Waylaid
True North #8
By Sarina Bowen
Releases July 20th 2021
It’s a tale as old as time: the bad boy meets the good girl. He makes a daring proposition. Then the boy gets a mysterious head injury and loses a year of his life…
The first time I meet Rickie, I don’t know what to make of him. The second time we meet, he doesn’t remember the six hours we spent together. Or standing me up afterward.
I’m not the same, either. I’ve got secrets. I’ve told lies. Bad boys aren’t my type, anyway. Even the ones with troubled gray eyes.
But now we’re roommates. Cue the awkward moments in the hallway when he’s wearing only a towel and a smile. He’s determined to win me over, and his talented hands weaken my resolve.
It’s all fun and games until my past rears its ugly head and his secrets come to light, shaking our fragile connection, maybe even breaking it…
Note: this is Daphne Shipley's story. Contents include Vermonty ice cream flavors, nerdy awkwardness, tattoos, and a playboy grandpa.
I read all the way to the highway
exit, but I only get halfway through the first article. It’s dense and full of
statistical analysis that’s over my head.
By the time Rickie rolls down the
exit ramp, I feel the onset of a full-blown case of imposter syndrome. Dr.
Drummond is expecting me to be sharp. What if they ask me to work on this type
of analysis, and I can’t do it?
“I see the ice cream place,” Rickie
says. “But there’s no entrance back onto the highway. What the hell?”
“Doesn’t matter,” I mumble. “It’s
three miles down a side road to exit 6.” I close the journal with a sigh. I
feel so panicky right now. I’ve always tried to be the smartest girl in the
room. But it’s all an act. I’m obviously the worst kind of dunce—the kind that
can’t see her own mistakes until it’s way too late. (See: the last twelve
months of my life.)
Is it normal to have a midlife crisis
right before your twenty-first birthday?
Rickie rolls into the gravel parking
lot of the Dreamy Creemee and puts the truck in a shady spot. He rolls down the
windows before killing the engine. It’s getting toward dinner hour, so there
aren’t many people here. Just a couple of moms pushing toddlers on the swing
set.
And I’m quietly having a panic attack
in the passenger seat.
I take a slow but shaky breath. Do I
even want ice cream? Is there a flavor on that signboard that could take me out
of my own head? I reach for the door handle, but Rickie stops me.
“Look," he says. "About
that time we shared a ride home from Connecticut...”
“No,” I say forcefully. If he
makes me relive that embarrassing experience, I might lose my cool. “Just
forget it, okay? So what if you ghosted me?”
His eyes widen. But my rant is only
picking up steam.
“None of that matters. I didn’t even
blame you. And the only way I'm going to make it through this year is if I put
Connecticut behind me, okay? Just leave it alone.”
My voice cracks on that last word,
and I realize that I might actually cry. Which is a thing I never do.
But Harkness College was my dream, and I blew it. My damn eyes get hot and my
throat constricts.
“S-so just forget it," I squeak.
“It's already in the past. It can just stay there.”
Rickie's gray eyes are soft now. And
they're moving closer. To my utter surprise, he leans forward and presses a
kiss to my lips.
So soft,
my brain sputters.
“Shh,” he says against my lips. His
kiss is warm and unhurried. Like a ray of sunshine when you’re shivering.
For once, my squirrel brain forgets
to scurry. And I just let it happen. He kisses me again. It’s still gentle. His
bright eyes measure me. I don’t know what he sees. But whatever it is, he
decides he likes it.
Those soft lips brush and press.
Again. And I'm only human. Rickie's surprisingly tender kiss has caught me at a
vulnerable moment. I lean in, experimenting with the slide and pressure of his
mouth against mine. A sizzle of heat flashes across my skin. It’s the strangest
sensation—as if he’s transferred an ounce of that devil-may-care attitude
across the steering column and right into my soul. I drink him in, lips parted.
Ready for him to take it further.
But then it ends. Rickie sits back,
his head cocked to the side, as if in deep contemplation.
I’m bereft. “Wh-what was that for?” I
stammer.
