Tate Jones and Sam Brandis meet and fall in love while on a two week vacation in London. He was her first lover and confidant and ultimately broke her heart. 14 years later Tate is an actress who shows up for a role of a lifetime and finds out the screenwriter is none other than Sam. This reconnection brings up all of her past hurts. Will they take advantage of this second chance?

OK, boy, this story was so much more than the brief synopsis above. Another huge plot point is the fact that Tate’s father is this huge actor and is cast in a supporting role in the movie. Tate has always wanted to have a better relationship with her father and her journey towards the discovery of who they both are is at times heartbreaking and is such a great sub plot to this novel! I really feel that without that additional conflict the story would have fallen a little flat. I’m always a sucker for daddy issues and boy, this daddy has issues!

I loved Sam right from the start and was just as heartbroken as Tate when their relationship couldn’t get past their first big conflict. However, it was Tate and her family/friends that held this story together. Her Nana and mom were awesome and her best friend Charlie was funny and ferocious.

I recently read Christina Lauren’s Unhoneymooners and that novel was hilarious and fun. This novel had more heart and depth. There was some humor from the cast of characters but there was a lot of emotional turmoil in Tate’s heart and it was that emotion that drew me in. I feel like this novel was different than their other books because of how adult the topics and the maturity of the characters. If you look for those heart tugging moments in the books you read then you need to pick this one up! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Twice in a Blue Moon is amazing. Christina Lauren take you through finding love young to the angst that follows and finally second chances. I loved this one so much. I really couldn't put it down. As you learn what happened that caused the pain Sam and Tate go through. From the very start you feel the pull and the love between Tate and Sam. You watch Tate grow and follow her dreams. I love how Tate and Sam get a second chance together. This one stole my heart from the start.

Christina Lauren can always be counted on to deliver great characters and an entertaining story. I enjoyed this very much.

A magnificent emotional roller coaster to ride. Sam is Tate’s first love and when he betrays her she is devastated. When they meet fourteen years later, she realizes that all she has believed is a facade. The story explores love in two different generations and ways. Sam loved the grandparents that raised him and they would do anything for each other. Tate is from a broken home and has to deal with a narcissistic father. The life they have led makes them do things differently in their lives. The characters are wonderful and add multiple layers to the story. Getting a chance to right a wrong and love again has never been told more beautifully.

Not the typical rom-com we have all come to expect and love from this duo author team but it is a contemporary second chance romance with some angst thrown in with all the witty banter from the secondary characters that kept me turning the pages way too late at night. Tate has just turned 18 and on a vacation in London with her Nana for two weeks before off to college when on their first night they met another duo from the states, a handsome young man and his grandfather. A whirlwind romance and Tate and Sam share secrets and, yep, firsts, and just when things are getting good the paparazzi shows up and soon her secrets are out and everyone knows she is the daughter of a movie star who has been in hiding for years. Fast forward 14 years and we find out Tate has settled into the career she has always wanted, acting, and now is going to star in a feature film with her dad in a supporting role and guess who is the screenwriter...that's right...Sam. Will they be able to get past this? Should they? Oh, the feels in this one. I could not turn the pages fast enough and found myself cursing having to stop and work. I definitely recommend this one!

**Received this ARC for review from the publisher via NetGalley**

This is a hard review to write because I am a HUUUGE Christina Lauren fan. I've read every one of their books and the Beautiful series, the Wild Season series, Josh & Hazel's Guide to Not Dating and The Unhoneymooners are some of my favorite books of all time.

Twice in a Blue Moon was a unique storyline, but was missing the usual CL magic. I felt like both the past and the ending needed more.
More connection, more details, and definitely more chemistry.

The past tells us how Tate and Sam met. It was an insta-love that spanned only two weeks. Tate felt such a connection to Sam that she told him some of her secrets, which came back to either haunt her or help her. You have to be the judge of it.

Fourteen years later, when they meet again, there is, of course, hostility on Tate's part. She not only has to deal with seeing Sam again but deal with her rocky relationship with her Dad, who is also an actor.

