The One That Got Away by Bethany Chase

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Perfect for fans of Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner, this bright, funny debut from a fresh voice in fiction offers a delicious take on love, family, and what it means to build a home of one’s own.

Sarina Mahler thinks she has her life all nailed down: a growing architecture practice in Austin, Texas, and an any-day-now proposal from her loving boyfriend, Noah. She’s well on her way to having the family she’s hoped for since her mother’s death ten years ago. But with Noah on a temporary assignment abroad and retired Olympic swimmer — and former flame — Eamon Roy back in town asking her to renovate his new fixer-upper, Sarina’s life takes an unexpected turn.

Eamon proves to be Sarina’s dream client, someone who instinctively trusts every one of her choices — and Sarina is reminded of all the reasons she was first drawn to him back in the day. Suddenly her carefully planned future with Noah seems a little less than perfect. And when tragedy strikes, Sarina is left reeling. With her world completely upended, she is forced to question what she truly wants in life — and in love.

Full of both humor and heartbreak, The One That Got Away is the story of one woman’s discovery that, sometimes, life is what happens when you leave the blueprints behind.

Sarina is a well-respected and successful architect in her early thirties whose career is gaining traction. She’s her own boss, managing her own projects and genuinely in love with what she does for a living. She has a wonderful roommate Danny, a fun best friend Nicole and a devoted boyfriend, Noah. Noah’s a corporate lawyer and currently in Argentina working on a huge merger. This means that they’re apart for months at a time, resorting to phone calls and skyping to keep in touch. Sarina feels happy with her world, that is until Eamon comes back into her life.

Eamon is the one (night stand) that got away. She thought they’d hit it off perfectly but when the next morning came he had an abrupt change in attitude and left after promising to call her. That left Sarina wondering all sorts of things. Could she have done something wrong? Why didn't she ever hear from him? She was understandably hurt by the quick departure and kept their involvement a secret from Danny, his best friend. She eventually met Noah with whom she has found that stability she values. Eamon’s reappearance illicits mixed emotions. She acknowledges that though she’s happy to see him, there’s still some level of hurt there, naturally making things a wee bit awkward. Worse, he’s still as gorgeous and as sweet as ever. Not that she’s willing to admit that aloud. When he announces that he’s ready to move back to Austin to lay down roots, he hires Sarina to help him find a place to rehab. Great, so now he’s a client!

Here’s what I loved about this book: while it’s a romance, it’s not focused solely on Sarina's love life. She is written as a well-rounded character with so many facets to her. She is a career woman who enjoys her job and has ambitions for expanding. I really liked how absorbed she’d get in her projects and how she described her euphoria over light-bulb moments or ideas that inspired her creations. She’s a go-getter who’s smart, calm and confident in her skills. The other side of her is her close relationship with her step-dad whom she adores. He’s the last connection to her beloved mother and the way she looks up to him is just so incredibly sweet.  

Trouble does arise when she starts developing feelings for Eamon just as her relationship with Noah starts to get shakey. The distance hasn’t helped and as they discuss their long-term future, she realizes that they may not want the same thing. Now as she enters the next stage in her life, she has to give serious thought as to how her ambitions fit into a marriage and possibly children. Or is it the other way around – how do marriage and children fit in with her ambitious plans to become a well-known architect? The fact that she and Noah have differing opinions on the matter is troublesome. Then there’s Eamon on the periphery who's praising her talents while encouraging her to pursue her dreams. He finally comes clean about his feelings for her and why he left all those years ago. Now Sarina is not a whimsical little thing and won't drop everything simply because he announces that he's ready. And this is what I love best about her: as confusing and frustrating as life has become, she's still level-headed enough to examine her motives and not throw away years she has invested in a relationship with Noah without some serious contemplation.

The One That Got Away is simply adorable and I fell for it hard. For me personally it was refreshing to read a female protagonist with that level of maturity and self-assurance. And I can't forget the other co-star in this story - the city of Austin. All I know about it is that it's home to Austin City Limits, South By Southwest and incredibly hot in the summer. Bethany Chase's description of some of the local areas and markets has me wanting to visit sooner rather than later. If you're in the mood for a well-written, well-balanced romance, don't pass up The One That Got Away!

