Sophie Sullivan, a librarian in San Francisco, was five years old when she fell head over heels in love with Jake McCann. Twenty years later, she’s convinced the notorious bad boy still sees her as the “nice” Sullivan twin. That is, when he bothers to look at her at all. But when they both get caught up in the magic of the first Sullivan wedding, she knows it’s long past time to do whatever it takes to make him see her for who she truly is…the woman who will love him forever.
Jake has always been a magnet for women, especially since his Irish pubs made him extremely wealthy. But the only woman he really wants is the one he can never have. Not only is Sophie his best friend’s off-limits younger sister…he can’t risk letting her get close enough to discover his deeply hidden secret.
Only, when Sophie appears on his doorstep as Jake’s every fantasy come to life-smart, beautiful, and shockingly sexy-he doesn’t have a prayer of taking his eyes, or his hands, off her. And he can’t stop craving more of her sweet smiles and sinful kisses. Because even though Jake knows loving Sophie isn’t the right thing to do…how can he possibly resist?
Sophie Sullivan has had a crush on Jake McCann since she was 5 years old. Now I personally found this ridiculous because a 5 year old’s brain just doesn’t work like…thinking that Jake’s hair was a little too long or thinking this:
Oh, my. He was so handsome, and intelligent, and just plain wonderful. She could have stared at him forever, …
It just would happen, imho. But despite that I knew that the author was just trying to set the scene for 20 years later.
Jake refuses to notice her as a woman so at her brother Chase’s wedding she gets the hair and make-up people to really do her up to show Jake that she is, in fact, a woman. Jake definitely notices but when he finds himself getting too interested in her he leaves – that’s after a heated kiss behind the shed.
Now Sophie’s absolutely sure that Jake is kissing her because now that he’s noticed her he’ll want a relationship with her. She’s not even deterred when he takes off and heads to his house. She ends up at Jake’s house (the one he’s rented for the weekend) and seduces him. He’s only a man so he takes her up on her offer and then promptly leaves when she’s asleep. Nice.
Shoot forward 2.5 months and Sophie’s ecstatic bubble has popped. She not only got to see the worst side of Jake (and he hasn’t called since) but now finds herself pregnant. She’s freaked out but does the right thing and immediately heads over to tell Jake that he’s going to be a father. She totally expects him to have nothing to do with her or their kid but he surprises her and not only steps up to the plate but also asks her to marry him. She refuses but he asks that she give him 7 days – and nights – to let him convince her that they should be together for more reasons than just the kids. Sophie agrees but she’s sure at the end of the week she’ll still be on her own.
This story had a really great premise with the whole friends to lovers and then Jake having to deal with not only Sophie but her 6 over-protective brothers. While I liked parts of the story and the general idea of it all there were so many parts that didn’t work for me.
Sophie was a really great girl, she was, but when she was so very immature in her thoughts and actions during the wedding it was hard not to see a teen with her head in the clouds – even though she’s 25. I really wanted to sit her down and tell her, “honey, sex does not mean a man loves you.” She figured that out quickly for herself though.
Jake was a nice guy who had seriously self-esteem issues. Granted his father had called him stupid his whole life so he had reason to believe it all but he absolutely believed that he wasn’t good enough for Sophie – even though he’d wanted her since he met her. Ok, maybe not when she was 5 but you get my meaning. He really loved Sophie but until she became pregnant he didn’t think he could be with her. Even after that he really didn’t believe himself good enough but was willing to try.
I think my biggest issue with this book was that it was mostly sex. Yes, that was Jake’s way of avoidance when Sophie tried to get to know him better but still – just too much. Too much sex and not enough sexual tension, – or even real relationship building. I did really like Sophie and Jake together when neither one of them was worrying about other things – for Jake “I’m not good enough”; for Sophie it was “he only wants the baby, not me.”
I think that Jake and Sophie were definitely meant to be together and I liked the book but in the end I just needed more.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Bella Andre
Nice review. I agree…sometimes I would like a little more depth to the relationship besides just the sizzling attraction.