I wasn't overly crazy about any of the characters and thought Tate was slow on the uptake. I'm glad I read the book and will still always buy anything they write, but this book won't go on my re-read list.

4.5 stars

This is only the second book I’ve read by these authors. I enjoyed my introduction to them with The Unhoneymooners, but wasn’t all in yet. This story changed things for me. I absolutely adore this book. The flow, the characters, the storyline, the setting…all are spot on.

The angst and awe of young love is beautifully written. Sam is the perfect first love for any young lady. He is patient and kind, but also flirty and fun. Having lived a pretty sheltered life, Tate falls head over heels pretty quickly. Not only is there a great connection between Tate and Sam, there’s also a freedom Tate feels when they’re together. And then things fall apart…

When Sam and Tate meet again 14 years later the chemistry is definitely still there, even stronger. Which makes things hard on Tate since she feels Sam betrayed her all those years ago and wants nothing to do with him. To the extent that she doesn’t even realize some very obvious things about the movie they are making together. She’s so in her head about her dad and Sam that she is very self-centered for a while; believing her feelings and problems have got to be more intense than everyone else around her on this very isolated film shoot.

From the time Tate and Sam had their first private conversation in the garden in London, I was pretty sure I knew how and why things would fall apart between them. Where I found the reasons forgivable and understand the frantic decisions that were made, it doesn’t make them okay. Yet, when the truth comes out all those years later, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy and compassion for Sam. He’s still the same amazing and patient man he was all those years ago when the two first met.

Watching this pair dance around each other was sweet torture. Yet, I wouldn’t have wanted it to play out any other way. They both had some demons to slay about their past before there could be any moving forward.

This story sold me on this writing duo when I was on the fence before. I can’t wait to read more from them.

Twice in a Blue Moon features a second chance romance. Tate and Sam first meet on a trip to London when she is 18 and he is 21. Things go horribly wrong and now 14 years later they meet again. Second chance romances are hard to pull off. The reader needs to be able to understand that whatever happened in the past could be overcome in order for the relationship to work. For me, in this particularly plot, it worked ok, but not perfectly. I think their first go at it in London was already not very realistic, and the second chance was even less so.

The implausibility aside, what I really liked about the story is the setting and the atmosphere: the movie set, the filming and the behind the scenes look into how fake and PR-driven the life of celebrities can be. Tate's dad was particularly hard for me to understand. He just epitomizes everything that is bad about Hollywood and the celebrity culture. Think, an egomaniac obsessed with staying famous despite the pain he causes other people. I also think the authors did a good job keeping the reader in suspense as to which way to story will go, which made it an even quicker read. This was overall an enjoyable book. 3 out 5 stars.

Rating: 4 Caffeinated Stars
Trigger Warnings: Dealing with Racism, Angst

I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I requested this book on NetGalley. Christina Lauren is an author I have heard a lot about, yet I have never read one of their books (writing duo). I figured I had nothing to lose, so I jumped right in.

This book has everything that an angst lover will love, you have young love, betrayal, unrequited love, and the entire gambit of emotions throughout this book. I did think that this book started off a bit too slow for me, but once it got to 40% mark, it picked up, and I didn't want to put it down.

The best part of this book was the characters. I loved seeing Tate interacting with everyone. It was fun to watch her grow and become the woman she was in the second half of the book. My favorite interactions were Tate and Charlie. I just loved seeing that friendship on the page. I really just loved Tate's character, and I would like to read more books with her. Sam, on the other hand, fell flat. I never connected with him as a character. I struggled to think of him as a love interest, so I was thoroughly unimpressed with the romance part of this book.

Even though I wasn't feeling the main character's love arc, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book. I enjoyed the plotline, and I love reading all of the angst. Angst is one of those things that has to be done well, or it becomes too much. Fortunately, this writing duo knows how to write angst. It was believable, and it not over the top. This was an incredibly emotional read that genuinely made you feel for Tate and to a lesser extent Sam.

All in all, this was an excellent angst-filled read that I would recommend to many readers. I just wish that I liked the main love interest more.