~ Bel

Connect with Bethany on Twitter and Instagram. Being an interior designer herself, she often posts gorgeous pictures that capture her attention!

A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison weir

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In this engrossing novel of historical suspense, New York Times bestselling author Alison Weir tells the dramatic intertwined stories of two women—Katherine Grey and Kate Plantagenet—separated by time but linked by twin destinies . . . . involving the mysterious tragic fate of the young Princes in the Tower.

When her older sister, Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days’ Queen, is executed in 1554 for unlawfully accepting the English crown, Lady Katherine Grey’s world falls apart. Barely recovered from this tragic loss she risks all for love, only to incur the wrath of her formidable cousin Queen Elizabeth I, who sees Katherine as a rival for her insecure throne.

Interlaced with Katherine’s story is that of her distant kinswoman Kate Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king. In 1483, Kate travels to London for Richard’s coronation, and her world changes forever.

Kate loves her father, but before long she hears terrible rumors about him that threaten all she holds dear. Like Katherine Grey, she falls in love with a man who is forbidden to her. Then Kate embarks on what will become a perilous quest, covertly seeking the truth about what befell her cousins the Princes in the Tower, who may have been victims of Richard III’s lust for power. But time is not on Kate’s side, or on Katherine’s.

Katherine finds herself a prisoner in the Tower of London, the sinister fortress that overshadowed the lives of so many royal figures, including the boy princes. Will Elizabeth demand the full penalty for treason? And what secrets will Katherine find hidden within the Tower walls?

History is amazing. It’s the ultimate soap opera , reality show if you will, featuring impeccable heroes, devious scoundrels, dysfunctional families and egomaniacs  hungry for power. Weir’s novel encompasses all that delivering a well-crafted story set during two of the most tumultuous times in England and featuring one of the most gruesome murders in its history.

Weir parallels two young ladies who are witnesses to their respective monarchy’s uncertain futures.  Kate Plantagenet is the illegitimate daughter of Richard, Duke of Gloucester who ascends to the throne after imprisoning his two nephews in the Tower.  Katherine Grey, a cousin of Elizabeth I sits in the precarious position of being the potential rival to the throne should Elizabeth I not marry and have children.  Both are distantly related and both suffer tragically at the hands of their families and the political turmoil that they are unwittingly drawn into.

Rather than spell out how the story goes, I’ll explain how simply engrossing A Dangerous Inheritance is. Weir is an established historian and one of my favorite authors. (Yes, I did squeal like a little girl and do the happy dance when I received this ARC.) She has written extensively on the monarchy (I own many of her books) and her knowledge comes through very distinctly.  Two of her books in particular came in handy for me as I read this book, The War of the Roses and The Princes In The Tower.  Handy for me because I get geeky and like to research and look at genealogy charts.

What impressed me most was how Weir managed to make Richard III, one of the most reviled and ridiculed monarchs in English history, sympathetic through the eyes of his daughter Kate. She loves her father unconditionally and aims to disprove the malicious gossip at court surrounding her father’s unprecedented usurpation of the throne.  Many years later and Katherine Grey is embroiled in a Spanish conspiracy to depose Elizabeth I and plant her on the throne to restore Catholicism. Both girls, young and impressionable, are pawns in a volatile politically charged arena.

Whether you’re a fan of history or simply like some mystery with your historical fiction, A Dangerous Inheritance will pull you in. Weir is a remarkable writer. No matter fiction or non-fiction, she has always drawn me into the worlds she creates and I'm glad to feel as if I'm in the thick of it, not just a bystander reading words on a page. It’s not necessary at all to have previous knowledge of the political background in order to appreciate the course of events as they unfold in A Dangerous Inheritance. Weir does an excellent job of explaining the relationships and political ties without getting bogged down in too much weary detail.  However, if after reading this book, you feel so inclined to learn more about the of these families and the events mentioned, then I highly suggest her other two books I mentioned above.

~ Bel