Helpful Score: 3
I always love a book that you can dive into and find yourself half way through within the blink of an eye. A story that takes you back to Posey's high school days when she was an outcast and had a crush on the bad boy in town. The bad boy has returned a widower and father to a teenager. Will she end up with her life long crush? Will her business become successful? A fun story that takes you on a ride, where you end up - I can't spoil this one.
With many characters in this book, I found it easy to get to know each one and love them all with their quirks. Each character made the story. From her crazy adoptive parents to a nutty cousin who hit a nerve each time she showed up in a scene, they all had an arc which gave this book more depth than it would have if just any of them had been edited away. I loved these characters so much that I wouldn't mind a sequel to revisit them again.
Another great book from Kristan Higgins that is a chick lit with a plot and story that makes you fall in love with each character. I would recommend this to young and old who want a book to curl up with and fall deep into page after page.
With many characters in this book, I found it easy to get to know each one and love them all with their quirks. Each character made the story. From her crazy adoptive parents to a nutty cousin who hit a nerve each time she showed up in a scene, they all had an arc which gave this book more depth than it would have if just any of them had been edited away. I loved these characters so much that I wouldn't mind a sequel to revisit them again.
Another great book from Kristan Higgins that is a chick lit with a plot and story that makes you fall in love with each character. I would recommend this to young and old who want a book to curl up with and fall deep into page after page.
Helpful Score: 1
This book took off a litle slow but picked up pretty fast. I live Kristan Higgings but this one didn't follow her nomal pattern of drawing you righ in. If you read this as your first Higgins book please give her a 2nd chance!
Helpful Score: 1
Fun leads, a great collection of secondary characters, writing that makes the characters feel real - I loved this one! The bad boy has humanizing flaws, the good girl believes in herself, the teens are written accurately, and the salvage profession is cool. I cried and literally couldn't put it down.
Helpful Score: 1
A very good book. I really enjoyed reading this one. I liked that the characters were well defined. You knew who they were before any romance was established. I enjoyed the side characters as well. This was a good read and I didn't want to put it down.
Helpful Score: 1
I usually LOVE Kristan Higgins books. However, I did not love this one. The story was a little too unbelievable and too out there.
Helpful Score: 1
I normally love Kristan Higgins books, but this one drove me crazy. All of the "Oh Bieber"s and "Holy Elvis"s were really annoying. Once I get to a certain point in a book I normally finish, and this one was a close call, but I decided to push through. There were some good points in the book, but by far not Higgins' best effort.
Helpful Score: 1
Not as good as the other Kristan Higgins reads. Posey
has loved Bad Boy Liam forever & he just seems to disregard her. They end up together in the end which is great, but it just seems that Posey puts up with alot until that time. I feel bad for her she seems so lonely & everyone seems to have a tendency to dump on her.
has loved Bad Boy Liam forever & he just seems to disregard her. They end up together in the end which is great, but it just seems that Posey puts up with alot until that time. I feel bad for her she seems so lonely & everyone seems to have a tendency to dump on her.
My rating: 2 stars
I usually love Kristan Higgins' books. But not this one. Nope. Not even close. I'm definitely not one of those people who gave this one 4 or 5 stars. There's no way. It was a total snooze fest. It was boring, the characters lacked everything characters could lack, and I was constantly thinking, "Seriously? This got published?"
I know, I know...this is a harsh review. But I'm very blunt and to the point. It was horrible. The only reason I didn't give the book 1 star is because of the humor that's throughout the story.
I'm very disappointed with this one. How it has such high ratings is beyond me. I found it boring and dismal.
I usually love Kristan Higgins' books. But not this one. Nope. Not even close. I'm definitely not one of those people who gave this one 4 or 5 stars. There's no way. It was a total snooze fest. It was boring, the characters lacked everything characters could lack, and I was constantly thinking, "Seriously? This got published?"
I know, I know...this is a harsh review. But I'm very blunt and to the point. It was horrible. The only reason I didn't give the book 1 star is because of the humor that's throughout the story.
I'm very disappointed with this one. How it has such high ratings is beyond me. I found it boring and dismal.
Think youve read all there is to be written about bad boys? Like all of Kristan Higgins contemporary romance novels, UNTIL THERE WAS YOU takes a potentially clichéd idea and spins it into an absolutely adorable, quirky, and swoon-worthy love story.
