Self-Published | July 21, 2015 | Contemporary Romance
Unexpected, book 3
★★★1/2
SOURCE: BOOK ENTHUSIAST PROMOTIONS
Jacob
As a rule, men don’t grow up believing in a happily ever after. We don’t believe in meeting the love of our lives; or the white picket fence, and 2.5 children. Every man thinks that those stupid dreams or fantasies are just nonexistent shit until it happens to them. We should have been forewarned.
I wish I was prepared for someone to appear in my life and change all my priorities. I suddenly wanted that fence and children. The part of meeting the love of my life became very real, but I wasn’t ready for suddenly losing it all, and my life plummeting into this shithole forever.
The heartbreak of losing your soulmate is one of the worst pains you will ever live with. I should campaign and warn the young people. Vaccinate against love because if you lose it, you could lose yourself for the rest of your life. The burden on your back will forever mark you and wither away your soul, darkening your days and the rest of your natural life.
This isn’t false advertisement or a dramatic display of one bitter soul.
Pria
I fought by my mother's side until her last breath, and tried to help my father until his last memories dissipated. My sister is the last one standing, but her life is a miracle that can end at any given moment. All my life I’ve never been alone, but always felt lonely.
Today, my options on how to live my life are endless, yet my heart and my best friend limit them. Stay in Seattle, close to the one person that will never let me inside his world.
The thug, as mom would've called him. A man with a bad boy attitude and a heart bigger than the ocean.
{ about claudia burgoa } .
Born on the mystical day of October 30th in the not so mystical lands of Mexico City, Claudia grew up with a childhood that resembled a caffeine-injected soap opera. Seventeen years ago she ventured to the lands of her techie husband—a.k.a. the U.S.—with their offspring to start a new adventure.
She now lives in Colorado working as a CFO for a small IT company, managing her household filled with three confused dogs, said nerd husband, two daughters wrought with fandoms and a son who thinks he’s the boss of the house. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.
She now lives in Colorado working as a CFO for a small IT company, managing her household filled with three confused dogs, said nerd husband, two daughters wrought with fandoms and a son who thinks he’s the boss of the house. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.
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{ review } .
This was my first time reading Claudia Burgoa -- I do have book 2 in this series, I just haven't gotten around to reading it (if you couldn't tell by the blog tour reviews I put out, my to-read list is pretty full with 'promised' books, so my 'bought/personal' books keep getting pushed back). I do not think it is necessary to read the other books. Sure, it took me a moment to fully grasp some of the character dynamics, but I was more lost in some of the writing style things than the character chart -- once I 'met' a character, I pretty much knew where they belonged in this world.
I love Claudia Burgoa's idea for this series. The secrets behind closed doors of those in the limelight.
The battles that Jacob (JC to those who have been following the series) and Pria face, together and apart, are enough to break just about anyone, but they both have fought to get to where they are. I liked that Ms. Burgoa chose to fill their story with more background -- it's not always necessary to do a pre-story, but I felt that in the case of Jacob and Pria, going back ten years to where it truly began was a smart decision -- after all, most of Jacob's hangups deal with that few years right after he and Pria parted ways.
Ten years ago, the triplet force of Matthew "MJ", Ainsley "AJ" (or 'Nine' as her hubby/JC's best friend calls her), and Jason ("JC" or Jace) broke up a bit -- MJ and Jason went to one college, and AJ left town for her own adventure. AJ was always the holding force of the three, and MJ was definitely the one who needed some hand holding, more or less, but Jason was bound and determined to see this school thing through. As he and MJ were waiting in line at the book store, Jason meets Pria -- and my goodness gracious, the boy's lack of skills was painful.
Sure, he'd been in the band life and whathaveyou, but his fathers always made sure the group went from stage-to-home, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Jason was excited for college to get the life that a guy his age should be living -- girls, fun, sex. A combination of all three would be great. His first conquest? None other than the girl in front of them in line.
Jason gives her some line about six kids, an island, and some dogs, and while she plays along (although she was annoyed), she puts him in his place pretty quickly after that. However, one thing leads to another, and Jason and Pria end up with a week together.
The first of events in the bumpy road to their forever happens there, though, and they're more or less torn apart. Jason ends up meeting and dating Norah; Pria ends up with Robbie.
Jason harbors a lot of guilt when it comes to Norah. Here was the woman who was supposed to be his soulmate, and the most he could give her were the last promises -- never would he speak to Pria, never would he kiss a woman, never would he sleep with someone who would ever mean anything to him. And he was supposed to write her a song. He wrong song after song after song for Pria, but he couldn't manage to put words down for Norah -- something that she held over his head (helllloo, maybe you should rethink your soulmate theory, Jace).
When Pria and Jason see one another for the first time, Pria is now going by 'Ana' (her full name allows for both nicknames) and is friends with Ainsley -- who, she finds out after taking a PR job to fix a bands image, is the ever elusive female triplet of the boys Pria knew her freshman year of college.
