ONE SHOT
Chances #1
by
BJ Harvey
Genre:
Contemporary Romance
Release Date:
November 16, 2017
Boy meets girl, boy wins girl, boy nails girl—boy’s gone by morning.
I think for sure it must've been a dream because there’s no way a guy could look like that, touch me like that and be so in tune with me on every known level, and disappear, leaving me with nothing but a good story to tell my friends.
When he walks into my bar three months later, everything I thought I knew and what we’d had disappears in the blink of an eye and the blinding light of the three-carat diamond on his fiancée's hand.
It seems what I thought was a dream is now my most complicated reality, and I've got absolutely no idea how to fix it - or if I even want to.
Present Day
I have tingles, and not the kind that feel great in all the right places. The ones I’m feeling right now are the hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck, someone-walking-over-your-grave kind of feelings that you get when something bad is about to happen.
Unable to ignore them any longer, I turn around from my stock take sheet and come face to face with my worst nightmare.
Lana fucking Mason, childhood best friend turned high school nemesis and arch enemy, and…
A man stands beside her, his eyes as wide as mine and—if I’m not mistaken—he looks kind of pissed off. At me.
And just like that, this moment has just gone from bad to worse.
Hold on! I’m the one who should be annoyed, with him. It wasn’t me who did a disappearing act three months ago, and now he’s here, standing with her. Of all the fish in the sea, he had to go for the smelliest, rottenest one.
“Kenzie,” she says, all saccharine sweet, like she wouldn’t choke on the first dick that came close to her perfectly-made-up lips. “Long time no see.”
Forever wouldn’t have been long enough, Lana.
“We were in town running errands and thought we’d stop by. I wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to.” Without preamble, she holds out her hand as if she’s the Queen of Sheba and I’m a lowly minion at her bidding. But that’s the last thing I care about, given that I’m being blinded by a huge, shiny rock on her ring finger.
What in the ever-loving fuck?
I don’t get a chance to hide my surprise, or the fact that my eyes dart to Millen, his jaw twitching like crazy, his grey eyes that I remember turning molten with lust now blazing with some unreadable emotion.
Why is he angry at me when he must’ve known that I’d be here?
Lana turns her head and beams at him all doe-eyed and vomit-inducing, reaching out her arm to Millen before returning her attention to me, positioning herself to deliver the final death blow.
Then she says them. The words I don’t want to hear—let alone believe.
“I have amazing news. First, my daddy just bought this place. And second, meet Millen, my fiancé…”
Yep. Dead. Done. The see-ya-later, don’t-let-the-door-hit-your-ass-on-the-way-out kind of done.
Then Drew walks through the front door. Drew who warms my bed most nights. Finally, a friendly face.
However, one look at Lana’s expression and I know this moment has just gone from bad to plain awkward. It’s like the universe is making a joke at my expense.
Drew’s already big smile grows impossibly larger when he spots the two people standing in front of me.
“Mills!” he says, pulling Millen into a man-hug the likes of which I’ve never seen Drew hand out before. He turns to the she-bitch and wraps his arms around her too. “Lans.”
Lans?
“What are you guys doing here?” Drew asks.
“You know them?” I blurt out, my brain unable to engage quick enough to care about putting a filter in place.
Millen’s eyes snap to Drew then back to me. “You know Drew?” he asks at the same time as Lana juts a hip to the side and asks Drew, “You know Kenzie?”
“Millen is my best friend from college,” Drew happily informs me, and his smile falls at the same time that all of the blood rushes from my face.
Awkward, meet Mortifying. Also here are Shame, Embarrassment, Anger, Disgust, and over in the corner there is Complete and Utter Confusion and her friend I’m Going to Have to Move to the States and Join a Women-Only Commune with Cats and Unlimited Batteries.
With nothing else to say—at least, nothing that wouldn’t take a bottle of Jack and a whole lot of time—I decide to just go with the flow and revert to my old trusty auto-pilot because seriously, what else is there for me to do?
“Soooo, would anyone like a drink?”
