How far would you
go to find yourself?
That’s the question that’s been
haunting Olivia Owens for years.
All
Olivia has ever wanted to do is live
and make mistakes, but her preacher father has made that impossible. She
believes that her years at college will be her ticket into the real world and
her chance to be wild and spontaneous.
But she’s
never been able to do it on her own.
At the
start of her sophomore year, she only has four things crossed off her Live
List, but that’s all about to change thanks to a chance encounter with Trace
Wentworth. She’s about to learn that there’s more to this reformed bad boy than
just his looks and panty dropping smile.
Trace
can’t explain what it is that draws him to Olivia.
All
he knows is that he wants to get to know the girl with the sad smile but
sparkle in her eyes.
When she
tells him about her list, he knows that this is his chance to get to know
Olivia Owens. Trace is determined to show Olivia that she can do all the things
she’s ever wanted to do. So, he begins to help her cross things off her list,
even the more outlandish requests.
What
happens along the way is more than what Olivia or Trace ever expected.
Love, laughs, and a list.
That’s the name of the game when
you’re Finding Olivia.
Christmas music played softly in
the background, and the smell of hot chocolate permeated the air, along with
the scent of freshly baked snickerdoodle cookies. Not only could Trace cook,
but he could bake as well. Was there anything he couldn’t do?
“How many marshmallows do you
want?” He asked from the kitchen.
I sat on the couch and turned so
I could watch him. “Are they mini’s?”
“No, the big ones,” he looked up
at me, and held the bag aloft, shaking it for emphasis.
“Two, then,” I smiled.
He fixed the hot chocolate in
coffee mugs, and added the marshmallows, then carefully carried them to where I
was. He placed them on the coffee table and winced. “They’re a little too hot.”
Before he sat down, he went back
to the kitchen, to grab the plate of cookies.
He held the plate out to me and I
took one of the cookies. It was cooked to perfection and every bite was chewy,
just the way I liked them.
“You’re Betty Crocker,” I
laughed.
“It’s not like I made them from
scratch or anything,” he defended, sitting down beside me so that the sides of
our legs touched. “It’s not that difficult to heat up the oven and stick em’
in. You just have to watch them so they don’t burn.”
“They’re delicious,” I finished
off the first and reached for a second.
“I’m glad you like them, but you
haven’t tried my hot chocolate yet. Now, that
I do make from scratch,” he grinned, a cookie crumb sitting on the corner of
his mouth.
I couldn’t help myself. I leaned
over and licked it away.
When I pulled back, his eyes were
closed, and his Adam’s apple was bobbing.
“That wasn’t nice,” he whispered
and opened his eyes. The green was light and playful.
He pounced on me and my second
cookie fell to the floor as I squealed.
He pressed me into the couch as
he hovered above me.
“Fair is fair,” he grinned,
pinning my wrists to my sides as I squirmed against him. He bent and licked the
side of my mouth in the same spot I had licked his.
“Now we’re even,” he gazed down
at me and pressed his hips into mine.
“No, we’re not. I didn’t have any
cookie crumbs on my mouth,” I panted.
“I can fix that,” he folded both
of my hands into one of his and lifted them above my head. With his free hand,
he reached for a cookie. He broke a corner off of one and held it above my
mouth, crushing it in his palm, and letting go so that the crumbs covered my
mouth and cheeks. I’m pretty sure a few went down my shirt but I wasn’t telling
him that.
He appraised his handy work, and
before I could come back with something snappy, he covered my mouth with his,
sucking the crumbs away.
My body responded and my mouth
opened underneath his. I felt his tongue nudge its way inside and I welcomed
it. He growled low in his throat and released my hands so his fingers delved
into my hair.
I grasped his ears in my hands,
forcing him closer to me.
“Olivia,” he gasped my name.
“Don’t stop,” I begged, clutching
at his shirt.
There
is something about those gentle sweet romances.
Whenever you are having a bad day, and you just want something to smile
about, if you pick one up and start reading it can always make you smile. They bring that little bit of happiness to
your day and keep you pushing along.
In the
efforts to be perfectly honest, I had this book pegged from the start. Now, there were some twists that were thrown
into the story that I didn’t see coming, but for the most part I had a really
good idea what was going to happen. But
the best part about this book? Even
though I did have it pegged, I still wanted to keep reading it. There was something about it that I just
wanted to follow the path that Olivia was taking.
The
characters in this book are very well written; there is enough mystery to each
of them that you want to find out more.
But you know can tell how they really are, what their personalities are
like. One factor that I enjoyed about
Olivia is that she didn’t just switch completely overnight. Throughout the book, you watch as she
gradually changes, which is how it is in real life. Your personality doesn’t change completely
right away.
There
were some parts of the book that seemed over the top, Avery’s character seemed
to overtake the book whenever she was in the scene happening. With that going on, I focused more on her
than Olivia and Trace. But I have to say
as well, Avery did have some great comic relief qualities at times.
All in
all, I completely enjoyed this book and it is a complete must read from me.
Micalea Smeltzer is an author from Virginia. Her name
is pronounced Muh-call-e-uh. She is permanently glued to her computer, where
she constantly writes. She has to listen to music when she writes and has a
playlist for every book she’s ever started. When she’s not writing, she can be
found reading a book or playing with her three dogs.
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