One
week in Paris. One chance with her childhood crush. And one lie that could ruin
it all.
Before she was Dr. Celeste London, Astrophysicist, she was Mary Celeste Haverford: dork, loser, the geek formerly known as Hairy Mary. But she’d left all that behind—and left Ion Blackwell behind, nothing but an unrequited crush and the memory of a high school field trip, a night in Paris, and the words Celeste had never had the courage to say. She’d never expected to see him again…until a surprise encounter on a Parisian riverboat tour brings him back into her life, and gives her the opportunity to start over as someone new. Someone Ion doesn’t recognize, transformed from a social outcast into a polished, professional woman that Ion doesn’t realize is the girl he’s been longing for since childhood, the ideal he’s dreamed of his entire life.
Suddenly this vivacious (if charmingly awkward) “new” woman is teaching him that real love is better than any dream—but Celeste is hiding more than her identity. Hiding something that makes it hard to trust her increasingly erratic behavior, and her frequent secretive phone calls. When the truth comes out, the deception could shatter them both…unless they can give each other a second chance, and take a risk on love.
Before she was Dr. Celeste London, Astrophysicist, she was Mary Celeste Haverford: dork, loser, the geek formerly known as Hairy Mary. But she’d left all that behind—and left Ion Blackwell behind, nothing but an unrequited crush and the memory of a high school field trip, a night in Paris, and the words Celeste had never had the courage to say. She’d never expected to see him again…until a surprise encounter on a Parisian riverboat tour brings him back into her life, and gives her the opportunity to start over as someone new. Someone Ion doesn’t recognize, transformed from a social outcast into a polished, professional woman that Ion doesn’t realize is the girl he’s been longing for since childhood, the ideal he’s dreamed of his entire life.
Suddenly this vivacious (if charmingly awkward) “new” woman is teaching him that real love is better than any dream—but Celeste is hiding more than her identity. Hiding something that makes it hard to trust her increasingly erratic behavior, and her frequent secretive phone calls. When the truth comes out, the deception could shatter them both…unless they can give each other a second chance, and take a risk on love.
With a
smile, Celeste leaned on the rail. She’d been a silly girl, heart on her sleeve,
but she kind of missed that. Falling in love was never the same—never as light,
as sweet, as guileless, the emotion not as raw or real when it became about
work schedules and who paid for dinner and whether it was too soon to have sex.
Mundane things took the romance out of it, when at sixteen it had been about
wishing for that one perfect, breathless, magical kiss with that special
someone who didn’t even know she was alive.
Now she just
had a half-dozen ex-special someones who said she was an amazing friend, but a
lousy girlfriend.
Her eyes
stung. She should be standing here with…someone. People did that; they fell in
love and took romantic trips to Paris, and cuddled on dreamy moonlit boat
tours. But even then she’d have been worrying over her presentation for
tomorrow, wondering if Ophelia gave their father his meds, pondering wind speed
for Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in Jupiter’s Red Spot, picking out
constellations…and never quite here
with the imaginary boyfriend.
She really
wasn’t cut out for relationships.
She lifted
her gaze to the sky and picked out Venus. It hurt, when she smiled. “Guess I
wasted a wish,” she whispered. “Do I get a do-over?”
The soft
scuff of a sole against the deck warned when someone approached. She
straightened, rubbed her eyes, and pulled her hoodie tighter around herself.
Last thing she wanted was to ruin some happy couple’s romantic Parisian night
when they stumbled on a single woman on the verge of a nostalgic crying jag.
They’d probably think she was pulling a Rose, about to fling herself
dramatically over the rail of the mini-Titanic.
The
footsteps stopped at her side, barely a foot away. She caught a sense of
height, masculine body heat, a quietly commanding presence. A low voice rolled
over her, husky baritone like whiskey and silk.
“Belle nuit, n’est-ce pas?” he asked,
softly accented inflections agonizingly familiar. Celeste looked up, her heart
tumbling to the very bottom of her chest and constricting painfully tight.
