Review: Believe in Me by Laura Moore

What better way to start our blog than with a great book right?

I discovered Laura Moore a year ago, just after the release of Remember Me, the first book of the series. I was instantly hooked, and after finishing I read her complete backlist and I can tell you that I loved every single one of her books. I was very excited when Believe in Me came out and I could finally know what would happen to Jordan.

Even though this is the second book of the trilogy (there are three sisters and each has her own book, the last one available next year), Believe in Me stands alone quite well and it isn’t that spoilery for the first one, although it’s nice to see the evolution of the characters and the first book is really good, so you might want to read that one first.

Jordan is a recently single mother of three; she lost fate in men when her ex-husband cheated on her while pregnant with their third child, and then proceeded to cheat on her again after she had forgiven him and tried to work things out. She is now living with her sisters on their childhood home, a horse farm in Virginia, and trying to resume her career as an interior decorator.

Owen is the commitment-phobe architect that just moved to the farm next door and is restoring the house in order to sell it. When he meets Jordan sparks fly even when they both resist the attraction for different reasons, but when he hires her to decorate the house, they end up giving up to temptation. How their relationship evolves and how they come to love each other, baggage, kids, meddling sisters and all, is basically the entire story.

This book was a bit slow; it was full of details about horse farms, interior decoration and house restoration. If you don’t like slow building relationships, and long books that have more to do with everyday life than great events, and where the problem between the protagonists comes from within themselves and not because of a misunderstanding, then probably this book isn’t for you.

I enjoyed the love story between Jordan and Owen, but to me the younger sister Jade steals the show, I think every scene she’s in is amazing, and she’s the most complex character of the three sisters, I really can’t wait to read her book, and Laura, if you are reading this review, please at least tell us who her hero is! I’m rooting for Robocop, but since the book is far, far away I will settle for a name, any name, even if is someone new!

The other thing I loved was that for once we get a realistic portrayal of the ex, yes he was a jerk, but regardless of how bad he was to Jordan, he was a good father who loved and missed his children, and even Jordan recognized that. I’m sick of books were the ex doesn’t have any redeeming qualities and is actually so bad and mean, that you wonder how the hero/heroine picked him/her in the first place. And I think they resolved their issues as adults, he wasn’t the villain of the story, in fact, this book doesn’t have a villain, as I said before, the problems are everyday problems, and the obstacles they have to face come from their own issues and personalities.

Overall this is a book about family, everyday life and second chance at love. I think you will like it, my favorite book of the series still is Remember Me, but this one comes as a close second, and I have a feeling Jade’s book is going to be amazing, we get a sneak peak at the end of this one enough to give us and idea of what’s to come, and leaving us wanting more.

Grade: 4

Sensuality: McSexy

Review by Brie

Synopsis:

EVEN THE MOST TIGHTLY LOCKED HEART HAS A KEY.

After learning of her husband’s affair, Jordan Radcliffe is crushed, but she knows she must stay strong for her three young children. So she moves back to Rosewood, the idyllic horse farm where she grew up. Wishing only to recover and reassess her life, Jordan feels an undeniable attraction to architect Owen Gage—and does her best to ignore it. Her heart is too fragile to love again.

Yet when Owen, who himself is wary of any romantic involvement, offers her a job she badly needs, Jordan has no choice but to accept, even though it means she’ll be working alongside him every day. And that closeness could intensify the connection between them—a desire as unnerving as it is powerful.

Believe in Me: A Rosewood Novel by Laura Moore

Ballantine Books, January 18, 2011.