ARC Review: When Life Happened by Jewel E. Ann

Book Title: When Life Happened
Author: Jewel E. Ann
Series: Standalone
Release Date: June 5th, 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy

Parker Cruse despises cheaters. It might have something to do with her boyfriend sleeping with her twin sister.

After a wedding day prank involving a strong laxative, that ends the already severed relationship between the twins, Parker decides to grow up and act twenty-six.

Step One: Move out of her parents’ house.

Step Two: Find a job.

Opportunity strikes when she meets her new neighbor, Gus Westman. He’s an electrician with Iowa farm-boy values and a gift for saying her name like it’s a dirty word.

He also has a wife.

Sabrina Westman, head of a successful engineering firm, hires Parker as her personal assistant. Driven to be the best assistant ever, Parker vows to stay focused, walk the dog, go to the dry cleaners, and not kiss Gus—again.

Step Three: Don’t judge.

Step Four: Remember— when life happens, it does it in a heartbeat.

 

I'm going to keep this short and sweet because literally everything about this book is spoiler and I don't trust myself to not give away a thing. So here's my advice- READ. THIS. BOOK. Don't go searching for reviews because, rest assured, come release day they'll become riddled with plot spoilers. Experience this journey for Parker and how Life Happened for her. It's chock full with life experiences and lessons learned, often the hard way, for a twenty-something girl from Iowa down on her luck.

If Amazon Prime offered a life, she would have one-clicked the hell out of it and selected recurring monthly delivery.

When Life Happened is emotional and definitely angsty at times, yet it's filled with Jewel E Ann's endearing wit and humor, thus lightening the emotional load. It's a true experience for the characters and the reader. The plot very unpredictable and at times shocking. This author is not afraid to sock it to her readers with imperfect characters and plot twists many other authors wouldn't dream of 'going there' for fear of retaliation for kindles thrown against the wall or emotional therapy following her stories. For all these reasons, I adore this author and look forward to anything she writes. With a gift of truly showing versus telling, we are wholeheartedly invested in her characters and the journey upon which they partake.

"I'm afraid of having everything that means nothing and nothing that means everything."

Is there cheating in this book? Is it a hard limit for you? My advice is have faith and give it a try. This is not a book completely invested in a cheating or love triangle style trope. It ventures way beyond and unless it's a true hard limit, I'd really give it a try, especially if you've read Jewel E Ann's work and know the awesomeness that she is as a writer of everything angsty-emotional rom com. If that isn't a contradiction in terms, I'm not sure what is. But she pulls it off here in technicolor. Bravo!

Advanced copy received by author in exchange for my honest review.

Jewel is a free-spirited romance junkie with a quirky sense of humor.

With 10 years of flossing lectures under her belt, she took early retirement from her dental hygiene career to stay home with her three awesome boys and manage the family business.

After her best friend of nearly 30 years suggested a few books from the Contemporary Romance genre, Jewel was hooked. Devouring two and three books a week but still craving more, she decided to practice sustainable reading, AKA writing.

When she’s not donning her cape and saving the planet one tree at a time, she enjoys yoga with friends, good food with family, rock climbing with her kids, watching How I Met Your Mother reruns, and of course…heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, panty-scorching novels.

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