What if everyone witnessed your most humiliating moment?
For teenager Allison Moore, caught making out with her BFF’s brother, Tanner Armstrong, was embarrassing enough…having it become a viral internet sensation was much, much worse. Alli’s spent the past nine years protecting her identity from trolls and bullies, settling in the small seaside town of Bounty Bay. Only her family and close friends know who she was and the reason she doesn’t give her trust easily. Thanks to being publicly labelled as the Ugly Duckling Virgin, Alli has said goodbye to trust and avoided intimate relationships with men.
Tanner Armstrong transformed himself from a self-absorbed young man who narrowly avoided an internet scandal with his sister’s friend, into a man who’s used his skillset to create an App to combat online bullying. A Silicon Valley success story, obsessive, driven Tanner flies home to New Zealand for his sister’s wedding, and he’s caught off guard when Alli reappears in his life. Unhealed emotional wounds open, but reignites a passion neither is prepared for.
For The Ugly Duckling Virgin to give the man who almost ruined her life a second chance at her heart, their foundation must be built on trust. Only both of them are keeping secrets that could drive a final wedge between them…
Review:
Another trip to Bounty Bay–count me in!
Trust Your Heart is a second chance romance, of sorts–their “first chance” was just a first kiss with really, really lasting implications–but it’s one that truly works. “First chance” Alli and Tanner were 18 and 22, respectively, and Tanner made some real strides between then and their “second chance” to change the trajectory of his life from the entitled bro he was in danger of becoming to a hero who actually deserved a second chance.
Alli changed too–she had to–but what she most needed at 18 was to grow up, which she was forced to do all too soon because of what happened after the kiss. She made her biggest strides during the course of the book, learning to trust again and let more people into the very small and select bubble she’d been in for the past several years.
Watching the two of them grow close–even when I wanted to knock Tanner upside the head for the secret he wasn’t telling Alli–was a whole lot of fun. When the inevitable blowup happened (see: secret he wasn’t telling) it wasn’t OTT or overblown. The appropriate parties did what they needed to do to bring us to an HEA, and I closed the book with a smile–already looking forward to my next trip to the island 🙂
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.