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A review by lisaluvsliterature
On Loverose Lane by Samantha Young
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’m not saying that I haven’t enjoyed the romantic suspense series that Samantha Young has been writing the last few years. But, this book, this is the type of story that made me fall in love with her writing and become an auto-buy/reader. The sports romance aspect is a little different, but the large family of actual relatives, friends, and found family all coming together to rally around the characters was perfection. The main characters are a whole new world, not at all cookie cutters of their parents from the original series, but we also get to see how those characters molded and shaped them, and how those original characters fit into the world when it isn’t their personal story anymore.
Beth is someone that I could totally connect with. Her fear of failure, how one thing going wrong or being unknown could send her spiraling into how then everything was going to fail and it was all her fault, boy do I know those moments. While I pretty much always had those moments when I was alone, I could put on the “I’m okay” face and keep the spiraling from happening around other people, Beth had some moments where it hit her when other people were around. She did her best to get somewhere alone to handle it though.
Callan was a grumpy almost enemy. Because of how the budding relationship between the two of them had ended abruptly, it fed into the way other people had made him feel inferior due to his background, and the fact that Beth came from a wealthy well-known family didn’t help. Even if she didn’t think that way, and it wasn’t why exactly she stepped away from him, it totally came across that way. Both of them thought they knew the other one well, but when the meet up again as adults they realize that they never did really know the other one.
Their enemies to lovers/second chance romance storyline was wonderful. I loved how Callan’s teammates were instantly in love with her, friend-love that is. I loved how Beth made friends with the women she ran into in the mornings coming out with Callan after one night stands. I mean except one, the one Callan knew he probably shouldn’t have taken home in the first place.
All the steaminess that Young knows how to write was in the book. But so much emotion, again as she knows how to write, fit in seamlessly and filled the story out. There was such wonderful handling of Beth’s panic attacks and how she handled them, or started to finally work to get them figured out and shared with those who cared about her the most so they could be there for her and understand. Yes, there was even a couple moments when both Beth and Callan had that thought that normally adds unnecessary and in my opinion unrealistic drams, maybe the other would be better off without them because of the issues that came from being together. But in this case, both of them had those thoughts and then worked through them. Either with family or even just taking the time to think it over and then come out and talk about it with each other.
A wonderful return to one of my all time favorite fictional worlds, the one that first got me intrigued with all things Scottish. And after reading the author’s notes, I guess I have another author, Catherine Cowles, to thank for convincing her to jump back and bring us these stories.
Beth is someone that I could totally connect with. Her fear of failure, how one thing going wrong or being unknown could send her spiraling into how then everything was going to fail and it was all her fault, boy do I know those moments. While I pretty much always had those moments when I was alone, I could put on the “I’m okay” face and keep the spiraling from happening around other people, Beth had some moments where it hit her when other people were around. She did her best to get somewhere alone to handle it though.
Callan was a grumpy almost enemy. Because of how the budding relationship between the two of them had ended abruptly, it fed into the way other people had made him feel inferior due to his background, and the fact that Beth came from a wealthy well-known family didn’t help. Even if she didn’t think that way, and it wasn’t why exactly she stepped away from him, it totally came across that way. Both of them thought they knew the other one well, but when the meet up again as adults they realize that they never did really know the other one.
Their enemies to lovers/second chance romance storyline was wonderful. I loved how Callan’s teammates were instantly in love with her, friend-love that is. I loved how Beth made friends with the women she ran into in the mornings coming out with Callan after one night stands. I mean except one, the one Callan knew he probably shouldn’t have taken home in the first place.
All the steaminess that Young knows how to write was in the book. But so much emotion, again as she knows how to write, fit in seamlessly and filled the story out. There was such wonderful handling of Beth’s panic attacks and how she handled them, or started to finally work to get them figured out and shared with those who cared about her the most so they could be there for her and understand. Yes, there was even a couple moments when both Beth and Callan had that thought that normally adds unnecessary and in my opinion unrealistic drams, maybe the other would be better off without them because of the issues that came from being together. But in this case, both of them had those thoughts and then worked through them. Either with family or even just taking the time to think it over and then come out and talk about it with each other.
A wonderful return to one of my all time favorite fictional worlds, the one that first got me intrigued with all things Scottish. And after reading the author’s notes, I guess I have another author, Catherine Cowles, to thank for convincing her to jump back and bring us these stories.