When one man’s death exposes a complex web of lies, three couples discover the true meaning of love, loss and redemption.CrystalI was the strong one, they said, until two words brought me to my knees.It was a secret I didn’t share with anyone. A secret that made me promise I’d never fall in love. I no longer wanted that white picket fence of every woman’s dreams.Until the unthinkable happened.Gabe white picket fence of every woman’s dreams.
Until the unthinkable happened.
Gabe
I thought I had it all with the best medical practice in the state and the woman of my dreams.
I wore a smile on my face every single day. I couldn’t wait to watch her walk down the aisle and start our forever, except she never did. My runaway bride made me realize love isn’t worth it.
What happens when your dreams unexpectedly come true?
This is the story of unexpected love.
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I love multi-book sagas; series of standalones are my absolute favorite. I love the interconnecting world and the different couples. We first met Gabe and Crystal Perfect Love Story, Love Story #1 and I think I instantly feel in love with them. Getting to see their story unwind was beautiful and exhilarating.
Once again I am blown away by Natasha Madison! Each of her books is my favorite but this series is EVERYTHING and so much more. As a writer she has certaintly stepped outside her comfort zone but she tackled this new frontier and claimed it as her own.
Ms. Madison is growing as a storyteller. Her words and worlds are maturing and it’s so exciting to read. I cannot wait to see what comes next! Thank you, Ms. Madison for writing another beautiful and heartwrenching story.
What can I say, I am in love with Crystal and Gabe and their story! These two have a love/hate relationship. They drive each other crazy but it’s so much fun watching it unfold!
This book had the ability to have me laughing one minute and crying the next. Throwing humor and heartache all in one book and doing it as beautifully as their journey was done, made for an amazing read! This is a MUST READ!! 5 STARS!!
Oh Natasha Madison you have done it again!!!! Unexpected Love Story gives us all the feels!! We met Gabe and Crystal in the first book of this series, A Perfect Love Story and I couldn’t wait to get their story. I was not disappointed! Crystal is this amazing, strong and sassy nurse who moves to a small coastal town to help her cousin start fresh. She’s not looking for love, a secret, she carries alone, stops her. Enter Gabe, a doctor she goes to work for when she moves. His heart has been crushed. Sparks and barbs fly between these two when they meet. But is this the first time they’ve met? They know each other as Jane Doe and John Doe, unrelated of course. They have an amazing chemistry and this was such a fun, and at times emotional, ride. This is a standalone and can be read without having read the first book, though I highly recommend both.
I knew I would love it before I even started reading it. Why or how you ask? Because every book that I’ve read of Natasha’s, I’ve fallen in love with. She has a phenomenal way of making her books come to life. You feel like your there with the characters. The back and forth between Gabe and Crystal will have you laughing and crying and totally falling in love with all the characters like I did. Natasha can write about weeds growing and she’d make it sound good. She is and always will be one of my favorite authors.
Unexpected Love Story is the second book in this series. When I was reading Perfect Love Story I loved the dynamic between Gabe and Crystal.
Now we get their story and boy is it a good one!
I love the whole vibe of this book, it is funny, emotional and sexy. I couldn’t put it down. I also liked getting a different perspective of things that happened in Perfect Love story. I like how the stories intermingled but how we only get what we need from the previous story to enhance t for us, not tell it all over again.
I can’t wait for more from this series!
ALL THE FREAKING FEELS!! I absolutely loved Crystal and Gabe’s story! It was filled with so much heat, hilarity, stubbornness and heartbreak but also so much heart and love! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this and I was not disappointed! Natasha did what she does best and weaved a tale of pure magic! It was amazing and I can’t wait for Blake’s story next!
