Release Blitz and Reviews: Exes With Benefits: Nicole Williams

by - Monday, September 18, 2017



Exes With Benefits
Nicole Williams

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Release Date September 18, 2017

***He wants a second chance. I want a divorce. To get what I want, I’ll have to give him what he does.***

From New York Times & USA Today bestselling author, Nicole Williams:

The only benefit I want from my ex is a divorce. 

We got married for all the wrong reasons. The one thing we got right was our separation. I should have known better than to think I could bet on forever with a guy like Canaan Ford. Everything about him screamed impermanent, from his wild eyes to his restless soul. 

When I left him and the small town I’d spent my whole life in, I swore I’d never go back. Never only turned out to be five years. Canaan claims he’s changed, but he hasn’t—same knowing smile, same rough demeanor, same body crafted from sin and sinew. And yet, something is different. He thinks this is his chance for redemption. My disagreement comes in the form of divorce papers dropped in his lap. He refuses to sign them. Unless . . .

He wants a month to prove himself to me—that’s his offer. One month to make me fall in love with him again and if I don’t, he’ll sign the papers. As much as I want to say no, I agree. I can suffer my ex for a short amount of time if that’s what it takes to be free of him once and for all. I fell for him once; I won’t make that same mistake twice. 

He says we’re not over. I say we were over before we got started. Only one of us can be right, and I can’t let it be him.


Maggie is coming home to Farmington, Missouri from Chicago for the first time in five years...since she ran away from her small town life, and her first love and husband. Her heart was broken and she created a new life for herself. But now she is back for a funeral, but also plans to deal with the pesky little business of getting divorce papers signed while she is there. But she has not idea that it is not going to be that easy.

Canaan Ford had been a man on downward spiral due to tragedies in his life and he started to take Maggie down with him. But her leaving him was a catalyst for change. Now he has wrestled his demons and has tried hard to become a worthy man. And his hope is to win Maggie back. He is flirty, charming, sexy, sweet, thoughtful, supportive, and determined. But she is guarded, indecisive, stubborn, angry, and sad.

Maggie wants him to sign. He decides to give a counter offer. And soon they find themselves spending time together and exploring who they are now, while also trying to deal with issues from the past. But who knows where it will all leave them in the end.

I loved Canaan. He really was a devoted man and swoonworthy hero. He tried so hard and knew what he wanted. It was told in Maggie's point of view, and I have to admit that she frustrated me at times. She was judgmental, and seemed to kind of use him at times. Obviously, he was in it for the long haul, but she kept him guessing and kept holding onto the past and other things in her life.

This is an antagonistic and flirty second-chance rom com. They had an intense young love and a connection that stood the test of time, but they had a lot of issues to face in order to rekindle not only a friendship, but a possible relationship. Their history was complicated and heartbreaking, but are their hearts strong enough to overcome it and make it work this time? I enjoyed the small town setting and the idea of coming home after an absence with some things changed and some staying the same. But Canaan was definitely the biggest appeal of this book for me.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Maggie Church hasn’t been back in her Missouri hometown since she left late at night. But her grandmother’s passing brings her back to her childhood home and face to face with the husband she left that night. Canaan Ford broke her heart and she isn’t looking forward to facing him again, except to get his signature on divorce papers. But he won’t sign her papers unless she stays in town and gives him another chance for one month. She can make it through 30 days with him. He’s already broken her once, and she won’t make the same mistake twice.

I loved Canaan. The man Maggie left is not the same one she returned to. His determination to prove they are not over was the first step towards making me fall in love with him, and his loyalty to that thought through his actions did the trick. He is a changed man, having learned from the mistakes that drove Maggie to leave him the first time.

I had a harder time falling in love with Maggie. A lot of the reasons I struggled with her character I can’t reveal because of spoilers. When she left town five years earlier, she didn’t just leave Canaan, she left everyone she had grown up with.

This felt a lot lighter than I imagined with the setup of the first chapter. Though I struggled with the one character, I loved the journey these two travel over the course of the book. They did not have an easy reconciliation. There were demons they had to face together that Maggie had completely ignored in her years away.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
“Canaan—”
Before I could attempt to figure out how to follow that, he lifted his hands. “I’m here to help. That’s all. No hidden agenda. I swear,” he added when I eyed the stack of packing supplies like there was a secret code I was meant to decipher.
“I don’t want to fight. Or argue. Or debate. Or anything else you and I could never stop going on and on about.”
“I don’t either.” He kept his hands raised for another moment before dropping them at his sides. “We didn’t always used to be like that, you know?”
“I remember. And then we turned thirteen and hormones got the better of us and we couldn’t seem to stop fighting.”
“I remember times we weren’t fighting. Lots of times.”
“The only times we weren’t fighting was when we were making out or making something.” I closed the door and cleared my throat.
“Fighting and fucking. We were damn great at both.”
If it wasn’t for the boyish grin he gave me right then, he would have gotten more than a grumble from me.
“We should have just stayed friends. That was the only relationship we were good at.”
“We never could have just stayed friends.”
“Why not?” I glanced around for a sweater to throw on, since that was the second time he’d looked at me like he had to convince himself not to misbehave.
“Chemistry. You and I had it.” He started folding the first box, his hands working with all of his attention directed at me. “You and I still have it.”
The warm jolt that shot through my veins whenever he came close confirmed his theory. However . . .
“You need a lot more than chemistry to make a marriage work. To make any relationship work.”
His shoulder lifted as he taped the box. “Of course you do. But a hell of a lot of chemistry sure doesn’t go bad with all of that other love, trust, and respect stuff. Does it?”
Grabbing a box, I put a good distance between us before starting to make it. “I wouldn’t know.”
Canaan stopped in the middle of yanking a strip of tape. “I felt like we had those things. Maybe not in the amount we should have, but I always loved and trusted you. And I respected the shit out of you too.”
I thought back to all of those nights I stayed awake, waiting for him to come home. My hand cupped around my telephone, whispering silent prayers to whatever god was listening at the time. I thought about the empty bottles and mornings of him not being able to recall anything of the night before. The scents of other women on him. I remembered tending to wounds and mending injuries.
Although the real ones that needed fixed I was never able to heal.
My eyes met his and lingered there. “You had a funny way of showing it.”
His mouth opened instantly, but it closed just as fast. He took a full breath. “I know.”
 Nicole Williams
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Nicole Williams is the New York Times and USATODAY bestselling author of contemporary and young adult romance, including the Crash and Lost & Found series. Her books have been published by HarperTeen and Simon & Schuster in both domestic and foreign markets, while she continues to self-publish additional titles. She is working on a new YA series with Crown Books (a division of Random House) as well. She loves romance, from the sweet to the steamy, and writes stories about characters in search of their happily even after. She grew up surrounded by books and plans on writing until the day she dies, even if it’s just for her own personal enjoyment. She still buys paperbacks because she’s all nostalgic like that, but her kindle never goes neglected for too long. When not writing, she spends her time with her husband and daughter, and whatever time’s left over she’s forced to fit too many hobbies into too little time.

Nicole is represented by Jane Dystel, of Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency.


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