Review: TWICE IN A BLUE MOON by Christina Lauren
Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren Also by this author: My Favorite Half-Night Stand, The Unhoneymooners
Published by Gallery Books on October 22, 2019
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Romance
Pages: 368
Source: Netgalley
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
TWICE IN A BLUE MOON Review
Tate Jones has a secret. Her name is not actually Tate Jones; it’s Tate Butler and she is the long-lost daughter of legendary actor, Ian Butler. After she got tired of Ian’s cheating ways, Tate’s mother filed for divorce, changed hers and Tate’s last names, and relocated to a remote community. From those moments up until her eighteenth birthday, Tate has lived a completely sheltered life and, for her mother’s sake, has done her best to keep her true identity hidden. When her Nana takes her on a two-week trip to London, it’s a much-needed taste of freedom for Tate and she decides to make the most of it. She meets a handsome young man named Sam Brandis and over the course of those two weeks, she falls hard for him, so hard in fact that she confesses to Sam who she really is. Imagine her surprise when Sam and his family abruptly checks out of the hotel without saying goodbye. Then imagine her even bigger surprise when the paparazzi unexpectedly descends on her. Tate unfortunately learns the hard way that her trust in Sam was misplaced. Her world is irrevocably turned upside down.
Fast forward nearly fifteen years and Tate has followed in her father’s footsteps, becoming a successful actress in her own right. She has signed on to play the lead role in a film that is so incredible on paper that she’s sure it will land her an Oscar nomination if she does her best work. When she arrives on set, however, who does she come face to face with? Sam Brandis, the young man who broke her heart and her trust all those years ago. And even worse, he’s the writer who penned the script for her movie. How does Tate confront Sam after all of these years? Can she forgive him? Does he even deserve to be forgiven? And how is all of this awkwardness going to impact her work on this potentially career-making film?
*****
Christina Lauren’s latest novel Twice in a Blue Moon is a slight departure from the other books I’ve read from this amazing writing duo. My prior experiences have been of the lively rom-com variety, filled with laugh-out-loud funny moments, while Twice in a Blue Moon comes across as a much more serious story.
While it wasn’t the light and funny story that I was expecting going in, Twice was still an entertaining and engaging read that features one of my favorite romantic tropes, the second chance romance. After reading about Tate and Sam’s adventures in London as young adults and watching Tate fall in love for the first time only to have her heart broken, I was fully invested in seeing what happened when Tate and Sam met again and whether or not Sam could do anything to redeem himself and get Tate to forgive his betrayal.
I also just really liked Tate and felt tremendous sympathy for her. I can’t even imagine living a childhood where I had to hide who I was from everyone. And then to finally confess your secret to someone, only to have them sell you out to the highest bidder? All of that has got to take a psychological and emotional toll on a person and I thought Christina Lauren did a fantastic job of letting us into Tate’s headspace to experience all of her conflicting emotions, both of the moment of Sam’s initial betrayal and then again when they come face to face after so many years. Sam was a great character too and so complex. I loved that he was so genuinely likeable in those early London scenes that his betrayal came out of left field and had me anxiously flipping pages waiting for him to turn back up and give me a darn good reason for why he did what he did.
The one area of the book that didn’t work quite as well for me as I would have hoped was the filming of the movie. Acting doesn’t really interest me so I got a little bored reading those scenes and the pages of script that were included. The high point of the movie scenes were actually the secondary characters who were working on the film. They were a lot of fun and I would have loved more time with them. I’m sure the issue with the acting scenes is just a me thing though and even with that issue, I still really enjoyed the story overall.
While not my favorite book from Christina Lauren (that honor still goes to Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating), Twice in a Blue Moon is still a lovely read that fans of second chance romance are sure to enjoy.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Sam Brandis was Tate Jones’s first: Her first love. Her first everything. Including her first heartbreak.
During a whirlwind two-week vacation abroad, Sam and Tate fell for each other in only the way that first loves do: sharing all of their hopes, dreams, and deepest secrets along the way. Sam was the first, and only, person that Tate—the long-lost daughter of one of the world’s biggest film stars—ever revealed her identity to. So when it became clear her trust was misplaced, her world shattered for good.
Fourteen years later, Tate, now an up-and-coming actress, only thinks about her first love every once in a blue moon. When she steps onto the set of her first big break, he’s the last person she expects to see. Yet here Sam is, the same charming, confident man she knew, but even more alluring than she remembered. Forced to confront the man who betrayed her, Tate must ask herself if it’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason… and whether “once in a lifetime” can come around twice.
With Christina Lauren’s signature “beautifully written and remarkably compelling” (Sarah J. Maas, New York Times bestselling author) prose and perfect for fans of Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner, Twice in a Blue Moon is an unforgettable and moving novel of young love and second chances.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners and the “delectable, moving” (Entertainment Weekly) My Favorite Half-Night Stand comes a modern love story about what happens when your first love reenters your life when you least expect it…
About Christina Lauren
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The #1 international bestselling coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced fourteen New York Times bestselling novels. They are published in over 30 languages, have received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, won both the Seal of Excellence and Book of the Year from RT Magazine, named Amazon and Audible Romance of the Year, a Lambda Literary Award finalist and been nominated for several Goodreads Choice Awards. They have been featured in publications such as Forbes, The Washington Post, Time, Entertainment Weekly, People, O Magazine and more. Their third YA novel, Autoboyography was released in 2017 to critical acclaim, followed by Roomies, Love and Other Words, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, and the Publisher’s Weekly starred My Favorite Half-Night Stand, out in December.
