I will never pass up a Christina Lauren book, and Twice in a Blue Moon lives up to their previous titles.

What do you do if the love of your life betrays you? What about if the person who betrayed you comes back into your life years later? Sam and Tate fell for each other during a two week vacation in London when they were young. They shared everything - and then Sam betrayed Tate. Years later, she is a successful actress and starting to shoot the most anticipated movie of her career. When she runs into Sam on the set, she must confront her feelings about him.

This book was adorable! I have loved every Christina Lauren book I have read so far, and this one did not disappoint. It gave me a lot of the same feelings as Love and Other Words. The premise is intriguing, and I loved learning more about life on the set of a movie. My favorite part was reading about Tate and Sam falling in love originally and seeing how those feelings develop over years apart. I highly recommend this to fans of Christina Lauren and other contemporary romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the chance to early review! I will be posting a review on my book Instagram page, @the_infiniteTBR_list.

The novel was well written. The female character was likeable in the beginning and halfway through the book. But the hero was not very heroic. I didnt understand what she liked about him. For one, his physical attributes were not appealing but mainly his flaw was unforgiveable. Even when he explained his reasons, it wasn’t something I could find compelling. He lacked virtue. And the female protagonist seemed pathetic toward the end, just chasing after the guy even after he did what he did to her and didn’t really do anything noble to win her over and make up for what he did.

The sex scenes were unnecessarily extended, I skipped about 10 pages at a time. Eyeroll.

Twice in a Blue Moon is a sweet and swooning romance written by Christina Lauren and published by Gallery Books. This novel is set to be released on October 22, 2019. A few months ago, I read and reviewed The Unhoneymooners by the same authors, a steamy romance and a laugh-out-loud story that I highly recommend. So, it is only natural that I requested this book. I simply had to read Twice in a Blue Moon.

Twice in a Blue Moon will steal your heart. The story is about two teenagers, Tate Jones and Sam Brandis, who meet during a two-week vacation in London. They are immediately drawn to each other. They laugh, share unforgettable moments, and steal each other’s hearts. They both fall hard. Tate trusts Sam with everything, including her darkest, most well-kept secret. When Sam convinces Tate that they have to continue to see each other once they’re back in the States, Sam betrays Tate in a way that will break her and forever change her life.

A decade later, Tate is a famous actress landing a project that will set her career, but on her first day, she meets the one person she never thought she would ever see again, Sam Brandis. A man she is supposed to work with. Tate must push aside her own feelings to remain professional when her heart is still bruised by the betrayal.

This story took me by surprise. It was different from The Unhoneymooners in a good way. The story is raw and beautiful, with a swoony romance. My heart ached for the characters, and I devoured every single line. I read this book in one sitting, finishing the story at 2:00 am because I simply couldn’t put it down. The writing is beautiful and the characters relatable, and the story made me feel so much.

Christina Lauren is the pen name of two authors who I’ve grown to adore. I loved reading Roomies and The Unhoneymooners. I’m now set on reading every single other book they wrote. Thank you again, NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Christina Lauren for giving me the opportunity to read this book. This is hands down a five-star rating that I highly recommend

2 reviews - both 5 stars

Oh my heart...

Christina Lauren has tugged on my heart strings from beautiful, heart eyed, intense first love to betrayal and utter devastation to small glimmers of hope and understanding. This story has it all.

Tate Jones is living her life in secret For her 18th birthday, her nana takes her to London. Here they meet Luther and his 21 year old grandson, Sam. Not only is Sam handsome but he makes Tate feel safe... adored. She gives everything to Sam: her virginity, her truth. They make plans for a future only for Luther and Sam to disappear. Tate feels heartbroken and matters only get worse when the media becomes aware that she is the long missing daughter of Actor/Icon Ian Butler and that she is in London.

Tate is thrown back into the limelight after 10 years hidden from the world, but now she is able to use this to her advantage; taking up acting and trying to have some sort of relationship with her father.

