This Love by Nazarea Andrews
Publish Date: June 25, 2013
Source: Author for Review – Thank you!
Find It: Goodreads / Amazon / B&N
She wants a summer job and a ride to a wedding.
He wants an assistant and a distraction from the mess his life had become.
They didn’t know they needed each other.
Avery Emili needs two grand. Two grand and a plane ticket–her sister is counting on her to get to Jamaica for her wedding. But the semester is over, and tutoring college freshman and high school students has dried up until the fall.
Atticus Grimes needs help–the messy split with his wife left the twenty-eight year old professor scrambling to keep things together as the semester winds down. Now he’s got a research grant he has to actually do research for and all he wants to do is drown himself in a tall bottle of bourbon.
When Avery sees his ad for an assistant, all she’s thinking is a summer job. But as they spend time together, in the office and out, both of them begin to realize something is there. Something that can’t happen–he’s a professor and she’s a student. And both of them have histories, pasts that won’t let go. Can two broken people pulled apart by expectations find a way to be whole? -(from Goodreads)
This Love by Nazarea Andrews
My Thoughts: This book is so good. So very, very good. It’s a perfect summer read and it has a perfect cover and good grief, you guys, just buy the book. You’ll thank me later.
This Love is the story of Avery and Atticus (aka The Professor) – both extremely likable and even lovable – both the victims of horrible past relationships – that come together in an unexpected and rather cute way to begin working together over the summer. Avery is a college student in need of a job, in need of some money. Quick! And Atticus is a college professor in need of an assistant with some serious organizational skills. Atticus used to have an assistant, but she wasn’t a good fit so she left the position. Seeing Atticus in need, best buddy Dane took it upon himself to secretly take out an ad in Craiglist for the assistant position, which is when Avery comes into his life: she calls about the job. It can’t hurt to at least check it out, right?
WELL, FOLKS. Atticus is asleep when his phone starts going crazy, ringing off off the hook. He wonders why the heck he has something like fourteen or so missed calls in a few hours. Nobody ever calls him! Out of curiousity, Atticus picks up the next ring and is simultaneously intoxicated by the sweet voice he hears (Avery!) and pretty upset that Dane would take out an ad in Craigslist without his permission. While Atticus can feel his blood pressure rising with the need to kick Dane’s butt, he agrees to meet with Avery to discuss the position at a local coffeehouse. Not because her voice is super-sexy and wildly enticing. Naw, not that. Because, you now, she might turn out to be a good assistant. Yeah, that.
So they meet. She’s hot, he’s hot. There is MEGA instant-attraction going on here. (I LOVED IT.) But both of them are on a mission…and they walk away with both of their needs being met: Atticus gets an assistant and Avery gets a job that actually pays pretty well. Avery starts working right away, she does the job well, and Atticus is impressed over and over and over. The end. Sounds easy, right? Cut and dry? OH NO. No way. There’s WAY more to all of this, folks. And I just ate it up.
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You guys remember that instant-attraction I mentioned? Well can you imagine working in extremely close quarters over the summer with a professor that “looks good enough to eat” – yep, it actually says that in the book. ATTICUS LOOKS GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT. (Sidenote: You guys, the way Nazarea Andrews wrote the story, I totally believe this.) And HELLO!! Avery is a college student. Y’all know how those young college girls are always wearing those cute little outfits and stuff. Stuff is bound to happen. And it does.
But this story is more than that – more than sexual tension and steamy scenes and romance, although those things are super great.
Atticus basically falls hard for the little things he learns about Avery, even when he knows he probably shouldn’t – the way she can’t/won’t do anything in the morning without her coffee (attagirl, Avery!) – it can’t be that fake coffee either or coffee drinks – Avery wants the real deal, real coffee. He loves that. He loves that she waltzes right into his home office and cooks or cleans or organizes or whatever needs to be done – she’s a take charge kind of gal that isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. And she’s beautiful, so beautiful. She doesn’t feel the need to constantly be dressed to the nines – she’s comfortable in yoga pants and a crazy-looking tee shirt or whatever. She’s comfortable with herself, which is pretty sexy. Despite the fact that Atticus is up-to-his-eyeballs with an ex-wife that is giving him a very difficult time signing some divorce papers, he cannot help but fall hard for Avery. He ends up loving this girl. This could be a very interesting/dangerous thing when the semester starts back and he is professor and she is a student. Not his student, a student. But still.
