I just want to preface my review by stating that I believe this author is a good writer. She knows how to write characters driven by their emotions which captures the attention of her readers. After stating that, I believe there is such a thing as taking those emotions to the extreme which actually takes away from the story. This is what I think happened with this book. Hate seemed to consume a certain intelligent character, Ana, throughout the book. Even though once the reason why Madison ended their relationship was explained over and over hate still manifested itself in Ana’s life. Every time she seemed to take steps forward from the past, hate would intercept that forward movement and Ana ended taking two steps back. No matter how many people explained why Madison did what she did, hate was still lurching in the background. It just became too much anger and too much hate for too long.

I also didn’t think there was a strong connection between the characters. It seemed to be on a surface level, without any real depth to their relationship. Maybe it was the hate aspect that hindered it. I guess the flashbacks were intended to explain deep connections the main characters had, but I felt it never really surfaced and even some of those flashbacks interfered with the flow of the story.

I believe if Ana (and her mother)had sorted out her anger and hatred by maybe the 60 percent mark of the story, and slowly renewed her once loving relationship with Madison, instead of the rush- forgiveness- no more hating-ending, it would have been a better read.

As previously stated, this author can write and had an interesting plot, but the execution, for me personally, was flawed. But I will continue to support and read this author’s work because she has talent. I believe this book was not indicative of her skill level.

This was an intense piece of fiction.

Madison is the only child of George, a man who rules over most of her life in a generally not mentally healthy way. He even broke up Madison from the love of her life, Ana, when they were young adults, 'for Madison's own good'.

So, when George dies everything changes. Ana appears after the funeral and seems to very much hate Madison. Or does she? Does she even know what her real feelings about Madison are?

So many delightful secrets (well delightful to me, probably not so much to the characters) were woven into this story and there were even a few characters who kept me guessing about what they'd do.

Heh, now I just need a book/short story about Scott, who was definitely one of my favorite characters in the novel.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

I really enjoyed Spencer's novel <I>Casting Lacey</I>, and was looking forward to this read! Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me...

It's not that this was bad read at all, ad what bothered me is something that I know a lot of you tend to like, so I'll try to be thorough and fair so you can make your own decision. This book is chalk full of angst. Angsty reads are hit and miss for me, and books that are just uber-angsty tend to irritate me. The angst in this one had me rolling my eyes at times. My biggest issue was with the side characters. All of them seem to be the very stereotype of their character - we have the over-the-top rich dad villain who forbids his heiress daughter to date the maid's girl because she's not good enough, then we have the saint maid who's like a mom character, to the evil aunt... it just goes on and on. All of the side characters are stereotypes.

The main thing that bothered me though was the two MCs. This one started off with a bang, and I loved the graveside scene at the beginning, but then for the rest of the novel we get watch MC Madison constantly crying, while MC Ana is constantly angry at Madison and reluctant to let go of that anger. By the time I got to the end, I had a hard time figuring out why these two should give it a second go.

This one had good potential, but the over-the-top theatrics of the stereotypical side characters and the constant angst and crying ended up getting on my nerves by the time the book was barely halfway over. I love a good second chance romance and l really enjoy when characters find love again, but this book wasn't my favorite in the genre. I'm still really looking forward to Spencer's next novel, but have to give this one 3.25 stars.

**Many thanks to Bold Strokes for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.**

Except for too much scattered flashbacks, there is not much to stand in the way of this excellent second chance romance. Nice plot and setting. Two interesting and emotionally troubled leads with an interwoven past that have to be confronted and overcome. Well done minor characters. Recommended to all romance fans especially for those who love angst and drama filled stories. Can't wait for Spencer's next book. In the meantime I have to read Casting Lacey.

After having adored Casting Lacey (I reread it often), I was so excited to see a new book by Elle Spencer. Unfortunately this book was nothing like that one. Casting Lacey had amazing chemistry between characters, witty banter, the characters had amazing sexual tension and there was a fair bit of angst. The characters were real and by the time big conflicts came up or characters behaved in a way that show cased their flaws, you were already so invested in the characters and the story that you rooted for them, cringed, felt their pain. But this story just piled on a lot of terrible things and bad behavior without luring me in first with likable or relatable characters or a believable love story. It just seemed like an over the top drama with no build up and no pay off. Quite disappointed but happy I can still go back and read Casting Lacey again :) Hope the author’s next offering has more depth, humor and heart. Like her first.

