Twice In A Blue Moon By Christina Lauren Book Review

“I think Milkweed is the best thing you ever did. And if that’s the best thing you ever did. I’m okay with being the worst.”

(pg. 237)

About

Author(s): Christina Lauren

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

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Synopsis

🛑 I HIGHLY suggest you DON’T read the synopsis before buying or reading the book. Trust me, just buy it and read! 😆 But if you must, I left it hear for you. 🛑

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.

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To second chances and first loves,

There are only a few books that I have finished within the span of two days. And this is one of them. Such an easy book to fall into because of the drama. It’s like watching Dear John or something that makes you want to rip your heart out!

I don’t usually tell people in a blog post, not to read the synopsis. But there’s a first time for everything. I didn’t read the synopsis before getting into Twice in a Blue Moon, and I have absolutely no regrets. I think there’s something interesting and fun about not knowing what’s going to happen in a book because it doesn’t set up expectations. The last Christina Lauren book I read, The Unhoneymooners, (I’ll link the blog post below) I had high expectations for, so I am glad I went into this not knowing anything.

Did you read this without knowing the premise?

Anyway, let’s talk about the beginning.

The 14 years before.

I love a good backstory 🤪

There’s also something about a young teen, on the brink of life, traveling to Europe. It almost seems like a rite of passage that when you graduate high school or college, that you at least take a moment to experience life outside of what you know. It’s something I still have yet and still want to do. But Tate beat me to it. She goes to Europe with her Nana, who reminds me a lot like my Grandma 😂 I thought this whole backstory thing would be about her and a difficult  relationship with her Nana and how later her Nana passes away and she has to continue on without her. I also thought that she didn’t have a mom or dad and was raised by her Nana, so that’s why Tate was used to her Nana’s antics. But that was not the plot line whatsoever. The Nana just happened to want the best for her money’s worth. I mean, to some extent, I feel all Grandmas want the best for their money and if they expect something they EXPECT IT.

Then they met Luther and Sam who were two American gentlemen at the bar. Because I definitely go to Then they met Luther and Sam who were two American gentlemen at the bar. Because I definitely go to Europe to meet other Americans 😂 . I’m joking, there has to be a comfort or a herd mentality to that, so it’s fine. But I thought it was very cordial of them to switch rooms with Tate and Nana even if they just met. What a true gentleman, ladies. I laughed though, when Nana was complaining how they wanted to switch rooms and how she wasn’t going to do it because it was wrong to trust them. But Nana was still packing. I feel like that’s a natural thing for a lot of girls. You say you want something and then someone gives it to you and then you refuse it, but deep down you know you want to accept what they offer. I am a girl, so I know this well. We really overcomplicate things.

But they got the room they came for: a room with a view.

I liked how they were able to form such a bond with Luther and Sam. I enjoyed their meal times together because it’s honestly such a beautiful thing to meet new people and to have that sort of connection so quickly. It really highlights the social hospitality people have.

At one point, I thought the Nana was going to fall in love with Luther and this was where the story was going. But then I had to remind myself Luther was a happily married man. But that didn’t mean Tate and Sam couldn’t fall in love.

And so I figured out the true direction of the story.

You have to agree with me that the cutest part of the book was when they were falling in love. I mean, isn’t that always the best part. I loved their nights at the garden because it was so intimate and special to have two young kids under the moon and the stars, opening up to each other about serious things they never tell anyone. It’s something I noticed with film and books: when two characters are meant to be/fall in love, there’s always a moment where they sit down at night and just talk for hours about things you wouldn’t normally talk about. I think that it’s a commonality all books, shows, and movies all include because I think when you’re so comfortable with someone, it comes naturally to open up to them. So having them be so open with each other just made me feel their love.

It also made me understand what Tate actually was going through with her father, Ian, the famous award-winning movie star. I thought the dad was out of the picture, but I didn’t know it was because he was in so many other pictures. After hearing that, I could understand why she wouldn’t want others to know who she was because then she would get hounded down and treated differently. I also thought that the rush of their relationship was because she had clear daddy issues and she wanted a human connection with a man.

But did they really have to do it?

You know, do you do it?