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review*

Fourteen years ago, 18 year old Tate fell in love with 21 year old Sam while on a trip to London with her grandmother, Jude. Unfortunately, their relationship came to an abrupt ending with Tate left feeling betrayed. What happened, and after they are reunited years later, is it possible to fall for your first love "twice in a blue moon?" And, if Tate does fall in love with Sam, will she regret it once again?

If you're looking for this writing duo's typical flirty and fun romcom, this is not it. Instead, this novel featured a more in depth and serious love story... and I enjoyed it immensely! The beginning was all about Tate and Sam falling in love for the first time, and I'm always a sucker for young love. Throw in a romance rekindled years later, and I was totally a puddle on the ground star gazing alongside this sweet couple. Don't miss this tender, romantic, and refreshing love story from this talented writing duo!

Location: England (London), California (Guerneville and Los Angeles), and Vermont (Eden)

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I have a lot of complicated feelings about Twice in a Blue Moon. A couple of them involve spoilers, so I'll stick that at the end. This is a second-chance romance that begins when Sam and Tate meet in London while on vacations with their grandparents. She's with her cafe-owning, over-protective grandmother, and he's with his step-grandfather who turns out to be terminally ill. This last bit is revealed early in the book, so don't be mad at me. Anyway, they're staying at the same hotel and end up eating breakfast together every day. The vacation is two weeks long and Sam and Tate, ages 21 and 18, fall into a whirlwind romance. Vacation is cut short, however, when Sam presumably tells the press that Tate is the long-hidden daughter of a mega-famous movie star, a secret she, her mother and her grandmother have worked to hide for over a decade. Then she doesn't see him again and doesn't have any way of contacting him. Fourteen years later, the two are reunited when she's cast as the lead in a movie adaptation of his novel, Milkweed.

The romance is much stronger in the Before, when the two are learning about each other and falling  in love. After they meet again, there's a lot about the filming, the movie itself, and some angry sex/reconciliation sex. I'm not sure I believed their HEA completely (see spoiler below), but it was still full of the kind of swoony lines I'm accustomed to reading in a Christina Lauren book.

Now on to the complications.

When we're introduced to Sam, we hear about how huge he is--tall, wide, imposing but trying not to be. Then we meet his grandfather, Luther, who is described as Black with salt and pepper hair. It's not for another chapter that we learn that Sam is white and Luther is his step-grandfather. This pattern continues throughout the book. Any PoC are either on page or mentioned for a long time before we hear anything about their ethnicity, or they're immediately marked. None of the White characters are assigned a race except for Sam, when he says something like "Luther is my step-grandfather, but you probably guessed that since I'm a White guy and Luther is Black." This pattern of not-quite-there continues throughout the book. This is really common in books written by White authors so I'm not trying to call out CLo in particular, but it serves to reinforced the White Default and other all PoC. It's not great.


If this was my only concern, my feelings would be less complicated. However, the plot hinges upon the romance between Sam's White grandmother and Luther. They got together in a small town in Vermont in the late 60's, meaning that they experienced a lot of racism. In fact, someone in town burns down their barn in an attempt to run them out of town. While I don't think it's CLo's place to speak about racism from the perspective of their Black characters, it felt really weird that there was this huge spectre of violent racism hanging over Luther's entire life and the book then film. The actor playing Luther in the film is Black and excited to play this emotional, award-nomination-worthy role, but there's only one scene in which he casually mentions how moving it is and that racism still exists. Again, not their place to write Black pain, but I also don't think that this was their story to tell. It felt sanitized and the emotional heft of the book is really more about Sam's betrayal and one later by Tate's (terrible) father who is cast in a supporting role in the film. It's just not quite there for a White author duo to write about two White characters falling in love set against the backdrop of violent racism.


I'll admit, I had a hard time separating myself from much of this narrative since I grew up on a dairy farm in Vermont and one of our barns burned down shortly before I was born. Then another one when I was 12. It's traumatic and neither of those was caused by arson. It's terrifying and my mother still has nightmares. I also lived in Vermont when we were the first state to pass Civil Union legislation for same-sex couples. Someone nearby painted the entire side of their road-facing barn with "Take Back Vermont," a widely used slogan for the homophobic movement that wanted to repeal that law. Prejudice thrives in the hills of Vermont. Why else would we have a population that's 98% White? We never made interracial marriage illegal in the state... because it wasn't an issue. People like to point to us as the exception because "we weren't as racist as all those Other States!" It's simply untrue.


