Twice in a Blue Moon: 4 Stars

Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren is a great novel of young love, family, and decisions that extremely alter the course of more than one person. Below is a brief summary of the novel as well as my recommendation.

Summary

The novel begins 14 years in the past. Tate Jones is living a dream. For her 18th birthday, Tate's grandmother has decided to take her on a celebration trip to London. Tate is ready to be swept away by the art, the sightseeing, and the history. What she doesn't expect, is to be swept away by the tall dark, and handsome, Sam Brandis. After a chance meeting at a pub, Sam and his grandfather make fast friends with Tate and her grandmother. The foursome takes to traveling around London together and Same and Tate begin spending late nights in the hotel garden sharing their stories and falling in the kind of love that seemingly only young people can have.

Growing up in a small town Tate is like most other teens her age, except she has a secret. She is the daughter of Ian Butler, a famous and well-known actor. Under strict instruction from her mother and grandmother, Tate has never told a soul who she really is. Her mother and Tate disappeared from the public eye and have been living quietly outside of LA with her grandmother.

As her connection with Sam grows Tate opens up to him about her past. They share their hopes, their dreams, their love. After an unfortunate event, Tate realizes she has been betrayed and is now thrust into making a decision that will severely alter the course of her life.

Fast forward 14 years later, Tate is on a movie set with her father and none other than Sam Brandis. We read as Tate works to strengthen her relationship with her father, release her anger toward Sam, and finally comes face to face with the truth. About Sam, her father, and most importantly, herself.

Can forgiveness be achieved? Will Tate find the love of a father she's always wanted? Will she finally open herself up to the emotions she's suppressed throughout the years, and will the truth be the thing to finally set her free? Find all this out and more in Christina Lauren's novel, Twice in a Blue Moon.

My thoughts

I was expecting this novel to be more of a fluff love story than what it ended up being. I normally roll my eyes when I read about characters falling for each other so quickly. However, Lauren wrote this in a way that seemed to put you in the garden with Tate and Sam and it makes you remember the first time you met someone and thought "this person gets me." There's a quote in the novel that says "you feel everything so much more when you're young." I found that line to be so true. You're willing to jump without consequences into love, hate, happiness, whatever the emotion is, it's amplified.

That's why as the reader you can feel the betrayal and heartbreak on behalf of Tate. You also feel her power when she starts to make decisions for herself and her future.

When she and Sam finally reunite it's like I was living it myself. Coming face to face with someone who hurt you, deeply. Someone you want to hate, you tell yourself you hate, but regardless of those emotions, you begrudgingly still feel love and wanting.

I thought Lauren did a great job with all of the characters and the role they played in Tate's life. My only complaint with the book is a wish Tate would have stood up to her father. He neglected her until she was worth something and then he used her for his own gain and in the end, betrayed her.

I understand that's not how life works and the "bad guy" doesn't always get told off or beaten in the end. I also get that Tate came to the realization that he wasn't worth it and she was simply going to cut him out of her life, but for my own personal satisfaction, I would have liked to see Tate tell him off.

Other than my yearning for a big showdown, I really enjoyed Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren and I'd highly recommend you give it a read!

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Leah Lawrence