BJ Harvey is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the Bliss Series. She regards herself as a smut peddler, suspense conjurer, and a funny romance thinker upper. An avid music fan, you will always find her singing some hit song badly and loving every minute of it. She’s a wife, a mom to two beautiful girls, and hails from what she considers as the best country in the world—New Zealand.
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ONE SHOT
Chances #1
by
BJ Harvey
✮ ✮ ✮ 4.5 STARS ✮ ✮ ✮
Boy meets girl, boy wins girl, boy nails girl -- boy’s gone by morning.
I think for sure it must've been a dream because there’s no way a guy could look like that, touch me like that and be so in tune with me on every known level, and disappear, leaving me with nothing but a good story to tell my friends.
When he walks into my bar three months later, everything I thought I knew and what we’d had disappears in the blink of an eye and the blinding light of the three-carat diamond on his fiancée's hand.
It seems what I thought was a dream is now my most complicated reality, and I've got absolutely no idea how to fix it - or if I even want to.
Awkward, meet Mortifying. Also, here are Shame, Embarrassment, Anger, Disgust, and over in the corner there is Complete and Utter Confusion and her friend I’m Going to Have to Move States and Join a Women-Only Commune with Cats and Unlimited Batteries.
Can you imagine how you would feel if you met the man of your dreams, the mirror of your own soul, the puzzle piece that falls into place effortlessly? And now imagine him being ripped away from you only having to face him after three months, engaged to another...
“Love isn’t perfect,” he says gently. “It’s how you work through it all that’s important. The hard stuff, the obstacles, the highs, the lows, the triumphs, and the tragedies. It’s a beautiful pain that’s always worth it if you’re both willing to work to make things right.” - Kenzie's dad
Kenzie Sharp is one of those heroines I can't get enough of. She lives by pretty simple rules and one of her most important one: no lies. Ever. Honesty isn't just a word to her, she lives it, daily. Kenzie's last name is pretty suitable because she's sharp as a tack, funny and a straight shooter. She will have you question your own moral compass because the things she does in this story go against everything she ever believed in, and probably against everything you as a reader believe in. Yet, it is easy to judge when you haven't walked in the other person's shoes. So I found myself understanding what she went through, why she acted the way she did, because in all the things wrong in her situation, she never lost sight of herself in it.
Her puzzle piece is Millen Ross, heir to the Ross empire. He is endearing. Stubborn, with an iron will, fiercely loyal, caring, cocky and sweet. He lost his shine a bit when he returned into Kenzie's life but I worked through those feelings because I did have an inkling that not everything was as it appeared so soon Millen was back in my good graces. I loved how easy-going he could be but also determined when he set his mind on something, and that's what he needed with Kenzie because she sure challenged him at every corner.
“You completely and utterly intoxicate me. You just have to breathe and I’m reeled back in.” - Millen
Millen's and Kenzie's connection was palpable and credible. Their banter was super-entertaining, especially in the beginning and I found myself smiling a lot as they got to know each other. And their chemistry? Off the charts!
“Do you realize that apart from the two times I’ve been in your car, we usually have a giant piece of wood between us?” I say, opening the menu in front of me despite always ordering the same thing every time I come here.
When Millen doesn’t say anything, I look up to be met by a huge smirk and a raised brow. “Huge?”
After closing this book I feel completely sore and spent, emotionally, BJ Harvey hit where it hurt most with this story. There were times when I thought the angst was too much. It was physically painful. The minute one setback was in the past the next one was already waiting to strike and I felt a little bit put through the wringer. The last chapter and the epilogue really made up for it. There is no couple who deserved their HEA more.
“When we’re apart I’m broken. When we’re together I’m whole.” - Kenzie
No, this book isn't safe but despite all the roller coaster rides it's real. It makes you feel, most certainly uncomfortable too and gives you food for thought. I definitely found myself asking myself what would I do. It's easy to judge if you have never experienced a love like this or yours was an easy transition.
...there’s a lot to be said for never giving up and fighting for your own happiness. Because when you find that person you’re bound to be with, one thing I’ve learned is to hold on and never let go. - Millen
With so many authors out there it's hard to pin down one favorite but BJ Harvey definitely has proven to be a new addiction. I'll be coming back for more and definitely for the next in this series.
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