BETWEEN US by Jen McLaughlin
March 4, 2014
New Adult Contemporary Romance
One of the “Sex on the Beach” Novellas
I’m just a girl…
I’m a famous country star who’s spent her life cultivating a good girl persona to avoid bad press, but I’ve reached my limit. I’m going away for spring break with my two best friends from college, and we’ve vowed to spend the vacation seeking out fun in the sun—along with some hot, no-strings-attached sex. The only thing I needed was the perfect guy, and then I met Austin Murphy. He might be totally wrong for me, but the tattooed bad boy is hard to resist. When I’m in his arms, everything just feels right.
And I’m just a guy…
I’m just a bartender who lives in Key West, stuck in an endless cycle of boredom. But then Mackenzie Forbes, America’s Sweetheart herself, comes up to me and looks at me with those bright green eyes…and everything changes. She acts like she’s just a normal girl and I’m just a normal guy, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. My past isn’t pretty, you know. I did what I had to do to survive, and she’d run if she learned the truth about my darkness. But with her, I’m finally realizing what it’s like to be alive. To laugh, live, and be happy.
All good things must come to an end…
Goodreads link:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20369409-between-us
Fame can sometimes get the best of you, but if you find someone magical it can sometimes all be worth it. I absolutely loved Between Us by Jen. It was such an amazing read. It is a novella that follows Mackenzie one of the three best friends that are partying in Key West on Spring Break.
The narrative follows a girl who always is seen in the wrong light no matter what she does. I think the narrative allows the reader to understand the heart of what some one in the limelight goes through. Celebrities don’t always have it easy and the portrayal of Mackenzie and Austin the bartender/bad-boy made this a fun read. These novella’s where quick reads for me. They were light-hearted but yet still addressed some issues that are relative to teenagers and college students. I loved the flow of words and how the connection between Austin and Mackenzie grew through all the challenges they faced. What at first was going to be a one-night stand for me, drew so much passion into the written word of ignoring all the press and everything else and finding what is within your heart.
Overall, Mackenzie and Austin stole my heart, in this novella in the sex on the Beach series. The expectations were understood from the very start, having Austin being a local and Mackenzie a country star on spring break but through it all chemistry came alive. I rated it a 4 out of 5 because I so desperately wanted more. It was such a romantic and heartfelt novella.
Jen McLaughlin is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She writes steamy New Adult books for the young and young at heart. Her first release, Out of Line, came out September 2013. She also writes bestselling Contemporary Romance under the pen name Diane Alberts.Since receiving her first contract offer under the pen name Diane Alberts, she has yet to stop writing. She is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency.
Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, a cat, and a Senegal parrot. In the rare moments when she’s not writing, she can usually be found hunched over one knitting project or another. Her goal is to write so many well-crafted romance books that even a non-romance reader will know her name.
Website: http://dianealberts.com/
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/DianeAlberts6
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DianeAlberts
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6921962.Jen_McLaughlin