Blog Tour, Review & Excerpt ~ Wish You Were Here by Renee Carlino

 

Blog Tour, Review & Excerpt ~ Wish You Were Here by Renee Carlino ~ NOW LIVE!!

  

Book Description:

You know when you’re looking at someone and you can’t help but smile at how oblivious they are to their own charm? That’s what was happening to me, and it was making me feel…happy. Euphoric. Something indescribable. It was like we already knew each other, like we had met in a previous life. Memories that didn’t exist began exploding in my mind like fireworks. 

Charlotte has spent her twenties adrift, searching for a spark to jump-start her life and give her a sense of purpose. She’s had as many jobs as she’s had bad relationships, and now she’s feeling especially lost in her less-than-glamorous gig at a pie-and-fry joint in Los Angeles, where the uniforms are bad and the tips are even worse.

Then she collides—literally—with Adam, an intriguing, handsome, and mysterious painter. Their serendipitous meeting on the street turns into a whirlwind one-night stand that has Charlotte feeling enchanted by Adam’s spontaneity and joy for life. There’s promise in both his words and actions, but in the harsh light of morning, Adam’s tune changes, leaving Charlotte to wonder if her notorious bad luck with men is really just her own bad judgment.

Months later, a new relationship with Seth, a charming baseball player, is turning into something more meaningful, but Charlotte’s still having trouble moving past her one enthralling night with Adam. Why? When she searches for answers, she finds the situation with Adam is far more complicated than she ever imagined. Faced with the decision to write a new story with Seth or finish the one started with Adam, Charlotte embarks on a life-altering journey, one that takes her across the world and back again, bringing a lifetime’s worth of pain, joy, and wisdom.

Buy Links:

  

Amazon UK | Amazon US | B&N | iBooks

Review:

Reviewed by Donna ~ 5 stars
***ARC received for an honest review***

“How long have we been in love?”

Wish You Were Here will be on my 2017 favourites shelf at the end of the year, without a doubt. There was so much about this book that I fell in love with and Renee Carlino has proven once again that she never fails to deliver. Wish You Were Here was simply stunning, a breath-taking story about love and loss, soul mates and lightening striking twice. This story was incredibly moving, extremely poignant and just an awe-inspiring piece of writing from the very beginning.

“Do you believe in soul mates, Charlotte?”

“I think so…”

“Do you want to know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think we have soul mates, but I think we can have more than one…”

Many, many tears were shed reading this book, the prose incredibly moving and Renee Carlino extracted all those emotions with effortless ease. The character connection was on point, the dialogue was simply perfect and the humour interspersed with emotional prose was the perfect balance. Renee Carlino captured her characters perfectly and brought them to life over the pages to the point where you become the voyeur looking in. I felt that I was an innocent bystander watching the lives of these characters play out before my eyes and it is that connection that makes this book all the more consuming.

I don’t want to go into the plot at all as I do not want to spoil it for anyone and this is one book that you need to read as the author intended. This is a book all about the journey and you need to experience this one word for word and let Renee Carlino’s flawless writing envelope and consume you as much as it did me.

Charlotte was flighty by nature, in her late twenties, starting and abandoning many university courses and never having found her purpose in life, she is a little lost. Men are not top of her priority list either, many failed relationships have led to her being extremely jaded and second guessing her ability to be loved. One night she meets Adam, and totally out of character has a one-night stand she will never forget. They had a connection, one she has never felt before and one she fears she will never feel again.

“That’s what happens when you live it well, right? When you have someone to love? It goes by fast. You blink and it’s over.”

Adam is a character that will remain with me for a very, very long time and that is all I am going to say about our lawyer/artist. Other than he was simply adorable on so many levels. The growth in Charlotte throughout this book was amazing. In the beginning, she was a little hard to warm up to, but as she grew, so did my feelings towards her. Charlotte’s heart shone throughout this book and it is her selflessness that ingratiates her to the reader.

“Because I don’t want you to stop asking.”

This book was simply stunning, it took turns I never saw coming and some that I did. As I said above, flawlessly written, emotional, poignant and one heck of a fantastic read. Simply adored it.

“…you were my one.”

Excerpt:

“You’re making love sound tragic,” I said. 

“No”—he shook his head—“I wouldn’t want it any other way. Tell me about us. What do we like to do?” 

“Paint and sail and eat and drink. Just simple things.” “Don’t forget about sex,” he said.

“Yeah, lots of sex. Before the children were born we 

"We were practically naked every second of the day.” 

“I like that.” 

“When they got older, we’d sneak away for weekends and leave them at my mom’s.” 

“What are they like? Our children.” 

“Happy. That’s all we wished for. We put our love first and it just spilled over into them and now they’re happy.” 

Tears sprang from my eyes and ran down my cheeks. Isn’t that what we all hope for when it comes to our children? 

His tone suddenly changed. “That’s beautiful, Char- lotte.” It was like he was waking up from the dream. I didn’t want to go back to reality yet, but I knew these fantasies were just to help Adam get his mind off things. 

“I can imagine a long life with you,” he said. “I can imagine what a great wife you’d be." 

I pulled my hand out of his. “The story is about you and me.” He didn’t say anything; he just nodded and then continued to stare out the window. I bent and kissed the top of his head again, and whispered, “It’s about us. Don’t take that away from me.” 

          

About the Author:

  

Renée Carlino is a screenwriter and bestselling author of contemporary women's novels and new adult fiction. Her books have been featured in national publications, including USA TODAY, Huffington Post, Latina magazine, and Publisher's Weekly. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons, and their sweet dog June. When she's not at the beach with her boys or working on her next project, she likes to spend her time reading, going to concerts, and eating dark chocolate.

 Learn more at www.reneecarlino.com  

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