Thirteen years ago, Vivi LeBrun was sketching a rooster and eating Oreos when she first met—and fell for—her friend’s brother, David St. James. Since then, her love for David has only intensified thanks to years of friendship with his family, who rescued her from a lonely, tumultuous childhood. As she travels to Block Island to vacation with the St. James siblings, Vivi daydreams about reuniting … reuniting with David, hoping he’ll finally see her as his soul mate.
After his mother’s death, David distanced himself from his siblings, determined to hide a devastating family secret. Now, he’s brought a new girlfriend along to his homecoming—one who’s pushing for a serious commitment. The last thing he needs on his growing list of problems is his budding attraction to Vivi.
With tensions running high, David’s behavior triggers a series of events that might cost him the love he’s always taken for granted and Vivi the only real family she’s ever known.
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Intense and emotional. Perfect for lovers of contemporary women’s fiction and romance.
This was such a great story and took us through Vivi’s troubled childhood to the present when she joins the St. James family on Block Island for a vacation and David’s return from years away from the family. She met the family because she was best friends with Cat and she was took in by their amazing family and formed a special relationship with David. Over the years their friendship grew and changed until nothing was the same. This one was so good and now I cannot wait to find out what happens with the rest of the St. James family.
Excellent Romance. This is a hardcore romantic drama, quite different in that respect from my typical romance fare of late – and an excellent example of why I like the entire breadth of the genre. The author is a touch more realistic than some of her peers, and it shines here. Both leads are believable, and the supporting cast – most of which is destined to appear in future books as leads themselves – are fully fleshed out for purposes of this story as well. (Obviously for those featuring in future books, we should get better views of them there.) Very much looking forward to the next book in the series – indeed, I’ve already started it.
This was my first book by Jamie Beck and it was a very pleasant surprise!! i was literally hooked since the very first minutes of the book, I didn’t want to put it down and it made me want to continue the series and know more about the other characters…
This is the story of Vivi and David.. two souls destiny to be together after knowing each other for as long as they even remember..
Vivi didn’t have a normal childhood, she has some past memories that keep making her feel like she had something to do with her past sadness. but life will bring her so much love and a family that will take her and take care of her as one of their own..
vivi was in love with him since she was just a kid but life and circumstances didn’t make this attraction easy.. to many things family and morals wherein the middle making their love almost impossible or a little more harder than she would ever want.
“Even in the crisp night air, being near her felt like standing under the sun. Warmth seeped from her body and flowed along the ground, like a river of heat seeking to penetrate the frozen places inside his chest.”
David is a very handsome guy who is very successful and has everything that he needed.. but life was about to teach him things that maybe will make him build walls around his heart.. he was hurt by someone who he loved so much and now he doesn’t know if he is ready or if he could ever trust again.. there is only one person for him, now he has to release this before he loses her forever..
“Accidents happen. Mistakes were made. The only way to move forward was through forgiveness and acceptance—of others and one’s self.”
The love between David and Vivi is beautiful, I really love how much David care for her in a way that is so protective even if he doesn’t want to admit this at first but he is always in charge and taking care of what he loves and care.. the chemistry is very strong between this two.. you could feel them everytime they were in the same room.. no matter how much they try to pretend we always could feel the need and the attraction for eachother.. this definitely one of the things that I love about their love.
“I love you,” he said. “I love you more,” she replied, and kissed his neck just behind the ear. “No, Vivi. I love you most.”
there were so many other great characters supporting these amazing story like Cat, Hank, and Jackson that I’m so eager to know more about them in the next books of this amazing series..
so many great things to say about this story.. i really recommended..
Two new-to-me authors in a row that blew me away. I really adored this story. I’ll admit that at one point I thought the story was going to end up longer than it had to be, but I was wrong. The story that needed to be told, the journey that Vivi had to go through to find her confidence, the realizations David need to come by, all warranted the story continue past where I thought it would go.
Poor Vivi. She is everyone’s champion and always has a cheery outlook, but who is her champion? David has played that role in the past, but always while still keeping her in her neat little box of “friend” when she wanted more. Then he disappeared on her and the rest of his family after his mom passed away. Yet, when he turns back up with an unknown girlfriend in tow almost two years later, she still gives him the benefit of the doubt.
David has always been one to follow the rules. He’s always admired his parents and their relationship, felt he was the protector of his younger siblings, and he took Vivi under his wing when she and his sister became best friends. His world comes crashing down soon before his mom dies and finds he has to leave for a while so he can pick up the pieces on his own. Only he never really deals with the issues that caused him to run and, in the meantime, he’s pushed his siblings and Vivi away.
My heart breaks for David. He’s put in such a terrible position. As much as the stories of his mom make her seem like a wonderfully warm and caring person, I feel she put a huge burden on him that should never have been his to carry. And David’s personality won’t let him go against his mother’s wishes, even when they are making him seem like the bad guy in a terrible situation. As always, Vivi is there for David and is his biggest support.
I found there to be beautiful chemistry with David and Vivi and that chemistry really made the scenes with David’s current girlfriend awkward…which was perfect for the story. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the friendship chemistry with Vivi and Cat. Vivi seemed closer and to be more herself with Cat’s brothers. Part of that could be that Cat was written as being distant due to her own relationship issues at the time, and when I read the next story which features Cat I will hopefully learn to love her a bit more than I did in this story.
This was a good, solid read. The side characters, for the most part, were fleshed out wonderfully and really gave me a lot to look forward to in this series.
Very good, will try more of Jamie’s books.