Forgiven by Garrett Leigh – Carina Press - A YA Book Blog by L.M. Durand

Today, I’m excited to feature Forgiven by Garrett Leigh. The charming adult romance will be out on January 25, 2021 and is published by Carina Press.

Check out my review and there is a little excerpt for you inside 🙂 Thank you so much, Harlequin/Carina Press, for gifting me an e-copy of this book.

Synopsis – Forgiven by Garrett Leigh

Author: Garrett Leigh
Series: Forgiven, #1
Imprint: Carina Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Romantic Leads: Male/Female
On-Sale: January 25, 2021
Format: eBook
Price: $4.99 US
ISBN: 9780369700100

High school sweethearts Mia and Luke get a second chance at love in this brand-new contemporary romance from award-winning author Garrett Leigh.

When Mia Amour returns to England to open a florist shop, all she wants to do is put her lousy ex behind her and never look back. But getting a fresh start is easier said than done when her first love, the boy who once broke her teenage heart, strolls back into her life. He’s every bit as sexy as she remembers, and the urge to melt back into his arms almost makes her forget how devastated she was when he took off without a word. Almost.

Left with no choice, Luke Daley did what he had to do, leaving town to earn enough money to save his broken family, though it just about broke him, too. But now he’s back, running his uncle’s business and trying desperately to forget about Mia, the girl he left behind all those years ago. When he runs into her in town, the shock of seeing her again brings an intense rush of emotions: love, guilt…and an overwhelming urge to find out if it’s still as amazing between them as it used to be.

It doesn’t take either of them long to give in to desire and discover the fiery passion they once shared burns hotter than ever. With each new touch, each moment of forgiveness, old hurts heal and the future they’d hoped for ten years ago becomes possible again. But their fragile connection is tested by a threat neither of them saw coming—a threat that could end their second chance before it even gets started.

Book Review

Forgiven was a bit difficult for me to rate. As much as I disliked the beginning, the end made up for it. The storyline is enjoyable and rather simple to follow.

What bothered me were the main characters. Why? Well, the story starts out well and I was intrigued, but quickly Mia acts out and is very immature. She has a temper and not always for the right reasons (if that makes sense). She fights against things that are common sense at times or simply for the sake of it. As for Luke, he is the peace to her storm to the extreme. He doesn’t say much and when she tries to make amends after lashing out, for example, that’s when he shuts her out and/or lashes out. At first, I found them very annoying.

Now, there are things that I have enjoyed. The moment the second part of the story begins, the characters turn around and the story becomes more enjoyable. The mystery creates just what I need to push me through it. The characters have a good arc overall, but it drags not in a great way in the beginning. So I would say, I didn’t enjoy the first part, but liked the second, so it’s really hard for me to rate this book.

Mia’s brother is probably the character I enjoyed reading about the most. Book 2 is about him, so I will read the second book.

Book Excerpt

6-Excerpt_Forgiven

About the author: Garrett Leigh

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer.

Garrett’s debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with photographer Dan Burgess.

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