Blog Tour Stop: Once and Again by Elisabeth Barrett

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Once and Again (Return to Briarwood #1)
Author : Elisabeth Barrett
Publication Date :  July 14th 2015
Publisher : Loveswept
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

For readers of Shannon Stacey and Susan Mallery, the heartfelt new Briarwood series begins with a tale of forbidden love, broken promises, and second chances.

Growing up in Eastbridge, Connecticut, Carolyn Rivington was a young debutante who did whatever her parents asked. So when her father demanded that she break things off with the boy from the wrong side of the tracks or else, she did. Now Carolyn’s family is deep in debt. She’s no longer a member of the Briarwood Golf and Yacht Club, she’s an employee. And the tanned, tattooed, dangerously handsome stranger who saunters into her lobby isn’t just her new boss . . . he’s also her first love.

The last time he saw Carolyn, Jake Gaffney was in the back of a police cruiser, handcuffed and humiliated. But seeing her again stirs other memories: a blanket on the beach, the moon above their heads, and the most expensive bottle of wine he could afford. Now the tables have turned. As a real-estate magnate and Briarwood’s new owner, Jake doesn’t have to answer to anyone. But now that he’s back home, he’s finding it hard to live down his old reputation.

Before they can move forward, Jake and Carolyn must face their pasts. But it’ll take more than sizzling chemistry for them to heal old wounds and return to the love they once shared.  

Personal Thoughts

Like many of you know, second chance romances are my romance drug of choice. As soon as I found out that Once and Again had one, I was beyond excited to read it. Even though I had a few nibbles with Once and Again, for the most part, I thought it was an adorable read and by the end, I was looking forward to being back in Briarwood in the future.

A high school fling between Jake and Carolyn was broken apart when Carolyn's dad has Jake arrested because they come from very different financial backgrounds. Fifteen years later, the roles are reversed and Jake is now the rich owner of the golf club that Carolyn is slaving away at. Carolyn and Jake were pretty great characters. I especially liked Carolyn because she was devoted to her job and despite being a rich society girl, she wasn't one to complain about having to sweat to earn money. Carolyn was also a caring girl - she was always willing to help out others and she was always there to listen to people when they needed someone to just hear them out. I loved that about her and I certainly admired her for who she was. I also enjoyed Jake's character. He may have had that tattooed bad boy front, but he was a sweetheart on the inside. He was someone who was willing to work hard to achieve his dreams and he managed to reach his goals despite all the prejudices he faced for his hard appearance. I think that's what made Jake and Carolyn a great couple. Their romance was very sweet and was peppered with some steamy scenes that had me fanning myself. I liked that theirs was a romance that was mostly drama free and did not have that stretched out separation that most romances have. In the end, I thought the romance was the strongest part of the book.

I think where Once and Again stuttered a little bit for me were with the multiple sub-plots. With the story lines involving the renovation of Briarwood, Carolyn's planning of events, Carolyn's issues with her father and his lawyer, Carolyn making new friends and then those friends' stories also being explored, there was just too much going on in the book. I was especially frustrated when the POV kept switching to Jane's, a friend of Carolyn. It's not that I didn't want to read her story, but it would have been better suited to explore all her problems in her own book and I'm assuming she's going to get one. Just a brief introduction of her character would have been sufficient, in my opinion. On a more positive note, I did end up liking the golf club setting quite a bit and I hope we'll see more of it in the next book.

Once and Again was not without its flaws, but it still managed to keep me engaged throughout because the romance between the main couple was quite lovely together with the author's lovely writing. I look forward to reading more about this series.

Rating 

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5

**Overall Rating : 3.5/5**

Author Biography

Elisabeth Barrett lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and spends her days teaching, editing, writing sexy contemporary romance, and enjoying time with her sometimes-bearded husband and three spirited children. She is constantly perfecting her home-work-writing juggling act, but in her free time she loves to hike open-space preserves, grow orchids, bake sweet things her husband won’t eat, and sing in grand choruses. For more about Elisabeth, please visit her website.

Author Links
Website: http://www.elisabethbarrett.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ElisabethBarrettAuthor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ebarrettwrites
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5247981.Elisabeth_Barrett

Giveaway

Prizes:

-One Loveswept Mug
-One Flirt Mug
-Ebook copies of:
CLAIMED by Stacey Kennedy
MY OBSESSION by Cassie Ryan
DEEP AUTUMN HEAT by Elisabeth Barrett
TAKE THE FALL by Marquita Valentine
YOUR TO KEEP by Serena Bell
SWEET THE SIN by Claire Kent

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Be sure to check out the other tour stops here.

Thank you to Tasty Book Tours for letting me be part of this blog tour and NetGalley and Loveswept for the e-ARC of Once and Again.