The Wonder of Now – ARC Review

The Wonder of Now
by Jamie Beck
Release Date:  September 10, 2019
Publisher:  Montlake Romance
Book #3 in the Sanctuary Sound series
Number of Pages:  314
Kindle edition
Source:  Net Galley ARC
Contemporary Romance M/F
Rating:  R
Read 9/4/19 to 9/6/19

 

Moving on has never been harder—or so perfectly unpredictable…

Peyton Prescott would give anything for the carefree life she knew before breast cancer changed everything. But instead of using her second chance to move forward, she’s stuck promoting the memoir her brother convinced her to write, thus reliving the very battle she wants to forget. If she hopes her European book tour will allow her to enjoy revisiting her favorite travel-writing destinations, she’s wrong: her PR whiz is too consumed with his own goals to consider her needs.

Mitch Mathis has relied on discipline to achieve his goals, and with his new firm’s success riding on Peyton’s book launch, he must keep her on task. They’re here for business, not pleasure. And Mitch won’t let unbridled desire harm his professional reputation—not again.

When frustrated expectations and attraction throw the tour into chaos, it challenges everything Mitch and Peyton believe about themselves, life, and love, forcing these opposites to consider whether they can embrace the change they need to grow.

I’ve been quite curious about Peyton from the beginning of this series.  What motivated her to date her best friend’s ex-fiancé? What could she have possibly been thinking?  Well, I didn’t exactly get the answers I was looking for in this story.  Yet, I found that I got enough to know that Peyton is not as selfish and terrible as she first seemed.  Or, at least she’s not that person now.

Mitch and Peyton have an instant connection and the author does a beautiful job of keeping that connection throughout the story.  Their relationship, first professional and later personally, has many ups and downs. Somehow, through it all, that connection I spoke about kept me very optimistic that they could work through anything.  For the most part, they did.

I didn’t get immersed in this story as deeply as I did with the previous two books, but it was still compelling and gave me a lot of feels.  I was cheering for Peyton and Mitch both to get some kind of closure or understanding from their moms and families. At the same time I was waiting for them to start to understand one another…or at least really open themselves to their differences.  I wasn’t disappointed on that point.

There was a bit of time that Peyton waffled on the line of annoying.  She wasn’t expressing her needs and true feelings about the book tour to Mitch yet felt justified in getting upset and acting out in some situations.  She’s not only eventually told to suck it up and speak up, but she starts to view things from more than her own perspective.  All of that helps to redeem her in my eyes.

I’m hoping we will see at least one more book in this series in order for Ben to get his HEA. Even though this book didn’t live up to the other two in the series, it’s still an amazing read with a lot of emotions.  Trust me, have some tissues ready with this one!

4 stars

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**