Love Is…? by K.J. Wrights is a beautiful story about…you guessed it! Love!
Tessa Connor, loves everything about love, but struggles with what it is after being let go by the family of the children she was nannying for and her girlfriend dumps her.
A phone call changes her world and she jumps at the chance to chaperone the daughter of a world-renowned actress in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Jayde Ferguson, a journalist writing for local Melbourne papers, views love as heartbreak and prefers one-night stands over love.
Jayde is given the chance to profile an international celebrity for Culture magazine, initially excited but appalled by the in-depth interview about love’s meaning. How can she possibly come up with the meaning of love?
After a mixup at the celebrity’s front gate, Tessa and Jayde work together in the same household, discovering the true meaning of love.
The story follows a chaperone, journalist, precocious teenager, wedding, celebrity profile, and the search for answers to “Love Is…”
Writing
What is love? I honestly never realized that I needed to know the answer to this question, but after reading this book, I feel so much brighter, more passionate about love. KJ has penned a brilliant, emotionally charged story that, through a series of interviews, experiences, reflections, and conversations, defines love. KJ’s unique humor and cleverness shine through in the most epic of ways. She easily captures Tessa’s warmth and Jayde’s guardedness while including deeply emotional elements that are conveyed in such a positive and hopeful way. The details, elements of figurative language, and dialogue all combine to create a truly memorable story.
Narration
Talk about the accent, speed, level of acting when you review an audiobook. Is it something you will listen to again?
Pros And My Favourite Parts
Journalist Jayde Ferguson does not do love, while professional chaperone Tessa Connor has stars in her eyes and romance in her heart. The two are immediately attracted to one another, but because of their differing viewpoints on love, they remain friends. The two quickly decide to make a bet…Jayde will help Tessa get dates (because she’s terrible at picking up women) while Tessa will help Jayde fall in love (which, according to Jayde, will never happen).
The conversations that Jayde and Tessa have are profound, and the level of trust they develop allows them to share pieces of themselves they haven’t shared with anyone else. Tessa’s sweetness balances out Jayde’s well-jadedness, and when those edges start to round, readers really get to experience who she is. Jayde’s heart is protected and she is just waiting for the right person to delicately hold it in their hands. Also, the more I learned, I became extremely protective of Tessa because the people in her life took her for granted, made her feel less than, and caused her to question her desires.
There is an array of delightful supporting characters. We revisit Abby, Sam, and Grace from KJ’s Coming Home five years later. The teenage Grace is intelligent, witty, and wise beyond her years. Abby and Sam continue to have heart eyes for one another as they not only share their views on love with Jayde but also plan their upcoming nuptials. Jayde’s dad, Oliver, is compassionate, kind, and supportive. I will be first in line to buy his Dad Jokes book when it’s finally published! Tessa’s cousin, Angel is a hoot! Her humor, sarcasm, meddling, and love for Tessa warmed my heart.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how incredibly intimate and sexy Jayde and Tessa’s first time together is. The level of compassion, respect, and awe they have for one another is conveyed through their dialogue and actions, making this one of the best sex scenes I’ve ever read. I was a swoony, breathless mess when all was said and done.
Heads Up
Love Is…? completes the Coming Home universe which can be read as a standalone, but I’d recommend reading Coming Home before, during, or after this one.
The Conclusion
Love Is…? by KJ is a one-of-a-kind romance that will make readers reflect on and maybe even add to their definition of love. This is a book that I took so much time reading because KJ’s words spoke directly to my soul, and I didn’t want it to end. It made me question if I ever actually understood what love is. But now, after taking my time to soak up all of KJ’s words, I truly understand love. The characters are artfully crafted with so much depth. The dialogue is smart and witty, and the descriptions are vivid leaving me with so much lightness in my heart. The poetry, essays, and interviews combine to create a beautiful masterpiece that readers will benefit from. Grab your copy immediately!
Excerpt from Love Is…? by K.J. Wrights
“Hi there. I didn’t know there were two of us this morning.”
Tessa squeaked, spun around, and took in the sight of a very attractive woman who was wearing aviator glasses and leaning against the wall.
The woman then removed those very sexy sunglasses and Tessa fell into a pair of brown eyes. The darkest of brown. Almost black. Arresting. And she was sticking with arresting because that’s what they were. She felt pinned.
“I…I don’t know,” Tessa stuttered. Two of us? Her shoulders sagged. Perhaps she wasn’t a sure thing for the position after all.
“Well, I hope we get inside before the rain,” the woman said. Her quick head-tilt-quirked-lips combo, added to the gorgeous hair that Tessa immediately wanted to run her fingers through, was rather flirty and made Tessa take a longer look. Probably not the time, or place, or occasion, to be having those types of looks, especially if this woman was her competition.
Tessa shoved her phone into the pocket of her jeans. “Yes. It’s forecast.” Yes. It’s forecast? That was the tiniest small talk she’d ever engaged in.
“You’re here to see Isabelle as well?” The woman spoke as if her voice were a shrug that held back an intensity, like she needed answers to questions not yet asked, but would wait all day for them if she had to. One seemed to battle the other, which gave off the impression that the indifference was more a cloak than a cape. Then the woman’s words registered. Isabelle? Tessa was sure she was meeting someone called Tom.
“Um. Well, I guess I am now,” she said uncertainly. “I’m not sure. It seems a little disorganised for such an important position.”
The woman nodded. “You’re right about the importance. This job could direct my entire career.”
Tessa blinked. Nannying was important, for sure. Having responsibility for someone else’s children was based on one hundred percent trust, but she’d never heard of someone taking a position that would direct their nannying career. Talk about an extreme focus on life.
Suddenly the tiny green light above the little speaker blinked on.
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Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 979-8879851434
Publisher: Indie Author
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