I fell head over heals for Walker and Hailey in The Perfect Love Story(Love Story, #1). Nothing was going to prepare me for the “unexpected story” of Gabe and Crystal. Natasha Madison just keeps these stories coming and I have become addicted to this series. Gabe was left at the altar by his runaway bride, Crystal’s hopes and dreams for the future she always wanted are crushed when she was just 19. A chance meeting that leads to an incredible night of passion leads to a humorous relationship but possibly something else, something deeper. I devoured this one and I am already thinking of a
re-read.
Natasha Madison gives us book 2 of the Love series and I love that this book is written in time with Hailey’s story. Crystal and Hailey’s lives are so intertwined that it makes sense that their stories, the biggest events in their life would happen together. This entire series, so far, has been about secrets and lies. The biggest coming secrets and lies from Hailey’s dead husband from book 1, Perfect Love Story. Please read that book before starting Unexpected Love Story.
There are some secrets that we keep to ourselves because they hurt too much to think or to talk about. Crystal has a secret and I get it, I understand that unbearable heartache that makes it feel as if you’ll never feel whole, you’ll never be whole. You’ll never know what it’s like to be a woman. I understand and there are times I think it’s the worse hand to be dealt in life. I’m sure Gabe wishes his biggest mistake, his biggest failure, could be a secret. Nope, not for Gabe… his life altering event, ironically, came at the altar in front of 500 of his closest friends and family, as well as hundreds that he probably didn’t know. I can’t even imagine that humiliation and the feelings it leaves you shuffling through.
Gabe and Crystal are completely combustible together. They come together like two feverish magnets and its explosive when they connect. Ms. Madison created such a killer storyline and keeps the pace fast and completely captivating. I couldn’t stop once I started. I had the BIGGEST book hangover after the Perfect Love Story and haven’t been able to think of anything else but this series since I finished the last word of book 1. I wasn’t sure Unexpected Love Story was going to be able to hold up to the love that I have for the first book… it was immense. While reading this book, not only did I get a completely new, consuming and poignant story but I felt like I received more for the first book. Seeing the story from another person’s viewpoint made the story even more emotional, more sorrowful. I haven’t read Broken Love Story and I have no doubt that it will continue to build, just like this one has on the overall story. My expectations for Natasha Madison books are soaring to new heights with ever book she writes!
I received an ARC of this book with the hope that I would leave an Unbiased Opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… my opinions.
Crystal and Gabe have smoking hot chemistry and it was so fun to watch them fall in love. I don’t want to give any spoilers so I won’t say too much, but this story is everything. And the epilogues are the icing on the cake!
WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!!! Unexpected Love Story was absolutely amazing! I don’t even know where to start. This is the second book in the Love Series, and if you have read The Perfect Love Story than you know we get a little bit of Crystal and Gabe’s story in it as well. Each book so far has been interconnected, and I love that we get to see how each couple is doing. But Gabe and Crystal’s story so far is my favorite.
Crystal is one of the strongest heroine’s that this author has ever wrote about. She is the one that will carry others’ burdens because when she loves, she loves so hard. She will literally do anything in her power to protect and care for those people. People is her thing. That is why she is a nurse, and excels at it. Carrying her own secret for years, she has promised herself to never fall in love.
Gabe runs the best Medical Clinic within 5 counties with his father. He had everything he ever wanted, the money, family, friends and the woman he thought he was gonna spend the rest of his life with, until the day he was left at the alter. Promising himself to never feel that hurt again, he vows to stick to what he knows best.
That is until the UNTHINKABLE HAPPENS!!
Can Crystal and Gabe get through the unthinkable or will their unexpected love story come crashing down?
Unexpected Love Story is book two in this series and we get Gabe and Crystal’s story! I loved Crystal in Perfect Love Story so I was happy that she was getting her own! I loved Crystal, she was feisty, sassy, strong and pretty awesome! Gabe, he was sexy and swoony! Crystal and Gabe had amazing chemistry, the sexual tension was off the charts and the sexy scenes were scorching!! I loved loved them together! They are my favorite couple!! This book was amazing and is definitely my favorite of the series! I cannot wait for the next one!
