A steamy, gripping second chance romance that readers are calling “an intoxicating read that will hold you absolutely spellbound.”-Bloggers From Down UnderNOW A TOP 60 AMAZON BESTSELLERIt was a bad idea from the beginning. He was my brother’s best friend and the definition of unavailable.But I didn’t care. I had loved him for as long as I could remember. He was worth the risk. He was worth … as long as I could remember.
He was worth the risk. He was worth everything.
But then he broke my heart as easily as I fell for him.
He watched me fall, spiraling out of control, and as I reached for him, he wasn’t there to catch me.
So I ran.
Four years later, I never expected to see him again.
He was still my brother’s best friend, and he was more unavailable than ever.
He looked every bit the bad boy I knew he was, covered in tattoos and a crooked smile.
Guarding my heart from him was top priority because Parker James was where good girls go to die.
Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t a good girl anymore.
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This book is full of passion and angst main characters fighting their feelings. You find yourself getting lost in this book for hours not wanted put it down. I fully enjoyed this and
already reading the next book in series.
I absolutely love the steam in this book! I wish the book had been longer though. The build up would be so much more dramatic if we had all the angst from their teenage years. The characters are amazing, and their storyline is addicting!
I really loved this book. Great job.
Wow, I really loved this book!! It had the perfect mix of jealousy and angst, and it was just an epic love story! Holly Renee did an incredible job of telling Parker and Livy’s story, past and present, and I felt so connected to both of them. I could actually feel their love coming off the pages.
I will definitely be reading the other two books in this series. In the meantime, this one is absolutely recommended!
I thought I would love this and for the most part I enjoyed it. However, I didn’t love all of the back and forth between Parker and Liv. The chemistry and steam between them was great and gave me Meghan March vibes. But I felt some scenes weren’t necessary for the overall story. I would love to see some of the art mentioned in the book, they sound amazing!
I started reading this after a friend picked it up and said it was fun and spicy, and she was not kidding! It was such a quick read, and while I could see a few of the secrets and twists coming, I definitely could not predict all of them. Would recommend if you’re looking for some spicy romance reads!
Book 32 towards my goal of 240! 5/5 stars for this quick adult romance read. She quick and she spicy! I’m talkin throw you up against the wall kinda steam. A great hate to love story! Not gonna lie, based on the title I just started reading because I thought somebody died….lol surprise, it’s a romance :-p Definitely recommend if you need a quick romance read!
Holly has a way of bringing the reader into the story from the very first page. Livy and Parker’s story flowed so naturally that I didn’t even realize I was at the end of the book until my page wouldn’t turn anymore!
Livy and Parker have always circled around each other. A secret romance when they were younger lead to a complicated blow up that left them both hurt, and licking their wounds. Livy left and didn’t look back until a chance encounter brought her straight back into her brother’s life along with Parker. Brother’s Best Friend romances are my kryptonite, and Holly delivers an epic writing performance. I could feel every bit of Livy and Parker’s emotions as they had to deal with being thrown together again to relive every horrible moment of their past in their present. This book was wonderfully written, and I have already moved on to the next book in this series.
I loved everything about this book except the cheating! Other than that I loved the characters. Livy and Parker were fun to read about. I liked the writing, the settings and the story line, minus the cheating. That’s a hard no for me, specially when it doesn’t do anything but hurt the integrity of the characters and the story.
This series has it all. Brothers best friend, playboy that’s tamed and a hot landlord. Holly has become a one click author for me.
4.5 stars!!
I really don’t know how to review this book! I’m just sitting here thinking how everything played out! I read this book all in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down!! It just totally blew me away!! You are thrown into a roller coaster ride with this book. Parker’s and Liv’s story is not an easy one. First loves are hard to get over. No matter how hard you try to forget or move on. There’s always this invisible string that’s attached to you and this other person forever linking you guys together.
No matter how much time passes…. one look at each other and everything comes flooding back. It’s hard to move on from something like that!
