Luck of the Draw

Zoe -- one of Kit’s friends from Beginner’s Luck -- has won the lottery and quit her job as lawyer, but money won’t buy what she really wants: forgiveness.

So when she goes to apologise to the O’Learys for her involvement in a wrongful death settlement, she agrees to a crazy proposal from their son Aiden: pretend to be his fiancée and help him bid on a campground. Getting to know each other, let alone pretending to be a couple, is hard work, complicated by guilt and grief. But they are both motivated by doing something which benefits others.

I enjoyed Zoe and Aiden’s interactions -- I like that their fake engagement doesn’t push them too quickly into intimacy and that they both have difficult emotions concerning their show more respective pasts which they need to navigate. And I wanted to know how everything would play out! Would their deception be uncovered? Would Aiden’s bid be successful? Would that be a good thing? Would this change his career -- or Zoe’s?

I also like how significant, smart and supportive Zoe’s friends are. So while this isn’t my sort of romance novel in absolutely every single respect, it comes very close. I’d read more romance novels like this one, I think.

“You know me, Lorraine,” I say, rubbing a hand over my hair. “I’ve never been much of a talker.”
“You were never sullen or difficult, either.”
“Lorraine, I—”
“I felt sorry for [Zoe] today, Aiden. You may think this is about the camp, but she was looking for your approval today, God knows why. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. ”
I am, I want to say. But also want to say: You don’t know who she is. What she’s done. She ought to be ashamed. But even as I think it, I know: she is ashamed. That’s the worst part.
I settle for a lame, “It’s complicated.” show less

Aiden is still angry and grieving his twin brother Aaron's death; Zoe is one of the lawyers who represented the drug company in his settlement. But Zoe quits the law firm and goes on a sort of apology tour; she means to visit Aiden's parents, but finds him instead. And what Aiden needs is a fake fiancee, to help him win the chance to buy the campsite he and Aaron attended as kids (he thinks that the camp's current owners will look more favorably on families rather than individuals). Zoe agrees to the fake relationship, and even helps Aiden with his proposal to turn the camp into a rehabilitation and wellness site for recovering addicts, like Aaron. But as the two get to know each other, and challenge each other, they realize that they show more both need to make some changes to their plans. Of course, they end up falling for each other, and of course, their ruse is discovered, but they find their way back to one another.

Quotes

"We need to tell a story. That's what all good arguments are, really. Stories." (Zoe, ch. 6)

It's just time, I guess - [it] keeps moving forward, no matter how you try to stay perfectly still in your anger. (Aiden, ch. 8)

"How much work you do on something has nothing to do with whether it's the right idea." (Zoe, ch. 10)

It's scary, the way Aiden and I know each other, when we've spent all this time trying not to. (ch. 13)

"For helping me see that sometimes you start something for a selfish reason, but you can continue it - you can finish it for another kind of reason. A good, kind, unselfish reason." (ch. 20) show less

Kate Clayborn is now on my list of auto-preorders. She writes solid, moving, well-rounded romances that get down into your bones in a deeply human, deeply satisfying way. That being said, this book deals a lot with guilt and grief and addiction (even moreso than the first book), and that part stays heavy right up until the end. But the growth and the healing and, of course, the love that comes from confronting those hard topics is well-earned and very, very lovely.

Gah.

That's my official: akduirka;mv;l.

I just love stories of people with vulnerabilities and this has it in spades. These main characters moved me all on their own, and as a couple, I have to be honest--I loved them there too. I highly recommend the first in the series for the same kind of multi-layered, complex characters. For me, this one was so close and at times exceeding my feelings for the [b:Beginner's Luck|35717661|Beginner's Luck (Chance of a Lifetime #1)|Kate Clayborn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500650717s/35717661.jpg|57220819]. It very much teeters on 5-star range. Sometimes the inner thoughts of the two of these characters made my eyes sting, which isn't easy. It was just that intense. The characters both were show more dealing with heavy grief and failed expectations of their own, thrown together as a result of Zoe trying to make amends for her prior evil corporate lawyer gig. What results is a distant, grieving brother thawing and being chipped away and a former corporate lawyer looking for adventure learning to forgive her past mistakes as part of herself. What I loved about Zoe is how hard she tried-always. Aiden was harder to pin down to just one thing other than his intensity. I felt Kate Clayborn deftly and successfully built a dynamic and intimacy between the characters without being heavy-handed. It was just a joy to watch unfold.

Really, as with the review for Beginner's Luck, I feel like this is just rambling gushy-ness. I really appreciated the slow growth for the characters as well as the relationship, and the sexy-times did not hurt matters one bit.

Thank you to NetGalley/publisher for providing me a free copy show less

Again thanks Warda for buddy reading and for enduring my rants!

I’ve read a lot of enemies to lovers. Some were enemies because they were morons, some because of political reasons and some because the guy was disguising his crush so well that it came out as hate.

This was however my first enemies to lovers where I could not believe in the idea of a hea. Chemistry and a fling maybe, although that’s already a long shot, but for these two to overcome their history and be happy together forever? And his parents accepting her as a family member? Not buying it, sorry!

Zoe used to work in a cutthroat law firm that fucked over Aiden’s family after his brother’s death. She was the one who worked out the deal and signed all the papers. show more Now that she’s grown a conscience she wants to apologize to the grieving parents. But instead of them she meets their surviving son. Who just happens to need a fake fiancée. So I have a quick question here:

Srsly Aiden?? Out of all women in the world, this one??? Are you out of your mind, man???

His questionable taste in women aside, I loved Aiden and my heart was breaking for him and for his parents. I hated finding out that Aaron had been an addict. It was so placating, so belittling their grief, like saying “don’t cry, dear reader, he was just a junkie”. Ugh!!

The writing was as good as in the previous book and the romance was hot, but too much bothered me in this story to give it more than three stars.

TW loss and grief show less

I didn't realize this was book 2 in the series, but I think it was OK to read book 2 without having read book 1, although I am planning to read book 1 and book 3!
I do enjoy Kate Clayborn's books, she takes characters who are dealing with some difficult issues and brings them to life. In this one, Zoe is an attorney who can't shake the remorse she feels about the O'Leary settlement she handled at her former law firm. This guilt leads her to Aiden, brother of the deceased. and his proposal to her to assist him in a plan that he has.
This plan involves a camp where he and Aaron attended. As Zoe and Aiden pretend to be engaged, their relationship develops, and the inevitable happens. However, it isn't supposed to last.
I am usually up for show more a romance every once in a while, and I enjoyed this one. show less

A meditation on loss and guilt, Clayborn beautifully threads the needle with this couple. Zoe is a wonderful mix of a lovely personality hiding so much going on within her. Aiden isn't quite as interesting to me but they do work as a couple. Her writing, as always, is beautiful.