Twice in a Blue Moon

by Christina Lauren

I received the Christina Lauren Getaway Collection bookset as a Christmas gift that includes:

1. The Unhoneymooners,

2. Twice in a Blue Moon, and

3. The Honey-Don't List.

I read The Unhoneymooners as my Christina Lauren (CL) debut novel and completely fell in love with this duo's fun and easy-to-digest writing style. Subsequently, I had the same expectation for Twice in a Blue Moon, and needless to say, it did not falter (also, peep my thriving dragon tail below. Can you already tell it's my favourite plant?!).

The Plot

The story starts out as a flashback to when Tate (who is the long-lost daughter of the most popular movie star of the time) was 18-years old travelling to London with her grandma Jude where she meets 21-year old Sam and his grandfather Luther (who is incidentally also his godfather). Tate and Sam spends nearly two weeks sneaking around and confiding their secrets to each other. Their meeting is something I classify as the prototypical "Love at First Sight." We get a taste of their blossoming young love that I wager every 18 year olds probably dreamt of when travelling to a foreign country (or is it just me?). It was so endearing-- it was the type of love that makes you think: "This is too good to be true." As their trip comes to an end we find out that maybe it really was too good to be true. Sam takes off and disappears but not before completely betraying Tate's trust completely changing the trajectory of her life.

Nearly half the book was about their couple of weeks in London. How they met, fell too fast in both directions-- in love with each other and apart from each other. It felt a little too dragged out but I get it, you need to build the story up to understand why the characters remain hung up on each other even fourteen years after they last saw each other.

When the story moves to the persent day, Tate is a rising movie star-- the "next big thing." She is chosen to star in a movie that will probably make her career if she nails the shoot. When she arrives on set, she's taken back to see that Sam is also there with no forewarning (the shoot also takes place for about two weeks, so they had a total of one month to fall so deeply in love with each other, clear the air, and fall even deeper in love. I don't know if this is fully a critique or if it's just a general remark because I recognize that every love story is different, and to paraphrase Sam in the book: What's fast for some is not for others). Surprisingly, the story is not steamy at all considering the very clear sexual tension between the two main characters. But I won't complain about that, after all, this isn't an erotica.

The Critique

There was one frustrating thing about the plotline though: Reading through Tate's assumptions and her never giving Sam a chance to explain and Sam not assertive enough to tell her how he truly feels. All the misunderstanding and bad blood that happened between them were consequential of the characters not being honest and transparent with each other. And while we're on that topic, is social media and cellphones not a thing?! How were they so easily disconnected every time they briefly reconnected?!

Conclusion

Nevertheless, the story wrapped up sooo beautifully and I couldn't be happier.

Despite feeling mildly frustrated with the aforementioned plot, I recognize that the story wouldn't have evoked any emotions if it wasn't written well enough for me to be emotionally invested. So on that note, I would say this was a great book and would recommend it to someone who is looking for a light Sunday morning read.

I now want to go find a farm and run across the field... Maybe I'll run into a Sam Brandis and his dog named Rick.

Recommended?

YES. Grab a cup of latte & dive right in!