Book Review — Reckless Abandon by Andrea Randall

This is the second book in the November Blue series. November Harris is lost. After a failed romance with musician Bo Cavanaugh, Ember is left struggling to regain her true self.

The problem is, Bo wont go away and Ember's stance is firmshe doesn't want him back. Adrian Turner, Ember's ex-boyfriend-turned confidant, is patient with her heartbreak, but he can't hold back his own feelings forever.

As she sorts through her past, in an effort to plan a solid future, Ember will find that sometimes even the best laid plans bow to the soul's desire for reckless abandon.

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REVIEW:

Reckless Abandon continues Bo and Ember’s story.  With the way things ended in Ten Days of Perfect, I had to know what was next for Bo and Ember.  The story begins with Ember wallowing in her relationship woes. She’s not eating. And she’s barely talking to anyone, save Adrian Turner, her ex-boyfriend from college, who has reappeared in her life rather conveniently.  He has jumped right in to pick of the pieces of her broken heart.

Though Bo and Ember are no longer seeing each other, they still have to work together due to their non-profits collaborating together.  Primarily, Ember works with Rachel, Bo’s sister, on the project, but soon Bo starts to find ways to see Ember. He still loves her but it’s difficult for him to be around her and not be able to actually be with her.  What’s worse is that he realizes that Adrian may be more than just a friend to Ember (and he wouldn’t be too far off).

Bo’s point-of-view was sprinkled throughout the book and I really liked getting inside his head.  Like Ember, he’s a complete mess.  In addition to his rocky relationship with Ember, he goes through something else in this book that is really traumatic, something no one should ever have to go through. I have to say that when I got to that part in the book I was deeply moved.  I did not see that plot twist coming and I was so SAD!

Like in book one, I really liked Andrea Randall’s writing style and the general flow of the story.  However there were a few things that still bothered me.  Personally, I felt like some of Ember’s internal dialogue was over-the-top and dramatic, especially when compared to her short relationship with Bo.  The repetitive use of the word, “soul” throughout the novel was a little distracting — “I feel my soup rip off her lingering bandages,” “pound on the door to my soul with such force that cracks were forming,” “turbulent waters of my soul.”

I had to get over the instalove and learn to accept the fact Bo and Ember just had this deep intense (albeit short-lived) relationship — and that the length of it didn’t matter. The focus in Reckless Abandon is on mending Bo and Ember’s relationship and their hearts.  What I liked most about Reckless Abandon was the building tension between Bo and Ember.  From page one, the reader knows that both characters still have deep feelings for one another.  It just took the characters awhile to come to that realization and put those feelings to action.  That sort of sweet tension is what I love about reading romance novels — the waiting for that reunion.

2 stars

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