Review: "Until You" by Jeannie Moon

Note: This ARC was provided by Tule Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kate Nicholls is officially forty, but instead of spending her birthday with a party surrounded by family and friends, she's wallowing in a bottle of wine that she appears to have polished off all by herself. She has a family and close friends that love and support her and she's a bestselling and well-respected author. On the other hand, she's divorced and her ex-husband and his mistress turned fiancée have brainwashed her seventeen-year-old daughter. Thinking about her ex is no way to celebrate her birthday, so when a good looking man approaches her, checks to see if she's okay, and then asks her out to dinner, she decides to throw caution to the wind and agrees to go out with this younger man, thinking it'll be a one-time thing.

David Burke isn't even thirty yet and he's already known for his professional and personal lives. He's a highly successful hockey player and is the captain of the Philadelphia Flyers. He also happens to be one of the most eligible bachelors around, dating often but never getting involved with any woman seriously. When he takes on a bet to try and get the beautiful woman sitting by herself at a bar, he soon realizes there's something much more to her and that she's going to be more than a one-night stand. But with his paparazzi-fueled playboy reputation making him tabloid fodder and the ten-year age difference, David finds himself hopelessly and constantly taking one step forward and two steps back in his pursuit of Kate.

Kate and David want and can't stop thinking about one another but Kate's insecurities about her age and having to deal with her troubled relationship with her daughter Laura and the meddling of her greedy ex-husband Richard have her avoiding getting into anything serious with David. On the other hand, David's past non-relationships with women and a jealous girl he was with for a period of time appear to have solidified his public persona as a player. Will these two be able to overcome unbalanced exes, their respective pasts, and all doubts and realize that what may have started as just one night together could end up being the forever after that they both want but don't think they're meant to share with one another?

Bestselling author Jeannie Moon has weaved together a beautiful and touching contemporary romance novel with a well-blended mix of several themes. We have two celebrities in their own right; one is a bestselling author, the other a professional hockey player. They've got more than a decade between them in terms of age. She's divorced and has a teenage daughter while he's never been in a committed relationship. You would think they would have nothing much in common but there's something intangible that simply connects them. Even as they try to walk away or keep their distance, their thoughts never stray far from the idea of being together, and each time time they are together, their feelings simply intensify.

This is a second chance romance, but when I say "second chance", it isn't about two people who were together once, broke up, and then got back together again years later. The second chance here is for Kate who was married to a man she loved and whom she believed loved her just as much, only to find out what kind of person he truly was. David's never really been in love before, so this is his chance to finally experience it and to learn that he needs to not just reactive but proactive if he wants to be with Kate. I loved how these two were on a journey of sorts, trying to process and work through everything and everyone, including themselves, on their way to being together and learning to take necessary chances.

Until You is one of those novels that will have you going through various emotions--frustration at the main characters who you know want to be with the other person but keep finding excuses not to or simply taking way too much time to do something about it; happiness during those moments that they're able to set aside their hang-ups and just let things be what they're meant to be; anger at the treatment Kate was receiving from her ex-husband, his fiancée, and her own daughter; and satisfaction with how Kate and Laura finally stood up for themselves. This was not a quick read but one that I finished in one sitting (at nearly five in the morning!) but one that will stay with me for a good, long while. I loved it! 4.5 stars! ♥

Release Date: 17 March 2015

Date read: 11 March 2015

Learn more about author Jeannie Moon here.

Pre-order a copy of Until You on Amazon.