Reviewed by Dee

TITLE: Beneath the Surface

SERIES: The Pink Bean, #2

AUTHOR: Harper Bliss

PUBLISHER: Ladylit Publishing

LENGTH: 204 Pages

RELEASE DATE: December 17, 2016

BLURB:

The path of true love never did run straight.
Twenty years ago, Kristin Park and Sheryl Johnson were brought together by wine. Is wine also what will tear them apart today?
Beneath the Surface goes back in time to the moment Kristin and Sheryl first meet, and offers a revelatory glimpse into the ups and downs of their seemingly perfect relationship.
Grab a cup of coffee—or a glass of wine—and find out what really happens behind the closed doors of The Pink Bean.
REVIEW:      

I absolutely loved book #1, No Strings Attached, so was super excited to discover it was only the first in a brand new series by Harper Bliss, and book #2 did not disappoint.

Although it took me a minute or two to recall that the heroines in this story are the founders of The Pink Bean coffee shop. Kristen appeared here and there in book one, as did Sheryl but they were far from central characters, therefore I found myself totally enthralled with how they came to be a couple and their eventual business investment.

This story is told in third person and from dual point-of-view, my preferred style of narration, as it allows me to become absorbed by the characters. Although, Harper has a way of doing that despite tense and POVs. But I digress…

While I admired Kristen, my heart went out to Sheryl. Without giving too much away, this story deals with addiction, not only how it affects the addict but also the impact it has on their loved ones. Not only that, but when a loved one enables the addiction thinking they are being kind. It also brought home the fact that an addict fights the battle every day and even after 10 years can relapse!

There are a couple of adult scenes, and as much as I adore such content, in this story I didn’t linger on those pages, too absorbed in the bigger picture.

The one thing I admit I struggled with was the huge time jumps, from 1997 to 2007 and then 2007 to 2014. I can normally cope with big leaps in time, but where the story picked back up in 2007 left me wondering what on earth happened during those years, that brought about such a transformation in one of the characters. With that said, by the end of the book everything fell into place and I turned the last page smiling and sated.

I feel this story can be read as a standalone, and would happily recommend both books to all and sundry. More please, Harper.

RATING:  

BUY LINK: 

Amazon