Anyway, it's a second-chance love story and they have an HEA. I'm sticking the spoiler down below the content warnings, so if you want it...





Content Warnings: death of a grandparent, parental abandonment, cheating (not by main characters), cancer (I think), racism


Suzanne received a copy of this book from the publisher for review.








Spoiler: Sam actually DID sell the story to the press! He finds out that Luther took him to London to say goodbye, because he knows they can't afford treatment for his illness. So Sam sells the story without giving Tate even a warning and uses the money to pay for Luther's treatment. Luther ends up living another 10 years instead of a few months. Could they not have found a different way to handle this? Because OMG I hated Sam for doing it. He claims to have loved her every day, but he gets married and divorced in the intervening years, so that's not great for his claim or ex-wife. So he claims to have been in love with her but also says he'd do it again when she asks. Yes, Tate ended up being a successful actress, but she had press hounding her for well... forever, and she had no choice.


I think if he had told Tate what he was planning and why, she would have at least been able to manage it better. I was SO mad at him and I never forgave him, even if Tate immediately rolled over and did.


How do we know he won't betray her again?

GAH! YOU GUYSSSSSSSSSS! Every time I go into a contemporary romance, I think "pshhh.. romance, *rolls eyes* whatever...." and then it's Christina Lauren and they KILL ME. EVERY. TIME.

Nothing is more of an emotional roller coaster than your first young love and heartbreak... until your first real adult love and heartbreak. To get that second chance with that *perfect* person. Well, hell. Thank you books for making me believe that maybe... just *maybe*, this could happen in real life. I mean, don't we all need a Sam in our lives? And Tate - how do you not fall in love with her too?

What I love about this book too is the backstory, the screen writing peppered within of Milkweed. Tackling that subject matter in such a dignified and beautiful way. Bringing the story that both Sam and Tate go through and making you feel it with all of your everything. DAMMIT. I don't like to feel this much and YET I DO. I keep thinking that THIS ONE isn't going to get to me but here I am, reading emails with Tate and feeling this weird wetness in my eyeballs. Great. JUST GREAT.

Basically, read this book. Read all their books! Just grab a tissue box, a cozy comforter and keep that glimmer of hope shining within.

It's been a REALLY long time since I've read Christina Lauren but this book reminded me why I like them so much. A story of not only love but also of betrayal. Tate just wants to be able to live the life she wants without fear that who she really is will create havoc in her life and in her mom's and grandmother's life. A world-wind trip to London creates a scene of first love, close bonds, trust, fear and deception. Tate realizes early on that trusting the wrong person can create upheaval in your life. Fastforward 14 years later, Tate is doing what she always wanted to do in her life. She has put the deceit of her first and only love behind her....or has she? When she comes face to face with the one person she never expected to see again in her lifetime, is she able to find the capacity to forgive? And just when she thinks she may finally have a handle on life, another deception turns her world around. True love like what Tate and Sam found in London comes only once in a blue moon. Can they find that second chance in a lifetime?

3,5 -4 STARS

“It’s so crazy to think that things that I thought only lived in my imagination can be real.”

I love this duo so much and I was super excited for their next book!Twice in a Blue Moon was an interesting read.It catch my interest from the very beginning and even though I liked it a lot, I wasn't feeling it as much as I wanted!

”I want every wish he ever makes to be for this. A penny in a fountain. The first star. An eyelash. Eleven eleven. Just for one more time.”


The characters didn't make me ach and I didn't feel their connection. I like them though and this is the main reason I gave it this rating!It wasn't bad it just wasn't as good as their previous books.

ARC received from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I loved this story and enjoyed nearly every minute of it! This is more inline with Love and Other Words (I liked this more), than CL’s other romcoms. It was insta-love done right (like, there’s actually context for the characters falling for one a another so quickly), and I was rooting for Tate and Sam the whole way through. There could’ve been a little bit more story/explaining with the overall plot line, and the ending does wrap up pretty quick. Still another solid win from CL!

