her desire to be true to herself. I really felt for Bella, especially with the way her fiance treats her. Ugh! Anyway, Christian definitely lives up to his playboy persona and at times his careless attitude towards Bella annoyed me to no end. This story is not only filled with love and angst, but plenty of heat between Bella and Christian. Christian is definitely a hot and dirty guy and I love it! 4.5 stars for a great storyline and plenty of angst.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review.
The Breakup is book 2 in The Jordan Brothers series and is an enjoyable read with two broken characters. ~Ashley @ Carolina Chic’s Read
Though this is a standalone novel and I highly recommend reading book 1, The Hookup, before reading this one. These two Bella and Christian have known about family disappointment and learning to love. This is a fun, hot, romantic read. Can’t wait to read more of Erin McCarthy’s books.
OMG! This book was an all-nighter for me! Couldn’t put it down!
I finished The Breakup late last night and I needed to sleep on this one before leaving a review. Why? This is one of those books with a not very likeable leading male character. If you haven’t read The Hookup, I recommend doing so because the storyline for The Breakup takes place during the second half of The Hookup. This is the story about the other Bigelow sister, Bella and the other Jordan twin, Christian. Where we had Cain numbing his pain with mindless hookups we have Christian doing it because he’s too afraid to commit to a relationship however it makes him come across as a very shallow person. Bella is too sweet for words. She’s the beautiful, kind girl that has only had good things happen to her all of her life until she discovers that her fiancee has been cheating on her multiple times two weeks prior to their wedding. What I loved about this book was seeing Bella come into her own. I wanted her to to find her true self and she does. What I didn’t love was Christian’s cynicism. He comes across very self centered for someone that considers himself to be a loving father. And now you know the reason for my 4 star rating. It’s hard to love a self centered character I think that this is a good book and I would love to see more of the Jordan family in future books. The Breakup is written from dual POV and is full of angst, heat and a tear or two.
My mother always taught me that I should balance out my criticisms with compliments. So, I want to first say that I think the cover of this book is lovely. Just lovely.
OK, now that THAT’S out of the way, here’s the stuff that really just irked the crap out of me:
The heroine:
Bella is a doormat. There were a few moments there (days, actually) where she actually considered marrying the cheating scumbag who treated her like crap. She also tolerated the fact that the hero treated her like a crap a few times (more to come on that). I have VERY little tolerance for doormat heroines.
I also didn’t like that she got super judge-y with Christian when he admitted something to her about his past that he wasn’t proud of. Christian isn’t the type of guy to open up about his feelings, but he did it with Bella, and she responded by basically calling him a scumbag and stomping away from him a prissy, judgemental huff. Way to be the big hearted, compassionate, sweet woman everyone seems to mistakenly think you are, Bella.
She also kept a secret from Christian for way too long for no apparent reason. She shouldn’t have agreed to be his “girlfriend” before telling him the secret. He had a right to know right up front.
The hero:
I’m sorry, but Christian is an asshat. He seems to be a decent father, so I cut him a little slack, and I didn’t really like Bella anyway, so it didn’t bother me too much that he treated her like crap. But when he started casually banging another woman while he was thinking about Bella and wanting to be with Bella, I had to quit making allowances for him and admit that he was just a douchenozzle. I also didn’t care for how quickly he bailed on Bella when “the secret” came to light. He acted like a total wimp, and I have no tolerance for wimp heroes in my romance novels.
The trope:
Why is it that in romance novels, every woman who has had a crappy sex life assumes there’s something wrong with HER? Why do these women assume they’re bad in bed instead of wondering if their boyfriend/husband/life partner is the one who doesn’t know his way around a clitoris? I HATE that! Have a little self-confidence, ladies. If you don’t like sex, it’s entirely possible that you’re just having sex with someone who doesn’t care enough to make sure you’re having a good time. Look elsewhere for sex before deciding that you’re frigid and bad in bed, m’kay? And the whole idea of seeking out a man who can “teach you” how to be better in bed? Gross and pathetic.
Long story short, this book gets 1 star for the pretty, pretty cover and 1 star simply because it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read in a while. I finished it, at least. That’s gotta be worth something.
Full disclosure: I received an ARC from NetGalley at no charge.
And don’t forget to follow Romance Rehab for more reviews, rants, raves, and other fun romance-y stuff: http://www.romancerehab.com/
I was so excited to read The Breakup. The blurb pulled me in and I just knew that this would be a fantastic read. Unfortunately it wasn’t and I’ll tell you why. Let me start by saying that I did not read the first book so I went into this story with no back ground on these characters. I have to be honest, I absolutely disliked Christian and his actions. Just when I started to like him, he did something that ruined it. Bella was an okay character but I just could not connect with her. It’s hard to enjoy a story when you can’t connect with the characters and you dislike one of the main characters. All I can say, is that this story just did not work for me.
At certain points (a lot more than I expected) throughout this story I actually forgot why I didn’t like Christian in the first book, The Hookup. I’m not necessarily satisfied with his reasons for what he did to his brother in the past, but I really got to see that he’s not a bad guy. In fact, he’s really a good guy and he’s doing what he can to be a good father.
As for Bella, I knew there was more to her than the rich stuck-up Stepford wife type young lady we met in that first book. We got to see glimpses of the real Bella in that previous story. Just as I could see how her sister didn’t fit the mold her family expected in book one, I saw how Bella did everything in her power to fit that same mold so as not to disappoint anyone. Bella is a people pleaser, even when that pleasing makes her miserable. For whatever reason, Christian gives her that safe space to be her true self. They may not voice their thoughts about how safe they feel with each other, but at some deep level they can feel that connection.
The progression of this story was a bit different and I really enjoyed the flow. The relationship didn’t take the usual route. It’s not that Christian and Bella did things exactly backward, they were all over the place…but it really worked, and worked well. On top of their relationship, it was good to see that Christian and his twin Cain are slowly working on their own relationship.
While I don’t think you have to read the first book to enjoy this book, it would bring so much more to the story. It may seem like a pretty good book if you don’t read book one first, but having read both it takes this story to a whole other level. This story is amazing! There were a few more tidbits about the rest of the Jordan siblings that have me intrigued for the next book.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2018/08/27/the-breakup-book-review/
Bella is a rich socialite that always does what she’s told. When she discovers her fiancée has been cheating on her, she allowed herself to be persuaded to follow through with the wedding. Until the day of the wedding. Then she panicked!
Christian is a hot bartender on the outs with his twin brother. They had both slept with the same girl, she ended up pregnant & no one knows who the father is. Now, he’s attracted to a rich spoiled socialite & is helping her run away from her wedding & hide out. How much more trouble can he get into?
I feel like both Bella & Christian grew up & matured in this book. Bella was spoiled & indulged as long as she did whatever she was told. Christian didn’t see anything wrong with his reputation or his ways with women. His redeeming factors were that he regretted the loss of his relationship with his brother & he tried to be a good father. Their relationship was extremely rocky & at times, unbelievable. This was an entertaining read but I had trouble finding a connection with the characters. Part of it was me since I’m not a fan of the dual point of views.
I had mixed feelings about The Breakup for most of the book. On a positive note, the story is well-written and the flow is good. It is the second book in the series, which I didn’t know until I started reading. On that note, this is technically Christian and Bella’s story, but there are several things mentioned that I’m assuming were in the first book and some of that carries over into this one. Nevertheless, after some initial confusion, I got the gist of those things and was able to follow the story.
For the most part, my issues lay with this couple. I liked the runaway bride scenario and at times these two were witty and fun. I also liked the interactions with Christian’s son – A baby in the mix is always sure to get a smile. However, I found it hard to like either of these characters. Christian comes across as an unfeeling jerk for a lot of the book. A sexy jerk who knows his way around a woman’s body, but a jerk nonetheless. When confronted with life altering news, his actions are more juvenile than those of a grown man with a child. Then we have Bella, who has a go along to get along attitude until she doesn’t, and just when I thought she was going to show some growth, she turns back into a doormat. These two certainly generate their share of steam, but Bella’s response to it afterward is almost clinical rather than what you’d expect from someone who is supposed to be blown away by Christian’s skills. Finally, we come to the ending, which felt rushed and quite honestly, I felt less of a connection between this pair at the end than at any other time in the book.
From the blurb and high ratings from other early reviewers, I expected so much more from this one. I also realize that I’m in the minority, but it is what it is. This story is clearly not my cup of tea, nor does what I found encourage me to check out the first book in the series. It’s safe to say that I wouldn’t recommend this one.
3.5 Stars:
I had a couple of mixed emotions about Christian. I didn’t like his character much with the first book, and hardly much more in The Breakup. I was not sure at first if I was going to finish. Then a little bit of spark came back when Bella is around. That got the story started for me. So even if it started slow for me at the beginning it did get better. The end of the book seemed a little rushed. I could easily see these pushed as two Novellas to get the complete story. I am a big fan of Erin McCarthy, but these characters were a little hard to get into.
When I started this one I was sure I was not going to enjoy it and for most of it I just gritted my teeth and kept reading because it was an ARC and I finish those but after a while it started to get better. Bella was going to get married but the groom is cheating on her and finally on her wedding day she bolted and called Christian who came and picked her up. Runaway Bride and the bartender…These two have been circling each other and establishing a weird kind of friendship and the rescue cemented everything. The Jordan brothers and the Bigelow sisters are opposites and yet they work. Both stories in this series were kinda off but okay.
The Breakup (The Jordan Brothers) by Erin McCarthy I’ll admit I missed THE HOOKUP and will have to go back and read Cain and Sophie’s story. Thank you to the publisher and #NetGalley for letting me preview this book. This is Bella(Sophie’s sister) and Christian’s(Cain’s brother) story. I didn’t like Christian at first but he won me over… such a good father to Camp…and so many hangups. Bella is the perfect “princess” but she has a cheater for a husband to be. This book has laughs, tears happy and sad, some tough subjects, steamy sex and of course a very HEA.
Netgalley.com. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.
The Jordan family has a reputation in Camden, Maine. Five children and their father was a thief, career criminal and in jail most of their lives. Their mother supported the family by cleaning houses. While I did not read the first book, enough information was provided in this one, to get the reader “up to speed”. Cain and Christian are twins. Both had crushed on Ali in high school, but she was Cain’s girlfriend- until she told Christian that they had broken up. Their short hook up, resulted in a son, Camp. Ali wanted nothing to do with the baby and while the identity of the father can not be determined, Cain and his mother have custody.
Bella Bigelow is a beautiful, wealthy, sweet woman who has always dreamed of marriage and children. A week before her wedding, she finds out their her fiancee, Bradley, has been cheating on her. She wants to call off the wedding, but is talked out of it by her parents. However, when the time comes, with the help of her sister, who is dating Cain, she flees the wedding, calling on Christian to pick her up from the church. He owes her a favor, since she had bailed both the twins out of jail the previous week. Her takes her to the family cabin to give her time to think, but what she wants is Christian to teach her to be sexually satisfying, since Bradley had implies she wasn’t. Christian teachers her more than that. Becasue of his parents situation, Christian doesn’t do relationships, but he just might change his mind the more he gets to know Bella.
I very much enjoyed reading this book. The author cleverly weaves the intriguing characters into a provocative story line.