Teens. Man, I never understood when or how people had that sort of time, but I guess they do. They really felt it in the heat of the moment and if you ask me it seemed very hormone driven. But I appreciated how sweet he was in taking it slow with her and being gentle. We can at least appreciate that. And also that they did it in a refined hotel room rather than a car (but we’ll come back to that 😉). Nana absolutely had no clue and I was kind of shaking my head, because you give teens one day to be alone and of course that’s what they would do without supervision 😂.

Before they did the nasty, though, the boat ride was cute. It was a sweet, romantic date.

UNTIL ALL HECK BROKE LOOSE!!!

You know, if there is one thing Tate is, it’s slow. Because those cameras were right up in her face and yet she didn’t have a clue about what was going on. Obviously someone sold her out.

I didn’t I didn’t want to believe that SWEET, SWEET Sam would do her dirty to betray her confidence. I didn’t believe it. He couldn’t do it. If he could sell her out like that and LEAVE, which hold my nonexistent earrings, then you can’t trust anyone these days. Let alone men. My gosh, the fact that he left, riled my boiling pot!! And right after that off day with Luther not showing up for breakfast and him acting weird. And he left. No preamble.

What a LOSER 🤧

I still wanted to believe that it wasn’t him, but it’s not like she told anyone else. Unless someone was spying on her and ratted her story out. But then how would that happen? I wanted to believe she was spied on, but that would be weird. So it was Sam. I just kept thinking why would he do it if he loved her? You don’t betray people you love. Well, I guess sometimes people do. But still, I couldn’t see that as something Sam would do.

It also didn’t make sense given how Luther was supposedly sick. Like, why would he do that? I don’t know.

So Nana, the mom, and Tate all get bombarded by the media, especially Tate. The Nana and her trip got cut short and when they showed up at the airport, they met Marco, her publicist that she somehow had all this time. Marco gave me Martin from the Parent Trap vibes, you know.

But can we also just give a resounding applause for Marco because he’s one of the only guys out of this whole book who had Tate’s best heart at interest from the get-go. I absolutely loved his character and I would have liked to have seen more of him because his dynamic with Tate was so interesting and more fatherly than Tate’s actual dad. I liked when Tate was doing that Twitter Q and A and Marco picked up on her emotions. But he was also very intuitive to her feelings all throughout the book, which highlights how close a relationship they had. It’s not easy to be in-tune with women’s emotions, am I right?

But what I loved most about him was how he helped Tate during such a pivotal and transformative part of her life.

“Do you want to live in the sun?” he asked quietly. “Or do you want to go back in the shadows.”

(pg. 118)

Such a poignant question if you ask me. I liked how he phrased it because when Tate was talking to Marco during their garden nights, she mentioned how she wanted to become an actress, but she was scared that her mom and Nana wouldn’t understand or want that for her. She also was scared to be in the spotlight when her whole life so far revolved around hiding who she was.

So as much as Sam did her wrong by revealing her secret, I think that he also opened a door for her to explore her wildest dream. It still didn’t justify what he did, but at least it had a silver lining for her.

The transition into what she was doing now was a testament to that. I love how it shifted into her being the new up and coming rising actress of her time. She was on this vampire show as the lead, which I mean, go TATE! You pop off on your dreams.

Meeting the dad was something else.

The dad is a whole other conversation that I really don’t even know where to start with him.

If there is an Oscar, a Grammy, A VMA, a Kid’s Choice Awards for worst father of the year, Ian Butler would win it all 👌🏼

“Some people rise to the top on their own merit and some people get there by stepping on heads.”

(pg. 130)

The dad was an insecure, misogynistic pig.

The now-him is like 50, meaning his career isn’t doing as well as his daughter, so he has the utter audacity to act like any dumb male in the world by making his daughter feel lower than him so he can feel better about himself. He steps on her head so he can put himself on a bigger pedestal and it’s disgusting. I didn’t like the way he would tell her she was off doing the Q and A or when he gave her dirt about not being good at the table ready for her Milkweed role with him. He should have been supportive or something! He could have asked her what was wrong or he could have been like, “We all have off days, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.”

No!

He stares and glares.

What a jerk!