Ohhhhhh….this book……is…….absolutely heartwarming with a lot of laughs thrown in. We follow Gave and Crystal who we met in Book One Perfect Love Story. These two had all of us wondering what they were up too! And boy what a story we got with them!
Crystal moved with her cousin/best friend when Haileys life changed. Starting a new job in a new place was going to be pretty awesome for Crystal until she meets her new boss.
Dr. Gabe Walker was left at the alter by his fiancée, so he’s newly single. Going away to a convention he never knew his life would change so quickly. It all changed when we met “Jane Doe” and she ends up back in his life.
We watch as these two fight like cats and dogs and then we watch as they fall in love so hard neither one knows what to do. We watch as Crystal struggles to accept that she has fallen and we watch as Gabe doesn’t allow her to get away.
There may be some Unexpected surprises in store for these two and it’s a pleasure to read about them. Love wins out in the end and it’s a beautiful Story to read.
Highly recommended. Natasha Madison writes stories that fill your heart with happiness after all the angst.
Gabe and Crystals story was absolute perfection! The push and pull of their relationship had you rooting for them and wanting more. While Gabe has been burned in the past, Crystal hides what she thinks is a detestation secret. Oh how my heart hurts for her. As strong as Crystal is she needs someone like Gabe who sees her and loves her just as she is! Their journey is one of love, laughter, and heartbreak, but I think will all work out in the end
5 Phenomenal Stars
Review by Nancy
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night with Books Blog
A perfectly written, heartwarming page turner. Unexpected Love Story by Natasha Maddison was fantastic! This story is a rollercoaster of emotions, it gave me all the feels. Natasha captured me the minute I started reading, I couldn’t put this book down.
Unexpected Love Story is the second book in the Love series. When we first meet Gabe and Crystal in book one they leave a lot to wonder about. Set up on the same timeline as the first book, but from a different vantage point, Unexpected Love Story gives us the story of two people who never expected to settle down, both for different reasons, but both determined to be alone.
Gabe and Crystal first meet as Jane Doe and John Doe, not thinking they would ever have to see each other again. In an unexpected turn of events, Crystal finds herself working for none other than John Doe, also known as Gabe. From the start, this book is full of sexual tension and chemistry between the two. Their story was so intriguing, both had suffered heart ache and loss but found themselves enamored by one another.
Natasha gave us two very relatable characters, it was impossible not to fall in love with them and their story. I cried, I laughed, and then I cried again, but this time they were happy tears. Not only did she do an amazing job developing the story and characters, but she did it while giving us a story full of unexpected emotions. This had one of my favorite HEA! I LOVED this book so much! I can not wait for book three. If you need me I will be over here anxiously waiting for Broken Love Story.
Unexpected Love Story is book 2 in the Love Story Series by Natasha Madison and follows Crystal and Gabe’s story.
Experiencing something so heartbreaking at such a young age that completely changes the course of the future she had mapped out, Crystal vows to never fall in love.
After being left at the altar by the love of his life, Gabe has sworn off relationships, that way he never has to experience that heartbreak again.
A surprise reunion that leaves them both questioning everything they felt about love and relationships. Will they fight against the attraction, the pull, the connection? Or will they give into their feelings, and find their happy ever after, their Unexpected Love Story?
I love Crystal and Gabe! They are both so stubborn, trying to deny their feeling for each other. When they finally fall, they fall hard. Both have a huge amount of emotional baggage that they still haven’t really gotten over, but together they help each other heal.
This book works along side Perfect Love Story, it’s happening at the same time which I enjoyed as i got answers to questions I had whilst reading PLS about Gabe and Crystal.
After everything they had both been through, Natasha really did give them an amazing HEA, and it had me smiling from ear to ear! And the double epilogue was brilliant!
A fantastic read and a great instalment to the series!