Now 32, she is cast in a movie that will propel her career into a different genre. Not only will she be acting alongside her father but on her way to her first table read she finds out that Sam is the one who wrote the movie (under a moniker). To say that Tate is surprised would be understatement. Her emotions range all over the page but stemming mostly from anger.

The underlying hurt and love simmer just below the surface. You can't help but root for these two and be slightly mad that they had let 14 years lapse.

I had to tell myself to slow down and really read the words and emotions. I can't help that Christina Lauren writes so epically beautiful that I want to read it all in one sitting. I actually started to get nervous and teary eyed about the ending. Will there be a second chance for these two?

Definitely one click this book. You will not be disappointed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tate and Sam had a whirlwind romance while on vacation in London. He was her first love, and then he not only broke her heart, but shattered her whole world. Fourteen years later, he is the last person she expects to see on the set of her new movie. She has to confront all of those feelings from long ago.

This novel kept me hooked from start to finish. It was sweet and told a beautiful narrative of second chances. You do not want to miss this novel.

This is easily my favorite Christina Lauren book. I have been a huge fan of Christina Lauren since the beginning. The writing is so vivid and I was in love with Sam from the very first moment we met him. Read in one sitting, I smiled, I laughed and my chest hurt all at once. Amazing!!

Unfortunately, overall, this book was not for me. I didn't find the young love section to be particularly emotional, and wasn't drawn into the characters or their story. For the most part, I skimmed to the end, and thought the 'screenplay' element made no sense in the book (and would remove it in an additional edit, if there's time). Based on this novel, I don't think I would pick up other works by Ms. Lauren, as 'Twice in a Blue Moon' seemed overall to be immature.

Christina Lauren is one of the best romance writing duo's that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. They can write funny, emotional, and everything in between. This one is a second chance romance, one filled with fame and feelings of "what if's". It's a tender tale, and has a unique quality that only the authors can bring to their readers. While it may not have been my very favorite of the duo, it is a really winner and I am so happy to have read a copy! I can't wait for others to read this one.

I really enjoyed Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren! I enjoyed the story of a sheltered Tate, freshly 18 years old, and on a trip to London with her grandmother. There's a secret about Tate's identity that they are tight-lipped about, which seems to keep Tate caged in a way. She meets Sam and his grandfather, also vacationing in London. The foursome start up a friendship, and Sam and Tate begin to have feelings for each other. The young love romance is exciting and relatable, feelings we've all experienced in our lifetime. But, as with most young romances, a betrayal of sorts occurs and cuts their relationship short. Lauren then introduces us back into Tate's life 14 years later I believe, and of course Sam and Tate meet up again.

Twice in a Blue Moon is a delicious tale of young love, Hollywood, and feelings that last a lifetime. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I loved the first half of this book. After high school graduation, Tate’s grandmother takes her on a trip to London. There she meets Sam, a guy who is a couple years older and is traveling with his grandfather. The two embark on a whirlwind 2-week affair that ends when Sam and his grandfather leave abruptly and all of Tate’s secrets are mysteriously exposed. I enjoyed seeing the relationship blossom between Sam and Tate with London as a backdrop. And their quirky grandparents made for great secondary characters.

The second part of the book brings Sam and Tate back together fourteen years later. Tate is an actress and Sam is a screenwriter. They end up working on the same movie. There was still great chemistry between Sam and Tate in the second part of the book but I feel like the plot unraveled a bit. Things did not seem to fit together nicely and the book had a bit of an abrupt ending for me. I would have liked to see an epilogue.

I'm posting this review here without the spoilers, but the spoiler version can be read on Goodreads.

Let me start by saying that I’ve read and loved the last 5 or 6 books by Christina Lauren. We’ve hit the point where I don’t even look to see what a book is about – I see the name, I get it.

This turned out to be a huge mistake. The basic premise of the book is OK, I guess. But the details defy all logic. I had so many issues with the events that drove the plot, which made it tough to enjoy the book.