And don’t even get me started on the women he dates. Dating women younger than your own daughter is just kind of creepy in my opinion. But who I’m I to judge? But . . . *shudders* I think that was his way of trying to keep young because if he thought he could date young, he was young. Or maybe it was also an ego booster for him to know he could attract young girls. Those tweets to him about having his babies were disgusting as well because if those people only knew how I bet he would have their babies 😅 Anyway, I also just didn’t like the fact that he brought his new girlfriend, Marissa, to use as a buffer between her and him. Because he never was involved in Tate’s life until that story broke out 14 years ago. And what was he going to do? Ignore it? I bet he wished he could have. But if he did, how would have that made him look? His whole “love” for his daughter was a sham and his best acting role because he only loved himself and didn’t know how to have a relationship with his daughter. And I get it. Some people aren’t meant to or cut out to have kids and that’s fine, but please, don’t give your child false hope and false love.

Because that’s the one thing I kept hurting for Tate about. It was obvious her dad didn’t really care, but yet she still did. She still wanted a relationship with him. And it’s natural because he was her father. No matter how much people hurt us, we still care a lot because we have the hope that they could have changed or that they feel the same. I felt bad because Tate had all these feelings about her dad being different when he wasn’t. It just let her hopes up all the time.

“And then there’s dad. Mom was absolutely right: I went into this project knowing what it could do for my career, but I’d hoped something else would come from it too.”

(pg. 217)

I got to give Tate credit because she tried with her dad even if he wasn’t as forthcoming. She tried to be open to Marissa and ask him about her. But he would make awkward conversations that you would have with a stranger. He was talking to his own daughter. Oh, and something rubbed me the wrong way that he called his 32 year old daughter, cupcake. Cupcake. What are we, in the 80s? That’s gross.

The one thing that set me off about the dad was at the end.

Ignoring your daughter for 14 years is one thing. Acting like you have a good relationship with her is another. But BETRAYING HER is a whole new low.

Tate really has it bad with men turning on her.

And she wonders why she has trust issues?

Maybe it’s because all these idiot men don’t know how to shut their pie hole 🤪

It surprised me, but not really that he would sell the tabloids the story about her and Sam.

It surprised me even more though when he started acting nice all of a sudden by asking her for lunch and opening up his schedule for Christmas. Something was up and I was like, “Why the change of heart?” Was it because he saw her with Sam leaving the greenhouse? Was it because he finally realized Tate had another man in her life like she said? And on the off-hand I thought that Marissa, his girlfriend the doctor, left back to school to go find him a cure for his sickness? I was off. WAAAAY Off. I watch too much Dynasty.

It was sweet in the moment that he let her drive his car to this cute cafe he thought she would like and I liked how he tried to be an actual dad like she always wanted.

BUT IT WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.

The minute the paparazzi came out, I was like “Not again!”

Her dad sucks. Period.

I would thoroughly like to kick him in the butt like his last name intends because what kind of father sells you out. Family? Well, not really like he was there for her to be considered family, but still he’s her dad. Sam’s a stranger and he even had a better reason. The dad just wanted to boost his own popularity because you know what they say in Hollywood, “No publicity is bad publicity.” I think that’s a lie. But the dad!? How could he?

He ruined her life yet again, not only sweeping her life into a frenzy, but also Sam. Sam didn’t deserve that.

I got way ahead of myself because I didn’t even talk about Sam and his movie.

From the minute Tate talked about landing this Milkweed row that’s on a farm in the middle of the country (United States), I was like, she’s going to see Sam. GOING TO. Either a) he owned the farm they were filming at or b) he wrote the script. Because back when they had their moonlight garden dates, Sam talked about how he lived on a Farm in Idaho with his Uncle (Luther), who was an African American man, and the Uncle’s wife, Roberta, who was a Caucasian woman. They raised Sam because the dad had issues, so he owed a lot of his love and life to them. He also said how he would farm there and have cow tipping nights with his friends as a way to get “crazy” at the farm. Like Tate, he also had his own dreams. He would probably inherit the farm, but deep down he wanted to be a writer.

Knowing this, I put two and two together. But obviously, Tate didn’t because she’s slow and has other things in her life to think about. Which I found very sad about her. Ever since her London trip, she hadn’t really had time to stop and stew in her feelings. Not that stewing in her feelings for forever would be good for her mental health, but I also don’t think suppressing the hurt or confusion she felt 14 years ago was healthy either. She never had time to process it, and just kept going with her acting, the press, and now the movie.

It really translated to how relaxed you could feel when being on the farm.

I loved how calm the farm setting was even if it was just that: a set. It had no cell service or internet, which must have been a nice reprise away from the fast-paced life she was used to. I also liked how it mentioned that Tate would go on morning runs because he was idyllic.

