Tumble (Dogwood Lane #1) by Adriana Locke

Tumble (Dogwood Lane #1) by Adriana Locke

Kindle Edition, 279 pages

Expected publication: February 26th 2019 by Montlake Romance

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Blurb:

After being burned by her dream job in New York City, sports journalist Neely Kimber suddenly finds herself jobless and paying a long-overdue visit to her hometown in Tennessee. Her plan? Relax, reset, and head back up the corporate ladder. There’s just one unexpected step. Neely’s back in Dogwood Lane for barely a day when she sees the man she ran from nine years ago: the bad boy next door who was her first kiss, her first love, and her first heartbreak.

Devoted single dad Dane Madden knows he hurt Neely in the worst way. He’s got a lot to make up for. And as passionate as their reconnection is, it’s a lot to hope for. Having her back in his arms feels so right. But falling in love all over again with a woman who wants to live a world away is bound to go so wrong.

What’s it going to take for Neely to give him—and Dogwood Lane—just one more chance?

Review in Portuguese and English:

2 ⭐⭐ - Meh!

Eu gosto muito da escrita da autora e acompanho o trabalho dela desde os primeiros livros dela.

Esta é uma história de segunda chance e reencontro.

Neely volta para a sua cidade natal, Dogwood Lane, após 10 anos de ausência. 

Ela não tinha planos de voltar, mas uma mudança em suas metas profissionais a faz tomar esta decisão.

De volta pra casa ela tem que reencontrar Dane, seu grande amor e sua grande decepção amorosa.

Ambos se amavam e tinham uma vida inteira planejada, mas Dane acaba o relacionamento e a trai com a melhor amiga dela e o que é pior, a engravida. 

Traição total em minha opinião, porque ele poderia ter sexo com qualquer outra, mas escolheu a melhor amiga dela para isso.

Lembrei de Ross e Rachel no seriado Friends e a desculpa de que estavam separados.

O fruto desta traição é Mia, uma garotinha carismática e também carente de amor maternal.

Nosso herói tentou fazer dar certo a união dele com a mãe de Mia, Kate, mas foi abandonado com um bebê para criar. 

Ele teve outro relacionamento sério com Sara, inclusive moraram juntos, e pensou que ela seria a parceira dele para criar a filha. Mas Sara não estava preparada para criar a filha de outra mulher e o deixou também. Então temos um herói receoso e tentando proteger os sentimentos da filha dele. Mia ficou devastada quando foi abandonada por Sara.

Nossa heroína teve relacionamentos casuais, mas nada sério. Ele sempre foi o grande amor dela e por isso focou mais na carreira e deixou a vida pessoal de lado.

Quando nossa heroína demonstrou toda a sua raiva e frustração com a traição dele e falou palavras duras para Dane, confesso que gostei dela. Pensei que teríamos uma heroína forte e que o faria trabalhar duro pelo perdão dela.

Mas não foi o que aconteceu. Penso que o reencontro deles foi rápido demais e ela ainda se sentiu culpada por estar brava com ele e acaba se desculpando. Não gostei disso, porque foi ele que agiu errado e ele que tinha que rastejar mais. 

A partir dali a história foi ladeira abaixo para mim. Ela se mostrou fraca!

Ela está em uma encruzilhada profissionalmente e sente que algo está faltando na vida dela. Este reencontro a faz questionar o que ela realmente deseja para o resto da vida dela. 

Será que a vida profissional é mais importante que a pessoal? 

Vale a pena arriscar novamente e ser ferida? 

Todas estas questões a fazem se sentir vulnerável e incerta. 

Mas ela nunca encontrou outro amor igual ao que sente por ele e isto mexe com ela.

Dane é pintado como um ser perfeito que quebrou o coração dela e cometeu aquela grande traição em nome de boas intenções. 

Veja bem, o inferno está cheio de bem intencionados. 

Eu não perdoaria tão facilmente! Mas sou uma pessoa que guarda rancor e cínica.

Mas se está bom para nossa heroína eu tenho que me conformar e aceitar, mas realmente não entendo heroínas tão bondosas e misericordiosas.

Nosso herói ficou com a garota e ainda de bônus uma mãe para a filha dele.

No mais uma leitura ok e que não ficará na memória.