Top Ten Tuesday – Books I’ve Read That Originally Caught My Attention Because of Their Unusual Titles
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Extraordinary Book Titles. I wasn’t exactly sure what was meant by extraordinary so I decided to tweak the topic a little to cover books I’ve read whose unusual book were what originally caught my attention. Some of them I’m not convinced I would have read if their titles hadn’t jumped out at me. As soon as I saw these, I immediately wondered what in the world they could possibly be about.
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Books I’ve Read That Originally Caught My Attention Because of Their Unusual Titles
1. THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL by Deborah Moggach
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2. THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG by Muriel Barbery
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3. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams
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4. SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA by Becky Albertalli
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5. THE LADY’S GUIDE TO PETTICOATS AND PIRACY by Mackenzi Lee
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6. LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS by Charlaine Harris
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7. DOROTHY MUST DIE by Danielle Paige
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8. MURDER OVER MOCHAS by Caroline Fardig
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9. TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN by John Green
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10. THE SPY WITH THE RED BALLOON by Katherine Locke
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Question: Have you read any of these?
Review: FIREBORNE by Rosaria Munda
Fireborne by Rosaria Munda 
Series: The Aurelian Cycle #1
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on October 15, 2019
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 448
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
FIREBORNE Review
Rosaria Munda’s debut novel Fireborne has everything I love in a fantasy: complex characters, exquisite world building, political intrigue, and most importantly, dragons! Fireborne follows two main characters, Annie and Lee, both of whom were orphaned during a brutal revolution that took place when they were just young children. Lee’s family was part of the aristocracy and was therefore murdered by the revolutionaries when they launched their attack, while prior to that, Lee’s father executed Annie’s whole lowborn family to make an example out of them for their fellow villagers. Both Annie and Lee were spared execution themselves only so that they could serve as witnesses to what had happened and report back to their people. Lee’s true identity is hidden for his own protection, and he and Annie eventually end up in the same orphanage together and immediately become friends.
When we first meet Lee and Annie, they are young adults and they are also Dragonriders, which is truly every bit as cool as it sounds. The characters really do ride dragons, which gave me a combination Game of Thrones/How to Train Your Dragon vibe that I loved. Lee and Annie are still the best of friends, but they are also both excellent Dragonriders and so are also friendly rivals for the title of Firstrider, a title that all Dragonriders aspire to.
Their world changes, however, when it is learned that there are survivors from the old regime and they’ve decided they want their city back. This puts Lee in an almost impossible situation – he must decide whether to fight for or against his birth family. Will he and Annie end up on opposite sides of this war that is threatening their way of life? And If Lee chooses to fight for his birth family, does Annie have what it takes to fight against her best friend?
It took me a couple of chapters to really get into Fireborne but then I was just glued to it and finished it in less than two days. Annie and Lee are both such likeable characters. I was sympathetic to them both because of what they had gone through as children but also loved watching them achieve success and literally soar as Dragonriders. I also loved watching their relationship evolve – they’re friends, they’re family, and at times, even felt like possibly a little more than that. Lee was an especially fascinating character to me because of the complication of his hidden identity and what a wildcard he is when it comes to the old regime trying to return to power. There’s plenty of gut-wrenching, emotional moments as Lee considers the choice he has to make.
Aside from Annie and Lee, I also really liked the rest of the Dragonriders fleet, especially Duck, who is just a sweetheart. Power, another rider and rival of Lee’s, is kind of an ass at times, but I still found him very entertaining. The best part of the Dragonriders though were the actual dragons. I was fascinated by the way everything worked, from the way the dragons chose their riders, to how the tournaments worked to decide who would ultimately be first rider. I thought the author did a fantastic job with her attention to detail here – from the rules of the tournament with its full heat kill shots versus glancing penalty shots, and especially with the fire suits with built-in coolants that the riders wore. It felt like she thought of everything and it really brought the contests to life. Between the glorious images of dragons flying through the air and the exciting contests between the riders, I found myself flying through the pages to see who would come out on top. I loved everything about this aspect of the fantasy world in Fireborne.
I’m also a big fan of political intrigue, so seeing what’s going on behind the scenes as the Dragonriders prep for possible war was a big selling point for me too. I’m always drawn to those scenes where alliances are formed while other alliances are called into question and tested. In the case of Fireborne, this led to a question that ultimately left me with food for thought: If the new regime starts doing the same things that the old regime was doing, are you any better off now than you were then?
Even with everything I’ve written, I’ve still barely scratched the surface of the many layers of Rosaria Munda’s Fireborne. It’s an emotional novel about revolution, rivalry, and family that is sure to captivate you.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
Game of Thrones meets Red Rising in a debut young adult fantasy that’s full of rivalry, romance… and dragons.
Annie and Lee were just children when a brutal revolution changed their world, giving everyone—even the lowborn—a chance to test into the governing class of dragonriders.
Now they are both rising stars in the new regime, despite backgrounds that couldn’t be more different. Annie’s lowborn family was executed by dragonfire, while Lee’s aristocratic family was murdered by revolutionaries. Growing up in the same orphanage forged their friendship, and seven years of training have made them rivals for the top position in the dragonriding fleet.
But everything changes when survivors from the old regime surface, bent on reclaiming the city.
With war on the horizon and his relationship with Annie changing fast, Lee must choose to kill the only family he has left or to betray everything he’s come to believe in. And Annie must decide whether to protect the boy she loves . . . or step up to be the champion her city needs.
From debut author Rosaria Munda comes a gripping adventure that calls into question which matters most: the family you were born into, or the one you’ve chosen.
About Rosaria Munda
Rosaria grew up in rural North Carolina, where she climbed trees, read Harry Potter fanfiction, and taught herself Latin. She studied political theory at Princeton and lives in Chicago with her husband and cat. Fireborne (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2019) is her debut novel.