Title:  Come Alive
Author: Jessica Hawkins
Publisher/Year:  Barnes & Nobles 5/30/13
Length:  275 pages
Series: CityScape Series #2

Overview

Determined to move on with her life, Olivia Germaine has vowed to forget David Dylan. Struggling to keep her head above water, she focuses on her new promotion and refuses to drown in the memory of their night together. But when Olivia realizes what life without David means, she must decide if she is willing to risk everything for him… and if she is ready to reopen the wounds of her past.

Can Olivia move forward with her marriage despite her feelings for David?

And can David stay away like he promised?

My Thoughts

I still find myself really enjoying that in this series, it’s the man (David) who tends to be the more emotional ‘clingy’ one and Olivia the one that’s pushing him away.  It’s a nice change to see that sort of strength in the female lead.  I also really enjoy the fact that we know that David is successful and established professionally, financially very well off, but it’s not really talked about in this story too much.  we don’t really see him flaunting his wealth aside from his Porsche and the properties that he works on.

When i finished Book 1, Come Undone, i was left a bit wanting for where things would go.  We kept getting glimpses into the dynamic with Liv and Bill and among their friends too.  I feel like the 2nd installment really brought that to the forefront for us and we got to see more about how Olivia’s choices and actions really impacted everyone.  She finds herself in a drunken moment right before Lucy got married spewing off the idea that love and marriage are just a shame, she continues to try to be the supportive friend for Gretchen who’s going through her own roller coaster of romance, and at the same time she’s trying to find the right place for herself professionally.

Throughout this entire story, i kept wondering when we were going to get a decisive ending to things, the closure that we wanted either to be with bill or to be with David…and it literally took until the final moment of the book for us to figure it out.  I really enjoyed that while Olivia knew that she was going against everything right and moral by having an affair with David, she wasn’t willing to throw that away just for the connection.  She kept debating internally that there had to be a valid reason for things, wondering if she could be what Bill wanted and she fought for that long and hard.

So, all this being said, we got a LOT MORE heat and passion in this book, and it took me to that happy place that i look for when i’m reading the romance/erotica genre.  We feel the sexual tension, and feel what it’s like for Liv and David when we know that Olivia has struggled with connections her whole life.  We also feel how hard Bill tries to make things as good as Olivia wants them, and with all that, you know that it’s going to be explosive.

You’ll have to read up if you want to find out who’s endings are happiest here, but i think that it’s the right ending for the story.  now i have to do my research to see if there will be a follow up because i’m curious about what’s next on the journey for these characters.