Can’t Help Loving You
Eve Kasey
Publication date: March 29th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Ava
What happens when you meet the boy of your dreams in a bookstore?
You pretend you’re not leaving for college in the morning, and instead spend the night falling hard for his blue eyes, dimples, and creative soul – even if Maddox is a poetry hater.
You pretend you don’t get that tattoo in his honor.
You spend the next ten years telling yourself that a corner of your heart isn’t taken by a boy from your past.
When you see those blue eyes again, you pretend you don’t feel seen—awake—for the first time in a decade.
You remind yourself that you said yes to a man you didn’t want to marry, and now you’re stuck.
You tell yourself that this is the life you wanted.
But it isn’t. Not anymore.
Maddox
What happens when you run into the woman you haven’t stopped thinking about for a decade? The wild-haired, free-spirited sunshine girl from your past?
You pretend she’s not at that brewery with her fiancé, your new friend. Leo. The man who can make or break your design career.
You pretend neither of you see that Leo is keeping secrets and close to breaking.
You pretend you don’t know how miserable Ava is with her life, how she only lights up when you’re around.
You tell yourself you don’t ache for the one woman you can’t have.
But you do. You want her as badly as she wants freedom, and the time has come to stop pretending.
Before I begin my review I quickly have to thank Xpresso Book Tours (click here to see the tour stops) for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour and for graciously providing me with an eGalley of the book to read for my review stop today.
I should also mention that these are my honest and sincere thoughts about the book.
I know I probably say this more than enough times but I love being part of blog tours because I love discovering a new author and I am so happy that I was able to get on the tour for this book. I checked out the backlist of Eve’s books and I have to say I am curious about her other books. I know I definitely want to check them out now. I really enjoyed this one. I love being able to add a new author to my list.
One of my favorite tropes is a second chance at love. I always felt that if it didn’t happen the first time and years later you bump into the person again that it’s possible it could finally happen and if not then you always have those special memories. I always believe that things happen for a reason.
I should mention that this is a standalone book. I should mention that this has trigger warnings of depression, panic attacks, PTSD, and descriptions of war trauma, and parental death.
Our main character is Maddox one day he and his friends skip school and spend the day in Seattle. It’s on this day he spots Ava and she is a ray of sunshine. Maddox just has to meet his girl. He ditches his friends and follows her into a bookstore. They spend the day/night together and it’s everything you could ever want. If I was in high school, Maddox would have been that boy I would have crushed over.
Well fast forward 10 years they meet again only this time Ava is engaged to Maddox’s friend, Leo. Leo is a wounded veteran and Maddox is helping him develop a line of shoes. They hit it off instantly and Leo invites Maddox out for drinks. This is when he sees Ava again.
You definitely could feel the connection and feelings that are still there between Ava and Maddox. I don’t think you ever truly forget your one first true love. Ava doesn’t realize the impact she has had on Maddox over the years. What would she say if she found this all out? Will they remain loyal to Leo?
I can’t speak for Eve’s other books as I have not read them yet but if this is anything like her previous books I definitely want to read them. I loved Eve’s writing and how detailed she is in this world-building and her characters. She makes her characters seem like real authentic people.
I definitely breezed through this rather quickly because I was hooked from the get-go and could barely put the book down. To me, that is always a good sign that a book is amazing. Also, to a read a book that takes place in a bookstore and then involves poetry yes please I want to read this even more so. I just recently started to read some poetry and enjoying it so far.
Author Bio:
Eve Kasey started composing stories in childhood, both in her head and with an electric typewriter loaded with pink paper. She writes for a design firm by day and reads independently published romance novels by night.
Eve writes contemporary romance that balances sweetness and steam while aiming to teach readers something new. Her books are where nerdy meets dirty. She believes romance novels can be a platform to portray healthy relationships and attitudes towards sex.
Eve lives in Washington state with her very stylish husband and two children.
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