Oh this is fraught with heartbreak and angst. In a good way though – not the heartbreak and angst – for the tension and suspense a second chance romance creates. Madison Prescott fell in love with her childhood friend, Ana Perez, when she was 8-years-old. Her father didn’t want his daughter to even be friends with the maid’s daughter let alone allow her to be gay or in love with her. On the day of his funeral, Madison sees Ana again.

When I’m in the mood, this type of story where a couple finally get a chance at re-uniting, and all the past pain that goes with it, really appeals to me. All too often though, the story is fairly predictable and I often think that the reason the couple originally parted ways is something that could have been fixed with a little conversation. This is not one of those and it sets it apart.

I enjoyed the pace and liked both main characters. There are lots of flashbacks that are non-linear which added to the unravelling of the story. The only thing that I was a little disappointed by was that I was put through all their hurt and sadness without little return on my investment of time. I would have like a little more expression of love between them to counterbalance the trauma.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

I luuuuurved this one. It's SO well written, and it's a breath of fresh air in the romance genre.

The changes between past and present works really well, and the characters are great. Often, I find that what sets a book apart for me, is how the supporting characters are written, and here, they have depth and is well written.

To be recommended!

Precious female realms romance. I want to protect them at all costs. And save them form their 15 years apart. Dads are dumb.

Elle Spencer is starting to become one of my favorite authors, for sure. The way she engages the audience from the start is amazing. I was enthralled from the beginning and at times I wanted to get inside the book and smack some sense into the characters.

At some point I felt the drama was unnecessary but Elle did a great job keeping things interesting and avoiding falling into the repetitive pattern some authors fall into. Character emotions were palpable, the ending felt a bit short and I could have used more romance, but when the flashbacks appeared it was great, the chemistry felt real and the couple was relatable.

Great book, highly recommend it. Look forward to reading more from the author.

If it were possible to give this book 10 star review I certainly would. I haven’t read a book that is so good to warrant such an extremely high star rating. This book is exceptionally good, the writing is superb and very tight, the characters were very well developed to the point that part way through the book you got a good understanding of where both Ana and Madison were. That in itself drew me into the book as I wanted to know what was going to happen with these two characters. First we have Madison who is the only child of an extremely wealthy and very misogynistic father who controls everything in her life and everything around her; next there is Ana who is the daughter of a maid in the mansion where Madison lives. These to form a bond from the age of eight on. Both young women are very good at concealing their relationship and have a desire to get married and have a family. Of course that plan does not work out as Madison‘s father went ballistic when he found out his daughter was involved with the daughter of a maid and of course in his usual mean and vindictive nature puts a stop to the relationship in ways that are absolutely unbelievable. While Ana knows nothing about all of this Madison knows that the only thing she can do is break the relationship off and marry a man in order to protect Ana and her mother.

As controlling as Madison‘s father was while he was the life he has the same amount of control in death as he made arrangements to a sure that his daughter would never get back together with Anna and would lead the life that he wants her to have as the sole heir to his empire. From this point on in the story there are so many twists and turns that I was unable to put the book down until I completed it because there was never a clear possibility of a happy ending for these two women.
I highly recommend this book it has so much going for it you won’t regret the purchase.

I received an ARC from Netgalley.

This is a typical forbidden romance story between rich girl Madison Prescott and poor girl Ana Perez, when they're suddenly ripped apart by Madison's father George who is set on making Madison the perfect heir for his company. 15 years later Ana and Madison meet again when George dies. Madison is set on making everything okay between the two but Ana still feels betrayed and heartbroken.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book, 40% in I was ready to just DNF it but I continued and it actually ended up getting better.

I think the one thing I didn't like about this book was the writing. All the different perpectives left me pretty confused at times and made it feel like I was watching a tv show.The flashbacks left me confused a lot of the time as well, and I had to go back and re-read certain things to understand what was going on.

I think what made it better towards the end though was that it focused more on just the two main characters and not everyone around them as well. All scenes between Madison and Ana were great and filled with passion and chemistry. It was super angst filled as well, maybe a little too much at times for my liking.

It wasn't my favorite book ever but I did end up liking it more than I thought when I started it. I have another Elle Spencer book on my shelf and I will definently give her another chance.

