Title: Love, Again
Author: L.P. Dover
Publisher: Loveswept
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:

"Love, Again" by L. P. Dover

My Rationalization:

This was indeed a beautiful read that will keep your attention as you are turning the pages to see what was coming next for Aubrey Reynolds especially after her misdiagnosis health scare. I loved the idea that Aubrey decided to stop and smell the roses by taking off time from work to pursue her bucket list which included returning to her hometown, in Dusty Valley, Oklahoma, where she had left ten years ago. Will she find the forgiveness Aubrey so desperately seeks? Well, since this is a story of a romantic second chance be ready for a good read that featured not only Aubrey and Cole but also his brother, Bennett and Aubrey's best friend, Emilia who were all amazing good people and added so much to this story. The read gave off a good view of seeing Aubrey's desire to finally mend her past with Cole and in the end seeing them both work at it making it finally coming together so very well for them. This author did a wonderful job of presenting this well-written story to the reader. Yes, this was a nice read and with the help their friends and family the story comes together so well for a HEA.

Thank you to NetGalley, Loveswept and L.P. Dover for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine the doctor telling you that you have a very terrible disease and probably won't make it and then having them tell you that there was a mistake! I can't imagine how scary and helpless you feel. After something like that, you can't just go back to life as normal. So our main character, Aubrey doesn't!

Aubrey grew up in a small town, but is now living her dream as a successful director in Hollywood. That was always her dream and she's living the life now that she has it. Once she hears she may be dying only to find out that she isn't, it opens her eyes! There are things in life she would love to see and the man she left behind ten years ago won't leave her mind.

I loved Aubrey. She's so down to earth. Even though she's famous and has more money than she knows what to do with, she's still Aubrey. The only thing she regrets is leaving the love of her life so many years ago. I loved reading about her visiting places she always wanted to see though. After hearing she didn't have much life left to live, she definitely wasn't going to take that for granted again.

Of course, while visting everything, she can't get Cole off her mind. It really is time for her to go back to Oklahoma and face what she left behind. Cole is really your boy next door. He is a firefighter, helps on his father's farm and is on his way to becoming chief.

Cole is another character I loved. He loves his small town and he's a family man. While many men would just blame the other for leaving, Cole regrets not going after Aubrey. There's never been anyone since she left. It's always been her.

Even though I'm a big fan of second chance romances, it almost went a bit too easy in this story. Aubrey comes home and it's just accepted. Cole is mad for a day like it seems and then all is well again. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have a romance not run by drama, but I would've liked to have seen more of a fight. I know Aubrey had her reasons, but she up and left him and it's like she came back and everything is fine.

That being said, I did like seeing Aubrey and Cole reconnect. I loved them spending time together. They had a lot of fun together and visited places that sounded like a lot of fun. They're a cute couple and it's clear that they're meant to be together.

On top of a sweet romance, there are other amazing characters. I loved Emilia and Bennett (I really hope they're going to get a book, haha). I am a sucker for small towns and Dusty Valley sounds like a place I would love to live!

I read and reviewed this book voluntarily.
Aubrey and Cole had their lives planned out, their house plans picked out and a wedding coming fast, when Aubrey decided that she had to follow her dream. That dream was to make movies. She left her life and Cole behind to take on Hollywood. Now years later Aubrey is told that she has an incurable life threatening illness; She lives in shock for several hours until she is told that it was a mistake. But now Aubrey is making a bucket list of things she wants to see and do, and eat and she sets out. Over the years she has never stopped thinking about Cole, and while on her travels decides that it is time to head back home and face the most important person in her life that she left behind.
Cole now the Asst. Fire Chief and helping at his family's ranch.He has never forgotten about Aubrey; and still loves her, but knows that she is his past; until she shows back up.
Old feelings emerge. Can they get past the past, forgive wrongs and move forward and have a second chance made for the movies, or will this be a box office flop?
I really enjoyed this book. The chemistry between Aubrey and Cole was amazing; and the supporting characters were great. I see maybe a second book with Emilia and Bennett.

Love, Again by L.P. Dover is a second chance romance with all the feels. Aubrey Reynolds walked away from the man she loved to pursue her dreams. It was a chance she had to take but has always been her biggest regret. But when she is handed some unexpected news, she decides to take some time off and enjoy life. Somehow, she finds her way back home and to the man that still owns her heart.

