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ARC Review: Come Alive (Cityscape series #2) by Jessica Hawkins

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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.

Review: Come Undone (Cityscape Series #1) by Jessica Hawkins

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Title:  Come Undone
Author: Jessica Hawkins
Publisher/Year:  Barnes & Nobles 1/1/13
Length:  245 pages
Series: CityScape Series #1

Overview

COME UNDONE tells a compelling story of devotion, desire, deception and ultimately, love. It is book one in The Cityscape Series.

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Olivia Germaine has already found love. Devoted wife, loyal friend, successful career woman – she’s created the life she always envisioned.

But when Olivia locks eyes with a handsome stranger across a crowded room, he peers a little too closely and sees emotions she thought she’d buried long ago.

David Dylan, alleged playboy and eternal bachelor, challenges Olivia to confront the life she’s built and to make decisions that could either lead to happiness . . . or regret.

Will Olivia be able to draw the line between lust and love?

And can David respect that line?

My Thoughts

I picked up this first installment not knowing what i was going to get.  The summary itself seemed nice and interesting, a married woman who’s at a crossroads in her life, relatively happy but missing something quite big and important in her relationship.  So…i figured why not read right?

So we meet Olivia (Liv) the married woman who has most things going for her.  she’s got a husband that initially she felt a really impressive draw to, a good job that she’s up for promotion on, and great friends.  Her past is a little rocky of course but not to the extent that we feel will really have an impact on her.  Her parents divorced right before she was in high school, but it took a toll on her. Her friends seem to think that it changed her and damaged her, but we don’t really get into it too much.

We also meet Bill, her husband who’s a busy lawyer.  He seems nice enough, but kinds of ‘run of the mill’ if you ask me.  He wants to settle down and be a suburban family man, which isn’t really where Liv is feeling her life should be right now.  that paired with a missing spark means that we’re in for a rocky ride.

One night at an event, Liv’s life changes forever.  she locks eyes with a mysterious dark handsome man across the room and feels a connection that she can’t shake.  This man, David is going to find himself completely intertwined in her life through a number of circumstances.  He knows her best friend’s fiance, he’s being courted as one of Chicago’s Most Elligible Bachelors (which Liv is in charge of at her job as an editor of a mag).

What i enjoyed in this story is that our lead is married – i’m used to it being a single girl that wants to prove that she’s not naive and inexperienced.  Here, we have Liv who is married, has morals and is certainly NOT naive.  She’s just missing the wow factor and tries to convince herself that she doesn’t need David for that, and that she can find it with Bill.

So throughout this story, we’re wondering what’s going to become of the dynamic with Liv and David and then what’ll happen with Bill.  Not only do we get that, we get the added drama of a man that Bill put into jail now attacking Liv and trying to harm her.  So my questions:

1) What’s going to happen with Liv and Bill

2) what’s going to happen with Liv and David

3) Will Mark (the criminal) come back?

4) do you trust that Bill actually works so much or is there something else going on?

5)Will Liv get the promotion?

so, now i’m onto reading the 2nd book in the series ‘Come Alive’ to see if we get any of these answers