It was also nice to see the cast bond together. They had their breakfast tents. Kind of reminded me of how when Avengers Endgame came out and all the cast and crew would post the behind-the-scenes and there was the video where everyone was eating under a white tent and a Mariachi band would play in the background. I don’t know, there’s something interesting and unique about the behind-the- scenes of a movie. There was also the day they all went to the lake to chill, which was a fun moment where the cast and everyone got to hang out.

In the backstory of Tate, we heard a lot about Charlie, her best friend, so it was absolutely heartwarming that they were still friends 14 years later. I also liked how Charlie was her own type of success with being Tate’s makeup artist. That must be fun for both of them—–to work with your childhood best friend. I think that that’s good for Tate because in this hectic world, she at least has a sense of normalcy or someone to bring her back down to earth.

And you gotta love Charlie’s spunk. I loved it! She was highly protective of Tate like most best friends are and I found it funny whenever Sam was nearby she would give him the glare or call him names behind his back. That’s loyal hatred right there! 😂 But what I really admired about Charlie is how nonjudgmental she was. If her friend hated someone, she hated that person too. But if her friend loved someone, she did too. Tate disliked Sam when first seeing him, but things changed. Charlie knew that. Instead of being like, “Oh, no you don’t. He’s bad for you, blah, blah blah,” she was very supportive about what Tate wanted and felt. That’s such a big thing to do. Sometimes all a person needs is to be supported in what they do even if it might lead to heartbreak or it might be wrong. Because it’s for that person to figure out and learn from it. But sometimes it does work out and it’s because a person trusts they’re own feelings. So I loved Charlie for just being there.

She was also good about being there for Tate with all the dad drama. She was really a good friend in giving Tate an outlet to talk about everything when she didn’t have anyone there she felt close to. There was that whole funny part when Marco was still there and Tate saw Sam for the first time after 14 years and Marco was like, “You should be more scared about what Charlie’s going to do.” 😂 We love a friend.

So he was the author of Milkweed. I called it already. Potato patato, I thought he wrote the script, but he wrote the book. Same thing, he wrote something! From what Tate said about the script, I also put two and two together and was like, this was the farm story he was talking about. Sam wanted to write about people back home and real life, but his own spin. Milkweed was about Luther and Roberta and I couldn’t believe it took Tate a long time to figure that out. I mean, it was obvious in the way Nick’s character was African American and she was a strong Caucasian woman who lived on a farm and both faced hardships for being an interracial couple at the time.

Her reaction to seeing him was warranted. I mean, don’t we all get shaken up when we see an ex? But I think for her it was different because she still loved and cared for him no matter how long it had been or how much he had hurt her. If we’re being honest, you could tell she still loved him because that was her first love. It’s hard to forget that, but there was something also indescribably unique about their relationship that made them them.

Her first conversation was very closed off to him, which, my gosh, makes perfect sense. I liked how she put her foot down and was like stay away from me. But it also sucked because this was her breakout movie and she wasn’t doing too hot at the table read. And that just made it seem like she was an ammeter or not taking her job seriously. She has absolutely nothing to prove because she got the role for a reason, but, darn Sam, why did you have to go rattle her up? 😅

Somehow she thought it was okay to follow him when he made his phone calls home to some girl named Katie. I shook my head when I read that, because Katie?! Who is this Katie and why does she have twins? Of course, he would be married. But then, I was like, why still pin after Tate like a sad puppy dog if you’re married. So I thought, oh I bet he’s divorced. You best bet he was 😆

You know, Tate and him could have avoided a lot of things if they just communicated.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY.

Key I tell you.

NO one is going to know what you think or what you do unless you talk about it.

If Tate casually asked him, so are you married? Or how’s the wife and kids? Or SOMETHING, she could have spared herself all the wondering and worrying and boohooing about oh, he’s married with kids. Sis, you never even asked him!

And after all these years, Sam really gosh darn ratted her out to the press and left. For good reason. He sold her out to get money to help save Luther’s life with all the medical bills and things. He said he put his family first because of how much Luther and Roberta gave him and he wanted to give back to them and give him as much time as he could. I mean, what a sweet boy. And at 21, to make that decision between family and your potential love has to be hard. It’s hard at any age. I get why he did it, but did it still justify that he sold her out? Probably not.

