HATE NOTES by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward-Review and Excerpt Tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 6, 2018
It all started with a mysterious blue note sewn into a wedding dress.
Something blue.
I’d gone to sell my own unworn bridal gown at a vintage clothing store. That’s when I found another bride’s “something old.”
Stitched into the lining of a fabulously feathered design was the loveliest message I’d ever read: Thank you for making all of my dreams come true.
The name embossed on the blue stationery: Reed Eastwood, obviously the most romantic man who ever lived. I also discovered he’s the most gorgeous. If only my true-love fantasies had stopped there. Because I’ve since found out something else about Mr. Starry-Eyed.
He’s arrogant, cynical, and demanding. I should know. Thanks to a twist of fate, he’s my new boss. But that’s not going to stop me from discovering the story behind his last love letter. A love letter that did not result in a happily ever after.
But that story is nothing compared to the one unfolding between us. It’s getting hotter, sweeter, and more surprising than anything I could have imagined.
Something new.
But I have no idea how this one is going to end
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REVIEW: HATE NOTES by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, romance story line focusing on wealthy realtor Reed Eastwood, and sculptor and PA Charlotte Darling.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Reed and Charlotte) HATE NOTES follows the acrimonious relationship between wealthy realtor Reed Eastwood, and PA Charlotte Darling. It all started with a little blue note pinned to a forgotten wedding dress; a drunken phone call to Locklear Properties; an appointment to view a million-dollar listing; and the humiliation by said realtor, wherein our heroine Charlotte Darling will come face to face with Iris Locklear, the owner of Locklear Properties, and the woman who offers Charlotte the chance of a lifetime. But all chances come with a price including a working association with Iris’s grandson Reed Eastwood, the man whose hate for Charlotte Darling grows with every encounter. What ensues is the building romance but tempestuous relationship between Reed and Charlotte, and the potential fall-out as heartbreak and painful reminders force Reed to push Charlotte out of his life.
Reed Eastwood has loved and lost; the destruction of his heart and soul left our hero with no hopes for the future and he wasn’t willing to tempt fate a second time around. Struggling to keep his distance from Charlotte Darling, Reed found himself drawn into hurricane that would become his life. Charlotte Darling knows all too well the humiliation of having loved and lost but meeting Reed Eastwood gave Charlotte the hope for a future but a future with a possible end date before it began. Charlotte is a sexy, sassy and sweet heroine who struggles to find her own happily ever after.
The relationship between Charlotte and Reed began as a lie when Charlotte booked an appointment to see a property so far out of her price-range she hadn’t even realized that background checks would be part of the arrangement. Several outrageous lies result in a humiliating smack-down all to reinforce that perhaps Charlotte was completely out of her league but our heroine refused to give up without a fight. Working with Reed meant getting under one-another’s skin but getting into bed would be a whole other level. The $ex scenes are limited but passionate and intense.
The colorful secondary and supporting characters include Reed’s brother Max, their grandmother Iris Locklear; and of course Reed’s ex-fiance Allison.
The world building focuses on the back and forth, yin and yang, up and down emotional roller coaster between Reed Eastwood and Charlotte Darling. Reed’s constant mixed signals, hot and cold attitude revealed a personal battle between head and heart.
HATE NOTES has a little bit of everything: romance and love, humor and laughter, conflict, anxiety, heartbreak and pain. The character driven premise is playful and spirited ; the characters are fun and flirty; the romance is animated and sensual. HATE NOTES is a thought provoking love story with a playful heroine and a hero who fights an uphill battle between himself and the world.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
Eastwood Properties is one of the largest independent brokerage firms in the world. We connect the most prestigious and exclusive properties with qualified buyers, assuring the utmost privacy for both parties. Whether you’re in the market for a luxury New York City penthouse with a view of the park, a waterfront Hampton estate, or an enchanting chateau escape in the mountains, or you’re ready for your own private is-land, Eastwood is where your dreams begin.
There was a link to search properties, so I typed in the name of the place the woman had mentioned in the voice mail: Millennium Tower. Sure enough, the penthouse popped up for sale. For only twelve million dollars, I could own an apartment on Columbus Ave-nue with sweeping views of Central Park. Let me write you a check.
After drooling through a video and two dozen photos, I clicked on the button to make an appointment to view the property. An application popped up, the top of which read: For the privacy and safety of our sellers, all prospective buyers are required to com-plete an application to view properties. Only buyers that meet our stringent prequalifi-cation criteria will be contacted.
I snorted. Great prequalification criteria you have there, Eastwood. I wasn’t sure I had enough money to take the train uptown to get to that swanky place, much less buy it. God knows what I’d written that had qualified me.
I closed the website and was just about to shut my laptop and go back to bed again when I decided to take one more peek at Mr. Romantic on Facebook.
God, he was gorgeous.
What if . . .
I shouldn’t.
No good ever came out of ideas formulated while drunk.
I couldn’t.
But . . .
That face . . .
And that note.
So romantic. So beautiful.
Plus . . . I’d never seen the inside of a twelve-million-dollar penthouse.
I really shouldn’t.
Then again . . . I’d spent the last two years doing everything I should do. And where had that gotten me?
Right here. It’d gotten me right damn here—hungover and unemployed, sitting in this crappy apartment. Maybe it was time I did the things I shouldn’t be doing for a change. I picked up my phone and let my finger hover over the “Call Back” button for a while.
Screw it.
No one would ever know. It could be fun—getting all dressed up and playing the part of a rich Upper West Sider while satisfying my curiosity about the man. What harm was there?
None that I could think of. Still, you know what they say about curiosity . . .
I pressed “Call Back.”
“Hi. This is Charlotte Darling calling to confirm an appointment with Reed Eastwood . . .”
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.
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Vi Keeland is a native New Yorker with three children that occupy most of her free time, which she complains about often, but wouldn’t change for the world. She is an attorney and a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, & USA Today Best Selling author. Over the last three years, ten of her titles have appeared on the USA Today Bestseller lists and three on the New York Times Bestseller lists.
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