elodie colliard – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 391 pages
Author: Elodie Colliard
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: September 3rd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A year of heartfelt letters. A chance encounter gone awry. Five years apart for a shot at redemption.

Charlee lives her life by one single rule: don’t dredge up the past. That’s why she loses herself in her work as a journalist: always on the move, always heading for the next adventure. So when the Wild Planet offices in Toronto are on the brink of closure, she jumps at the chance to save the place by helping shoot a documentary in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest. Until she realizes who she’ll be working with.

For Oliver Reynolds, there’s nothing like the peace and quiet of nature. That’s why working for Wild Planet is a perfect fit. In the small touristic town of Pine Falls, he has everything he needs. Well, almost. If only he could buy back the family’s restaurant he lost five years ago. When his boss offers him a hefty raise to guide a Wild Planet crew filming a documentary in the area, Oliver doesn’t think twice. At least, not until he finds out who he’ll be spending those two weeks with.

A twist of fate forces these two estranged souls to collaborate on the project and put their grudges and wounds aside for the time being. Too much is riding on the documentary’s success for either Charlee or Oliver to delve into the past that led them to stop writing to each other. But will they succeed in working together and pretending the past never happened? As time goes on, neither can shake their lingering bond, but Charlee still doesn’t know why Oliver never showed up for the date they set five years ago. But getting her answer means ripping open old wounds. Will she be brave enough to face her demons?

Embark on Oliver and Charlee’s thrilling journey deep into the heart of the majestic Great Bear Rainforest and explore its enchanting wonders alongside them. And who knows, perhaps they’ll uncover more than they bargained for.

‘Unbearably Yours’ is a steamy small-town romance that delves into the realms of second chances, forced proximity, the solace of a chosen family, and the unshakable bonds that can be forged in a lifetime.

A GREAT SECOND CHANCE.

I really enjoyed this take on a second chance romance. I loved all of the letter writing. It enhanced the story and it was sweet seeing how Oliver and Charlee fell in love with a classic form of communication.

All of the autumn and hiking vibes were perfect for the season too. I was smitten with Oliver. I loved his personality and his tender nature and honestly, everything about him. Charlee was an easy FMC to love and I was easily in her corner. I loved how they came together. The chemistry could be felt for miles.

There were a few tiny scenes that I didn’t love, and the Trevor thing wasn’t my favorite either. Overall though, a lovely romance (I’m also obsessed with the cover), and an enjoyable read.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: moderate
Romance: 3+ open door
Violence: low
Content Warnings: death of loved ones (off page – breast cancer and smoke inhalation)

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 366 pages
Author: Elodie Colliard
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: November 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

What if love is the key?

Avery Clark needs a break. Between her photography business not doing as well as she’d hoped and incessant family drama that does nothing to ease her spiking anxiety, she needs something to go her way.

And that was even before her ex-best friend, and talented pianist, Joshua Harding, ran into her during an event in Toronto, after he left her suddenly ten years ago, breaking the only promise he had swore he wouldn’t.

When an opportunity to grow her business falls into her lap, Avery decides to put her doubts and resentment aside and agrees to photograph Josh’s sister’s upcoming wedding.

As they spend more and more time together, rediscovering each other and the people they turned into, Avery realizes that maybe, the spark she felt ten years ago wasn’t just a fleeting teenage phase.

But the past is never far away, and an unknown future is terrifying. Could Avery take that leap of faith?

There is nothing that screams romance more than two childhood best friends who haven’t spoken in years and suddenly bump into each other ten years later with all the possible longing, aches and hurt this time apart created. Filled with Canadian vibes, The Last Encore is a heartwarming, friends-to-lovers and steamy slow-burn romance that explores the themes of friendships, woman empowerment, identity, loss and learning to trust yourself.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC.

EBB AND FLOW.

I wish I had loved this a little more but there was a lot of goodness within this story too. Let’s get into it.

Romance wise. I thought Avery should have been upset much longer than a few hours when she saw Josh again? It went from I can’t believe he left me, to are we about to kiss? waaaaay too fast. It made me take a lot longer to catch up with them and appreciate other aspects of their story. I did enjoy many of the quiet moments. The necessary and deep conversations and seeing some of that spark reignite. Spice wise (this did not affect my rating but I wanted to note) was much higher than I anticipated in the explicit column. If you love that though, this is one to note for a 3-4 level spicy read! I found it mostly easy to skip over.

I adored Avery’s friend Brooke. She was the right kind of charming and fun edition. I loved how supportive she was and was truly a great person to be around. Brooke was the only super prominent side character (which was fine) so I love how well rounded she was and apart of the momentum for the story.

There seemed to be a lack of dialogue too. I found the pacing slowed an incredible amount with big paragraphs of day to day and Avery’s inner monologue. I would occasionally skim over sections that weren’t highlighting anything new to get to more prominent pieces.

I loved the multiple mental health discussions surrounding many of the characters. The importance of acknowledging how you’re doing, if you need help and how others can be of assistance to you. Many of these conversations made me feel seen in my own battles. There is a major trigger warning for a descriptive rape scene that Avery went through (in the past, but the full scene is recounted). I appreciated the author’s note in the beginning about this and the dialogue about how women handle these abhorrent situations. I especially loved how Josh helped Avery through many of these moments when memory reared it’s head.

An enjoyable read overall even if I had some issues here and there with pacing and general set-up. I LOVE this cover and look forward to checking out the next story in this series!

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: multiple open door – high explicit; mild innuendo
Trigger/Content Warnings: rough parent relationships, a recounted rape and sexual assault scene, depictions of anxiety and panic attacks, grief, loss of a mother from cancer (mentioned often)