My Unexpected Love (The Beaumont Series: Next Generation Book 2)

First time I bought books on line

It was a sweet read but just a little blah for my liking!!

~4.5 Stars~Heidi McLaughlin was one of the very first Indie writers I read, and My Unexpected Love is exactly why she still remains one of my favorite writers. Her books are always heart melting and filled with so much emotion.I remember Elle and her twin sister, Peyton, when they were just kids. I adored them like everyone else did. Now, both are on the cusp of becoming adults. I have to be honest and say I had mixed feelings about Elle. I knew she had been through a lot recently, but I found her to be selfish, especially where her best friend, Ben, was concerned. He has been such a support for her and her family, always rearranging his life to be there for her. She took him for granted, never seeing what was right in front of her. Finally, when Ben has had enough of his heart being broken by her, he leaves. When he pulls away, she is finally forced to take a hard look at herself. She doesn’t like who she sees. It is at this point, that I started respecting and liking her. I realized she wasn’t always this way, but it was what she became after dealing with pain and fear at that bottom of a bottle instead of leaning on her family and friends. Finally, with the help of her family and her own strength she is beginning to crawl out of her pit of despair. It isn’t easy, and McLaughlin illustrates her struggle. I admired Elle’s determination in finding Ben, asking for his forgiveness, and telling him how she really feels about him.Ben is a girl’s dream…handsome, sexy, intelligent, loyal, and sweet. His devotion to Elle was incredible. I wanted them to be together, but I respected him even more when he made that break from her. He deserved happiness, and he deserved someone who would love and appreciate him. It took guts for him to leave everything and everyone he knew and loved and go someplace where he knew no one to pursue his dreams. He tried to forget Elle, but she owned his heart. His ability to forgive her was amazing…thankfully!!!!This was a fantastic friends to lovers romance. I thought the pacing was spot on. The line that Ben and Elle crossed threatened their friendship and any hope for more, so it wasn’t going to be a quick or perfect fix. Elle had to fix some of her own issues before she could even think of a relationship with Ben. That was going to take some time. What I love about McLaughlin, there is always something more than just a romance. In this book, it was about growing up and becoming adults, which is never easy. As always, her theme of family and friendship is weaved throughout every page. My Unexpected Love was another winner from Heidi McLaughlin. Hopefully, we’ll get Quinn’s book soon!***Read and Reviewed for Devilishly Delicious Book Reviews***

The second book in the series that gives us a peek into the lives of the kids from the hugely popular Beaumont Series but now the kids are all grown up, striking out into the big wide world and spreading their wings, but were they living the lives that I as an avid fan of the original series, had hoped they would?The book revolves around Elle, twin sister of Peyton (and I must admit I liked the fact that the author gave us more of Peyton and Noah in this story too) and daughter of Harrison (who I quite simply adore and Katelyn) and if I am being honest, I’m still not sure exactly how I feel about Elle…she’s a complicated one.Living with her brother Quinn whilst she attends college means that she has the opportunity to live life to the beat of her own drum for once, but she seems to be out of tune with everything that is good for her, she burns the candle at both ends, resulting in her studies suffering and she seems oblivious ( and at times downright rude) to her longtime best friend Ben who is at UCLA with her.I found myself fighting the urge to skip through the paragraphs were she thought it was acceptable to bleat on about how tough she was finding life after the incident with Peyton, I could have shaken her for being so melodramatic, I get the fact that she was finding it tough to reconcile the fact that her sister could have died but she seemed willing to forget that she didn’t!! Peyton wasn’t using what happened as an excuse to flunk classes and drink herself into oblivion, so what the heck was going on with her…I just wanted Elle to wake up and remember what she had and not continue to dwell on what might have been, it was helping no-one. But could see or was she too far down the rabbit hole of self-pity?Ben has always had Elle’s back, her best friend forever, he has been by her side through thick and thin, he has hidden the fact that as the years have gone by his friendship has turned into more…he has loved her for longer than he wants to think about, but will she ever see him, the way he longs for?I was rooting for him and hoped that Elle would see that the best thing in her life was ready to walk away. I hated that she took him for granted but then again, Elle took most people for granted, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. She is 100% certain that he will always be the guy that she can rely on, the man that she can turn too when she needs a shoulder to lean …but what about him?Will she stand by him when he makes a decision that could very well mean that she no longer has him by her side?Will she be happy for him as he moves on? I hoped that it wouldn’t come to it, but I couldn’t help but think that sometimes if you love someone you have to cut them loose…but was that the case here?In their own way they both loved each other, I had my fingers crossed that they could find a happy place to allow that love to settle, but it was far from straightforward and far from easy.As you would expect from Ms McLaughlin this was beautifully written, it had an easy pace and was evocative of the series as a whole.

Reviewed on behalf of Amo’s Book Corner4 StarsA great friends to lovers story.Elle and Ben have been best friends for years but he has loved her since the minute he set eyes on her.Lately it has been getting harder and harder to hide his feelings for her especially when she seems to be spiralling out of control.Elle knows things need to change in her life especially when she wakes up after spending the night with her best friend, naked and not remembering anything. Ben is hurt by this but vows that he needs to get over Elle so accepts an internship in New York.When Elle finds out Ben has gone she realises she cannot see her life without him so goes after him.Is it too late though? Has Ben moved on or does Elle have a chance to make both their dreams come true?

This is the second book in this amazing next generation series, and is Ben and Elle’s story. This story is about how these two moved from best friends / lovers, and is filled with angst, emotion, heartbreak, and will certainly pull at the heartstrings. I look forward to reading more in this series, and I recommend this talented authors’ work for all readers.