WAITING FOR THE ONE (HARRINGTON, MAINE, BOOK #1) BY L.A. FIORE: BOOK REVIEW

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4 star

Waiting for the One

Harrington, Maine, Book #1

By L.A. Fiore

ISBN# 9781477829295

Author’s Website:  https://www.lafiorepublishing.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

waiting-for-the-one-harrington-maine-l-a-fioreSaffron Mills has lived her life in small-town Harrington, Maine.  Nothing interesting ever happens in Harrington and everybody knows everyone else’s business almost the moment it happens.  Saffron’s parents are ones that should have never reproduced and barely make time for a once a month phone call, and even then the call is filled with disapproving lectures for her life choices.

Saffron has never found “the one” yet and doesn’t date very much.  A lot of the reason could be that the women-to-men ratio in Harrington just isn’t very favorable for dating.  But Saffron lives vicariously through her friend, Gwen, who seems to have the perfect marriage and kids.  She has two other friends Tommy and Josh, that are like brothers to her and provide much comic relief in this book!

“Resting my head on his shoulder, my gaze turns back to the horizon. “How did you get so smart? Did you, like, eat smart people’s brains?”

“Well, if I did, you’d certainly be safe from me.”

About six months ago Harrington got a new resident, Logan MacGowan, who is the quiet loaner type.  He comes to the bar that Saffron works at often, but never speaks to her.  She’s made it into a game where she is determined to get him to talk to her, but he’s really good at thwarting her!  And, it’s so frustrating seeing how easily he talks to everyone else.  What is it about her that keeps him so tight lipped?

David Cambre is a famous sculptor with many adoring fans, and some crazy ones as well!  Logan finds peace getting away from all the craziness that is his city life.  He’s taken up residence in the lighthouse and has taken joy in working with other mediums as well, mediums that the fans and critics would never allow David to venture into.  And, Logan just can’t keep his eyes off the beautiful Saffron, but when he finally breaks the silence and ventures into a relationship with her, his secrets just may be enough to destroy them both.

I found the writing in the earlier chapters of this book to be quite choppy, but stick with it, it gets better!  Once we start to know the characters more the flow is much nicer and easier to read.

I enjoyed Saffron and Logan/David.  I liked that Saffron was willing to stand up for herself and wasn’t afraid to call Logan out or even break-up with him no matter how strong her feelings.  Although I do wish, that she would have made him work a little harder to get back into her good graces.  He seemed to get off kind of easy on that score.  And, I hated that she was always having to learn things from other people instead of him trusting her enough to come clean himself.

“Saffron, how are you?” Logan asks and he sounds genuinely interested. How am I? Small talk, right.

I rest my hip on the table and give my back to Logan as I look down at his date. “Would you think it odd for a man to come to a small town and proceed to not speak to you for six months?”

Her perfect lips form a grin. “Everyone or just me specifically?”

“You, specifically.”

Her eyes light with humor. “Yes, that is odd.”

“Odder still for that man to then take you to bed and blow your mind with sex for almost twenty-four hours before ditching you and then staying off the radar for a week?”

The humor has left her gaze now, but she answers anyway. “Indeed.”

“So what would you think when that same man shows up at your place of employment with a beautiful woman and attempts to engage you in small talk?”

Her eyes leave mine for Logan’s, but I don’t miss the emotion in her gaze. She’s mad.

“Exactly.” I turn and give Logan my full attention. “So how am I, Logan?” I pull out the chair next to him and sit down. “I could pretend to be a cool, sophisticated woman and lie to you and say I’m fabulous, but that just isn’t me. What I am is hurt and more than a little pissed, so the idea of making small talk with you is repugnant to me, unless that talk is centered on what I’d like to do to you. For example, I’d love to reach for that dull butter knife and stick it in your eye, giving it a hard turn just for good measure. The idea of strapping you to a man-sized lobster trap and throwing you into the ocean holds a great deal of appeal, as does the thought of running your ass over with my car, repeatedly. I could sit here all day making small talk about that, or you could just shut up and order some goddamn lunch.”

The ending of this book sends you on quite the roller-coaster ride.  I initially thought the same thing (without saying too much) that Saffron was thinking, but as time went on it seemed we were both wrong, but then a little later she started questioning herself again…  I thought it was maybe one turn too many, but it was still a good ending to the book.  And I adored Josh and Tommy … I wish I had friends just like them!  They are just fun!

All in all this was another nice book be Fiore and I’m anxious to read more from her!

And I thought What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction was fitting for this book 🙂