Blog Tour and Giveaway: Take a Chance: Abbi Glines
Take A Chance
Abbi Glines
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Series: Rosemary Beach#6, Chances#1
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Abbi Glines comes the story of Grant, the sexy playboy who first captured readers hearts in Fallen Too Far.
Series: Rosemary Beach#6, Chances#1
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Abbi Glines comes the story of Grant, the sexy playboy who first captured readers hearts in Fallen Too Far.
When Harlow Manning's rocker father goes on tour, he sends her to Rosemary Beach, Florida, to live with her half-sister, Nan. The problem: Nan despises her. Harlow has to keep her head down if she wants to get through the next nine months, which seems easy enough. Until gorgeous Grant Carter walks out of Nan's room in nothing but his boxer briefs.
Grant made a huge mistake getting involved with a girl with venom in her veins. He'd known about Nan's reputation, but still he couldn't resist her. Nothing makes him regret the fling more than meeting Harlow, who sends his pulse racing. Yet Harlow wants nothing to do with a guy who could fall for her wicked half-sister; even if there are no strings between Grant and Nan.
Grant is desperate to redeem himself in Harlow's eyes, but did he ruin his chances before he even met her?
Grant is desperate to redeem himself in Harlow's eyes, but did he ruin his chances before he even met her?
I have been waiting for Grant's book for so long! I fell in love with him when we first met him Fallen Too Far and have continued to love him throughout the series. So I had very high expectations for this one.Grant and Harlow (Kiro's daughter, Nan's sister) have been skirting around a flirtation since we met her in Forever Too Far. One big huge issue is that Grant fell for the charms of her bitchy, selfish half-sister Nan first and tried to fix her without success. But Nan and Harlow are nothing alike. And Harlow is smart enough to know that pursuing anything with charming playboy Grant would be difficult at best and she does not need any more reasons for Nan to hate her.
It seems that with Harlow, Grant takes one step forward and then two steps back. For the first part of the book, I kept asking myself where my sweet, strong Grant went? His indecision and behavior was giving me whiplash. I found myself wanting to smack him and chastise him for his poor choices. His behavior was really disappointing and frustrating. We learn that the "Mr. Easy-going, Lovable Grant" has underlying issues. He is scared of having feelings and truly loving someone. Recent events have shown him what it is like to lose someone he cares about and it caused him to deny and resist. He does not want to be vulnerable and get hurt. But he in turns acts insensitive, makes poor decisions, confuses himself and Harlow too.
Harlow grew up sheltered and out of the public eye. She is sweet, quiet, reserved, and inexperienced. She is totally blindsided not only by Grant's interest in her, but also his erratic behavior and how he runs hot and cold. She has her guard and walls up and just when she lets them down, she opens herself up to be hurt. Her life is complicated with her father and her hateful sister that she is forced to live with and endure.
Grant has such mixed emotions, but basically has to figure out what he wants and if Harlow is worth taking a chance on. And Harlow has to decide if she will even give him another chance after being hurt.
This is about two people who seem very different in personality and lifestyle, but underneath are both insecure and fearful of getting hurt. They both try to protect themselves and put up barriers. Both make poor choices at times. They both have issues that affect them. When they are together and in a good place, they are very compatible in many ways. Grant brings out a sexier, stronger side of Harlow and she brings out the loving, protective Grant we all know is there. But their insecurities and lack of good communication add more problems risking their fragile bond.
And when Harlow's life as she knows it is rocked to the core and her secrets are all exposed will it bring them closer or break them apart?
I have to say that I had such high expectations for this book and I was a bit disappointed in parts of it. I was surprised that Grant was not the sweet, strong, lovable guy that I have come to know and expected from his story. He made so many mistakes. Honestly in the beginning I kept calling him not so favorable names as I was reading it. And he did improve as the story went on, but his commitment seemed tenuous at best. And even though I liked Harlow, sometimes since she was so unassuming and insecure that she did not always seem like a dynamic female character. I have to admit that I was not exactly feeling Harlow and Grant together at first either. I am not sure if it was how the timeline of their initial time together was organized with reverse time jumps and flashbacks that caused a disconnect. Or if it was because they shifted from enemies to friends to lovers. Or that they lacked chemistry. I still am not sure why I was having trouble getting invested in them as a couple during the first part.