------------------------------------------

I really like the author's writing and I follow her work from her early books.

This is a story of second chance and reunion.

Neely returns to her hometown, Dogwood Lane, after 10 years of absence.

She had no plans to return, but a change in her career goals makes her make this decision.

Back home she has to see Dane, her great love and her great heartbreak.

They both loved each other and had a life in common already planned, but Dane ends the relationship and cheats with her best friend and worst, he gets her pregnant.

Total betrayal in my opinion, because he could have sex with any other, but chose her best friend for it.

I remembered Ross and Rachel on the Friends show and the excuse that they were on a break. 

The fruit of this betrayal is Mia, a charismatic little girl and also much in need of maternal love.

Our hero tried to make it work with Mia's mother, Kate, but was abandoned by her with a baby to raise.

He had another serious relationship with Sara, even lived together, and thought she would be his partner to raise his daughter. But Sara was not ready to raise another woman's daughter and left him too. So we have a worried hero trying to protect his daughter's feelings. Mia was devastated when she was abandoned by Sara.

Our heroine had casual relationships, but nothing serious. Dane has always been her great love and so she has focused more on her career and left personal life aside.

When our heroine demonstrated all her anger and frustration at his betrayal and said harsh words to Dane, I confess that I liked her. I thought we would have a strong heroine and that would make him work hard for her forgiveness.

But that's not what happened. I think their reunion was too fast and she still felt guilty for being angry with him and ends up apologizing. I did not like that, because he was the one who acted wrong and he had to grovel a lot more.

From this point the story went downhill for me. She was weak!

She is at a crossroads professionally and feels that something is missing in her life. This reunion makes her question what she really wants for the rest of her life.

Is professional life more important than personal?

Is it worth risking again and being hurt?

All these issues make her feel vulnerable and uncertain.

But she never found another love that matched her feelings for him and this messes with her.

Dane is painted like a perfect guy, even though he was the one who broke her heart and committed that great betrayal in the name of good intentions.

You see, hell is full of well-meaning people.

I would not forgive so easily! But I'm a bitch who holds a grudge and a cynic.

But if it is good for our heroine I have to conform and accept, but I do not really understand such good and forgiven heroines.

Our hero won the girl and still as a bonus a mother to his daughter.

In the end it was an ok reading and it will not stay in memory.

Highlights

“Why are you negotiating with a dog?”

“You know what they say—sunshine brings opportunities.”

My thighs clench together as I consider what Dane could do to me now. With that body. With those lips. With that damn smirk.

“She’s just a girl from my past. I ran into her. People run into their exes all the time.”

I broke her heart. I broke her heart in the worst way I could, and the fact she didn’t tell me to fuck right off is more than I really deserve. It’s more than I would’ve given me.

“You always were a gambler.” He winks. “Were a gambler. Were. Past tense. Trust me,” I say. “Gambling is for the young and dumb, and I am not either anymore.”

“I have to stop putting all my hopes on the line without some safety net. It’s too big of a gamble. I’ve fallen too hard, too many times.”

A part of me will never forgive him for what he did. I may have found the pieces of my broken heart, but they’ll never fit together the way they did before that Saturday morning when he destroyed it.

“There’s nothing sexy about a grown man being called daddy—sugar or not.”

“You know I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

"I bet you were thinking that while you screwed Katie. I bet you were thinking, ‘Boy, I hope this doesn’t hurt Neely.’”

“You didn’t mean to have a baby with my best friend while we were on a break.” 

You’ll be here playing house or whatever it is you do with Katie and your kid.

“Probably not. You probably ruined our relationship for a one-night stand, didn’t you? Good work.”

“Everything happens for a reason, huh?” I ask. “I don’t know what caused you to sleep with Katie, but that’s your problem. I won in the end.” His eyes darken.

Dane as a father. Dane as Mia’s father.

Then when Sara moved in after our dating for a year, a woman I really liked and saw a potential future with, Mia latched on to her like a leech. And when six months went by and she left us, too, saying she wasn’t prepared to raise someone else’s child, Mia was broken.

Right or wrong, I broke up with her. I gave her hope we’d work some kind of long-distance thing out. I slept with Katie. I had a kid.

I’ve been with a few women since Sara, but those relationships have been a hookup here and there.

“You’re what I want Mia to be.”