Lifestyle Magazine

Book Review – Until There Was You by Heatherly Bell

By Vanessa Kay @blushinggeek

Series: Starlight Hill, #3
Genre:
 Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 172
Published: March 5, 2015 by Heatherly Bell Books
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Buy Until There Was You (Paperback)

Sypnosis:

How far would you go to get your fantasy man?

Genevieve Hannigan has longed for her brother’s best friend Wallace as long as she can remember. When she couldn’t have the man of her dreams, she married his Doppelganger. But Genevieve quickly finds that substitutes are never as good as the real thing. Now, with a disastrous two-month marriage behind her, she’s back in town and about to go after studly, hard-bodied contractor Wallace – the only man who’s ever put the dream in her pie.

As his best friend’s little sister, Genevieve has always been strictly off-limits to Wallace. Just one taste of gorgeous Gen, and he may have discovered the secret ingredient missing in all his serial dating.

But when Gen’s ex-husband shows up in town with hopes to reconcile, Wallace’s life is about to get turned upside down…

But when Genevieve’s ex-husband is back in town with hopes to reconcile, things are about to get complicated …

Review:

When I started reading this book, I didn’t really plan on finishing it that night because it’s already late when I started it. But dang! This story didn’t let me sleep. I can’t even count how many times I said “one more” chapter until I reach its end. This story is so irresistible that you can’t put it down until you reach its happily ever after. (well, this series has them big time!)

I have to admit that I already had an idea who’s this story gonna be. Well, if you’ve thought about who stars in the second and fourth book, you’ll already put the two together. But it isn’t just that, if you paid attention on the second book, you’ll catch the hint hehe.

Ok, I’m not going to be cryptic in here for I know it’s going to be hard for all of us. Why is that? Well, I’m afraid I can’t be able to complete this review without mentioning the guy, ayeeeiiii! Ok, here it goes haha. This story is going to be Wallace (the eldest from the Turlock brothers) and Genevieve’s (the confectioner)!!

Omg! How could I forget! Of course Genevieve was mentioned on the fourth book, haha, as well as Billy who’s now a vintner. Dang! I’m really getting old eh?

Back to this story, honestly, I can’t really help but squeal whenever I remember Wallace and Genevieve’s story. Ayeeiii! I really really love their story. It managed to get my attention even when I was just starting with its first chapter and still holds my attention until its ending, though I almost lost interest when I was in the part where Wallace isn’t making any risks for Gen (Genevieve). But I still love it!!!!

Gen was secretly in love with her brother’s best friend, Wallace. It was hard for Gen to get notice by Wallace for he only treated her like a little sister. What’s also the hardest was his brother Joe. He’s been very protective of her after their father died so for him and Wallace, there could be no man who’s going to be good enough for her. She dated so many guys but ended up getting married to a guy he just met on a singles’ cruise. The marriage lasted for only two months then she came back to Starlight hill and opened her own bakery.

I already got hook as early as its first chapter because it started with the bantering of both the main characters. I almost even expected that it’s going to be a love and hate romance (you know, I’m always a sucker for a story like that haha).

After six months of her divorce with his ex-husband, Allen, she received an email that he’s coming in Starlight Hill to reconnect with her and trying to salvage their marriage. When she found that out, she instantly want Wallace gone and go to his cabin which he usually do every January. That instant, I was really intrigued. She’s married? I thought she’s deeply in love with Wallace. I was also intrigued when Joe warned Wallace to prepare himself to face Gen’s ex-husband.

And the suspense just ended when the two of them finally meet. I really don’t want to spoil you guys but I can’t really stop myself on sharing this, haha. The reason why Gen don’t want Allen to come to Starlight hill because he’s the doppelganger of Wallace. But their encounter was epic. I mean, both of them didn’t recognize the similarities. Haha, even the villagers from Starlight hill seen the similarities, how could the two of them don’t? Lol. I am even willing to pay just to see Wallace’s reaction when Gen told him that he and Allen looked the same.

Ok, so after the meeting, I really expected that Allen is going to be a jerk here. But to my surprise, he somewhat look like a coward. He just agreed that Gen already has her “new Wallace” (you’ll know about it when you read this book hehe) But I ended up liking Allen as well, I love how he respects Gen’s decision and didn’t act like a j*rk with it.

For the characters, I really love Gen’s. Her character is really what I am looking for in every heroine in each romance story that I am reading. I thought at first that her character is just going to be “all perfect” and plain, but I was surprise to found out how crazy she could get. I was even laughing so hard when she tried all those things just to seduce Wallace, and I can’t help but salute Wallace for having that “massive” self control lol.

Unlike Billy, Wallace’s character made me fall for him. Ayeeeiiii! Being the eldest, I adore how responsible he is to the extent that he quit football and work partime just to support the family after his father take off. In other words, he’s the man for me. Hehe. But his character isn’t just about positivity, he also has some flaws, which is being too responsible that he even forgot to take good care of his own wants. He’s also very organize that he is thinking what’s going to be the output of his venture before pursuing them. That of course is positive if you apply it to business, but when it comes to love? Well, he isn’t that genius. And last but not the least, he’s not romantic compared to Billy haha. But still, he’s my favorite of all the Turlock brothers <3

The story line isn’t actually new to me. The young sister fell in love with his brothers best friend. But what makes this story interesting is the addition of lesson and of course humor in it. So I guess it’s safe to say that this story is a romantic comedy one eh?

Both of them have their own POV so we really got an idea what’s going on inside their heads. That also helped us to understand about their actions and decisions which can be unreasonable sometimes like Wallace’s decision not take a risk for Gen.

One thing that I liked the least about this book was that, just like the first and second book, it also has those “not so friendly words”, but you have nothing to worry about, because you can still enjoy this story, I can testify that on the raging 5-stars below.

The ending is super romantic, not bad for a non-romantic guy like Wallace eh?

Overall, this book is really entertaining to the extent that it made me think that I like it better than the fourth book, hehe. Btw, this story is not recommended to young readers because it has some slight SPG scenes, though I don’t find them lewd. *wink

This book is highly recommended and I am looking forward to Sofia’s and Joe’s stories (that’s a separate story eh hehe)

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Book Review – Until There Was You by Heatherly Bell


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