Cole Haywood knew he had to let Aubrey go, but that did not mean he was not heartbroken when she left. He loved her deeply. Now she is back and stirring up his feelings. But it is not one-sided. I loved Cole so much. He was strong, determined and had a heart of gold. Aubrey was smart, driven and caring. Could they find a way back to each other after all this time? Love, Again by L.P. Dover was a charming second chance romance. I loved Cole and Aubrey and their journey so much.

Happy reading!

4.5 Stars

Love, Again is the all new second-chance romance novel by LP Dover. It is a stand-alone so you don’t have to worry about reading anything beforehand. This was my first book by this author and it for sure won’t be the last. I was completely enamored with this story from the get-go. Second chance stories are one of my absolute favorite tropes and Ms. Dover did an excellent job with Love, Again.

Both the hero and heroine were well rounded characters. Aubrey is a well known and successful Hollywood director. She has the life she’s always wanted except for one thing...her ex. Aubrey thinks that after ten years there will be no shot at reconciling. Fate though has other plans. Cole has been living with anger for his ex for many years. She stole his heart and then broke it. Underneath all that anger though is a love so powerful. But the problem is can they forgive each other and learn to love again…

I loved this story so much!! So full of heart and heat, I was unable to put it down. It flowed well and the characters stole my heart. Especially Cole. Man-he was something else! I highly recommend reading this story!

This was more like a 3.5 star read for me. I love second chance romances and I did enjoy Aubrey and Cole's story. It was a sweet second chance romance with some funny parts and plenty of steam. I just felt as if every thing happened kind of quickly. The two resolved their issues rather quickly and started dating again and then decided to travel together. I would have liked to see it drawn out more but I thought the ending was nice. I loved Benton and Emilia a lot as well.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author to review for Stephanie's Book Reports.

Aubrey Reynolds is a small-town girl who's mad it big. A successful Hollywood director. Aubrey doesn't have time to liner on what could have been. But when a routine blood test comes back with a false positive, she decides to take some time off to do the things she's always wanted to do. After though she admits to herself what she's really missing she heads back home to Dusty Valley, Oklahoma and the man she left behind. Cole Haywood is a small town fireman and that's just fine with him. Sure when the love of his life left their hometown to chase her dream he was heartbroken and mad. But Cole would have never forgiven himself if he had held Aubrey back from success. SO the last thing he expects after all these years is to walk into his favorite bar one night and find the girl he has always loved-there-looking for him. Maybe now is the time to make his dreams come true.

I love second chance romances. Your gonna fall so in love with Cole!!! Talk about a smokin hot man!!! Years ago Aubrey gave up everything that she held near and dear to chase her dreams and she has success. When she receives news from her doctor she decides it time to have some adventures for herself. She did after all give it all up including the love of her life to go chasing her dreams. However in her travels she realizes the one thing she is really missing is Cole. The time has come to go back home and to get what she really wants. This book is good and really fun to read.

I so badly wanted to love this book. Friends to lovers and second chance are my favorite books but this one just didn’t capitalize on those connections for me. I didn’t feel the love between these two, even though I was told, a lot, that it was there. I need a little bit of conflict in books like this otherwise, I’m skimming to just get to the end.

I loved Emilia and Bennett. I also really did like Aubrey and Cole. I was just never drawn into them like I’ve been for other characters in books by this author.

Loved this book! What I liked best was the easy walk to the past that allowed Aubrey and Cole to rekindle their love without a path mired in hatred, problems, and misunderstandings. It is this was more real.

The ultimate goal in life is HEA and this book accomplished that in spades. The characters were totally believable, both strong and that encourages a second chance at HEA. Put a huge smile on my face 😊

This book was gifted to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

4 stars!

Ms. Dover creates great characters and wonderful stories. Love, Again is a sweet and wonderful love story.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy.