4 stars
I was intrigued with Gabe and Crystal since Book one and I was not disappointed. As a matter of fact I saw Gabe in an entire whole different way. Book one did him no justice, lol. And I’m glad that book one was like that because when you read their story it answers LOTS of questions.
Book 1 you saw their chemistry and book 2 just digs deeper. These two were off the chain scorching hot!!! They met unexpectedly which was a surprise and then again was another surprise. But Gabe was into her from the beginning. Their banter and back and forth was freaking hilarious. You get to see their weaknesses but you also get to see their beautiful side. Gabe was all alpha and Crystal just enjoyed pressing his buttons but they were always professional. I loved how he had her on a pedestal professionally and so did she. They were a great duo. But behind closed doors it was panty melting steamy.
When she was surprised I cried and I loved that moment. The little hiccup was handled graciously by both. And whenever his past tried to interfere he gave no intentions of it ever becoming an issue and I loved it. Both epilogues were funny as hell and no matter what their banter was still strong, lol. I loved these two even more after reading their story.
I cannot express how much I loved Unexpected Love Story…this series so far! I am in love with these characters and the entire storyline
We met Hailey and Jensen in Perfect Love Story, now we get the fun and flirty development of the relationship between Crystal and Gabe. All the characters are intertwined and mentioned, so there’s no reason not to start at the beginning of this series. Yes, they can be read as stand-alone books…yada, yada, yada. But honestly, why would you want to do that when Natasha has given us some of her best work!
Crystal is definitely one of my favorite heroines. She is sassy and strong, yet vulnerable about a secret she’d hiding from her past. I love how she doesn’t back down to Gabe, or anyone for that matter. She’s an independent woman and won’t be deterred by swagger and a sexy smile…until Gabe. Natasha does not hold back; the first time Crystal and Gabe meet will set your panties on fire. WOW! The chemistry and heat between them is a four-alarm fire. It might be worth mentioning that Natasha knows how to write saucy and sexy and that is exactly what you get with Crystal and Gabe!
It is so entertaining to watch the two of them fight the undeniable attraction they have for one another. Gabe swears off women, but once Crystal gets under his skin she’s the one ailment this hot doctor can’t find a cure for. Ahhh, I just loved Gabe. I don’t know what else to say about his character other than he’s a tall drink of water that quenched my thirst. Everything about him checked off the “boxes” in the proverbial book boyfriend checklist. Nothing is sexier than couples who fight each other at every turn, but can’t keep their hands off one another as if their lives depended on it. They’re both stubborn and at the same time sensitive, looking for a piece of themselves they lost.
Book #3 in this series is Broken Love Story. We have so many great characters to choose from, I have a pretty good feeling what we’re in for with this final book and I simply can’t wait!
It’s always interesting watching two people, who clearly share an attraction, attempt to fight their feelings, refusing to open their hearts again due to a past that’s made them swear off the opposite sex. But a connection like Gabe and Crystal have is not something that will remain dormant, so try as they might, their unexpected love story is ready to be told, so these two need to be ready to help heal each other like they do with the patients that enter their doors.
Gabe and Crystal learned the hard way that love isn’t worth the heartache that comes with it, but fate seems to be testing their resolve when they come face-to-face again, bringing the memories of their one-night stand to the forefront and making it incredibly difficult to not give in to the sexual chemistry that was evident throughout their one night together and hums between them every time they cross each other’s paths, which is quite frequently due to the nature of their jobs as well as the small community they reside.
I don’t usually sign up to read/review the second book in a series when I haven’t read the first one yet, but because I’ve heard such amazing things about Natasha Madison’s storytelling and the ease in which she writes the perfect blend of witty, steamy, and dramatic scenes, I knew I needed to make an exception and dive into Gabe and Crystal’s story, and I’m so glad that I did. Madison does a great job setting up the storyline and exploring the number of ways that one person’s deception has affected a significant amount of lives, leaving them picking up the pieces and finding a way to move forward when it seems impossible.
