Book Review: Sophie’s Turn by Nicky Wells

• Review: Sophie’s Turn
• Series: –
• Author: Nicky Wells
• No of Pages: 424
• Release Date: September 6th 2012 by Sapphire Star Publishing

Giveaway!!!

Synopsis:

Slapper. Slut. Adulteress. These are hardly words that Sophie Penhalligan would normally use to describe herself. Yet this is exactly how she is behaving, all things considered, even if she isn’t quite married to Tim yet. And it’s all happening because her past is coming to tempt her! Nine years ago, she met her teenage idol and rock star extraordinaire, Dan, up close and personal. Well, almost. Now Dan has crash-landed back in her life. How could Tim ever stand a chance against the charming, handsome singer? How could she?

Sophie, now twenty-eight and a budding newspaper journalist, is happily embroiled in a relationship with Tim, her boyfriend of two years. Until recently, she was confident that Tim would eventually propose—probably as soon as he could get his act together. But just as Tim’s persistent inaction is beginning to cast a cloud over their relationship, Dan’s sudden reappearance turns Sophie’s world upside down. Thus unfolds a roller-coaster of events including an ill-fated trip to Paris with Tim, a night of unfulfilled romance with Dan, Sophie and Tim’s engagement party gate-crashed by Dan, and Sophie’s professional secondment to accompany Dan’s band on their revival tour—at Dan’s special request and very much against her will.

And then, one fine day in Paris, Sophie suddenly finds herself engaged to Dan while her erstwhile fiancé Tim is… well, doing whatever it is Tim does back in London. What is she to do now? Who wouldn’t give anything to meet their favourite star, let alone marry him?

Find out how Sophie gets into this impossible situation, and how she turns it around, in Sophie’s Turn, the honest, funny and sometimes bittersweet story of one woman’s entanglement with a rock star.

Excerpt from Sophie’s Turn by Nicky Wells

“What the hell is going on here?” I hissed, trying to prevent others from hearing our exchange.

“Oh, Sophie, Dan’s turned up. Isn’t it amazing?” she beamed at me.

“I can see that,” I kept hissing, “But what is he doing here?”

Rachel was quite drunk herself and looked at me with those bleary eyes that usually meant she was up to no good. “Sophie,” she declared solemnly and rather loudly, “you have broken the man’s heart. He has come to reclaim you.” She wobbled unsteadily and I gripped her arm. Usually one to hold her liquor, party-girl Rachel had clearly gone too far tonight.

“Shshshshshshshsh!” I admonished. “Will you keep your voice down? What are you talking about?”

“Dan is completely besotted with you, and he said he couldn’t bear the thought of you getting engaged to Tim so he had to…hic…come and check him out…hic!” Oh God, she had the hiccups. She would have to spend the night in the guest room. Once Rachel got the hiccups, she was beyond salvation. I gave her twenty minutes before she collapsed. I had to extract critical information fast.

“Why did you introduce him to Tim?” I continued my interrogation. “Couldn’t you have sent him away?”

“Oooh noo, Sophie. I couldn’t turn this lovely, heartbroken man away.” She looked at me with big, innocent, and totally unfocused eyes. “In fact, we were just looking for you. You seemed to have… hic… hic… hic…disapp-hic-eared.”

“What did you say to Tim about who Dan was?” I needed to know.

“That he was Dan, of course. Your boy-hic-friend from Tusk!” She dropped this bombshell completely nonchalantly.

“You what?” I squeaked. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Noooo, I’m s-hic-erious! Ti-hic-im thought it was very funny. Hic.”

I wrung my hands and barely prevented myself from tearing at my hair. If Tim had thought it was funny, he must have thought Rachel was being facetious or winding him up. He had seen her drunk before (and the experience hadn’t done anything to endear her to him in any way), so it was likely that he hadn’t paid the slightest bit of heed to the truth she was spouting. But I had to move, and fast.

“You,” I said to Rachel, grabbing her by the shoulders and steering her toward the stairs. “You have had enough to drink. You are going to bed.”

“I hic-am?” Rachel asked, surprised.

“Indeed,” I confirmed grimly and marched her up the stairs. “Right, here you are. Guest room. Bed. Now.” I propelled her forward and she flopped on the bed like a rag doll.

“Very ti-hic-hic-red,” she mumbled before passing out.

I, on the other hand, had sobered up dramatically and had only one thought left: damage limitation. I blundered back downstairs, racing quite unladylike in my high heels, and skidded to a halt in the lounge. There they were, companionably sitting in front of the stereo, playing DJ.

I clattered across the floor, grabbing a bottle of champers and three glasses off a table as I went. Tim looked up, and then sprang to his feet.

“And here she is,” he announced to Dan with no small measure of proprietary pride. “Doesn’t she look gorgeous?”