“Parker’s and my love story wasn’t a perfect romance novel. It was complicated, filled with lies, heartbreak, and secrets. I didn’t know if we could ever get past everything we had been through.”
Liv has been in love with Parker it would seem like forever. He’s always been a presence in her life. Being her brother’s best friend. Parker never wanted to cross that line with Liv. But at the same time they had this undeniable connection… He couldn’t stay away. Liv always got Parker. And Parker always gave Liv a side of him he never gave to anyone else.
But since Liv was a little younger than Parker and his best friend’s little sister. There were A LOT of mistakes made by Parker. And I felt poor Liv was trapped. She loved and hated him. She could never move on. She was always stuck watching Parker from the sidelines.
This book has you feeling so many things. You can totally feel all the emotions pouring out of the pages! You can feel everything that Liv and Parker went through… past and present!
I’m not really a fan of going back and forth between present to past in chapters. I’d rather read the past first… then move on to the present. But I felt it worked for this book. Going from present to past just build up Liv’s and Parkers story so much more.
You can feel all the raw emotions they had for each other. All the unfinished business they had to work through.
“I’ve always loved you. Even when you were gone, I always woke up looking for you. I searched for you subconsciously even when I told myself I shouldn’t.”
I wish we would have gotten an epilogue! Some time into the future! In a way it was kind of an swift ending! We get so much angst throughout the book. I would have liked to read more happier times between them. Something other than sex.
This is my first book by this author! I’m definitely going to be checking out her other books!
*ARC provided for an honest review*
This was my first read by Holly Renee and wow! Totally captivated by this book and just blew through it. I absolutely love her writing style and it was such a good twist on a brother’s best friend romance! Soul mates can’t ever stay far from their other half, they will always find their way back to each other even if circumstances are so messed up when they do. Parker and Livy’s story was messy and their timing was wrong but they found their way back to their happily ever after even if they broke some hearts along the way. Definitely a great read and can’t wait to dive into the rest of Holly’s books!
At first glance, it seems like a dark novel, but it actually a second chance romance of the best kind!
Parker is a sensitive, amazing tattoo artist.
Livy is a former stripper, parker’s best friend little sister
The know each other from a young age, and hung together as friends. Parker slways protcted and cared for Livy, and not becuse she was his bestfriend Mason one year younger little sister.
An amazing read! Loved every word and every page.
Loved the skipping between the past and present which helped to understand the story of Livy and Parker better
Their love is gorgeous, consuming and beautiful…
Also, Parker is a good boy in a bad boy skin which is hottttt!
And Livy is a strong, funny, outgoing, outspoken heroine!
Their past intertwined with the present make us readers to love the characters even more…
I was sad when it ended..
So, if you’re looking for a light, epic, amazing, hot, touchy read- this is the one for you!
Olivia Mae Conner is a stripper who is running from her past in Tennessee when her past unexpectedly shows up at her job for a bachelor party. Now she is forced to come home reluctantly and face the person who made he run in the first place.
Parker James broke Liv’s heart many years ago but now he has moved on and is engaged to Emily, a girl the complete opposite of himself. Yet when he sees Liv again he realizes he still cares about her but he needs to remain committed to Emily.
When Liv gets a job offer from Parker’s best friend, Brandon, she is eager to start her life again and find her own happiness if only it didn’t hurt so bad every time she saw Parker.
Can Liv overcome the heartache of the past and find a way to get over the past and can Parker decide what he really wants in his own life before making a decision he can’t turn back from?
This was such a good book and I enjoyed it from start to finish!
I loved Liv and thought she was such a great character and I understood her need to put the past behind her and I got why she wanted as much space between her and Tennessee. I felt horrible for her when she discovered who was there at the bachelor party and why it was happening.
I loved Liv when she realized that she had to start living her own life and fighting for her own sanity in the big scheme of things, especially when it came to Parker. She wanted to move on as he did but Parker was really struggling with that.