I ended up giving this book 3/5 stars and I would recommend it if you're a fan of forbidden romances that includes a lot of angst but also cute, romantic scenes.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45178905-the-road-to-madison" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Road to Madison" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1555739528m/45178905.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45178905-the-road-to-madison">The Road to Madison</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17117402.Elle_Spencer">Elle Spencer</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2818899687">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Madison and Ana star in this romance laced with drama and angst. What seems like the typical storyline of rich girl loves poor girl, etc., has some surprising twists. I was hooked from the opening scene and while the ending was abrupt, enjoyed the plot. Madison is written as the more likeable character - Ana seems consumed by hate and sub character George (Madison's father) the hateful/despicable parent. A quick read worth 3.5 stars.<br />I rec'd an ARC from NetGalley/Bold Strokes Books for review.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31134832-gail">View all my reviews</a>

This is the second book I have read from this author, the first being Casting Lacey (which I recommend). The Road to Madison is a sweet romance between characters that have basically gown up together. One a rich girl with a controlling dad that has her life all planned out for her, and a girl that her mother works as a maid in the house.

Ms Spencer really gives the reader a good feel for the nastiness of Madison's father and the lengths he goes to, to keep her apart from her true love Ana. Even I wanted bad things to happen to her father half way through the book. The secondary characters in the book are well written and I loved the relationship Madison had with her driver. All of it was well written and I could just picture the estate and all the characters coming and going. The story moves at a good pace, with a few twists and turns along the way. There is a lot of jumping from present to past, for the purpose of really building the relationship between the main characters, but at times it was a bit much, I had to re-read a section to know what timeline I was in (there was one section that went to the past then took another jump farther in the past). I get why the author did this to give the reader a full understanding of what happened, so this isn't a criticism just a point for other potential readers.

All in all, another hit from Ms Spencer, I will be looking for more books from this author

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, but would have written the same opinion if I had come across this author on my own.

To see my Amazon review, it is under CC-Nice Romance

I loved this! Tons of angst and drama from the first page! It has almost all my favorite tropes: rich/poor, second chance romance, flashbacks, angst, drama. From the description I thought the story was written for me :D It was almost impossible to put it down and I didn’t want it to end.

This one is one of the few books I would love to know what the characters are up to a few months after the story ends. I liked the characters and dialog. It has a few unlikable characters that at times feel like they’re right out of a Mexican telenovela, but I didn’t mind them at all, I like drama :) Waiting for Elle Spencer’s next novel!

'The road to Madison' is a bit bumpy.

As a teenager, Madison Prescott, the sole heir to her family’s banking empire, falls in love with Ana Perez, the maid's daughter. Madison's father doesn't approve of their relationship and, through threats and lies, he forces Madison to break up with Ana. Fifteen years later, when her father dies, Madison is determined to make amends but Ana feels betrayed and hurt. It seems that time doesn't heal all wounds, or does it?

This is the third book by Elle Spencer whose writing career started with the acclaimed bestseller 'Casting Lacey'. I find her books on the angsty side and this one was no exception. 'The road to Madison' is, in my opinion, her weakest novel and, by far, the most dramatic. I know that many readers like a good amount of drama in their lesfic romances and might disagree with this review but I think that this story is borderline with melodramatic.

The novel is told by multiple points of view, which is not necessarily a problem, but in this case, it seems that some characters only have a voice to urge the mains to get together. As a consequence, some secondary characters sound too unrealistic and excessively honourable. Of course, there is nothing wrong with ethical characters, but their widespread presence in this story makes their voices sound very similar.

As the story takes place in two time periods, now and fifteen years ago, there are a few flashbacks intertwined with the present. I felt that they were a lost opportunity to showcase the strong bond and love between the characters that justified such amount of heartbreak and angst. In my opinion, Ms. Spencer fails in building up their chemistry at the start of their relationship. 'At seventeen' by Gerri Hill, while not perfect, is a prime example on how to describe the intimacy between teenagers, a longlasting love that makes it worthy to fight for in adulthood, despite the dispute that separates them. In 'The road to Madison', however, pain and conflict outplay love and chemistry, which sometimes made me wonder if their relationship was really worth fighting for.

Overall, an ok romance with a great amount of drama and angst. 3 stars.

ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

See all my reviews at www.lezreviewbooks.com

WOW ... What can I say. This was a fantastic read, but, also a heartbreaking read. Madison and Ana are two very strong women and reading their story was amazing and a heartbreaking read at the same time. Great story line and a great bunch of characters who are all lovable in their own ways, with one exception - Madison's father. I would have liked to kill him over and over the more I was reading the book. In fact, I would have liked to have been one of the characters at a certain scene in the first chapter (if you have read the book, you will know which scene I mean).

I would say this book is a must read. It is definitely in my top three books I have read so far this year.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Wow. I loved this book. If you love angst than you'll love this book too. Elle Spencer just teases you with the will they, won't they get together all the way till the end. The story flits between the present and the past which works really well so you gain an understanding of why the characters are acting and feeling the way they do. I also loved the dialogue between the characters, it was engaging, intelligent and totally satisfying. Would I read this book again? Definitely. Will I buy more Elle Spencer books? Absolutely.

Love is sweet but it can also be dangerous. Madison does everything she can to protect Ana but no one can know and it's breaking her heart. That's my synopsis anyway.

I found the flashbacks a little frustrating and I wanted to get to know the characters more, but there was definitely some spark between the two main characters.

I think I fall in the middle of the road with this one. It started off pretty good and I liked both MCs - Madison Prescott and Ana Perez. I especially like the romance between them as they grew up. I can agree with the Author's assessment that they are soul mates. Unfortunately, they break up in the early twenties for and unknown reason (which you do find out later). This leave Ana to hate Madison. Even Ana's mom Carmen dislikes Madison and tells her so. This books gets a little weird after the Madison/Carmen moment. One, how does Madison end up at Carmen's house? That was so out of the blue. Two, all the flashbacks. They were out of order and would have progressed better if they weren't really flashbacks. At one point, there is a moment where Madison and Ana talk about something from the past. I think the book as a whole would have worked better without the flashbacks. Also at some point I think I begin to dislike Ana as she holds onto her anger even after finding out why Madison broke it off. Lastly, Madison's dad. Can't he just go away!!!! Like he his totally over the top and it's just goes on way to long. I believe another reviewer mentions that it is Soap Opera like. I would have to agree with that assessment.

Now, even thought i just said all the negative things about this one, I still thought it was readable and a decent read. It kept me interested so I will rate it 3 stars.

4.5 Stars. I enjoyed this book a lot. Madison Prescott is the heir to her family business, and is raised by her terrible, harsh father. Her father separates her from the love of her live, Ana Perez. Ana is the maid's daughter who Madison befriends at 8 and they are inseparable ever since. They eventually fall in love and can't keep away from each other. Eventually, Madison's father finds a way to separate them through a secret in Ana's family. Madison and Ana are separated for 15 years, until Madison's father finally dies. By this point in time, Madison is married and Ana has learned to not trust anyone and is changed forever by Madison dumping her for no reason. Once Madison's father is dead, all Madison wants to do is make it up to Ana, but Ana is no so quick to forgive.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved all the tension in the novel, as Ana and Madison decide all their current feelings for each other. This book goes back and forth between past and present which makes the novel interesting, as the past explained how they met, their first kiss, etc. I somewhat wish that there was more present, as I sometimes felt like there were not enough interactions between Ana and Madison in the present. There was a lot of them not talking to each other and avoiding each other. I liked all the tension, but I wish once the tension was gone, there was more focus on them together. There was not much focus on Ana and Madison together. I always wish there was more of that relationship. There was a lot of tension and lead up which I always love in novels. I would recommend this novel, it was a great read.

When I first started this book, I thought, Aha! I see why this story divided people into two different camps.

Rich girl (Madison George Prescott) and the maid’s daughter (Ana Margareta Maria Perez) are in a forbidden romance. Dark family secrets, shady characters, and non stop high drama provide the atmosphere. The story is non linear, at times haphazardly so, especially in the beginning. It seemed like the author cut the 20 year timeline into pieces, threw them into the air, and how they landed is how the bits got told. Then around the 1/3 mark, the rhythm kicked in and the narrative was easier to follow.

How you approach this story is the key to whether you’ll enjoy it or not.

I honestly kept thinking, this author’s been binging on Univision, Telemundo, or some other Spanish language network because The Road to Madison is very much a Telenovela. I’m sure many are familiar with the Mexican TV staple of Telenovelas due to the big fandom for Juliantina. Novelas are basically melodramatic serial tv shows with epic twists and turns, buried family history, bed hopping except for the main couple who are usually star crossed lovers. Think American Soap Operas on steroids.