I did enjoy watching young Tate and young Sam fall in love. But apparently I am just not interested enough in celebrity culture to enjoy the rest of the book. To me, it just felt like the authors were under pressure to get another book out quickly and no one stopped to read it critically. Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free review copy.

I'm not entirely aure how I feel about this one. On one hand, the story was interesting enough and I really enjoyed the filming on a movie set. On the other, I jist didn't really feel chemistry between Sam and Tate. Everything felt a bit too easy, despite all the wrenches.

There was a lot of disbelief suspending, as well. The sequence in which they filmed, the fact that Tate didn't get the connection of the film and Sam for forever... I don't know that the instalove helped matters, or the fact that Sam and Tate didn't really interact all that much.

I really liked all of the supporting characters, and what they all meant to Tate. Tate's family and friends all felt like they had a good amount of depth.

All in all, I think I'll just have to consider this the one Christina Lauren book that wasn't a hit for me.

I've let my thoughts on this one marinate overnight but I'm still unsure exactly how I want to rate this. 4? 5? In between? The thing is that I really loved this and finished it in two sittings. Christina and Lauren did a fantastic job of showing these characters at 18 and 21 versus 32 and 35. Sometimes there's a time jump in books and the characters sound the same, but you could really feel the growth here. The situation between Tate and Sam is complicated, and the way that the authors navigated through the emotions of the characters was really well done to me. There was drama, but the realistic kind.

Two problems that also aren't problems are that one: this book was very, very predictable. And two: was Sam's arc enough to forgive? I feel like these two things will be issues for some people. For me, they were not, at least not completely. Starting with Sam's arc: again, the situation is so complicated, and it really could go many ways in real life. I think some people won't agree with Tate's decisions or the consequences Sam faces for his actions. Personally, I'm not sure where I stand, which I think shows the depth of the conflict. What was important was not how I felt on the matter, but how the characters worked through their feelings, which I think was wonderfully explored.

Then there's the predictable part. To me, it was very easy to pick up on everything that came as revelations to Tate. There was one plot point at the end that I didn't see coming, but the rest was pretty obvious. However, I can't tell if it was intentional. Normally this would be a problem for a book or any storytelling media, but for me, I didn't really mind. Insert some cheesy quote about the journey being the important part here. But that's really how it was. The predictability could have ruined the book if it was relying on shock value, but it didn't. Instead what kept me gripped was how much I was feeling Tate's feelings, rather than relying on the actual plot points that were occurring to hold my interest. Something would happen that I knew was going to, but it would still get to me because of how well Tate's emotions were written, especially in the beginning of the book (about 30% of it) when we're with 18-year-0ld Tate.

Overall, this book is about a whirlwind romance, and I think the authors did a great job at creating that feeling. This book has so much heart compared to the other two Christina Lauren books I've read (Josh & Hazel and The Unhoneymooners). I flew through the story and was captivated throughout. In the end though, there was just a little something missing that I can't quite put my finger on that keeps this from being a five-star read. Maybe that will change as my feelings settle. But regardless, it was fun, it was fast, and it was sweet. Definitely recommend!

I may be mildly obsessed with all of the more recent Christina Lauren books and I was so excited to receive a copy of Twice in a Blue Moon. Although Twice wasn't my absolute favorite, it was still really solid, especially for the number of new stories we are able to get from these two authors each year. There were only two areas of the book I would change. One, I felt like the beginning was too long. Their back story was a good portion of the novel and at that stage in life, Tate was just not very interesting. I also wished we could have gotten a glimpse into Sam a little more. I think this would have worked better with alternative POV's. I really wanted to know Sam's internal dialogue. Overall, there isn't anything Christina Lauren writes these days that I don't put other things aside for in order to start reading.
*Promotion on instagram scheduled in September