Im not sure if Higgins has written other books in third-person before, and at first the change from the beloved first-person POV was jarring for me, but I quickly appreciated the best part about third-person in this story: that we get to go inside Liams head and see what hes thinking, understand how his past influenced his present in a way that we wouldnt have gotten to otherwise. This, I think, puts Liam a cut above other bad-boy love interests: he becomes less of an enigmatic, unapproachable, mythical bad-boy figure and more of a multidimensional man. It doesnt hurt that hes an overprotective father to his enviable teenaged daughtertheres nothing like paternal characteristics that ups the desirable factor for a love interest in a romance novel, eh?
Posey is a pretty typical Higgins protagonist, with a quirky family, fairly independent means, and a cringe-inducing weakness around men. But its Liam, and the development of his character, that really carry UNTIL THERE WAS YOU for me. If youre a Higgins fan, then UNTIL THERE WAS YOU will not disappoint. If you havent read any of Higgins contemporary romances yet, what are you waiting for?!
Im not sure if Higgins has written other books in third-person before, and at first the change from the beloved first-person POV was jarring for me, but I quickly appreciated the best part about third-person in this story: that we get to go inside Liams head and see what hes thinking, understand how his past influenced his present in a way that we wouldnt have gotten to otherwise. This, I think, puts Liam a cut above other bad-boy love interests: he becomes less of an enigmatic, unapproachable, mythical bad-boy figure and more of a multidimensional man. It doesnt hurt that hes an overprotective father to his enviable teenaged daughtertheres nothing like paternal characteristics that ups the desirable factor for a love interest in a romance novel, eh?
Posey is a pretty typical Higgins protagonist, with a quirky family, fairly independent means, and a cringe-inducing weakness around men. But its Liam, and the development of his character, that really carry UNTIL THERE WAS YOU for me. If youre a Higgins fan, then UNTIL THERE WAS YOU will not disappoint. If you havent read any of Higgins contemporary romances yet, what are you waiting for?!
I really enjoyed this one; despite the formulaic nature of her books--I liked the history in this one in that everything wasn't just about Posey but about his personal struggles, his daughter, in-laws, etc. This one, to me, was probably the most realistic story she's written so I enjoyed that aspect of it. I do agree that sometimes her "language" gets annoying "bieber, elvis, etc." but I just skip over it and move on!
This review was so hard to write, I like Higgins stories and her writing but this book was so hard to get into and so dry. There were good parts but it seems like the author was trying too hard to inject quirk and humor in. The book is over 400 pages long, by 200 pages I started speed reading. I stopped around 350 and started reading again. I prefer Higgins earlier books.
It was a very long story to find out what you already knew was going to happen.
Meet Posey, she is a petite thing who resembles a boy more than a girl. She was adopted by a German couple when she was a baby. They have an adopted son, who is perfection. High school was miserable because of her build but made better by the arrival of the bad boy. He only had eyes for the Golden Girl. After high school, they rode off into the sunset. 16 years later he is back, without the Golden Girl. Is this Poseys chance?
It was a very long story to find out what you already knew was going to happen.
Meet Posey, she is a petite thing who resembles a boy more than a girl. She was adopted by a German couple when she was a baby. They have an adopted son, who is perfection. High school was miserable because of her build but made better by the arrival of the bad boy. He only had eyes for the Golden Girl. After high school, they rode off into the sunset. 16 years later he is back, without the Golden Girl. Is this Poseys chance?
Another sweet book from Kristan Higgins. Posey fell for bad boy Liam when they were in high school. He fell for the school's golden girl and broke Posey's heart with a thoughtless statement. Now he is a widower and back in town with a teen age daughter. Angst, quirk and deep felt sighs. 4 stars
Blah, blah, blah. I got to page 136 and called it quits. NOTHING had happened by then, except "Woe is me" over her high school life. We don't even get to know Posey before we are bombarded by multiple characters and flashbacks. Plus, this book has a new trend that I'm really starting to hate. Pop culture references. I can handle a few, but this book is LOADED with them. For example, Jon tells Kate not to put their names together because people will think they have 8 kids and hate each other. WHO is going to know what that means in a few years? And, a 90+ woman in a nursing home, using an IPhone and posting on facebook? And my least favorite. The expletive "Oh, Bieber." Are you kidding?? I really don't know if I'll be reading anymore Higgins after this.
Until There Was You by Kristan Higgins
Release Date: November 1st, 2011
Publisher: HQN (Harlequin)
Page Count: 378
Source: From Little Bird Publicity for review
She's having serious prom-night déjà vu...
Posey Osterhagen can't complain. She owns a successful architectural salvaging company, she's surrounded by her lovable, if off-center, family and she has a boyfriendsort of. Still, something's missing. Something tall, brooding and criminally good-lookingsomething like Liam Murphy.
