Blurb:
Gatsby meets Persuasion in
a story of sex and money in L.A. as a self-sufficient loner, new billionaire
Will Sloan, dares to cross the divide of privilege to claim his lost love.
Synopsis:
PRIDE
Loner Will Sloan, son of a waitress and a dead rodeo cowboy, former scholarship
student, new billionaire, is back in L.A., land of palm-lined drives and fiery
sunsets. His friends urge him to jump into the hot city dating scene, but a
chance encounter at a school reunion revives a powerful past love. He’s never
forgotten Annie James…and this time around, he swears he’ll do the walking out.
AND PERSUASION
Widowed young, Annie James believes she’s
recovered from the early heartbreaks that left her single and jobless at 24.
Ten years later, she’s got a job, a house, and a personal passion helping
at-risk kids. Then she steps up to do a favor for a friend and help a poor boy
win a scholarship to the Canyon School. Doing so unlocks the door to the past,
and to the one man who could break her heart again. This time, though, love
will conquer all.
“Moore is a talent to
remember.” —RT Book Reviews
ORDER LINKS:
EXCERPT from The Loner:
“Whatever
committee I’m on. She has to be on it.”
“It can be arranged.”
“Arrange it.” Will turned and walked away before he did anything
else stupid. He headed for the short hallway off the main patio. He hadn’t made
his revenge speech yet.
He leaned against the wall opposite the door marked “Women,” tipped
his head back against the stucco surface, and drew a steadying breath. He could
count the number of times he’d seen her without a jacket. The lavender dress she
wore offered revealing views of her person. From thin straps the neckline dipped
in a simple lace-edged V. While Chambers spoke, Will’s eyes kept wandering back
to that dipping V. He imagined hooking his fingers in those straps and pushing them
down over her shoulders. And then telling her how over her he was. That was the
plan, right?
When the door opened, he shifted, flattening a palm against each
wall, blocking her way. She halted in front of him and squared her shoulders.
“Nice lace.”
She blushed instantly, and her response sent a hot flash to his
groin.
She recovered quicker than he did. “Do you know why Josh Huntington
threw us together tonight?”
“His deep devotion to Canyon.”
A look of disgust crossed her face. “Josh doesn’t do anything
that isn’t purely in his own self-interest.”
He was glad to hear her say it. At least she wasn’t taken in by
the guy. His own questions were pressing on him again. “Why did you leave Canyon?”
“Why did you come here tonight?”
He kept his palms flat against each wall. “Are you kidding? New
Directions for Canyon? I’m the only guy who doesn’t see the place as a holy shrine.
You want to hear my idea for Canyon? Sell it to developers, bring in the wrecking
ball and the backhoes, and give hundreds of poor kids a full college ride.”
“An excellent plan. Hostile, but practical.” She tried to slip
by him, and he leaned forward, bringing his face within inches of hers.
“Make me less hostile.” He reached out a hand and tucked a strand
of her hair behind her ear. Her whole body shivered at the touch, and he felt gut-punched.
He forced himself to press for the answers he wanted. “Why didn’t you answer that
letter?”
He caught a puzzled look in her eyes, but the men’s room door
opened.
“This is not the time or the place for this conversation.”
“Come with me. You can explain it.”
Voices intruded. Two men stepped into the hallway and halted.
Will took his hands from the walls. Deep brown eyes pleaded with him. He took her
arm, leading her down the hall.
“You were eighteen,” she said in a low voice.
“I knew my mind. You pretended not to know yours.”
“You had an amazing college opportunity ahead of you.”
“You didn’t believe in me. You believed in guys like Moreland,
but not in me. You thought I wouldn’t make it.”
“You had not even begun to live. I was a widow. My husband had
been dead barely a year. A year.”
“You saw where I lived,” he said quietly. “You were afraid to
take a chance on a nobody like me.”
“I did what I had to do, what I thought was right. And look at you. You’ve done
well. Without me. You can’t deny it.” She slipped out of his hold and headed across
the patio.
A smart man would let her go. He decided to be smart.
Review:
★★★★ stars
As a Jane Austen fan, I love the originals and I love Austen-esque fiction and modern takes. Kate Moore has done a fabulous job on taking on the much beloved Persuasion and adding her own personal touch to it. I really enjoyed reading this book. I read it in under two hours, and was turning pages as fast I could.
I would have loved to give this book 5 stars, but there were a couple of things that I felt we re left open ended. In regards to the creepy neighbor who molested and assaulted wonderful Annie every chance he got to the villain of this book, who I wanted to see stripped, tarred, and feathered, for all the wrongs that had been done, both past and present. It felt like those who did wrong got away with too much. Now I know this is fiction and realistic, but I like it when the bad guys suffer and the guy and the girl get each other.
That being said, let me tell you what I loved. I loved that this book is told from three points of view. That's right three, We get Annie's, Will's, and Josh's. Annie and Will are the separated lover and Josh is sort of a cupid? Matchmaker? Yenta? Anyhow, take your pick. He's got his reasons for trying to get them back together and he's not being upfront about them. I loved the chemistry Will and Annie had. They were giving off some serious sparks! I also loved Annie's beautiful sense of charity. She wasn't above doing anything to help someone out. Speaking of helping out, I loved Ulysses too. He's one heck of an intelligent kid. Will grew on me. I understood his "hatred" but he didn't have the whole story and so it seemed extreme to me he'd go to such lengths to get the revenge he think he deserved.
Kate Moore took some risks bringing this story into modern times, but I think in the end they paid off. Annie is not the typical down trodden Anne and Will is definitely not the same Frederick in Persuasion. For one thing he's a tech billionaire. I liked the conflict and setting up for the next book. I look forward to seeing Josh and Emma but heads and hopefully fall in love. Kate Moore has won me over and I really look forward to reading more books in this series and anything else she writes.
*Thank you to the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for them in any manner.*
Kate has lived most of her life along the California coast. That experience has made her a jeans-wearing, toes in wet-sand, married to a surfer, fog-loving weather wimp, with a hint of East Coast polish from spending her college years in Boston. Family history connects her to Irish and English immigrants, Cornish miners, gold prospectors, and adventurers who sailed around Cape Horn bound for San Francisco.
When she's not reading, writing or brainstorming, Kate walks in the redwoods, feed birds, collect books, apples and leaves; she watches tele-novellas on Spanish-language TV and immerses herself in all things English. Her favorite food groups are butter, brown sugar, dark chocolate, and red wine. Kate's early literary influences were The Little Engine That Could, The Little Red Hen, and Winnie the Pooh. Austen, Heyer, Chaucer, and Homer came later and inspired her to put that first plot on paper.
Kate's heroes are honorable, virile outsiders with some grand ambition; her heroines are practical princesses, who drive those edgy loners into love with good sense and good sex.
Her family and friends offer endless support and humor. Kate says her children are her best works, and her husband is her favorite hero.
Website: http://katemoore.com/
Facebook: https://www.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
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Giveaway
Dear Confessions, From one Jane Austen fan to another, thanks for sharing your experience of reading The Loner. Your thoughtful review brightens my writing day as I work on a story for Josh and Emma. Cheers, Kate
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Kate! I look forward to reading about Josh and Emma! :)
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