Like Tate mentioned, I think he should have talked to her (again, COMMUNICATION PEOPLE) and told her about Luther. If she knew, I really do think she would have been okay with coming out to the world because it would have been on her terms. But he never gave her a choice and that sucked. It sucked that she had to live with this image of Sam for 14 years, of a guy just selling her out without knowing why.

“Well, I guess that’s why I had to write Milkweed,” he says.

. . . “I don’t follow.”

“To remind myself that they were worth it.” He laughs. “They were pretty ornery at the end.”

I’m still lost. “Worth what?”

Sam looks at me as if I’m being exceptionally slow, and a half smile curves his mouth. “Worth losing you.”

(pg. 251)

Three things, I think we just described Tate perfectly—–“exceptionally slow.” 😂

Second, a married man would never say that.

Thirdly, he still loved her. He still lives with the regret of what he did because he knew he lost the greatest thing in his life—–the love of his life. Him writing Milkweed was to honor Luther and Roberta, but it was also him solidifying their great love story because it meant something if she remembered why he chose them over her. I think Luther would have wanted to know he chose love. You know what made me sad though? When Sam was talking to Tate about Katie being his ex and the twins were Katie and the new husband’s children and how he said he married her in a rush just so Luther and Roberta could be there and see that he would be okay. 😰 I mean, it’s despondently sweet that he wanted them to have peace of mind. But at the same time, I don’t think it was fair of Katie that he rushed things knowing he didn’t fully love her.

Speaking of love.

“You remember those art projects we helped the kids with at YMCA camp? You fill in the entire paper with different colors, and then go over it with black crayon? You think it’s just a black pirate, but when you scratch at the surface there’s all this . . . stuff underneath. That’s a terrible analogy, but it’s sort of how I feel about my love life right now. I thought it would be one thing, but it’s just been covered up with this boring black crayon and I don’t have the tools to scratch it.”

(pg. 255)

Tate felt like she had all this love to give inside of her, but it was covered on the surface by a dark past that hurt her. She was very self-aware to know her feelings and I love that. Because I think we all have this love underneath us and it can be hard to see it or for others to see it unless the right person comes along and shows us how to scratch the darkness away and be who we are inside. I think the whole scratching analogy is actually perfect because love is complicated and it runs deep.

“I love you” . . .

That makes me so happy to hear.”

(pg. 254)

When talking about her past love life and saying I love you, I thought it was hilarious how Tate would say things like “You’re the best,” or my favorite, “That makes me so happy to hear.” What are you a telecaster? That makes me so happy to hear. Would you like to fill out this customer service about your satisfaction? 😂 I mean, how dull could she be? Ugh, Tate’s funny.

Anyway, absolutely one of the most cringiest, but funniest part of the book was when Tate was doing the “nasty” scene on set and Sam had to be there to watch 😂 That had to be the most uncomfortable situation ever.

Let’s talk about Nick real quick. I really liked his character because besides Marco, he was the only other guy in the book who respected Tate. I liked how comfortable he made her from the beginning because they were going to film together. I also liked how jokey he was in trying to figure out what was up with her and Sam. Tate came out and told him one day, which was such a huge step given her history with men, and I liked that he was the one guy (besides Marco) he never did her dirty! He kept her secrets and I respected him for that. I also liked how light-hearted he was and he added some much needed friendship in this book. There was the barn burning scene which sounded very high-stakes and I loved how they both sat down on the grass after filming and they talked about their experiences. It really put them in perspective about the roles they played, but actually how other people lived through things like that. It was such an intimate moment between them to talk about their privilege and experience.

But on a more intimate note was the “nasty” scenes. Can we talk about how “nasty” scenes in movies have to be UNCOMFORTABLE to film. I mean, you’re in a room full of directors and camera men, kind of fully naked and doing it in front of the camera for multiple takes—-far away shots and close up shots. I would be MORTIFIED and EXPOSED. I could not.

Sam’s reaction was what I was living for though. His clenched jaw, his angered look. It’s not like he didn’t know that they were going to film those scenes. He wrote the darn thing 😂 If Sam didn’t want to see his ex-love do it with an actor on set in front of him, he shouldn’t have written it in the first place! I’m joking, but not.

They got very heated about it and they had this whole blow-up fight which led to them doing it in his red truck because we had to downgrade from the hotel to a car now 😅 Very heat of the moment and if I’m being honest, I knew that it was going in that direction because given their track record . . . They move fast.