Fathomless
blue eyes looked over the water, set in an elegantly sculpted face: ten years
older, more weathered, tanned complexion darkened by the shadow of stubble—but
so distinctive she’d know him anywhere. She clutched the railing with fingers
almost numb to the cool metal, blood draining to leave them rubbery. She knew
him. She knew him, but there was no
way it could be him. It was impossible. It was incredible. It was absolutely
unbelievable, and she had to be hallucinating.
It was Ion
Blackwell.
Cole McCade is a New
Orleans-born Southern boy without the Southern accent, currently residing
somewhere in the metropolitan wilds of the American Midwest. He spends his days
as a suit-and-tie corporate consultant, and his nights writing romance novels
in between fending off Tybalt, his geriatric cat. And while he spends more time
than is healthy hiding in his writing cave instead of hanging around social
media, you can generally find him in these usual haunts:
Twitter: @ColeMcCade
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cole.mccade
Tumblr:
http://colemccade.tumblr.com/
You can also get
early access to cover reveals, blurbs, contests, and other exclusives by
joining the McCade’s Marauders street team at:
I love
second chance love stories especially when the story follows a different or
unexpected path for the story line and/or characters. Let’s face it who doesn’t remember a boy/girl
who was out of reach years ago when we were young and insecure. For me it is Colin Wilson the beautiful guy
who sat next to me in seventh and eighth grade.
For Dr. Celeste London it is Ion Blackwell.
Celeste was
the ugly duckling nerd type heroine in high school--at least that’s the way she
saw herself. In high school she was Mary
Celeste Haverford. Her classmates teased
her often calling her “Hairy Mary”. As
an adult she lived in the shadow of her renowned scientist father. To eliminate the comparisons and make her own
name in the scientific community, she changed her name using her middle name
and her mother’s maiden name thus Dr. Celeste London is born.
Ion is the
very attractive Gypsy whom Mary pined for in high school. Mary loved him then and has never stopped if
she is honest with herself. As an adult Ion
moved from New Orleans to Paris. He is a
very successful author of a series of books with a strong woman as the main
character.
Today Ion is
a smooth, kind and generous lover. He
doesn’t recognize Celeste as the young girl he knew in school but he is drawn
to her in a way he hasn’t been drawn to a woman in years. Ion won’t give up on his quest to win Celeste even
when she tries to push him away. And
when he asks her to stay with him I just sigh and swoon with Celeste.
Celeste is
in Paris to present at a conference and network. She is looking for a job that will allow her
to bring her father to Paris. As soon as
she arrives she runs into Ion but he doesn’t recognize her. She is a very attractive and successful woman
nothing like the young girl in high school.
I love these characters. They are
both very interesting and perfectly matched.
The banter
between Celeste and Ion is sometimes funny, sometimes emotional and always
entertaining. I love how Celeste thinks
that Ion is using his skill with words to confuse her. She never forgets that writing is the way he
makes a living. “He was a writer, and writers liked pretty
words. Flowery crap she’d be stupid to fall for.” Her retorts keeps Ion guessing where he stands with
her. The love scenes are sensual and perfect.
.jpg)
I love
Celeste. She is smart, confident in her
area of expertise and loves her family. Alzheimer’s
is part of a subplot running through the story.
Celeste’s beloved father is in the early stages of the disease and
Celeste is his primary care giver. The
scenes with Celeste and her father are absolutely beautiful. I could feel the love between father and
daughter jump right off the pages and into my heart. It is very poignant.
Finally I
have to mention Cole McCade. There aren’t
very many men who write in this genre and Mr. McCade is a welcome
surprise. He knows how to write a beautiful love
story. There isn’t anything about this
story that I want to change. McCade’s
character development is spot on. He takes
the “disguise” cliché and makes it new and perfectly believable throughout the
story. The reader knows Celeste is going
to be found out but the way it happens in this story, and the unique way the
conflict is resolved is refreshing and original.
.jpg)
A Second
Chance At Paris is book one in the Bayou’s End series. It can be a standalone
book but I’m sure once you read this book you will want more from this
author. I can’t wait to see where Mr.
McCade is going to take us in the next books in the series. I hope we will see more of Ion and Celeste in
the future. I highly recommend this book
to everyone who adores a good love story.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment