review || BLINDSIDED

Blindsided by Holly Mortimer

Publisher: Butterfly Publishing (2/10/2015)
Series: The Sisters Series, book 1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Author
Purchase links || amazon | bn || add to goodreads

Rating: ★★★★1/2




Georgina has built herself a quiet life following the tragic death of her husband. She moved to LA to start her life over and has no intentions of ever falling in love again. Her hermit existence and passion for reading and writing romance have driven her to fear the real world, but while out on a forced blind date she accidentally meets Finn Lowry. Kind, sensitive, funny and voted one of 2014’s hottest actors, he’s hard to resist, not to mention, totally out of her league. In order to keep her promise to herself, she needs to steer clear of him at all costs. 


Finn sets out to pull Georgina back to the surface, showing her it is possible for her to find love again after living with a heart on lock down for so long. Humor, persistence and life in the limelight come together with Finn to conspire to show Georgina the way to her heart. Can she let go of her old insecurities and avoid Finn’s fans for long enough to let him get through to her? 





about Holly  || Holly Mortimer is a wife and mother of two daughters, residing in Stratford, ON. She started writing in high school in an Ancient Egyptian History class, penning her first piece on Cleopatra and her many loves. Her teacher immediately asked her if she had any interest in writing soap operas when she graduated.

She has just completed her debut novel, Blindsided and is currently working the second book in this series.

She loves reading, watching movies and playing with her kids, dog and family.

amazon author page | website | twitter

{ review } .

I love when authors and publishers reach out to me to read certain books. It makes me feel.... I don't know, accomplished, maybe? That my words matter. 

...even though I always fear that I either write too little, or too much. There really is no in-between when it comes to my reviews.

When I see authors reaching out to find reviewers, and knowing that there are reviewers like me who will read these titles, it gives me all sorts of ideas for when I manage to buckle down and get my own 'thousand-and-two books written. 

...or maybe it's one thousand and four. I forget.

Anywho.

A number of things can happen for me when I read. I either get super engrossed in the book and everything (and I do mean everything) fades away -- time, the room, thoughts -- it's just me and the book. There are also times where I remember exactly where I was while reading (something I'll dip into in my SEDUCING FORTUNE review when I get it up in the next 24-hours or so). When I first started reading this title, I was in my car, waiting for the car wash.

There were three cars ahead of me (pretty sure the one directly in front of me was a red truck, but it may have been black), and it was the first nice day in a long time, and this particular car wash took a lot of time. 

It's also next to a Culvers and I had to convince myself that a bacon-cheddar-bbq burger and chocolate with hot caramel sundae were not needed.

...this was also back in the beginning of March. I sometimes get super busy with tours, and requests and NetGalley get put on a super-back-backburner, and I then feel terrible about the fact I haven't given the book a proper review, because the book is done, has been done, and should have been reviewed.

So for the timeliness of this, Holly, I do apologize.

This book had it's ups and downs for me... more ups than downs, though. My biggest disconnect with it was the age of the characters. Up until I was twenty-five, I really only enjoyed reading books with characters in their twenties. Thirties scared me a bit, so I avoided those. Now at my ripe ol' age of twenty-seven, my general age frame is mid-twenties to mid-thirties, unless I'm in the mindset of a young/new adult -- even though the entire time I'm reading them, I'm cursing their youngness, but 'eh, what can you do. When I read a book with a twenty-six year old finding happily ever after, I sometimes feel bad about myself and lack of a relationship but... that's my own hangup ;)

That said...

George is nearing forty. I almost put the book down.

But I made a promise, so I stuck it out -- besides, who the heck cares how old someone is when they find love? Love's love.

We have Georgina and Finn in this book. George is nearly a hermit in her widowhood. She writes romance and has given up on her happily ever after. After all, she holds immense guilt over the death of her husband. Her friends, who mean well, send her on a blind date. George and my opinion of blind dates are exactly the same:

Those soul sucking combat missions of love friends send you in on in order to make themselves feel better. Better about their amazing love lives and your lack of one.

I mean, c'mon, who loves blind dates except the friends who are doing the setting up?!

While waiting for this pull-your-teeth-out mission to occur, George drops her phone and bumps heads with a gorgeous stranger. At the end of the night, George is at odds with the fact that she's met two men in one day, two more men than she's met in any single day in a long time. The blind date doesn't work out so hot, but the gorgeous stranger starts to text her and George slowly comes out of her shell.

Turns out Finn is an actor, and this doesn't exactly earn him points with George.

What I loved about this story was the gentleness of Finn. He was a good guy through and through. He did everything he could to keep George comfortable with his lifestyle, and wanted her around. George had her fears -- Finn's lifestyle brings a lot of those fears out, as well as trouble -- and she did a lot of running; what she felt for Finn was decidedly bigger than what she even felt with her husband.

"What's going through that head of yours, George? Don't over think your time here. Just relax and let go. You're safe with me. You can trust me, I promise. You can do this relationship thing."

"I know, it's just I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop," I said.

"What do you think is going to happen?" 

 I began to wobble a bit and he gently steered me towards that fantastic couch. He laid me down and arranged himself on the lounge portion so he could put my head in his lap. "Ok, sweets. Spill it."

"I don't know, it's just this feeling I have. Finn, I haven't felt this into a guy since Connor. And if I'm being honest with myself, maybe even while I was with Connor. There's something about you that's making me crazy inside. Long erected walls are falling, decisions are being made rashly...I would jump on you in the next five minutes."

I clamped a hand over my mouth. How had that slipped out?

I tilted my head and looked up at him with a sheepish smile. He gave me a new smile, one I was instantly somewhat terrified of. It was a slow, wolfish smile, looking like he was deciding when and where he was going to devour every inch of me. I changed my ind. I freaking loved that smile.

Altogether, I loved seeing these two break through walls and find a true, forever, happily ever after. It was easy to forget my own issues with the book and be deep in the lives of Finn and George. Finn, although a big star, was easily relatable and more down to earth than many stars -- and he wasn't written in a way in which you'd roll your eyes and say, 'Yeah, whatever, Holly...' -- you can fully see him as a normal guy who just happens to have his face plastered on magazines and movie posters. George had her fears, and Finn was certainly the type of guy to help her out of her little hole. Their ending was decidedly perfect for them, and I'd love to see more of these friends who shorten their names to boys' names... because I like boy names on girls.