Fantasy&Education

                                                                         Review:
                                           Take A Chance (Rosemary Beach #6)
                                                                    by Abbi Glines

Synopsis:

When Harlow Manning's rocker father goes on tour, he sends her to Rosemary Beach, Florida, to live with her half-sister, Nan. The problem: Nan despises her. Harlow has to keep her head down if she wants to get through the next nine months, witch seems easy enough. Until gorgeous Grant Carter walks out of Nan's room in nothing but his boxer briefs.

Grant made a huge mistake getting involved with a girl with venom in her veins. He'd known about Nan's reputation, but still he couldn't resist her. Nothing makes him regret the fling more than meeting Harlow, who sends his pulse racing. Yet Harlow wants nothing to do with a guy who could fall for her wicked half-sister- even if there are no strings between Grant and Nan. Grant is desperate to redeem himself in Harlow's eyes, but did he ruin his chances before he even met her?

Review:


Before I get into the review, I just want to say that I strongly recommend reading all the other books in the series before reading this one. Grant's story is tied in quite strongly with both Rush and Woods' (and with everyone else in Rosemary Beach) and I really feel like they should all be read in order. There are a lot of characters too so it would be good to go in with a bit of a refresher on them first.

Now... when I first started to red this book, I didn't read the synopsis, well... I should I do this when I read all the previous books in Rosemary Beach, and I already know all about this crazy triangle- Harlow, Grant, Nan-so imagine my surprise when I find a Grant so... should a say... pretty stupid and with a brain between his tights... I was feeling cheated in some way. But... you know that it's always a 'but' following... then I realized something when I read the synopsis... that is it's not saying much about the relationship that it was already formed between Grant and Nan, and more importantly about their break up during Forever too Much. That was my ahhh-ed moment because I realized that's the intention of Abbi- to present the same characters with a clean state and... I won't lie- I found it pretty wrong to do this because, like me, that are many readers that already read this series from the start and, like me, they already begun to picture Nan out from the role of Grant's bitchy lover, but it IS a clean start and for the new readers it won't be a problem to read this book as a stand-alone, but for me it wouldn't be my number #1 book as preference.

This story starts with Grant in a towel and a Harlow disappointed in him. Why?
Because  he just banged the sh** out of her half-sister, Nan, who I must say hates her with a force to be reckoned, but that's just half of her problem because now she must live with Nan and her new/old lover.


Harlow's initial reaction to him though was (understandably) kind of that she didn't want much to do with a guy who could be involved with someone as horrid as Nan. And I have to say, I totally saw where she was coming from which sucked for him because, despite how hard he kept trying to fight it, he was falling for her.

We already know from the previous books that while she may have been a little shy and generally preferred to keep to herself, she was not a pushover. She saw right through Grant from the first time she met him and was not going to be on the receiving end of any of his issues. She also had no problem calling Nan out on her shit either. And, even though she want to stay the hell away from Grant, mostly because of her sister, she still gives him the time of the day to say hes peace and to try to be her friend, event though I wouldn't say he deserves it, but she really tries to be his friend and one thing led to another and before they knows they sleep together and after that things get a little awkward the next two months because of Grant's fear of  comitement and the next moment for their meeting is after he had sex with Nan.

We get to see a new face of Kiro and what I first thought that he was just a rock star at his twilight, we see also a man eated by ears of solitude and how his wife's absence has been affected him. Seriously, he surprised me so much with his devotion for Harlow's mother that I couldn't think that someone like him was capable to feel such strong sentiments, not after the way he treated his own childrens and the other womens who has been in his bed.

We also get to see a whole lot of Mace in this book (he was Kiro's son and Nan and Harlow's brother) and I absolutely loved him. I really hope we get a whole book on Mace in the future because he really stole my heart. He had that whole protective big brother vibe working for him when it came to standing up for Harlow and I can only imagine how he'd get when he fell for someone. And I have to say... even though I know I'm supposed to be rooting for Grant as the hero of this story, for a good while I totally agreed with the advice Mace was giving Harlow....


A big part of the story was actually Grant facing his fear of loving someone and opening himself up to the potential pain of losing them. Having seen first hand how devastating the loss of a life could be, he was determined to do anything and everything to prevent himself from ever experiencing that loss.

Characters:

Harlow is the heroine of this story but also the storyteller and we get to see and feel so much from her, because she has such a strong voice. Ot seems surprising doesn't it?
It really isn't because she has a back bone and won't back down in front of Nan' hatredand spiteful words and she won't just jump back in Grant's bed after the way he treated her...

Harlow is also strong for her father, because even though he seems more than capable to take care of him- after all he is reach- after all this years he doesn't know how to take care of others and him, emotionally speaking.

Grant- he's the other main character of this novel and also the other storyteller and he's such a difficult man to read, in the other books he was confident, sure on himself, even a little cocky if we're thinking of how Blade almost shout him but he didn't back down... not even for a second. But in this novel he seems almost clingy, can men be needy?
I was a little disappointed in him, but I expect to see a new other face of Grant in the other novel of this series.

Final Verdict- a beautiful story with more or less flawed and damaged characters, trying to find their way in life. A story about love, about growing up to be the person destined to be and about second chances in love. A story about life...
I have to say that all of Abbi Glines' book have this insanely addictive quality to them. They kind of just compel you to inhale them in one sitting -- which was what I did with this one. I read it start to finish without stopping and am now looking forward to the next one!

My rating.5/5

Quotes:

Mine had been the arms she'd run into, and like a fool I had opened them up for her. Now, all I had was a lot of damn drama and a slightly damaged heart. She hadn't claimed it. Not completely. But she had touched a place no one else had. She had needed me. No one had ever needed me…. As sick as it was, I had wanted to be her hero."

I may have pushed her too far away," …
"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe you never stood a chance to begin with. But is she worth trying?"
I nodded. "Yeah, she's worth begging." 

"My advice is to stay the fuck away from [Grant]. Guys that weak aren't the ones worth sticking around for. When a guy gets the attention of someone like you, he's supposed to understand his luck. Not toss it away. He doesn't get it. Find a man that understands your worth."  


"You'll find out you can trust me. I'm not a bad guy. Deep down you know that. I just made a very bad decision." 

 "...all I could think was what if I loved someone that much and I lost them? How could I live? ... I decided I never wanted to be that vulnerable. I never wanted to love someone that much. I never wanted to face losing the one person that owns me."




The Rosemary Beach Series....

	Fallen Too Far (Too Far, #1; Rosemary Beach, #1) by Abbi Glines
	Never Too Far (Too Far, #2; Rosemary Beach, #2) by Abbi Glines
	Forever Too Far (Too Far, #3; Rosemary Beach, #4) by Abbi Glines
	Twisted Perfection (Perfection, #1; Rosemary Beach, #3) by Abbi Glines
	Simple Perfection (Perfection, #2; Rosemary Beach, #5) by Abbi Glines
	Take a Chance (Chances, #1; Rosemary Beach, #6) by Abbi Glines
	Rush Too Far (Too Far, #1.1; Rosemary Beach, #1.1) by Abbi Glines
	One More Chance (Chances, #2; Rosemary Beach, #7) by Abbi Glines