But while I was reading them getting it on, I just couldn’t stop laughing 😂 Is that wrong? Like the book was describing how they were biting each other and I’m over here thinking, are they making out or does Sam think she’s a turkey leg he can eat? And then my mind wandered to how Tate did a vampire show and how on brand it was of her to bite his neck 😂

OOOOOh, the places my mind goes.

And of course, staying true to the time they did it in the bushes in London, they had to go to the Greenhouse and do something too. What’s with them and nature?

They were of course, back together, which like their relationship in general was very rushed. But I think after all these years it makes sense for them because they always loved each other but just never understood the actions of another. If they talked to each other, they could have saved all this time, but you know I think that life has an interesting way of working out. It really was fate because what were the chances that they would meet again after all this time, her accomplishing her dream and him also. Things are crazy in that way. But if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. This was meant to be.

The wrapping of Milkweed was really bittersweet and we have Nick to thank for that. I loved how sweet it was how they hugged and said to come visit each other. Tate and him were saying that they also wanted to work again with each other, which is a testament to how close they’ve gotten. I liked that because when you work with people for a long time, they do become like family. I think Nick became like family.

And after the whole Sam selling Tate out when she was younger scandal, I liked how Tate went out of her way to go to him at the end. I honestly forgot about the three emails that Sam said he sent her in the beginning. But they were really sweet too and you could tell how much he respected her, but still missed her. It’s funny though, how Sam said he never reached out to her all these years because he didn’t feel like he had a right to do so. But he should have thought that Tate should have a right to know, you know?

Marco, always pulling through with women’s intuition, knew to buy her a plane ticket to see Sam. Her going to the farm where she said she would visit one day was very wholesome. It was also wholesome given how the filming was done and now she could see the actual place the story was based off of.

Also from the moment they reunited, I was just waiting for when they would sit under the stars and talk like they did back when they were younger. I liked how Christina Lauren held it for the end, when Sam patted the grass next to him and said:

“Come right on down here with me, honey . . . and let’s look at the sky.”

(pg. 351)

For there sake, I hope their was a moon.

It fits perfectly with the title because once they were under the moon as young lovers and now they were under the moon (hopefully) as older individuals who chased after their dreams, been through heck and back, and yet still ended up together under the same sky.

It goes back to fate and destiny that led them to meeting each other and finding their way back. I also believe that having all that space between them in the 14 year gap was needed because there’s this idea that you have to be 100% yourself/full before you are ready to be with someone else. And I think 18-year-old Tate and 21-year-old Sam weren’t ready at the time to fully commit to being in a relationship. Tate had family issues and Sam was working through his own things. It wasn’t until they were both thriving and solid individuals that fate said it was time that they met again. Timing really is everything. It also gave them time to forgive themselves and each other for what they did.

If there’s one thing I’m still hopeful for is that Ian will apologize to Tate. I know that he will never be the dad she wants and that’s fine, but he at least owes her that. I also was glad that the Nana was still around because she’s crazy in a good way. I loved that moment when the Nana talked to her about the Grandpa and her mom. You can’t say he was clueless. She just wanted better for her daughter and granddaughter. And she was supportive of her trying again with Sam. I would have liked to see more of the Nana, but that’s okay. I also would have enjoyed hearing more from the mom about the situation because we never get her full perspective about the dad or Sam. We only get the phone calls, so it was hard to fully understand her feelings and I think it would have been nice to have that.

I also would have liked more closure with Luther because we only get told that he passed away, but we should have honored him more. Or we could have also touched on Roberta too because Tate was playing her character in the movie and we only heard about her in the story, so it would have been nice to know more about her too.

I would also like to know, how much bank did Sam make exactly? 😂 Did he inherit the farm and wrote part time? I don’t know.

Still such a beautiful story about fate, family, and love.

Anyway, what was your favorite part? Least favorite part? Would you have given Sam a second chance? Anything I mentioned that you want to discuss more about?  Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this.

And as always, with love,

Rating

4.87 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: Two characters you really do get a sense of growing up with within the span of 351 pages 💙

Plot: I love the idea of giving them time and space to find each other again.

Writing: If I could sit with a book under the stars and the moon (with a reading light of course) this would be the book I would take with me.

Romance: Love at all ages and spaces