LOVE ONLINE by Penelope Ward-Review Tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 27, 2018

We met in the least likely of places. It started out innocently enough. I was “ScreenGod” and she was “Montana,” but of course, those weren’t our actual names, just the virtual cloaks we hid behind.

Logging in at night and talking to her was my escape—my sanctuary.

Her real name was Eden, I’d soon come to find out.

From the first time we connected online, I found myself transfixed.

She was an addiction.

At first, we knew nothing about each other’s real identities…and she was adamant that we keep things that way. Anonymity had no effect on our unstoppable chemistry, though. If anything, it allowed us to open up even more in ways we may not have otherwise.

Eden was funny, intelligent, gorgeous—everything I’d ever wanted in a woman.

But I couldn’t really have her.

I had accepted things would have to stay the way they were—until the day I found a clue that led me straight to her.

So I took a chance.

And that was when our love story really began.

••••••••••••

REVIEW: LOVE ONLINE by Penelope Ward is a contemporary, adult, stand alone romance story line focusing on twenty-eight year old, Hollywood producer Ryder McNamara, and twenty-four year old, waitress /online exhibitionist Eden Shortsleeve aka Montana Lane.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Ryder and Eden) LOVE ONLINE follows the online relationship between twenty-eight year old, Hollywood producer Ryder McNamara, and twenty-four year old, online exhibitionist Eden Shortsleeve aka Montana Lane. Bored with life, and still grieving the break up from his last girl friend, heir to Hollywood’s McNamara Studios, Ryder McNamara ventures into the late night, dial up porn when he comes across a singing beauty by the name of Montana Lane. Striking up a conversation, Ryder will soon discover that talking to Montana aka Eden is the perfect solution to his broken heart. Hoping for something more tangible and physical, Ryder goes in search of Eden’s whereabouts when she disappears without notice. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Ryder and Eden, and the potential fall-out as Ryder’s past comes looking for a second chance.

Twenty-four year old Eden Shortsleeve knows loss including the loss of her mother four years earlier. Raising her blind, younger brother Eden struggles to pay the bills, turning to virtual world of online porn. Ryder McNamara is having a difficult time overcoming the breakup with his long-time girlfriend Mallory, a breakup two years earlier that continues to eat at his heart. Expected to inherit the mantle of CEO, Ryder is pushed by his father to assume a more responsible position. Meeting Eden Shortsleeve finds our hero hoping for a happily ever after but happily ever afters don’t involve virtual reality.

The relationship between Eden and Ryder begins as an online friendship, a friendship that grows into something more. Ryder’s loneliness and boredom gives way to long nights of talking, eventually leading to a developing love. The $ex scenes are passionate and seductive without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Ryder’s housekeeper Lorena who is both friend and mother for our story line hero; Ryder’s father, movie producer Sterling McNamara; Eden’s brother Ollie; as well as Ryder’s ex-girl friend Mallory.

LOVE ONLINE is a sweet story of romance and love with some ‘unrealistic’ expectations and situations that left me shaking my head including moving an entire house across several state lines. The character driven premise is engaging and inviting; the romance is sensitive and seductive; the characters are animated and sassy. LOVE ONLINE is an imaginative and spicy treat for late night romantics.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor, before switching to a more family-friendly career. She is the proud mother of a beautiful 11-year-old girl with autism and a 9-year-old boy. Penelope and her family reside in Rhode Island.