Crystal is the perfect woman for Gabe, even if he refuses to admit it; she’s intelligent, an amazing nurse, and she doesn’t allow Gabe’s broodiness to get the better of her. She holds her own around everyone and has enough sass and sarcasm to keep those around her on their toes, especially a certain doctor who acts like she’s a pain in his ass when, in reality, their battles make him want to strip her bare and reexamine every part of Crystal’s body that he once had the pleasure of exploring. I can’t blame Gabe for his negative feelings when it comes to women; his ex broke his heart, but it’s clear that Crystal can help heal it, but only if they’re both willing to risk their hearts again and stop keeping one another at arm’s length.
Gabe and Crystal’s story focuses on more than just the push and pull between them; there are issues that have to be dealt with that involve some of the secondary characters in the book, and while some readers who have already read book one may not need the insight/recap that is provided, this time, from Crystal’s point of view, it helped me understand the dynamics of certain relationships and the reasons behind Crystal’s decision to move and how it helps those characters closest to her.
Unexpected Love Story is a great read with just the right amount of angst, humor, and sizzle. I enjoyed the camaraderie amongst the Walker family as well as the tight bonds between Gabe and Crystal and their friends.
I made it a point this year to read new-to-me authors and Natasha Madison is definitely one I’m glad I was introduced to, and I can’t wait to checkout more of her stories!
4.5 Poison Apples
The stages of reading Unexpected Love Story went like this:
1. Pure Excitement. Perfect Love Story was one of the best books I have ever read. I’ve been bouncing off the walls excited to get Crystal and Gabe’s story since I finished the first book. I KNEW this one was going to be epic!
2. Ugly Cry. If you haven’t read the first book in this series (WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!) Go back, read it now so you may be fully prepared. Seeing the past through Crystal’s eyes absolutely shattered my heart all over again but also made me love her even more.
3. Fan myself. The chemistry between Crystal and Gabe is insanely hot. Like ho. ly. crap HOT! These two make sexual tension an art form.
4. Laugh hysterically in public confirming your insanity to everyone. Between Crystal’s sass and Gabe’s frustration you don’t just get amazing sparks you also get great moments of humor.
5. Swoon like crazy. The swoon is strong in this one. The number of times I literally sighed like a girl in a teen drama is outrageous. Even with the back and forth that happens between these two stubborn people the love is so real you can feel it.
6. Cry the happy tears because this book is such perfection and your heart feels full to bursting by the time you reach the end.
Natasha Madison never fails to blow me away with every single book. Unexpected Love Story captured me the second I started reading. I went on an emotional roller coaster as Gabe and Crystal danced around each other in the most delicious of ways. A bit lighter than the first book in this series, but still full of the feels I adored every page! I already thought Crystal was the bomb before reading this, but now seeing her side of things I can honestly say everyone deserves a friend like Crystal in their corner. Despite the sassy stubborn woman you first see with Gabe she has a heart that is huge. The love she has for her family and friends runs deep and it’s heartwarming to see.
Gabe is a determined man and that’s exactly what Crystal needs. No matter how much she pushes he stays strong and that made me love him so freaking hard! I am now dying for the next book in this series because I’m completely addicted to these characters!
»If you ever left me, I would turn over every fucking stone there was to find you because I know I can’t live without you.«
Ooo Gabe…I LOVE this man. He was just a big teddy bear. And Crystal – now that is a woman after my taste. Fierce, loyal to a fault and funny. The bickering was outstanding. Gabe and Crystal made me laugh so much i had to put a pillow over my mouth. I loved how their personalities crashed but somehow they were perfect together.
The only problem I have with this book is I wanted an explanation at the end of the story as to how their story ended or began is better word for it. Maybe i’ll get it in the next book.
What a great way to continue a series. I’m so looking forward to book 3 that it’s not even funny. Bring it on – I’m ready <3
***Review copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads Blog***