Elle Spencer wrote a fantastic book!

I enjoyed Ann and Madison and it’s a heartfelt story about the choices we make in the name of love. Highly recommend this book.

An honest review thanks to NetGalley. This review is actually pretty tricky for me to write. I loved absolutely loved Casting Lacey; it is one of my all-time favorite lesbian romance books. Which caused me going into this book with very high expectations and sadly this did not meet any of my expectations. I was very disappointed, and it made me wonder how this book fell so far from Casting Lacey, the writing style was much different. I felt like I was being told how the characters felt for each other over and over again, but I never saw it. It was as if the author was trying to force us to believe in their love, but I never felt or saw the connection that I was trying to be forced to see. I really hope the next book by Spencer is more like Casting Lacey. Not to say this is a bad book, it isn't, it is ok, just doesn't compare to her other writings.

Look no further for extravagance and theatrics. The Road to Madison is full of serial drama.

Madison is the only heir to her father George Madison III's company and fortunate. For the past 15 years, she has been being groomed to take over. A fortuitous incident brings her face to face with her past.

Ana is a successful business woman who has done everything she can to make a name for herself in the world. The last 15 years has been full of hard work and meaningless flings. She will not open her heart to anyone after Madison so thoroughly ruined her long ago.

I didn't want to put this down. I felt like I had to know what happened so many years ago to create such a major conflict between the two main characters. Once that was revealed, I couldn't imagine anything ever healing the wounds they shared.

My favorite type of stories are ones filled with emotional drama. This one is chalk full of heated conversations, tension filled interactions, internal suffering, and making silly decisions because the hurt is oh so unbearable. Frustrations rise as characters cannot get beyond their stubborn pride to move toward any positive resolution. It's the best kind of torture.

There are a few reasons that I am taking a star off. The flashbacks were not in any type of order. It left me constantly confused and wondering where I was at in the timeline of the past. And 'going steady' was used a couple of times and that threw me out of the story because I had to remind myself that I was not reading a book set in the 50s/60s.

I recommend this to people who love Romance, Angst, Hurting so good, DRAMA, over the top theatrics, and empanadas.

<I>I received an ARC from the publisher for an honest review</i>

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


Star-Crossed lovers featuring a rich girl named Madison and poor girl named Ana.

When they first meet Maddy is eight and Ana is seven they became fast friend's over the course of growing up their friendship turn romantic.

When Madison father George got wind of their relationship he fired and kick out Ana and her mother Carmen out on the street and to make matters worse George found our something about Ana mother past that Carmen never wanted to come to light and in order to keep Ana and her mother safe Madison had to break Ana heart and cut all ties and married a man to produce a heir.

When Madison father dies she think her and Ana can be together now what she didn't count on is Ana anger still being present and that even though Ana created a good life she still can't committ to her on and off again girlfriend Kris because she still has feelings for Madison.

When Ana mother Carmen confront Madison to stay away from Ana because she doesn't want to see her daughter heart broken again and hers as well because she loved Madison like a daughter and couldn't understand why she left Ana tire of being the bad guy Madison told Carmen the real real reason why she left Ana.

I like this story Madison was my favorite character because she sacrifice everything to keep Ana and her mother safe from her father and in the process was suffering not being with Ana. I like Madison husband Scott and they both was each other beard and that he tried to help Madison and Ana get back together.

To me Ana didn't deserve Madison because when she does find out the real reason why Madison broke her heart she think Madison should've fought harder for them to be together it's not when something almost happens to her that she realize what Madison did was sacrifices everything even if it's cause them both heartache.

Netgally Review:

So ANGSTY! From the very beginning, I was hooked. I read this in one sitting. I could say that the reasons the main characters were kept apart were feeble at times, but honestly, it was dramatic and interesting and whatever.

