Saturday, April 5, 2014

Review of Silver Lining by E.J. Shortall


Synopsis: Amber Merchant had it all. Living with and engaged to her teenage sweetheart, nice house and job of her dreams. Not anymore.

Following a devastating revelation from her Fiancé, Amber finds herself single once again and vows to never entrust her heart and soul to another.

After a bad experience on a rare night out to celebrate her newly single life, a chance encounter with a tall, dark and handsome stranger leaves Amber’s head reeling. Intrigued by her draw to him but scared for her heart she flees.

Twenty nine year old Craig Silver has been fighting demons of his own. Intent on a life of meaningless affairs and one night stands, he isn’t prepared for the overwhelming and immediate attraction, and desire to protect the striking blonde on the dance floor.

At first it seems the attraction is mutual… until she runs. Bewildered and frustrated Craig wonders if he will ever see her again. Sometimes the roads to our future are paved with many trials. Will Amber take the right path and find the silver lining to the happiness she deserves?

4.25 Silver Stars!

Review: I was provided with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This book begins with Amber moving into a new apartment, following a bad break-up with her ex-fiance, David. Amber and David were together for around eight years, the last two of which they were engaged. As far as Amber has been able to tell, David seemed to just decide that he didn't want to be married to her, while she was dizzyingly preparing for their dream wedding.

Thank goodness Amber has a great best friend, Becki, who swoops in and makes Amber go out with her to start living again. While with David, Amber never went out and, from the sounds of it, was verbally and mentally abused if she wanted to have a life outside of David. So, she goes out to a club with Becki and Becki's friend, Scott. It's there that she sees "Mr. Sexy" a.k.a Craig. She dances with him for a little while before freaking out and running to the ladies room. Amber tends to freak out about some random things, which can get annoying after a while, but Becki is usually around to give her a dose of reality. Amber keeps running into Craig in random places, and he finally convinces her to go out with him. Strangely enough, Becki discourages this until Amber tells her that she and Craig want to see where this goes.

Meanwhile, Craig does come up with one of the cutest nicknames that I have heard of in a while. He calls Amber "Pingu", which is from a song called Penguin. There is a little bit of the insta-love/lust that goes on in this book, so be aware if that is something that drives you crazy. Craig has this player reputation, but he quickly wants to give Amber a chance and spend as much time with him as he can. There is the miscommunication and keeping things from one another that start to throw a wrench in the relationship. For Amber, it's David, as he suddenly keeps trying to come back into her life. I will admit that I am still a little bewildered as to why David ended up being as aggressive towards Amber as he was at this point. She talked about his being controlling before, but then, for the past seven months during their broken engagement and separation, she makes it sound like he was distant and absent. Suddenly, he is calling, coming by and even more!

Craig also has some secrets, and, even once he and Amber have a very emotional moment, following something that happens to her, he still will not open up to her about his past. They take a long weekend away together, and Craig slowly tells her more, and there is certainly the hope that he really cares about her, as he has let Amber meet both his mother and sister. Once they get back into town, Amber soon finds out what Craig's secret is, and her whole world is shattered. She then finds out that her best friend, Becki, knew the secret and never told her. I was pretty pissed at that point, as well. It takes some time and, finally, some honesty, before Amber begins to see what and who Craig really is. This story was quite sweet, and Amber and Craig certainly have some steamy moments. This is set in London, so there is some British slang that pops up, which I always enjoy. I am definitely interested in reading more and Amber and Craig in the next book, Silver Dove.

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