I expect a smirk. But his expression
remains soft. “You seemed a little freaked. So I brought you to an ice cream
place on a hot summer’s day. But that wasn’t enough, apparently. You needed
even more distraction. So I gave it to you. And I’m good at that. A real
specialist.”
Replying is impossible. All I can do
is sit here and try to process that kiss. That lovely kiss.
He really has some nerve.
I’ve been spending a lot of time recently in the world of True North with all of the awesome books that have been released by various authors. But it has been over a year since we got Dylan and Chastity’s book and to be honest, I don’t really remember a lot of their story. So, I feel like I have almost read this as a standalone and all I really want to do is curl up in a ball and do a massive reread.
To be honest I read the first fifteen percent of this book trying to figure out what I could remember from the rest of the series and some of it came back to me but a huge part of it was still very mysterious. And it took me quite some time to realise that this was because there was a mystery to be solved and not because of my goldfish memory and then I was sucked in so hard.
I really wasn’t able to put the book down because despite the mystery I had a pretty solid idea of what was going on. I just didn’t know how it was all going to play out and if there was going to be a bang or a fizzle when all of that knowledge was revealed and remembered. Daphne we obviously knew from all of her siblings and cousin’s stories and there was a drama with her in May’s book way back when, but I couldn’t remember much about her. She came across as a little cold and maybe a little stuck up but that was just her past and her intelligence.
Once I realised who Rickie was, I was dying to know what his background story was. Because he was simply perfect. Every time he opened his mouth the sweetest things poured out and he was dealing with so much, but he was still so worried about Daphne. I couldn’t wait to see what had happened in his past to cause his memory loss and how he was going to deal with it. And he didn’t disappoint.
The whole book was awesome and everything you can expect from a True North book from the wonderful Sarina Bowen. And I am dying to get my grabby hands on Boyfriend when it’s rereleased.
Waylaid
True North #8
By Sarina Bowen
Releases July 20th 2021
It’s a tale as old as time: the bad boy meets the good girl. He makes a daring proposition. Then the boy gets a mysterious head injury and loses a year of his life…
The first time I meet Rickie, I don’t know what to make of him. The second time we meet, he doesn’t remember the six hours we spent together. Or standing me up afterward.
I’m not the same, either. I’ve got secrets. I’ve told lies. Bad boys aren’t my type, anyway. Even the ones with troubled gray eyes.
But now we’re roommates. Cue the awkward moments in the hallway when he’s wearing only a towel and a smile. He’s determined to win me over, and his talented hands weaken my resolve.
It’s all fun and games until my past rears its ugly head and his secrets come to light, shaking our fragile connection, maybe even breaking it…
Note: this is Daphne Shipley's story. Contents include Vermonty ice cream flavors, nerdy awkwardness, tattoos, and a playboy grandpa.
Photo by Wander Aguiar
Cover design by Christine Coffey
I’m a man with too many secrets, so the last thing I need is a new roommate with a sexy smile and blue eyes that see right through me. Eight years ago, Roderick left town after high school. We’re not friends. I owe him nothing. But back then, I let one of my secrets slip, and he’s the only one who noticed.
Part of me knows I should run far, far away. But the other part wants him to come upstairs and spend the night. But if I let him in, I could lose everything.
Seeking: a room to rent in town. I’m tidy, have no pets, and I will feed you homemade bread.
I should probably add: Gay AF, and has no filter. It’s no wonder my new landlord is so wary of me.
A smarter man would ignore those hot glances from Kieran Shipley. The broody lumberjack wants more from me than another fresh-baked pretzel. But if I push my luck, I’ll end up back on the street.
Too bad I’ve never been smart with my heart…
GOODREADS GIVEAWAY
Well I am glad it's no secret that I am an idiot or I would have a really hard time explaining why I was so reluctant to start reading Fireworks. The thing I don't understand about my reluctance is that I know I love Sarina Bowen and I have loved all of the books in this series so you would think it's a no brainer to dive right in. But nope I opened it saw the chapter titles, went to GR and saw it was a second chance story. Tried to figure out who Benito was and failed. And just generally avoided reading it thinking I wasn't in the right mood for it.
Check out my Bittersweet review here