2.5 Stars. Well here comes a potentially unpopular review. I really struggled with this. This is my first time reading Spencer and after all the talk about how wonderful Casting Lacey was, I had high hopes for this book. On top of that all the early reviews/ratings for this book were 4 or 5 stars. Maybe that is part of the problem, maybe my expectations were too high? I just don’t know. I tried to find something I liked about this book but it just wasn’t for me.

This book felt like a soap opera, but not a good soap opera. Have you ever watched say General Hospital? The show might not be for you but it’s interesting and has some good actors. But then you flip to another channel, to another soap opera and you just scratch your head. Who’s actually watching this soap opera? Why is everyone’s acting so over the top that people seem like living cartoon characters? Unfortunately that’s what I felt this book was like.

This is exes who hate each other storyline. Actually it’s only one person who everyone hates, but that is the basic storyline. So we start the book knowing that something bad happened for all this hate, but what? The book answers that with my favorite literary choice (just kidding) flashbacks. Flashbacks how I hate thee, let me count the ways. The main problem was the flashbacks spend so much time on what went wrong, that I don’t know what went right. Why did these two love each other so much that there is such hate now? Why is this “the one who got away” type storyline? Besides them being friends since they were kids, I never felt an actual romantic connection. I needed something in the flashbacks to tie the rest of the book together.

When it came to the mains themselves, I guess they were okay. One was always crying and the other was always mad. I didn’t have any big issues with them but I felt like I only knew them on the surface. They were a little two dimensional for my tastes. It was the secondary characters that really bothered me. The “mother”, the “villain”, they all felt like big fat stereotypes to me so that didn’t work either.

There were also just cheesy moments and choices I didn’t care for. I would read a line and just start head scratching again. Or I would read something and roll my eyes so hard I was worried they would stick.

I can’t recommend this book at all. However, I’m an outlier already. Other people clearly liked this book so please read some other reviews before you make a decision either way. I think I will still read Casting Lacey, but I have to admit I’m a little gun shy on this author now.

I've been struggling with writing something up for this one.

This is very angsty. Don't get me wrong - I love angst. But this this book just seemed overwrought and was a bit heavy handed - which surprised me as I really enjoyed [book:Casting Lacey|37765959] by Spencer. If you like angst and have a better tolerance, then this may be something you enjoy more than I did.

The story flips between timelines focusing on Madison and Ana's early friendship turning to romance and the ultimate betrayal that has led them to the present situation where there's a serious amount of hate, regret, and general angst. It helps put things into perspective but I found that the flashbacks were sweet and innocent and didn't match the intensity of their feelings in the present and left me thinking Ana and Madison needed to just move the hell on - without one another.

The villians are villianous, the hate is vitriolic and the plot seemed uneven and not overly realistic, where everything was sort of piled in a hodgepodge of plot points that aren't fully explored or necessarily resolved. I also didn't think that the writing style was as refined as I remember from Spencer's other book. I finished The Road to Madison wondering if this was an early draft or fanfic that could have stood a bit more polishing and refinement to tighten the storyline and characters.

This one just didn't do it for me - but I won't give up on Spencer.

Elle Spencer sure can write! Two of my all time favorite books are Casting Lacey and Forget Her Not and I anxiously awaited this book. Elle has a way of weaving in emotions with compelling and entertaining dialogue so that the reader can feel the raw emotions of the characters. Madison and Ana's relationship was portrayed in a way where the reader was rooting for them from the beginning. The book was filled with enlightening flashbacks to help the reader understand the love Madison and Ana had for one another from age 8 and how it was demolished by Madison's father George. This reader couldn't even imagine what kind of human would do the things he did to his daughter. But she was smart and strong and mangaged to become a wonderful person, no thanks to him. This book was emotional and definitely pulled at the heartstrings. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next one from Elle Spencer!

This has been a pretty good romance with a lot of underlying anguish throughout the whole story. It is a somewhat atypical story between the rich girl, Madison, and the poor girl, Ana, who have known each other since childhood and who must separate due to Madison's family demands. And I say atypical because there is some surprise that makes turn around many of the opinions that we have been able to make, throughout the story.

The book is structured with flashbacks that intermingle with the present day.The past events are related with short passages that give light and meaning to each new situation between Madison and Ana. The whole of the story is quite coherent and well related.