Dan rose to his feet, somewhat unsteadily, and looked me up and down. A sad smile played on his face for just the briefest of moments.

“She looks stunning, indeed. Congratulations to you both.” He walked over to me and planted a chaste kiss on my cheek. “Well done,” he said softly, and Tim beamed gratefully, completely unaware that the comment was aimed solely at me. In fact, he seemed completely besotted by Dan’s manly, famous presence.

“Dan here and I were just discussing rock music,” he informed me as though Dan were his new best friend.

I shuddered for a moment. God forbid.

“Dan has some very interesting views about the movement, you know?”

I winced and smiled a secret apologetic smile at Dan, but he was too drunk to notice anything patronizing in Tim’s comment. I had to separate the two before things got out of hand. Luckily, one of our other guests absolved me of thinking up more ruses by descending on Tim and whisking him away to the kitchen.

Dan and I regarded each other in silence.

“You do look beautiful,” Dan repeated, suddenly sounding a whole lot more sober.

I wanted to cry. “What are you doing here?” I whispered, not trusting my voice.

“I don’t really know,” he acknowledged. “I just felt…lonely. At a loose end. I had to see you and convince myself that…well, that it really is too late. You know?”

I was simultaneously touched and petrified. “I thought we’d agreed…,” I started, but Dan interrupted immediately.

My thoughts:

This book is just simply fabulous! It has all the right bells and whistles. From the prologue on I was immensely entertained! It’s a book about choices and some rather scandalous activities with those choices, but every word is delicious!

Sophie! Sophie! Sophie!! Ahhh… she is by far my favorite charcter. She has her little set of problems. Being engaged to a man that is far from her own version of Prince Charming. And then her version of Prince Charming shows up in her life again! What’s a girl to do? She’s quite literally swept off of her feet while trying to maintain a level head. I had to laugh at some of the mistakes she made but in the end she is a marvelous character who just has a rough go at the biggest decision of life.

Her friend Rachel is also a darling. She’s definitely not a level headed friend, the one where you go to for advice to actually KEEP you grounded. Oh no, Rachel does quite the opposite. She reminds Sophie, again and again, that you only live once and although your conscience may yell at you, you might as well have a heck of a fun time while living! Love this girl!

Tim and Dan are the two boyfriends. Oi… I can’t tell you who my favorite is here, you’ll have to pick for yourself, as does Sophie.

I do have to say, this was a remarkably easy read and full of flavor and fun! The plot flowed so well, character arcs and all. I laughed and cried and didn’t want this fabulous story to end. Even though the ending was well worth the ride! The entire thing was A+!! Even better, part two of this fabulous series is scheduled to be published Feb 7, 2013! YAY!!!

Although the above excerpt is awesome, I had to just give a little bit more of Sophie. She really is awesome…

Tim looked at me closely, rubbing my hand. “I really, really meant to pop that question over the weekend. You know, propose.”

Oh did I ever? O course I knew. I had been waitinf for such a long time. I looked at him expectantly. Don’t say anything, I told myself sternly, don’t break the mood.

Tim gave a shaky laugh. “But you know what?”

What? What? What could he possibly say now except, “Will you marry me?”

“I forgot the ring.” He let that hang for a few seconds, trying to gauge my reaction. I had none forthcoming. How was I supposed to respond? Was he proposing, or was he not?

He obliged with a clarification. “So anyway, I forgot the ring, and you can’t propose to the woman you love without a ring. And so that’s why I didn’t. I thought you might like to know.”

I blinked at him. I could feel my eyes open and close slowly, like a cartoon character’s in slow motion. Open. Close. Open. Close. Blink. Blink. Blink.

Inwardly, I screamed. Why tell me? Why tell me such a thing? I was utterly lost for words.

About the author:

Rock On! Nicky Wells writes fun and glamorous contemporary romance featuring a rock star

and the girl next door. Her debut novel, Sophie’s Turn, is the first part in her Rock Star Romance

Trilogy. Not unlike Sophie, her heroine, Nicky loves rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters.

When she’s not writing, Nicky is a wife, mother, and teaching assistant. Nicky is also a featured

author on the innovative reader/author project, loveahappyending.com.

Originally born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993, and currently lives

in Bristol with her husband and two boys. In a previous professional life, Nicky worked as a

researcher and project manager for an international Human Resources research firm based in

London and Washington, D.C.

Visit Nicky on her blog where you can find articles, interviews, radio interviews and, of course,

an ongoing update on her work in progress, the second and third parts of the Rock Star

Romance Trilogy. You can also follow Nicky on Twitter and find her on Facebook.

Website

Twitter Handle: @WellsNicky

Facebook 

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and Testimonials in Advertising*

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