This is a swoon worthy second chance read with a dose of sexy and sweet!
Meet Aubrey and Cole, high school sweethearts whose relationship ended abruptly close to their wedding..... Fast forward 10 years....
Aubrey is a character that is easy to like. She's achieved professional success and it was easy to relate to her questioning the robustness of her personal life when she gets her wake up call. Cole is equally easy to like; I appreciated the fact that he was dealing with his own case of the "what ifs" and didn't hold Aubrey's decisions against her too much. The welcome Aubrey received when she returned to her hometown and the instant re-connection between her and Cole was heartwarming and created hope for the future.
As much as I liked Aubrey, Cole, the small secondary cast, their interactions, and their story, I did feel like a small piece was missing. While I understood why Aubrey made the decision she did at 22 and some of what was behind it, I also felt a bit confused. As Aubrey would interact with the people from her hometown and explain, I couldn't help but wonder "why?" As many times as she explained, the core motivation to take a left turn in her life wasn't there.
Even with my confusion about Aubrey's original motivations, this was still a book I truly enjoyed. I loved the sense that when the person is right, the timing will work itself out.

4 1/2 Stars ... a swoon worthy romance!

Aubrey left Cole a month before their wedding to follow her dream of being a movie director. Ten years later, she has a death scare and decides to start doing the things on her bucket list. After a couple of months of crossing things off her list, she decides to tackle #1 on her list ... face Cole and tell him the real reason she took off all those years ago. Cole has never left their small town of Dusty Valley and he’s never gotten over loosing the love of his life. So when he finds out Aubrey’s back in town, he’s angry and hurt ... but he can’t deny that he still loves her with all is heart.

This book just made me melt ... it is a true romance! It was a nice change that it was the woman that went off to become rich and famous. And who wouldn’t fall in love with a guy like Cole? I could just feel the pages burning with the sexual tension between them. A great book that shouldn’t be missed!

I received an early copy courtesy of Random House-Loveswept through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

This was my first book by Ms. Dover and I enjoyed this second chance at love with Aubrey and Cole. They were high school sweethearts and had plans to wed but Aubrey had dreams of directing movies so she left Cole in Oklahoma and spent the next several years in Hollywood. When she receives a misdiagnosis, she decides it’s time to take a break and travel. I really enjoyed reading about her bucket list and all of the places she visited.

She eventually decides to go back to Oklahoma to see the area, her parents graves, her childhood home, and apologize to Cole. Even though it’s been years, neither has been able to find another person to love.

There was very little angst and somewhat slow-moving storyline and yet it was just so sweet to watch as each person tried to figure out their future and if they would be together. I actually liked Cole’s brother, Bennett and Aubrey’s actress friend, Emilia more than Aubrey and Cole. I liked them but there just wasn’t much to their getting back together and it just seemed like there should have been more to their re-connection.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read this story.

4.5 stars Excellent contemporary second chance romance. Aubrey had dreams of becoming a movie director from an early age. Her mother strongly supported this dream to the point of having Aubrey promise to leave her small Oklahoma town to do it. Well she did about a month before her wedding and was gone a decade. Cole was close to Aubrey and planned a future together until she left not wanting him to go. The author did a wonderful job developing the characters and storyline so the reader gets drawn in. I received a complementary copy via Net Galley and chose to write a review. I look forward to reading future books by this author.

This story is about second chances. Bree and Cole get a second chance to capture a relationship that had been torn apart 10 years ago. It took the threat of death to get her to this point. It also shines a light on her best friend Amelia and Cole’s brother Bennett. They develop a relationship from spending time in proximity with each other. Forgiveness is also another theme as Cole’s family and the people of the town were very forgiving of what Bree considered her abandonment of them. The story is poignant and sweet. The author captures the essence and goodness of the characters as she brings them to life for the reader. It is an easy to read book with an overarching sense of peace and joy. Both couples find happiness and a life perfect for them.

Aubrey and Cole were teenage and each other's first loves until her ambitions separated them. Their reunion was sweet and the book was an easy read, but I didn't feel like there was a real climax/turning point in the book that I come to expect in this genre...something that may tear the main couple apart if they stick with their initial instincts. Overall the book was an easy read but it didn't wow me.

I won this book off of Netgalley for my honest opinion.

This was the first book by this author that I have read. This is a story about second chance love with the theme that you need to live life to its fullest. Which is all true. I liked the premise of the book. I liked the characters. However, there was just a certain "something" missing from the book. Not something exactly that I could put my finger on. Some of the dialogue felt forced to me and I felt like everything came together too quickly. Some little things that I personally didn't care for. However, that is my personal preference so someone else may enjoy how fast things progressed.

