Sam Brandis was Tate Jones’s first: Her first love. Her first everything. Including her first heartbreak.

During a whirlwind two-week vacation abroad, Sam and Tate fell for each other in only the way that first loves do: sharing all of their hopes, dreams, and deepest secrets along the way. Sam was the first, and only, person that Tate—the long-lost daughter of one of the world’s biggest film stars—ever revealed her identity to. So when it became clear her trust was misplaced, her world shattered for good.

Fourteen years later, Tate, now an up-and-coming actress, only thinks about her first love every once in a blue moon. When she steps onto the set of her first big break, he’s the last person she expects to see. Yet here Sam is, the same charming, confident man she knew, but even more alluring than she remembered. Forced to confront the man who betrayed her, Tate must ask herself if it’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason… and whether “once in a lifetime” can come around twice.

With Christina Lauren’s signature “beautifully written and remarkably compelling” (Sarah J. Maas, New York Times bestselling author) prose and perfect for fans of Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner, Twice in a Blue Moon is an unforgettable and moving novel of young love and second chances.

TWICE IN A BLUE MOON

by Chistina Lauren

TWICE IN A BLUE MOON held a lot of promise and while I enjoyed it, it still had some major flaws I can’t ignore.

For one, a third of the story is about the main characters, Sam and Tate meeting when they were 21 and 18 respectively. Now I’m OK with exploring the characters’ past but since the book was quite short altogether it didn’t leave much page-time for the present.

Tate and Sam have a whirlwind romance in London but Sam’s betrayal, outing Tate’s family connection to a famous Hollywood actor to the press, haunts her years later when she meets him again on set of her next movie. Tate, now an actress, is still angry and confused at the same time because of the feelings Sam still awakes in her.

And this is where this one fell flat for me – there is little character development. They remain as flat as they were when Sam and Tate first met. I liked them alright but I liked them the way I’d like a friendly neighbor. There wasn’t a lot of meat to them and we had barely any background about them. I had no idea how Sam became a screenwriter.

The whole story felt a bit like a checklist. It was predictable and there were no real surprises even when there were “twists” I’d had them figured out early on. There is also this “being told instead of being shown” aspect that makes it hard to connect with the characters, which circles back to my previous statement that the characters were one-dimensional. Tate’s need for her dad’s approval was a little annoying – it was like she lost her backbone where he was concerned.

This book wasn’t CLo’s best work – I know they can do better so I’m looking forward to picking up their next work!