Publisher: Samhain
Publish Date: September 10th
How I got this book: eARC from publisher
Julia Maxwell was a seize-the-moment party girl until the night she spent with up-and-coming rocker Ryan Callander. From that moment, she was a one-man woman. Pity he hasn’t kept with the program.
Tired of the secrets that have kept her out of the press and Ryan’s fans happy, angry with mounting evidence of infidelity, Julia is older, wiser, and determined to divorce his cheatin’ ass.
Ryan’s long European tour had more than its share of hard knocks-one of which landed on his head when he was mugged. Divorce papers waiting for him at home are a shock that fills in some of the holes in his sketchy memory. But it could be too late to salvage his marriage.
If Ryan thinks flirtatious smiles, seductive touches, and hot-and-heavy kisses are going to smooth things over, Julia’s got a hammer with his name on it. To her surprise, he picks it up, determined to rebuild a bright future for both of them. But the past is lurking with some missing pieces that could bring their hearts crashing down.
Warning: Contains a pissed ex-stripper turned burlesque dancer, a bunch of nosy friends and a smooth-talking rocker with one thing on his mind. Stripper poles and skimpy costumes may be involved.
*Blurb from Goodreads*
I’m not usually a huge fan of amnesia stories, as I think that sometimes the story suffers, however I like the twist that Munro put on this story.
While Ryan was on tour, he was mugged and knocked hard enough in the head that all his memories were more than a little screwy. The image of a woman he knows is important to him is all he has left of his secret wife, Julia. He doesn’t know how to get his memories back, and it isn’t until he gets the divorce papers that he starts gaining more and more memories of his sexy wife.
Julia is done with Ryan. She thought that since his band wore masks, that he wouldn’t be the average rock star. Instead, he hasn’t called since he left on tour, and she’s got enough problems with her family business failing. But when he comes back and wants a second chance, Julia isn’t sure she has the time to deal with her husband, and reimage the family-owned strip club.
I like that this story had a lot of fun elements. The failing strip club that Julia decided to turn into a Burlesque club was such a fun and neat theme to play throughout the story. I loved all the scenes at the club, especially whenever Julia or the other girls would dance. It gave the book such a sensual and sexy vibe.
For some reason, the book seemed to have a novella feel to it, maybe because so much of the story took place at the club — working on turning it around from a failing strip joint, to a classy Burlesque club. While there was a lot going on with the remodeling of the club, the romance portion of the story definitely felt like a novella. Julia and Ryan had to steal moments to work on their relationship, and because so much focused on the club itself, the book had an overall condensed and novella like feel to it.
I did really like the romance between Ryan and Julia though, especially as Ryan was getting his memories back. I liked that he would have to ask Julia about their past, about the things they did together, and how vulnerable that made him to her. I think it definitely helped that he was so desperate to remember, so desperate to have Julia HELP him remember, that it really helped him win her back over.
I thought the supporting cast of characters were great, especially Ryan’s best friend and fellow rocker, Caleb. I also loved all of Julia’s friends, and am looking forward to continuing the series to see how things work out with her friends on their dating show. 🙂 I think that is bound to be hilarious and fun and sexy.
All in all I really liked this story and look forward to more. I thought Munro did a great job giving the amnesia trope a different spin, and I liked the way it worked for both Ryan and Julia. I loved their second chance at love, especially as Ryan was willing to do anything and everything to win his wife back. I’m definitely looking forward to more.
I give Past Regrets a B-