Title: Finding Me (Second Chances, #2.5)
Author: Stephanie Rose
Genre: New Adult
Release Date: May 22, 2016
Synopsis
I've always been lost . . . Abandoned by a father who didn't want me. Cherished by a stepfather, though I wasn’t his. Shattered by a boy who swore he loved me. But I belonged nowhere, to no one. Then I met Owen, the sweet-talking hockey player who made me love him. He gave me the courage to trust in someone besides myself. He showed me a love I longed for. When an unwanted ghost comes knocking on my door, my heartbreaking history threatens to repeat itself. But where do I turn if I lose everyone? And how do I find where I belong, when I’m still Finding Me? Finding Me is a spinoff from the Second Chances series and can be read as a standalone.
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Review
[Christina]
Amazon/GoodReads Rating: 5/5 Stars
In Patti's Imagination Rating: 10/10 Stars
Lucas and Bella… One of the most beautiful examples of the love between a man and his daughter, even if she’s not biologically his. I fell for the sweet 5-year-old Bella in Lucas’ story, Always You, and was so excited when Stephanie Rose blessed us with a story of her own. Now 18 years old, starting college away from her beloved parents and far from her disastrous last year of high school Bella hopes to move on from the past and find herself. She doesn’t plan on meeting a self-assured southern hockey player or the feelings that stem from their first encounter.
“You two must be from the city,” a smooth baritone voice noted from behind us. “I’d take a coffee from Bean Shooters over the overpriced garbage from Starbucks any day.”
I narrowed my eyes as I turned around. I was prepared to tell him in my thickest Queens accent to keep his city comments to himself when I lost the ability to speak. I never thought I’d see the day a guy with silky ash brown hair almost down to his shoulders and held back with a black bandana would make me want to drool. My eyes traveled down to his tight black sleeveless shirt stretched out by a wide muscular chest and stopped at strong chiseled arms.
Owen has quite the reputation as a lady’s man and Bella just knows he couldn’t be interested in her. As she tutors him a friendship grows and so does their attraction to one another. When they FINALLY decide to open up about their feelings it made my heart race. The moments leading up to their first kiss were so beautiful.
“You are so beautiful,” Owen whispered as he took my face in his hands and rubbed his thumbs back and forth over my cheeks. “When you’re around around, I don’t see anyone but you.”
Owen is such a charmer, and the way he treats Bella is perfection. He is the ultimate book boyfriend, and as of writing this review I’ve suffered such a horrible (yet wonderful) book hangover. The things he says and does to Bella make warm circles go around my heart.
“You’re my sky full of stars.”
“Yeah, you should be afraid of this redneck. Especially if you try to hurt this girl again.”
“From the moment you came into my life, no one else would ever compare, I wanted – needed – to be with you.”
“Everything else that happened would fall into place as long as I had you. All I need is you, Bella.”
Owen and Bella do face some trouble, which threatens to tear them apart, and you find yourself wondering if they can make it. I was rooting for them the entire time, and I have a confession to make. If you’ve read Ms. Rose’s first 2 books, Always You and Only You, you know her leading men are just shy of perfection. Lucas and Evan are so swoon worthy and I never thought I could love anyone more than them, especially not a hockey playing college kid. I was wrong. God, was I wrong. Owen is a combination of the two of them, all the best parts with his southern charm thrown in. He has risen to the top of my all-time favorite book boyfriends.
This book was the ultimate love story, but more. It showed the beautiful relationships between Bella and her mom, and the ultra-special bond she has with Lucas. The flashbacks to their early relationship made me weep. This book has it all, romance, some danger, laughing, crying, screaming and possible kindle throwing and most of all: FAMILY.
[Janet]
Amazon/Goodreads rating: 5/5 stars
In Patti's Imagination rating: 10/10 stars
This is the first book I have read by this author and even though it is a part of a series I did not feel lost or that I was missing something by not reading them.
Bella was five years old when she was abandoned by her biological father. She always wondered why. She has a great relationship with her stepfather and loves him very much but still has that missing piece. Then after an embarrassing break up her senior year in high school, Bella goes away to college in order to find who she is.
Here she meet Owen. She wants nothing to do with him but he convinces her to become his tutor. She agrees and a friendship is formed, which wasn’t an easy task for Owen after what has happened in her past.
This story has everything in it from laughs to tears. There are ups and downs and all the while we are with Bella as she learns to figure out who she is. The angst, hate, loss and fear that Bella deals with is so well written you feel these emotions along with her.
The support of Bella’s family and friends were great and showed us how family is important. There were some unexpected twists for me along the way.
I look forward to reading more from this author.
Excerpt
I couldn’t quite make eye contact with Ethan since the last time I came back to the apartment with Owen before Thanksgiving break. We caught Ethan naked in the hallway—on a date and thinking they had the place to themselves for a night. I was no prude, but seeing junk not belonging to my boyfriend turned me three shades of red. I hadn't even seen Owen's, but I . . . felt it . . . a lot. On my leg, against my stomach, sometimes rubbing my back if he was holding me from behind. Why I was so bashful I couldn't say, especially since I didn’t have a cherry to pop. But it was only one guy and only one time, shortly before he shredded my heart and then stomped all over it. Even though I couldn't make my virginity grow back, I wasn’t quite ready to go there again. However, not being ready for sex had absolutely nothing to do with wanting it. Our time together always ended with a scorching kiss and groping against the nearest wall. Owen’s Southern gentility was probably wearing thin these past few weeks. “Owen? The movie starts in a half hour!” I called as I strolled down the hallway. “Hey, City. Give me a minute, practice ran late.” Owen had just stepped out of the shower and was dripping freaking wet. The V on his hips disappeared into a towel cinched around his tapered waist. Water traveled from the stray tangled locks at his neck and trickled down over his ripped chest and his abs before disappearing into the bunched up material at his waist. I licked my parched lips and tried to remember how to speak. How many damn abs did he have? Six? Eight? I was gaping at a wet, half naked Owen while the corner of the bastard's mouth turned up in a smirk. I didn't have the faculties to scowl back. My tongue didn't want to work unless it was tracing the water trails across Owen's body. “Keep looking at me like that, baby. We won't be going anywhere tonight.”Teasers
About The Author
Stephanie Rose was born and raised in the Bronx, New York and still lives there with her superhero-obsessed husband and son. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business and a day job in marketing, but she always has a story in her head. Her books are full of swoon-worthy men and feisty heroines. This lifelong New Yorker lives for Starbucks, book boyfriends, and 80s rock. Her voice is often mistaken for a Mob Wives trailer.
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Purchase The Series:
Always You
Only You
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