I hated that Jason was such a dick to Pria. I understood the reasoning behind it (promises, schmomisis), but it annoyed me that after being an ass, he shows up to her house and is all "Twinkle this and Twinkle that" (his nickname for her when they were younger), but the moment she makes a mention of something that reminds him of Norah, he's cold and angry again.
I loved that Pria was adamant on being Ana; but equally, Jason was adamant on her being Pria, and would tear off anyone's head who tried calling her Ana. I loved the way that Ms. Burgoa wrote Jacob. I loved his thoughts and his actions. I enjoyed that Matthew tried to be comical in times of need, to try and get his mind away from the disastrous thoughts, and I loved that, when it came time for it, Jacob thought of Pria as "the wife" (granted, he thought of his fathers as "the parents"; and upon writing this, I've begun UNSURPRISINGLY COMPLICATED and saw that Kowalski refers to his wife as "the wife", so perhaps it's just a Claudia Burgoa thing). I don't know why, that's just something I've always enjoyed. Or when Pria is trending and has a hashtag, and Matthew calls her the "trendy wife".
My biggest issue, then, was there were many points where I didn't feel connected with the story. Oftentimes, the emotion and the dialogue just didn't quite get there for me; I felt that the words were skimming the surface and that something was simply missing. There would be points that two people were talking, and all of a sudden, we were somewhere else; or conversations were changing without notice. I felt that there was a lot of time being jammed into a small amount of space, and therefore we weren't given a full story. I would have almost liked to see Part I as one book, and Part II as a separate book to perhaps allow more fullness to occur.
I love Claudia Burgoa's idea for this series. The secrets behind closed doors of those in the limelight.
The battles that Jacob (JC to those who have been following the series) and Pria face, together and apart, are enough to break just about anyone, but they both have fought to get to where they are. I liked that Ms. Burgoa chose to fill their story with more background -- it's not always necessary to do a pre-story, but I felt that in the case of Jacob and Pria, going back ten years to where it truly began was a smart decision -- after all, most of Jacob's hangups deal with that few years right after he and Pria parted ways.
Ten years ago, the triplet force of Matthew "MJ", Ainsley "AJ" (or 'Nine' as her hubby/JC's best friend calls her), and Jason ("JC" or Jace) broke up a bit -- MJ and Jason went to one college, and AJ left town for her own adventure. AJ was always the holding force of the three, and MJ was definitely the one who needed some hand holding, more or less, but Jason was bound and determined to see this school thing through. As he and MJ were waiting in line at the book store, Jason meets Pria -- and my goodness gracious, the boy's lack of skills was painful.
Sure, he'd been in the band life and whathaveyou, but his fathers always made sure the group went from stage-to-home, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Jason was excited for college to get the life that a guy his age should be living -- girls, fun, sex. A combination of all three would be great. His first conquest? None other than the girl in front of them in line.
Jason gives her some line about six kids, an island, and some dogs, and while she plays along (although she was annoyed), she puts him in his place pretty quickly after that. However, one thing leads to another, and Jason and Pria end up with a week together.
The first of events in the bumpy road to their forever happens there, though, and they're more or less torn apart. Jason ends up meeting and dating Norah; Pria ends up with Robbie.
Jason harbors a lot of guilt when it comes to Norah. Here was the woman who was supposed to be his soulmate, and the most he could give her were the last promises -- never would he speak to Pria, never would he kiss a woman, never would he sleep with someone who would ever mean anything to him. And he was supposed to write her a song. He wrong song after song after song for Pria, but he couldn't manage to put words down for Norah -- something that she held over his head (helllloo, maybe you should rethink your soulmate theory, Jace).
When Pria and Jason see one another for the first time, Pria is now going by 'Ana' (her full name allows for both nicknames) and is friends with Ainsley -- who, she finds out after taking a PR job to fix a bands image, is the ever elusive female triplet of the boys Pria knew her freshman year of college.
I hated that Jason was such a dick to Pria. I understood the reasoning behind it (promises, schmomisis), but it annoyed me that after being an ass, he shows up to her house and is all "Twinkle this and Twinkle that" (his nickname for her when they were younger), but the moment she makes a mention of something that reminds him of Norah, he's cold and angry again.
I loved that Pria was adamant on being Ana; but equally, Jason was adamant on her being Pria, and would tear off anyone's head who tried calling her Ana. I loved the way that Ms. Burgoa wrote Jacob. I loved his thoughts and his actions. I enjoyed that Matthew tried to be comical in times of need, to try and get his mind away from the disastrous thoughts, and I loved that, when it came time for it, Jacob thought of Pria as "the wife" (granted, he thought of his fathers as "the parents"; and upon writing this, I've begun UNSURPRISINGLY COMPLICATED and saw that Kowalski refers to his wife as "the wife", so perhaps it's just a Claudia Burgoa thing). I don't know why, that's just something I've always enjoyed. Or when Pria is trending and has a hashtag, and Matthew calls her the "trendy wife".
Thank you for being part of the tour and reviewing Uncharted :)
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