Like I said, the plot of the story was good and the journey was a solid concept. The delivery was just too rushed for me.

I previously read L.P. Dover’s ‘Breakaway’ series and really enjoyed it. She is amazingly talented to create amazing characters that you will adore. I was really heartbroken when the ‘Breakaway’ series come to an end. When I saw ‘Love, Again’, I didn’t think twice to request. ‘Love, Again’ is a captivating, emotional and sweet second chance story, which you won’t be able to put it down.

Aubrey Reynolds is from a small town called Dusty Valley in Oklahoma, in order to follow her dreams she left everyone, including her heart, behind and moved to Hollywood ten years ago. Now she is a famous Hollywood director. When her blood tests come false positive for a rare disease and thought she doesn't have long to live, she gets a reality check. Even though there are a lot of people, who envies Aubrey’s glamorous life, she realizes she has no one to share good and/or bad in her life, only feeling she has is loneliness. After this experience, she decides to take time off and start a bucket list. While checking things off from her bucket list, she gets a lot of time to think about past and realizes that what she misses the most is in Dust Valley, so she decides to go back and try to ask forgiveness off the man she left behind.

Cole Haywood is the assistant chief at the Dust Valley fire station. 10 years ago his fiancée left him to chase her dreams and shatter his heart in the process. Even though, Cole tried to move on, he was never able to get over Aubrey. After ten years what he doesn’t expect is to see the love of his life standing right in front of him. He is still mad at her but he is madder himself for letting her go. Now that she is back, he is afraid to open his heart because he knows, her life is in California and he cannot handle being left behind once again.

‘Love, Again’ is one of the best second chance romances I ever read. I really enjoyed this sweet, heartwarming, swoony story. I couldn’t stop reading it once I started and read this book in one sitting :) Also, I loved the secondary characters Emilia and Bennett. Even though, you know how it will end up I would love to read their story as well.

Would I recommend this book: Yes.
Would I re-read this book: Yes.
Would I read future books by this author: Yes.

Love, Again was a beautiful second chance romance. I loved it alot. I loved Cole and Aubrey. Cole was so swoony and sexy. Aubrey was sweet. They had amazing chemistry and were just perfect together. I also loved Bennett and Emilia.

Sometimes I think I’m a glutton for punishment. Sometimes I know I’m just one for giving second (and third, and fourth) chances. As much as I enjoyed the chemistry of this author’s characters in her Breakaway series, there were a lot of things that drove me crazy with her writing. After the last in that series I really thought I’d leave her behind. Then this title popped up as available on Net Galley and I loved the description. I hemmed and hawed, but ended up giving in since I really had wanted to give this author a chance with something other than a hockey romance. (I read one other standalone by her that I wasn’t crazy about, but not enough to make a true judgement.)

I’m happy to report there were no timeline issues in this story. Yay! That has been one of my major issues with her stories in the past. While I still think there was plenty more research she could do with her back story on her characters, it wasn’t as glaringly obvious in this story and I was able to suspend my disbelief for much of the tale. These are all positive things. I lamented that I hadn’t seen much growth in her as an author when I got to the last book in the Breakaway series. Well, I now see that growth in her writing in many ways.

Both Aubrey and Cole are loveable characters. They have a definite spark. Not as much heat and chemistry as I’m used to with her love interests, but there was an undeniable connection. More than anything, their love and this story are sweet. In a good way.

If you regularly read my reviews you know I hate to give spoilers and therefore I often have to be vague in my thoughts. That’s going to be hard for the next part, but I’m hoping I don’t ruin anything. As much as I’m ecstatic that Cole and Aubrey didn’t have the stubborn standoff of not being open and honest yet getting upset that the other was holding back, I also felt the story was somewhat resolved by halfway through. The rest of the book there were little things here and there, but all the real conflict came more from each character having an inner struggle. Not that I want every story I read to be predictable and follow the exact same pattern, but there is a basic outline to how a story flows for a reason…it makes sense. The flow of this story threw me off and left me feeling a bit empty.

Overall all, I think this author has learned a lot since the first stories I read by her. She has a decent size library of work so there are obviously fans of her other work, too. I can’t say for sure if I’ll give her another go, but this time she didn’t totally scare me away. Baby steps.