Title: FICTIONAL-ISH
Author: Natalina Reis
Release: May 11, 2019
Genre: Romantic Comedy/Contemporary
Cover Designer: Soxsational Cover Art
Blurb
A stand-alone romantic comedy set against the background of Scottish small towns and locks that will make you laugh, cry, and definitely melt your heart.
Livie Dunn, bookworm and aspiring bookstore owner, has been in love with her best friend ever since he dropped a bug down her shirt in primary school. She never stopped hoping that one day he’d realize they were made for each other.
Until Mia got in the way.
Kyle Huang has been taught to always do the right thing. But when that involves ostracizing his best friend by marrying her childhood nemesis, Mia, life as he knows it derails and crashes. Suddenly, their happy ever after seems like a broken dream, especially when Livie moves across two continents to open a bookstore in Scotland.
To salvage a love that seems all but lost, Kyle must come to terms with his own bad choices and hope that Livie is willing to forgive and help him face his demons—a task that is anything but simple. Will he be able to reignite her love or will he lose it all?
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Excerpt
Our souls had been connected since we were children, and there was no one in the world I’d feel more at ease with. Kyle was home to me.
“I love the name of the bookstore, Liv, but I don’t want it to be our tag line.” I stopped and turned to him, not sure what he was getting at. “I don’t want our friendship to turn into something fictional, something that never happened, do you?”
I was over the moon thinking of a long drive alone with Livie as my captive audience.
“They still make those?” I chuckled as he unfolded and studied the paper map with the intensity of an old scholar pouring over a treasure map. “What are you looking for?”
“Are you just going to sit there and stare?” Kyle’s mouth had gone slack and he looked paralyzed, sitting with his back to the wall. “If you don’t get naked with me, there’s not much point in this, is there?”
Kyle and I slept in each other’s arms, hanging on to each other with all we had, the blanket swaddling us like a cocoon.
How do you tell the love of your life that your ex-wife has your life in her hands? That she’s holding it with an iron fist and won’t let go?
“I want you to feel good, Kyle. To know you deserve better than Mia. To know that I love you, no matter what.”
Oh my God. I so didn’t deserve this angel.
“Don’t. Stay a little longer.” Be mine for a few more minutes.
I sighed, the weight on my chest releasing as I exhaled, in awe of my good fortune—how many guys could boast to have an angel as their lover?
“I’m admiring you, idiot.”
He rose on his forearms. “Why admire the painting from afar, when you can have it for yourself?”
“It’s not fiction, Liv. We’re real. What we have is real.”
My body relaxed, the hot water washing away the kinks in my muscles. No water would ever be able to wash away the weight of my frustration and regret.
“I choose you, Livie.” His voice was so soft I was not sure I’d understood correctly.
In a swift move, I grabbed him by the waist and pushed him down on the bed, rolling over him. “You know what they say; if you want it done right you must do it yourself.”
Livie could bring out the sun on the rainiest day.
My Thoughts <3
This book was enjoyable to read. I have not checked out Natalina Reis before, but this book drew me in from the first chapter. I was graciously provided an ARC but am writing my honest opinion on the book.
The cover on this book, that combined with the blurb and the name (which I love) had me automatically signing up to receive an ARC to help promote this book and I am really glad that I did!
It was an extremely interesting read and seemed a fresh new take on the friends to lovers sub genre of Romance. It was clear from the very beginning that Kyle and Livie have something extremely special and it was really freaking crappy of him to marry someone that was her nemisis. This was one of the main things that rubbed me a little wrong about this book, that seems really freaking wrong.
Well, she evidently agrees with me and took this as a massive bomb and when a situation arose to move to Scotland for her firm, she agrees and escapes her family, friends, and even frenemy.
I do like how things play out and Livie and Kyle have a wonderful connection. This book is definitely worth a read and while I was not super happy about how Kyle hurt Livie, I know that had a huge part to play in the overall story and actually made me feel more emotions that some other books out there so kudos to Natalina for that!
I give this 4 outta 5 stars!
Author Info
Author of We Will Always Have the Closet, Desert Jewel, and Loved You Always, Natalina wrote her first romance in collaboration with her best friend at the age of 13. Since then she has ventured into other genres, but romance is first and foremost in almost everything she writes.
After earning a degree in tourism and foreign languages, she worked as a tourist guide in her native Portugal for a short time before moving to the United States. She lived in three continents and a few islands, and her knack for languages and linguistics led her to a master’s degree in education. She lives in Virginia where she has taught English as a Second Language to elementary school children for more years than she cares to admit.
Natalina doesn’t believe you can have too many books or too much coffee. Art and dance make her happy and she is pretty sure she could survive on lobster and bananas alone. When she is not writing or stressing over lesson plans, she shares her life with her husband and two adult sons.
