Cover Re-Reveal and Giveaway – When You’re Ready by JL Berg

When You’re Ready by J.L. Berg has a new cover! To kick it off I am giving a $5 gift card to Amazon! Yay! My review from last month is reprinted below. I loved this book!

Son of a billionaire, Logan Matthews has spent his life trying to make his absentee father proud. Without a family to depend on, all he’s ever wanted is a place to call home. After a failed marriage, Logan believes he’s unworthy of love…until he meets a woman who awakens his spirit and transforms his entire life in an instant.

But how far are Clare and Logan willing to go for love?  Can his love mend the pieces of her grieving heart?

When their love is tested, is Clare ready to put her whole heart on the line again? Can Logan learn the true meaning of love, even if it means sacrificing his own happiness? When a second chance at love is given, Clare and Logan learn you are never truly ready until you’re ready to risk it all.

This review is reprinted from last month

Wow, what a great book! I’ve had When You’re Ready by JL Berg on my kindle for a few months, and I shouldn’t have waited. It grabbed me from page one and never let go. It pulled every emotion from me, and I absolutely fell in love with a beautiful little 4 year old girl.

Clare’s husband died of brain cancer 3 years earlier. He was the love of her life, and they were so happy. She is now the single mother to the sweetest little 4 year old, Maddie, and still grieving the loss of Ethan. She keeps a sealed letter from him in her nightstand marked “When You’re Ready” on the envelope. But she still isn’t ready.  Maddie is her little ballerina who falls off of her pretend ballet barre in her room. After the fall, the poor baby was throwing up all over mom, so Clare brought her to the hospital (covered in vomit).

“A knock on the door marked the entrance of yet another person. As I turned my head, I found myself face to face with the real-life version of Dr. McSteamy entering the exam room. Is this our doctor?
Holy hell, I think I just whimpered a little.”

Dr. Logan Matthews is the son of a well-known millionaire. He spent his life trying to get approval from the guy, but always failed. When his marriage failed, he was cut off from his father for shaming the family. Logan’s marriage failed because he wasn’t able to love his wife. In fact, Logan didn’t feel himself capable of love, so he spent his time making himself a playboy Doctor reputation. And what a reputation he had!

But when he walked into the exam room, something changed. I loved that his first thoughts were of Maddie.

“She looked like an angel with a head full of long strawberry blonde curls and round cherub cheeks. She looked over at me with big brown eyes, smiled faintly and I found myself having the sudden urge to bring her into my arms, assuring her everything would be just fine.”

Then when he saw Clare:

“She was breathtaking.(…) I don’t think I’ve ever seen eyes so green in my life. A man could get lost in them, never able to find his way back.”

They shared a moment…a definite moment. But then it was gone, until they bumped into each other again, after they both couldn’t get each other off of their minds.  Clare was still in love with her late husband. Logan thinks he’s incapable of love. But the connection he had to Clare and Maddie couldn’t be denied.

“Seeing Clare again felt exactly the same. It gave me a deep sense of being connected and tethered”

They took their relationship slow, getting to know each other through the ‘jellybean game’ (I loved this) and via text (I wish we saw some of those texts!). Logan knows this is different than anything he’s ever felt.

“I want a clean slate with you, Clare. You’re special to me. I don’t know what we’re doing or where it’s going but I never felt anything like this, and I can’t mess that up by doing the same shit I’ve always done.”

I loved that the build up was slow, and I especially loved all of the scenes with little Maddie in them. Kids have a way of getting to the heart of the matter and seeing the simple joys in life. Ethan, Clare’s late husband was always there. She still thought about the letter daily, but still, she wasn’t ready.

It’s here I must mention a side character, Clare’s best friend Leah, who I absolutely loved. She had no filter, and offered the comedy relief for the book. It seems like she was set up to have her own book. I can’t wait for it!

At about 90%, I was online recommending the book to friends saying what a great book it was and how there really wasn’t any angst…when HOLY FUCK. I was crying so freaking hard and cursing the author. SERIOUSLY????? No fucking way.

Likes:

• I absolutely loved Clare. She was strong, generous, a great mom, playful, funny, just all around great.
• Maddie. She was such an important part of the story and I loved her!
• Logan. This guy needed love so badly. I loved how he respected Clare’s love for Ethan and was able to live with that.
• Leah. I can’t wait for more of the crazy Leah!
• How Logan fell for Maddie as much if not more than Clare (what else would you want for your kid?)
• Clare’s love for sweets and how Logan always catered to her. (Why is she still skinny?)
• The Jellybean game.
• How we never really saw the cocky playboy that Logan supposedly was.
• Clare’s family.
• Dora the Explorer hatred (stop yelling at me Dora!)
• Alternate points of view between Logan and Clare throughout the book. You always knew who’s you were reading.
• Panty shredding!!!!
• Great epilogue.

Dislikes:

• I wish we saw some of the texts they exchanged in the beginning of the relationship.

Still not sure:

• The twist. I’m leaning towards a dislike here, but it did pull the book together. It was just too much!

Rating: 4.5 Stars 4 Heat

When You’re Ready by J.L. Berg was an amazing book. I laughed, I cried, I totally swooned, I cursed the author, cried again, and I fell in love with all of the characters. It was lovely to read a book where the child was such an important part of the romance, as it should be for a single mom. The relationship built slowly and realistically and the characters were very relatable. J.L. Berg took what could have been a hard subject to read about, and made it OK…even happy. I highly advise you pick this one up. I’ll be grabbing the next one as soon as it comes out.

Love is a risk, there are no guarantees. But, in the end, it is always, always worth it.

 

Purchase When You’re Ready by J.L. Berg

Standalone 444 pages

Amazon US| Amazon UK | BN.com

J.L. Berg is a California native living in the South. She’s married to her high school sweetheart and they have two beautiful girls that drive them batty on a daily basis. When she’s not writing, you can find her with her nose stuck in a romance book, in a yoga studio or devouring anything chocolate. J.L. Berg is represented by Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, LLC.

Connect with J.L. Berg:

Amazon | Goodreads | Website | Facebook | Twitter

Meet J.L. Berg and 50 other authors at Wicked Book Weekend ’14! 

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