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Blurb

Lennon Day is a problem.
She was supposed to be a one-time diversion, a friend that temporarily soothed the desires raging under the surface. Now we can’t keep our hands to ourselves, playing a game that we’re both going to lose. I thought I liked my life how it was. I wasn’t expecting for anything to change, for my priorities to ebb and flow like a wave. And now I’m worried everything is going to crash down around me. And that she might be the one who gets lost in the storm.

Lucas Pearson is a problem.
He’s handsome, charming, my childhood crush… and unfortunately, not completely available. When I moved back to Hermosa Beach to work for my family’s foundation, I wasn’t expecting anything to happen. But it did. Now, we collide like magnets, finding each other in the night to satisfy the urges we can’t seem to escape. It’s supposed to be casual. No strings. Emotion-free. And definitely a secret. So what’s the problem? I’ll be anything for him… even if I lose myself in the process.

 

 

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Review

4 stars!

This is the second book in the Hermosa Beach series, a complex friends-to-lovers romance that is angsty and emotional, with great characters and an ultimately gorgeous love story.

The books in this series are closely interconnected, woven around a group of friends in their early 20s. Each book is about a new couple, however there are storylines that run through all of the books, so I would definitely recommend reading them in order.

Lucas Pearson is a professional surfer who appears to be living the dream. He is wealthy, gorgeous and successful, he has great friends, a brand new half-sister, and he’s known for his epic beach parties. He has had the same girlfriend since high school, however Remmy lives out of town, and prefers an open relationship, so they date and see other people, but when she returns to Hermosa Beach, they are together. It’s not a situation that Lucas is particularly happy with, but he lives with it because it’s what Remmy wants. And more recently, it’s allowed him to start exploring something with his childhood best friend, Lennon.

Lennon has been in love with Lucas for as long as she can remember. They had an ‘almost’ moment in high school, but Remmy has always been in the picture, so Lennon never got her chance with the boy that she’s always wanted. But since she returned home after college and learned that Lucas is sort-of available, they have started hooking up. She knows it’s only casual and that she’s most likely going to have her heart shattered because she wants so much more from him. But she can’t stay away.

I probably couldn’t help the way I gravitated towards his warmth when we were younger.
Though I guess now, my interest in Lucas is less of a gravitational pull and more of a violent hurtling through space with nothing to hold on to and the desperate knowledge that nothing good is going to come from it in the end.

Lucas and Lennon together are fire! They are playful, intense and wildly passionate, and their chemistry absolutely sizzles. Their secretive sexual relationship hasn’t made things weird between them, their friendship is just as strong as it always was, but although they have tried to keep their hook ups purely about sex, things are beginning to change between them.

Here we are, wrapped together, naked and emotional and sated in the best way.
I pull back from the kiss and look into her eyes, my heart nearly cracking in two when I see the way she looks at me.
Like she belongs to me. Like I belong to her.
And I don’t.

It’s a difficult situation they are in, and it’s a storyline that I have struggled with in the past. I feel frustration over a hero who seems to be stringing someone along, and frustration at a heroine who allows herself to be a doormat, putting up with scraps, or being the ‘other woman’ just for a glimpse of what they truly want. But I really felt for these two.

At the beginning, they’re just exploring their mad lust, and it’s all kinds of hot, and they’re both having fun with it, so why not? Lennon goes in with her eyes wide open, hiding her true feelings from Lucas, and the way they are when they are together keeps things impersonal – to a certain extent. Lennon thinks she’s in control, but she’s prepared for the worst, and I really empathised with her.

I already know I’m playing with fire. I’ve already accepted that I’m going to get burned. Because if the end result means I get as much of Lucas Pearson as possible, I’ll happily got up in flames.

My feelings towards Lucas changed so much throughout the story. I was angry at him for dragging out a relationship he clearly doesn’t want to be in. And I was SO angry at Remmy for the way she treated Lucas. However, the more I read, the more I came to understand their reasoning, and how they got stuck in the pattern they were in. It’s such a messy situation, but between all that plays out on the page, and hints about what’s happening off the page, it’s clear that there is a lot more to their complex dynamic, and I could understand how they got to where they are. Lucas goes through a lot of character growth and he looks closely at his life, and I loved watching the changes in him as he figured himself out and fought so hard to win his girl.

And that’s the essence of this story, it’s about the characters figuring themselves out – coming to understand all that they are feeling and what they want, finding the strength to do what’s best for them, and putting in the effort to get what they want and find that happy ending, and Liota writes it beautifully

“I don’t want to be your anything. I want to be your everything.”

It’s an emotional ride with plenty of angst, lots of steam, and a swoony and hard-fought-for love story. The rest of the gang are all there watching the drama unfold, and I loved seeing them all, the parts that they had to play in the Lucas and Lennon’s story, and their individual relationships that continue to develop. This is a really great read, and I loved watching Lucas and Lennon truly find their way to each other.

4 stars.

Review Copy generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

Hermosa Beach

 

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About the Author

Jillian Liota is a Southern California native currently living in Kailua, Hawaii. She is married to her best friend, has a three-legged pup with endless energy, and acts as a servant to two very temperamental cats. 

Jillian has authored ten novels in contemporary and new adult romance, and has had her writing praised for depth of character, strong female friendships, deliciously steamy scenes, and positive portrayal of mental health.

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