And oh Avery! Sweet little Avery. Avery comes from a pretty tough relationship history as well – the thing about hers is that you don’t really get the details about it until you’re pretty invested into the story. You get hints – the barest of hints. You get just enough to know that this girl has been burned in the past and she’s totally petrified of opening her heart to someone else. Sure, she gets reassurances from her best friend and sister that it’s okay to let her guard down and have some fun for the summer – especially with a very attraction man like Atticus – but it doesn’t really help. Avery had a rough time not-so-long-ago. Eventually, though, she just can’t help it – she falls too. She wants to be around that man 24/7. Despite her feelings and intentions – and despite her job – she is falling for him and that isn’t part of the deal! She doesn’t want that! Wait, does she? PLUS, Avery has carefully laid-out plans for graduate school and a career – how on earth will Atticus fit into all of that? Nope, she can’t let herself fall for this man. She. Can. Not. She’ll keep working for him for now, but there is definitely an expiration on their “relationship.” (The more she said that, the more my heart would just squeeze and break because I was scared of what would happen!)
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This Love by Nazarea Andrews is, as I mentioned earlier, the perfect summer read. It is oozing, dripping, completely filled with romantic tension, with swoony moments, with a bit of steam, and with some falling in love. I’m adding this to my list of favorite stories lately, and I love so much about it. I love the sweet Southern setting as well as the Jamaican beach setting. I love the relationship between Avery and Atticus. I love the push-and-pull, the should we?/shouldn’t we? between these two, and I love the way that they finally give into their feelings after fighting for so long – only to then resume the push-and-pull. I love the desperation that came with the admission that they finally felt things for each other and OH MY GRACIOUS we could get into trouble for this if anyone found out, and I loved the lengths that one (or both of them – no spoilers!) went to in order to ensure (or maybe get back) the relationship once the semester started. This book, you guys, this book.
Avery Emili is every college girl. She’s that girl. She’s also a little bit of every New Adult girl. She’s the one that’s been wronged before and therefore she doesn’t want to go back home (read: her hometown) because she doesn’t want to see her ex-boyfriend, aka the douchebag. She has great friends and her sister is her everything. In this case, her sister is getting married and she is not the most thrilled about this that she can be. She we can read and begin to pick up clues about why she loves her sister so much but is less-than-thrilled about this wedding. Why is that? Seems a little off, no? Also, Avery is super smart (yes!) and organized and a perfect fit to do the job for Atticus. She surprises the heck out of him, takes him by storm. He wasn’t expecting this little gal to breeze into his life and completely take it over, organizing it into files and an easily manageable system, but Avery did it, and now they’re both smitten like crazy. And you guys, Avery doesn’t know what to do. She fights her feelings – way too much, exhaustingly so – because she puts her old feelings for this bad, bad guy from her past on this new and great guy right in front of her. It’s frustrating at times. Sometimes, sweet lil Avery gave me a case of whiplash. But I understand, I do. But still, Avery – you have Atticus standing in front of you – give it up, girl. Go on a kiss the boy!
Then there is Atticus. Good gracious, that man. I’m not sure where Nazarea Andrews found him, but I’d like one, please! No, seriously, I just loved him. Initially, like when he and Avery are in the early stages of their relationship – like, barely know each other – Atticus is so rude. He’s cocky and way too sure of himself. But he’s fine, you guys. He’s SO HOT. And also a hot mess. His work is important to the University, but it’s an organizational disaster – totally mixed-up and just, well, a mess. His last assistant completely screwed him over as far as doing a good job, so Atticus really does need to take a chill pill and just watch and see what Avery can do. When she blows into his workspace and takes over and does well, he is highly impressed, and from there he begins to settle down a bit. I’ll admit, part of his settling down and letting Avery do her work is part visual attraction – he’s wildly attracted to her (part of why this book is so fun and yummy) but it eventually grows to so much more than just attraction and it’s actually Atticus that realizes that he has the real, true, can’t-live-without-her feelings first. The LOVE feelings that made my heart pitter-patter. I’m so serious – I love this character. The lengths that this man went to to express his love to this girl who is – for all intensive purposes somewhat damaged and a lot thick-headed and incredibly wishy-washy – I just want an Atticus of my own.