When Posey was sixteen, the bad boy of Bellsford, New Hampshire, broke her heart. But now he's back, sending Posey's traitorous schoolgirl heart into overdrive once again. She should be giving him a wide berth, but it seems fate has other ideas...
What Stephanie Thinks: The heartbreak of high school romances -- times in our lives we all consider HUGE deals when we're actually involved in them, but actually look back upon ten years later and laugh at -- is wistfully and emotionally conveyed through Higgins's latest. She's back with everything we love about her: the nostalgia, the sentiment, the kickass heroines, and sexyass heros of her usual novels, but this time around, she incorporates the importance of parents -- whether birth parents or not -- and the timelessness of childhood in Until There Was You.
Posey is a well-developed, likable character; her clumsiness and quick wit are sure to grow on the reader because even as a prime dork, she is so relatable. Even though I hated her at times . . . . . . (I mean, the girl can EAT but doesn't ever gain weight!), she is probably my favorite character in the whole book. Actually, scratch that. If possible, I like Liam even better. He's one of those male protagonists (that, I am getting used to in Higgins's books) I can't help but fall in love with. He's a bad-boy gone sexy single dad. Le swoon.
Higgins blends together a perfect concoction of romance, humor, and childhood longing in Until There Was You. From the glory days of childhood sweethearts to the "high school was probably the worst era of my life" reminder, this contemporary romance that flits upon Posey's socially traumatic high school experiences, connecting them to her present dilemma, will charm and engage you. While it isn't one of those lingering, addicting reads, it's definitely a fun contemporary with a heartfelt twist, and is one you enjoy through every page.
Stephanie Loves: "He glanced in her basket. Tapioca pudding, at least four pints of Ben & Jerry's, whipped cream, a block of Cabot's cheddar, a Pepperidge Farm coconut cake, two frozen pizzas with cheese-stuffed crust, and a carton of Egg Beaters. 'Watching our cholesterol?'
Her eyes narrowed. 'The Egg Beaters are for my dog.'"
Radical Rating: 8 hearts-Would recommend to lots of really good friends.
Release Date: November 1st, 2011
Publisher: HQN (Harlequin)
Page Count: 378
Source: From Little Bird Publicity for review
She's having serious prom-night déjà vu...
Posey Osterhagen can't complain. She owns a successful architectural salvaging company, she's surrounded by her lovable, if off-center, family and she has a boyfriendsort of. Still, something's missing. Something tall, brooding and criminally good-lookingsomething like Liam Murphy.
When Posey was sixteen, the bad boy of Bellsford, New Hampshire, broke her heart. But now he's back, sending Posey's traitorous schoolgirl heart into overdrive once again. She should be giving him a wide berth, but it seems fate has other ideas...
What Stephanie Thinks: The heartbreak of high school romances -- times in our lives we all consider HUGE deals when we're actually involved in them, but actually look back upon ten years later and laugh at -- is wistfully and emotionally conveyed through Higgins's latest. She's back with everything we love about her: the nostalgia, the sentiment, the kickass heroines, and sexyass heros of her usual novels, but this time around, she incorporates the importance of parents -- whether birth parents or not -- and the timelessness of childhood in Until There Was You.
Posey is a well-developed, likable character; her clumsiness and quick wit are sure to grow on the reader because even as a prime dork, she is so relatable. Even though I hated her at times . . . . . . (I mean, the girl can EAT but doesn't ever gain weight!), she is probably my favorite character in the whole book. Actually, scratch that. If possible, I like Liam even better. He's one of those male protagonists (that, I am getting used to in Higgins's books) I can't help but fall in love with. He's a bad-boy gone sexy single dad. Le swoon.
Higgins blends together a perfect concoction of romance, humor, and childhood longing in Until There Was You. From the glory days of childhood sweethearts to the "high school was probably the worst era of my life" reminder, this contemporary romance that flits upon Posey's socially traumatic high school experiences, connecting them to her present dilemma, will charm and engage you. While it isn't one of those lingering, addicting reads, it's definitely a fun contemporary with a heartfelt twist, and is one you enjoy through every page.
Stephanie Loves: "He glanced in her basket. Tapioca pudding, at least four pints of Ben & Jerry's, whipped cream, a block of Cabot's cheddar, a Pepperidge Farm coconut cake, two frozen pizzas with cheese-stuffed crust, and a carton of Egg Beaters. 'Watching our cholesterol?'
Her eyes narrowed. 'The Egg Beaters are for my dog.'"
Radical Rating: 8 hearts-Would recommend to lots of really good friends.
One of her best! I usually don't read alot of gushy romance per say but I just like her style. In this book she really show her sense of humor! I laughed out loud in a few places in the novel. Can't wait for the next one. I think she gets better with each one.