About halfway through the book, Grant started to worm his way back into my heart. I started to see more of the Grant I always liked...the caring, protective, understanding guy. And Harlow began to open up more even though she was still pretty guarded. As it became more about their present situation, I began to like them more together and feel more of a connection and more chemistry. But they just seemed like such a fragile couple and I just kept waiting for something else to shake their bond.
There were parts of the book that I really liked and some interesting twists. But there were times that it really frustrated me as well. But I do like this series and the characters and I have grown very attached to them. Well, most of them....Nan is still the girl I love to hate. I liked getting a bit more with Rush and Blair and catching glimpses of Woods, Della, Bethy, and Tripp. Harlow's big brother Mase from Texas made an appearance in this one. He is outspoken, protective, and is Harlow's strongest ally. I can see him as a leading man in his own story. I enjoyed getting more of the back story of their rock star father, Kiro as well.
Even though this is a spin-off, I recommend reading the Rosemary Beach Series before reading this one because it really builds your connection with all of the characters. This series is addicting and they do build off each other and events have ramifications in next book. Of course, there is a trend in this series that each main character gets at least two books so there is a cliff hanger in the first part of their story. But I was expecting it so it was not a big shock to me. Overall, I liked this one, but I was not left reeling from it like I was with the last one Simple Perfection. But I will definitely read Grant and Harlow's next book One More Chance to see how it all turns out.
Thanks to Abbi Glines and Atria for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Grant has been a personal favorite of mine since Fallen Too Far. For the first time in his life, he is captivated by a woman. And he isn’t quite sure how to handle that. After that shocking moment in Simple Perfection, Grant is afraid to feel deeply about anyone, to put himself in the position he sees Bethy in. As a result he distances himself from Harlow, but soon realizes it might be too late to let her go.
Harlow has skated on the edges of Rosemary for a few books now. As Nan’s half sister and Kiro’s daughter, she has appeared at group functions, but most of her time has been spent living in L.A. Nan hates her, Kiro dotes on her. She is quiet, shy, and tries to stay away from the drama created by her sister.
Because this is his first attempt at having a girlfriend, Grant has a lot of learning to do. I spent most of the first half of the book shaking my head at his actions, but think I must have been expecting him to be a jerk because it wasn't surprising but it also didn't make me not like him. When things start feeling serious, he runs. And runs right back to his pattern of random women. Once Blaire and Rush have a heart to heart with him, he starts to figure things out and sort his stuff. Or at least, it looks like he does.
Harlow has her own learning curve as well. She doesn’t trust Grant. Knowing he was with Nan makes it that much harder for Harlow to be comfortable with where she stands. But for all the time she’s spent holed up in her room, she’s got some backbone and watching her stand up to Nan’s cattiness was entertaining. She is normally such a sweet girl, that I couldn't help feel for her every time her heart was hurt in everything going on with Grant, Nan, and her family.
We meet Mase, Kiro's son, for the first time in this book and I couldn't help love him also. He is super protective of Harlow, continually reminding her that he is only a phone call away. She is the only sibling he had much contact with growing up and they have stayed close over the years.
As the first of 2 books for Grant and Harlow, Take a Chance does end on a cliff. In classic cliffhanger tradition, the point the book ends is painful, especially at that moment you realize that's really the end. This was so full of family drama, the highs and lows, and a main couple that I loved, that I will gladly wait for the second book to learn the end of Grant and Harlow’s story.
Thanks to Abbi Glines and Atria for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
I’m on hiatus from reviewing; however, the second my greedy little eyes landed on an email regarding Grant's book, I just knew I had to come out of hiding for him. I've loved our (sexy as hell) hero from the minute I laid eyes on him in Rush's book. I'm a little torn over the many thoughts arguing amongst themselves inside my head. Not sure if it's the fact that I have come off of two totally amazing series or what, but this one felt as though it was just missing that little bit of somethin’ somethin’, I’d originally felt upon meeting Grant.