The romance itself is quite strong and heartbreaking, with moments of great emotion and a background of great sadness for the unfairness of everything. And with everything that surrounds the two protagonists, sometimes it is difficult to predict how the story will end.

I did not have much hope in this book, but I must admit that in the end has been a very pleasant surprise.

I fell in love with Elle Spencer's writing style after I stumbled open Casting Lacey. Such a fun read with a fabulous push-pull dynamic between the two leading ladies, it really had that something special that makes a book memorable. The Road to Madison is no different, this book will break your heart, make you smile and have your fingers crossed that true love wins in the end. A damn fine read!

When we meet the two main characters Madison Prescott has just buried her father. This is a man she despised with her whole being. She is standing by his grave glad that he is gone and can no longer control her life. Ana Perez picks that exact moment, graveside, to reappear fifteen years later. Ana and Madison were childhood sweethearts. Star crossed lovers from a different class, madly in love but torn apart by the cruelness of George Prescott and the power and influence he yielded. In Madison's dreamworld, once her father was out of the picture, she could reclaim the love the heart of the girl she once let go. The only problem is Ana's heart has never healed and she has never forgiven Madison for turning her back on their future.

Elle Spencer weaves a tale of full of sadness, remorse but one filled with those little moments that make you have the flutters. Her characters are well developed, the dialogue is seamless and natural, you really get thrown right into Madison and Anna's world. You feel what they feel. This book grabbed my attention and had me turning the pages through the night. A delightful story that I thoroughly enjoyed. I cannot wait for the next adventure Elle Spencer takes me on.

Stories about lost love I find the most heart breaking to think of people missing out on so much of their lives with the person they love due to some sort of circumstance always makes my heart hurt for the characters. This book had me glued to the pages wanting to follow the story of Ana and Madison who lost 15 years together. I enjoyed the flashbacks and the present day story which I found moved at a really good pace to keep the story really interesting.

I felt for Madison straight away and loved her character. I really felt for her and the position she was put in. I will admit that I struggled with Ana for a large part of the book. I completely understand her hurt and anger over what had happened but found it went on too long. She just felt all over the place with her emotions and actions. She was never warm which I think would have been important to have a balance of some warmth and hurt/anger to better help me connect with her character.

I did really enjoy the ride the book takes you on but just felt maybe the drama went on too long making the ending to happen too quickly.

On the surface level I thought I would like this book more than I did. This story had a LOT of angst, which is normally something I enjoy. That tension usually adds a suspense to a book but the angst in this book lead to sooo much bitterness that I was turned off by it. It was overwhelming at times.

The bitterness also just made me dislike Ana. I was left feeling at a certain point like she didn't deserve Madison. Madison kept apologizing and explaining over and over again and she would brush her off in emotionally cruel ways. 2/3rds of the way through I felt like Madison wasn't realizing that Ana had grown up into a person she shouldn't have been in love with because she was nothing like how she was when she was younger. These two were in love with their 17 year old selves, not their present late 30 year old selves.

There were also too many flashbacks for me, and the structure of them were confusing. It kept skipping back and forth in time in the timeline of the flashbacks. For instance, we would get a flashback at 10 years old, one at 17 and then it would go to 14 years old. It wasn't my cup of tea.

The author's actual dialogue, descriptions, and writing is great. She definetly has a talent, but I think storyline layout and character developments need fine tuning.

The Road to Madison is not your typical Lesfic romance, and it was a refreshing change. Ana and Madison were torn apart by Madison’s father, but now that he’s dead Madison has hope for a future with Ana. Much of the book recounts memories from their time together before, during, and after the split. It creates addictive suspense that keeps you glued to the pages as your interest is constantly piqued as more of their story is revealed. Their present is not what Madison expects and the pain is evident. In fact, the pain of their predicament, past and present, becomes an overwhelming central theme. Madison and Ana hang constantly on a precipice of despair and hard feelings that will not be easy to overcome. It’s frustrating to watch them struggle as the issues to overcome become a circular and redundant argument. This story is well-written with added suspense I wasn’t expecting, but be prepared for an immensely emotionally charged story.