Parker was super interesting as he had moved on to someone “safe” with Emily. She was the complete opposite of him and was at no risk to break his heart. Yet he didn’t truly love her as he wasn’t over Liv. He didn’t want anyone near Liv but he was still holding onto Emily at the same time.
I loved both Brandon and Staci and there friendships with Liv and how strong their bonds became. I loved how they had her back and also called out Parker on the things that he needed to do for himself before moving forward with anyone else.
The end was scary and I didn’t know how Parker was going to deal with the guilt he had surrounding Emily but I was so impressed with Emily and everything she said to him!
The end was awesome and I can’t wait for more in the series!
4.5 Stars
By Rebecca
Oh Lord, How Many Feels Are You Throwing My Way? A Lot
*a KU read – No need of sugar daddies called promo teams*
“Carry me home, don’t wanna talk about the things to come
Just put your hands up in the air, the radio on
‘Cause there’s nothing for us to talk about
Like the future and those things
‘Cause there’s nothing for me to think about
Now that he’s gone, I can’t feel nothing.”
The Blackest Day – Lana Del Rey
What’s this book about? (I’m trying to give as little spoilers as possible)
Parker broke Liv’s heart four years ago. Liv is the sister of Parker’s best friend. She’s been trying to avoid him, but her past is catching up to her. She fights her urges, but she also knows that she’s not the same young girl from four years ago. The good girl in her was dead.
“Please believe me, don’t you see
The things you mean to me?
Oh I love you, I love you
I love, I love, I love Olivia.” – Olivia by One Direction
This was my first Holly Renee read. I love the cover! It’s gorgeous. I saw rating NUMBERS on Goodreads being below 4 stars AFTER I had already started the novel and I wondered why there was a low score. I kept reading, waiting for the downfall, but it never came. I loved the leading characters and their chemistry, from sensual to back and forth arguing. Their heartbreak was devastating. In any other book, I’d hate to read the time jumps – but here, I enjoyed them. They added a lot to the characters and I was always eager to read what had happened in the past. Liv and Parker don’t have particularly interesting backstories, but they have immense chemistry with their friends and family. I got all the feels with Parker’s family and Liv (you’ll know when you read it). I liked reading Parker, but at times, as cute as he came across in his tatted boy persona, he appeared to stab the knife in Liv’s heart a little too much. Dude, chill. You’re making a mess of the poor gurl!
This was a fun read. The twists weren’t extraordinarily new, but they were suitable for the story. When Liv said she can’t find her story anywhere else, I said, GURL, I’ll show you 5 books from my memory that have your story. LOL. Thematically, it was old news, but packaged so deliciously fresh!!! The author used a lot of plot points/tropes I’d usually hate in other stories, but she did it effortlessly and without making it a big deal when it’s not like other authors do. I don’t know how to describe it without using spoilers; she used a trope, but she didn’t just rely on the trope for dramatic effect (TROPE RELATED TO PARKER AND HIS ROMANTIC PARTNERS). It was a piece in the puzzle, not the entire puzzle, which I found interesting.
The steam was real. Barely any ACTUAL intimate scenes, yet the teasing was well done and Renee knows how to set the mood right.
I recommend this read to anyone who enjoys forbidden best friend’s sister romance, looking for a second-chance trope with a tatted boy and a good girl reformed into a bad girl with intense chemistry and hilarious side characters that light up the pages!
Had potential but…..Too many long drawn out sex scenes that I felt took away from what was a really nice story. They were in love as teens but kept it from her brother, his best friend. There was a pregnancy scare with another girl and she left and never came back. Fast forward a few years and he and her brother are at a strip club for his bachelor party and she is there as a stripper. They bring her back home but he is to marry someone else.
Great second chance book!
I thought this was a great book. I recommend it to everyone.
Good book. Had to get to the end before put it down
Not much to get excited about. Totally juvenile plot which made no sense.