I would be a very poor blogger if I didn’t mention the past relationships of these two, particularly Atticus. The relationship that Atticus is having a difficult time dropping is like a thorn in his side and is very present throughout the story. It pops up when readers least expect it and I found myself wanting to just brush it off of my Kindle, so very despicable is this gal he used to be involved with. BUT I had to stick with Atticus and trust him and see how things ended up. And Avery’s past is just as bad, but since Nazarea Andrews was sparing with her details early on, you’re certainly not getting anything from me here. It’s just…ICK. The guy is just plain awful. But I will say that once Atticus finds out about it, WOW and HOT and I loved Atticus even more. HOWEVER, it is interesting how both of these relationships worked into the story, like little secret cups that are filling up and waiting to spill over and ruin a nice tablecloth. So much potential to do so much damage if they aren’t checked…
You guys, I’ve repeated myself to say that This Love is a favorite in a while. It had that perfect summer feel to it, which is why it felt so good to read part of the book outside. Plus, check out that amazing cover! This book will do so nicely out by the pool or by the beach, or maybe just in the backyard or the porch. Heck, read it in the house if you will. Just do read it. I think you’ll love Atticus and Avery and their story. I know I did. It’s certainly been a summer favorite of mine and I will definitely be re-reading it.
I recommend This Love to fans of New Adult Contemporary Romance and fans of college settings. There are also some other great settings in this book: New Orleans and Jamaica. WHAT?! I know. This book is steamy, which is fun, but younger readers need to use caution when picking it up – it’s definitely for the older-YA reading or adult-YA reading crowds only. I’m ready for the next part of the story, Nazarea Andrews! Great job with this one and nice job by your cover-marketing team!
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YOU GUYS!! I have an excerpt from the book!
This is a good one! This is from the POV of Atticus:
his first encounter with Avery, which is a phonecall.
(He doesn’t know his friend has put an ad in Craigslist for an assistant
and Avery has called him for information.)
Man, it gets good from here.
No one calls me. Nik used to, but her calls ended months ago. My sister emails me; the only time my phone rings is when Dane is checking on me. But he’s here, so what the hell?
My phone rings again, a different number.
I answer it. “Who is this?”
“I’m calling about the job you listed on Craigslist.”
The girl’s voice is like warm scotch, sliding around me with just the hint of a bite, and even in the midst of my hangover, I can’t help the surge of interest. Then her words make it through the Jaeger induced fog and I groan.
“I’m going to kill Dane.” I mutter.
“Excuse me?” She sounds startled and a little amused, and I flush.
“Look, sweetheart, my roommate is being a dick. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need a research assistant? Because I’m actually really good at this and I have better qualifications than most people.”
Her voice. God, it’s too early—that has to be part of the reason I’m getting aroused just listening to her talk. “What kind of qualifications?”
“I’m a double major—history, with a specialty in ancient civilizations, and secondary education. I planned on spending the summer researching graduate schools.”
“You should stick with that,” I advise.
“Can’t. And I don’t really want to spend the summer waiting tables—although I will.”
There’s something about her voice that makes me think she’s telling the truth. And it tells me something about her: she’s serious. There’s a work ethic I don’t often see in undergraduates, and it makes me pause.
“I’m sorry,” she says, sounding frazzled—I can hear a male voice in the background—and music and laughter. “You said it’s not really a position. I’ll let you go. Get back to your morning.”
“Wait,” I say, startling both of us into silence. What the hell am I doing? “How about you meet me, and we’ll talk. It can’t hurt, right?”
She hesitates, and then, “Look, I’m not trying to do a job that doesn’t exist. I appreciate it, though.”
“Coffee. Please. Just to talk about it.”
“Ok,” she says, reluctance clear in her tone. “Hill of Beans at five?”
I nod. “I’ll see you then.”
We hang up, and I stare at my phone. What the hell am I doing?
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This Love will appeal to fans of:
New Adult Contemporary Romance
Romance: Slow-burn. No Triangle.
College Setting.
Also, New Orleans setting for a little while.
HEA!
Be smart, younger readers!
This book is for the older-YA and adult reading crowd!
This Love by Nazarea Andrews
is currently available for purchase.
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Nazarea Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She loves chocolate and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.
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And now for the Giveaway!
Author Nazarea Andrews is offering
2 Signed Paperback copies of THIS LOVE
and postcards!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
About Asheley
Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.
You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.
Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!
Is this book out now, because I need to get myself a copy ASAP! WHOA I'm fanning myself just after reading that review. Also, I love the name Atticus. Basically, this sounds awesome! Thanks for clueing me in, Ash!
It's out! In fact, I think it MIGHT be 99 cents right now!! I LOVED it. Perfect for summer.
Love that this packs the steam and swoon while still having elements of a sincere relationship. Like learning all the little things. ADORBS!
Great story! Plus the steam and swoon is always fun.