As a huge fan of Christina Lauren I had high expectations for this book and it did NOT disappoint! I loved this book from beginning to end and felt myself really relating to it. If you love chick lit as much as I do then you will love it too!!

This was a good read, I just wanted a bit more. I certainly appreciated how Luther and Roberta's story came full circle. Truly, their story resonated with me more than Tate and Sam's. But the central romance between the main characters really left me wanting more. This book was well written, as every Christina Lauren novel is. It was just missing that quintessential quality I've come to expect from this duo. I would've loved to see an epilogue, their joint statement, or just more of the couple down the road. I thoroughly enjoyed the "past" but there wasn't enough illustrated between the couple in the "present" to convince me that the draw they felt for those 2 weeks in the past truly withstood time. I guess, overall, I just needed something more.

Tate and Sam met while on vacation in London one summer. Secrets were shared between them and with people they shouldn’t have been shared. Their relationship ended just as quickly as it began. Flash forward 14 years, Tate and Sam see each other again, but will they be able to mend what was broken?
I love Christina Lauren’s books and this was is no different. I was completely hooked from the very beginning. I fell in love with Tate and Sam, their relationship and their stories. Tate had and interesting life growing up and when Sam leaked her secrets her life changed again, she got her dream of being an actress. We didn’t get a ton of Sam’s background and I wish there was more. He loved to write and wrote screenplay for a movie in which Tate is the star and they are pushed back into each other’s lives.
They both had chemistry when they first met in London and spent those two magical weeks together, but there were times I felt it was lacking when they met again. I didn’t feel as much towards them in the future then I did with the past. I was wanting more tension between them. They just kind of avoided each other for the most part.
Overall, this was a good story and if you’re a fan of Christina Lauren you’ll enjoy it. 4.5 stars.

Tate Jones was once just the estranged daughter of one of the worlds most famous movie stars. After spending a large portion of her childhood hiding her true identity, she meets Sam Brandis, a man whom she feels like she wants to share everything with... even the truth about her childhood. But she finds out the hard way about confiding in the wrong person and her life changes overnight...

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Twice in a Blue Moon was a story about a young, all consuming love which quickly takes a turn, when a betrayal shatters the heart of our sheltered heroine Tate, and changes her life forever. Tate and Sam's road would have never been an easy one, but meeting each other alters the trajectory in which their lives have been set... and until they meet again, has kept them from finding a true happiness in life without each other.

When we meet Tate she is freshly graduated from high school and on a trip with her grandmother to London to celebrate. With her plans set to start college in the fall, she is also secretly harboring a desire to be an actress, just like her absentee father. When she meets Sam, she not only falls head over heels in love with him, but he also opens her eyes to what she really wants in life, all while obliterating her anonymity in the process...

Sam lives on a farm in Vermont with his grandparents who mean everything to him, but there is something about Tate that has him questioning his quiet existence and settling into life on the farm. But when things in his world change abruptly, Sam makes the worst decision of his life and loses the woman he loves as a result. And it isn't until fourteen years later that he comes to realize just how badly he hurt Tate in the process of saving his own family...

Twice in a Blue Moon was such a fantastic read! I absolutely loved the plot, it was fresh and engaging, and everything I love about the writing of Christina Lauren. I also thought the movie role and screenplay aspect was brilliant and I adored Sam's ultimate tribute to his grandparents. 

Tate and Same were both such endearing characters who hooked me from the very beginning and definitely had me rooting for them to find their HEA. The story itself started out hot and heavy between young Tate and Sam, but changed into a slow burn pace with their reunion. I ultimately would have loved a lot more depth to their adult relationship, I felt it was missing some much needed interactions and HEAT to really sell me on their attraction being so seamless fourteen years later. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest and unbiased review.

More amazing-ness from CLo. They are consistently awesome. :) Twice in a Blue Moon is heart-wrenching and swoony all at the same time...who but Christina Lauren can even pill that combo off?! Loved this book and, once again, can't wait for more from these two.