Why am I on the fence?
I think a lot of it has to do with the character of Grant I built up in my mind vs. the Grant we came to know through his journey with Harlow. There was the first half of the book Grant and then the second half of the book Grant, which left me so damn confused. I truly am torn right now; I really wanted to love Grant as much as I loved Rush. And I did to an extent. There were parts I adored about him and then there were the WTF moments that left my mind boggled. Maybe it’s because throughout the series, we’ve never really seen Grant through his own eyes; he’s always been portrayed through the eyes of his family and friends. And the Grant his family portrayed (at least in my mind) was this kick ass, sweet guy with a bad boy underlining. Therefore, in my opinion, the character Abbi built before my eyes was not the same Grant she has given us in his book. This version of “Grant” left me feeling a bit achy and nostalgic.
I’m going to be perfectly honest; for me, he felt like a weaker version of the perception I had grown to love. This “Grant” almost became a DNF. It took me a little bit to connect and even then I held back from truly falling head over heels for him. I always pictured Grant to resemble Rush in the way his character was broken, but what I didn't expect from him was the whining. Grant seriously whined continuously throughout the first half of the book. Yes. Yes, I said it. My issue is that the whining made his character seem weak and the weakness is what made it really hard for me to sympathize or connect with him and his wish washy ways. I understood his reasoning, I truly did. The pain from such tragedy can be debilitating, it can cause us to act in manners that are not within our norm.
Then there was the second half of the book, Grant, the one who did a 360 in personality and behavior. As I’m sure you’ve read in other reviews, Grant wasn’t always well liked; he seemed to suffer a bit from multiple personalities. This is where Abbi gave me the Grant I had grown to love in the other books, the one that has intrigued me to no end. This “Grant” was deserving of his lady and he went after what he wanted with determination. I really enjoyed observing the dedication he put into wooing his girl. Abbi pulled off some really sweet and swoon worthy moments. Now, this is the character I have been waiting to read about from the very beginning.
Harlow, hmm… what can I tell ya about Harlow? I can’t say she was my favorite heroine, but she also wasn’t one that annoyed me so bad I wanted to chuck my tablet at her face. I felt for her most often times, and my heart did ache for her in a few places. And while I sometimes wanted to shake her silly for allowing Grant to walk all over her, I kind of understood why she was so vulnerable to his charm. I can totally see her as the perfect ever after for Grant, as when she found herself, she gave our man a run for his money. One of the things I loved the most about her is that while she treaded lightly around Nan, she didn’t let that bitch get away with bullying her. Can I just say, I was jumping for joy and fist pumping the air each time she put that chick square in her place. I found her to be a really sweet heroine; however, at certain points, I found her innocence regarding sex to be a bit unbelievable. With her living arrangements, it just didn’t seem plausible to be that innocent. She is Kiro’s daughter; she has walked in on him multiple times going at it, not to mention she always has her face buried in books. As I said, I enjoyed getting to know her, especially when she grew a backbone and showed us a bit of sassy spunk. Nevertheless, her character was hard to connect with since it wasn’t always a believable one.
I struggled a bit on how to rate this book and finally decided to go with 3 stars. I know authors and readers tend to view 3 star reads in a negative light, but that's not how I meant it to be here. When it comes to my reviews, a three star read just means that there were elements that didn't fit for me personally. The question now is, would I recommend this book? Honestly, I don't know. I would most definitely to one of Abbi's die hard fans, but overall, it would depend. I liked the second half of the book, and I would continue on with the story line, as I am interested in seeing where she goes with Harlow's secret.
And to wrap this baby up, all I’m going to say is, if you’ve ever read an Abbi Glines book, then you know in true Abbi fashion, this book ends with a cliffhanger.
Thanks to Abbi Glines and Atria for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Abbi Glines is the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, and Existence series. A devoted booklover, Abbi lives with her family in Alabama.
She maintains a Twitter addiction at @AbbiGlines and can also be found at facebook.com/AbbiGlinesAuthor and AbbiGlines.com.
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