Road to Madison basically adds up to one big, fun mess and somewhere in my brain, I swear I heard the soaring music after each reveal and would chuckle afterwards. The ending was abrupt but no big deal for me because I wasn’t taking this story too seriously anyway. Just enjoyed it for what it was.

Because I’m giving an honest review, I want to add that what I felt hurt the book most and frustrated many readers were the rapid fire time jumps. Had the story been told in chronological order or even had the scenes been longer before jumping, I believe the book would have been more impactful.

* ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

I literally adored "Casting Lacey" and "Forget her not" so I was really excited for Spencer's new book. I received the copy yesterday and I couldn't wait to go back at home so I could start reading it!
Unfortunately since the first few pages I started feeling like I was reading something between a copy of a bad Almodovar script and a Mexican Telenovela.
Madison and Ana were childhood sweethearts who were forcefully separated because Madison's father wouldn't accept the relationship between his daughter and the daughter of his maid.
After his death Madison can't wait to contact Ana again and start to rebuilt the connection that was lost for so many years.

What I liked from this book: some chapters that reminded me of Elle Spencer's usual writing with her witty dialogues and the fast pace.

What I didn't like : sadly most of the main and secondary characters left me indifferent but what really was a deal breaker for me is that I couldn't stand Ana at all. I really don't understand what Madison found in her because even with all these flashbacks, I just wasn't able to see all of Ana's magnificence and what really made her unforgettable to Madison! In "Casting Lacey" you could really feel the passion, the lust and the love between the MCs. In this book Madison is always crying or is sad and Ana is always drunk or mad at what happened like 15 years ago. Basically it's a repetitive plot with the addition of too many POVs and flashbacks.


Overall I feel bad giving a negative feedback mainly because Elle Spencer is one of my favorite new authors. I just think that this book wasn't for me and as I see from the reviews I'm the minority here. Anyway I still can't wait to read more about her feature stories

Madison Prescott is the heir of a family banking empire. Ana Perez is the daughter of one of the Prescott's maid. being friends with the maid's daughter was forbidden. Falling in love would be unthinkable and will be avoided by Madison's father by any means.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book. I love stories that start when they are young and then re-unite years later.

This book was a slow, slow burn. The characters were well developed and you felt their pain, anger, love, confusion and need. I really loved the story from start to end. Both characters were strong, bold and sexy.... I mean what else can you ask for.

I do have to say that I did not like all the jumping back to the past and while seeing the perspective of many of the characters I thought the some were unnecessary.

Overall, it was a very strong book. Romantic, sexy and a very good slow burn with a great plot.

I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books through Netgalley for an honest review

First of all, the writing is very good. I was so captivated by this author. I will seriously check her other work. The story in general was good the first chapter was truly interesting and left an impression on me. Now moving forward with the book. I thought Ana was kind negative. I wanted to see development yet everything was perfect the only wrong thing in this book was the father and Ana's hatred toward the past and everything.

I enjoyed reading so i do recommend to at least give it a try. it's quick read tbh,

I got a free copy in exchange of an honest opinion, thankful for the author and her team for that.

A completely sappy romance that we thoroughly enjoyed. It is angsty with stereotypical characters but give us sappiness and we are happy as kittens getting a belly rub. And this has sappiness in boat loads.

Madison Prescott is heir to a vast family fortune as the only daughter of the vile, overbearing George Prescott the third. As a single child with not many friends, eight year old Madison meets even year old Ana Perez, their new maid’s daughter. The girls hit off and become friends. As they grow up, their friendship becomes more and George Prescott won’t have it. He manages to put an end to the relationship. Fifteen years later, Papa Prescott is dead and Madison finds that Ana hates her. The two slowly and painfully find their way back to each other.

We love the fact that the author has presented some tough emotions in the way they actually work in real life. Madison’s unwillingness to forgive her father and her perfectly understandable cruelty in telling him terrible truths in later life. Ana’s inability to trust Madison again and her unwillingness to completely cut her off. These are grey emotions that everyone feels but are not focussed on. The MCs are individually okay, but work well together. Oh! And the first scene – excellent!

This book is pure drama with characters not greatly delved into – but a thoroughly enjoyable read for anyone who loves pure sap, like we do.