I'm a huge fan of second chance romance and this book absolutely has that and I've come to love Christina Lauren books but this one was just okay for me. I struggled to relate or even like Tate or Sam throughout the book. It also seemed that some things just weren't really well explained, there were several times that I went back and reread to see if i had missed something only to discover I had not. With the way the book ended I felt it really could use an epilogue, there was no real resolution to things discussed. #TwiceInABlueMoon

Christina Lauren so far as been an experiment for me: I either really couldn't care less about the book, or I end up liking it way more than I expected to. The latter was the case for this one - it's nostalgic, sweet, and laugh out loud funny. I couldn't put it down. 4.5/5

This was perhaps one of my favorite Christina Lauren books! I really enjoyed the backstory and then the growing relationship between Sam and Tate.

Christina Lauren is my favorite writing duo and one of my favorite all-time authors. When I found out that they had another book coming out at the end of this year, I was so excited! Twice in a Blue Moon is a second chance at love story. Tate, 18,and Sam, 21, meet up in London while vacationing with their respective grandparent. They hit it off and Tate not only shares her heart with Sam, but also shares her deepest secret: who her father is. Within a day or two, her secret is exposed and her life is changed. Fast forward to 14-15 years later, Tate is a famous actress and finds herself on the set of an upcoming blockbuster with someone who betrayed her trust and gave her heartbreak all these years ago. Overall, this was a decent read. It wasn’t my favorite, but it wasn’t the worst. My all-time favorite from Christina Lauren is The Unhoneymooners. To be fair, I’m not a fan of second chance love stories and typically try to avoid them, but I decided to give Twice in a Blue Moon a chance since it’s with my favorite authors. I really liked plot which was intriguing and the writing style gripes me every time. However, I felt like I was wanting more. It would have great to read Sam’s perspective on this and not just Tate’s as I felt his character fell a bit flat and I didn’t feel like we really knew his personality as an adult. I was a bit disappointed in the climatic part of the book as that fell a bit flat for me as well. In all in all, if you’re a fan of Christina Lauren, you’ll love this book. Also if you’re a fan of second chance love, I definitely recommend this one even though it wasn’t for me.

Eighteen-year-old Tate Jones has been living with a secret for most of her life; she’s actually, Tate Butler. Daughter of world-famous actor Ian Butler. After her parents’ messy split, Tate is whisked away to live with her mother and isn’t heard from again. While celebrating with a trip to England with her grandmother, Tate meets Sam. The two immediately hit it off and for the first time in her life Tate reveals her secret to Sam. When the media suddenly shows up at her hotel and Sam has disappeared, she knows he’s the one who broke the story and her heart.
Years later Tate has reconnected with her father and has become a well know actress in her own right. When she lands the leading role in a movie that’s sure to catapult her into bigger stardom and will also have her working alongside her father, she’s beyond excited. However, the excitement is quickly dashed when she learns that the screen writer is non-other than Sam.

Tate hasn’t seen or heard from Sam in more than ten years and while her dislike for him is very strong she’s shocked at how her heart reacts to him.

This story is told in two parts. The first revolves around the trip Tate makes with her grandmother and meeting Sam; the second is when they meet up again. I love second chance romances and I really liked the concept of this storyline as well as the characters but there was something that made this book hard for me to connect with. The second part of the story is where I had a hard time staying focused. It seemed to be rushed and I felt lost when it came to the supporting characters. It seemed like they were just…there. They had dialogue, but I just couldn’t keep them straight.

Nice storyline but it didn’t hit me where I thought it would. I might have to give this one another try at a later date.

I tend to be a huge fan of Christina Lauren, but this book was a miss for me. It seemed to cheesy and unrealistic. I think the authors have exhausted their stories... I absolutely loved Josh and Hazel, I enjoyed Roomies, I liked The Unhoneymooners... and now we have Twice in a Blue Moon, and it just feels overdone. I've read books like this, it didn't feel unique. And, what are the odds she's going to meet a cute guy while in Europe with her grandma, and he just so happens to be with his grandpa? It just didn't feel creative or sexy to me. As much as I wanted to like it, I just didn't.