Author: Chanel Cleeton
Publisher: Harlequin HQN (Digital First), (February 3, 2014)
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
From: the Author
Format: eARC
Add to: Goodreads
Order a copy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Harlequin
NOTE: This is a "New Adult" novel. Due to mature content this title is recommended for ages 17+
Synopsis: Maggie Carpenter is ready for a change— and to leave her ordinary life in South Carolina behind. But when she accepts a scholarship to the International School in London, a university attended by the privileged offspring of diplomats and world leaders, Maggie might get more than she bargained for.
When Maggie meets Hugh, a twentysomething British guy, she finds herself living the life she always wanted. Suddenly she’s riding around the city in a Ferrari, wearing borrowed designer clothes and going to the hottest clubs. The only problem? Another guy, the one she can’t seem to keep her hands off of.
Half French, half Lebanese, and ridiculously wealthy, Samir Khouri has made it clear he doesn’t do relationships. He’s the opposite of everything Maggie thought she wanted…and he’s everything she can’t resist. Torn between her dream guy and the boy haunting her dreams, Maggie has to fight for her own happy ending. In a city like London, you never know where you stand, and everything can change in the blink of an eye.
This is a New Adult romance recommended for readers 17 and up.
Review: 4 Stars - I See London by Chanel Cleeton whisked this reader off to the city of London with its university, club and elite life as college Freshman and small town girl Maggie takes a chance on a new exciting opportunity in another country. Taking to the other side of the world she works to figure out who she is as a person and adult in this entertaining and fun novel.
Maggie might have been the good girl who’d never been kissed back in her small world but her life quickly changes when she moves to London to start college. It’s a small university with an eclectic group of students as she takes those first steps to her new life. She’s dealing with issues from her past – growing up without her mother and her absent father who’s in the service and always away in a war torn country so she’s grown up with loving grandparents, yet missing her parents.
She’s quiet and worked hard in school with dreams of attending a school in London; she just didn’t expect to be at the certain school she ends up in, filled with the rich and privileged. She’s awkward and extremely inexperienced when it comes to so much in life, a fish out of water. I loved watching her grow from this navigating her new life, friends and people she’s found herself with.
The people she’s around are all from such different walks of life. It gives her a broader look at the world and these new friends also give her a chance to try new things and help her to figure out who she now is and what she wants.
Maggie’s path isn’t paved perfectly and she hits many bumps along the road. Not to mention her feelings as she’s trying to figure out about two different men. Watching her with each you see her changing and growing and I loved that part of the story as I was able to see just how out of her element she was.
And then there’s Samir who’s hiding something. In this title we didn’t get much more than a glimpse as to what he’s dealing with, however it’s just enough to know that he’s up against a lot with his family back home. He’s struggling with his own choices and I had a love/hate relationship with him from beginning to end. You can see the good guy in there; I just hope that in the next book we get a chance to see him break through his own walls.
One huge plus about Cleeton’s world and characters she’s created is that even her uber privileged characters’ have their own set of problems. They are each flawed in their own ways, each have something they need to deal with and I loved the fact that this made each of them so much more relatable because of their issues. I for one wouldn’t be able to relate to someone so privileged or rich yet when you enter in the issues they are dealing with it instantly gives readers something to grasp on to and relate to.
Another great thing about this title is that, while their isn’t a cliffhanger there’s so much more to this story that we’ll get a second book later this year to continue along with these characters. I know there are parts of their lives we have yet to learn about and I for one am looking forward to finding out what’s going to happen in Maggie’s sophomore year in London.
The romance was all over the place, which was fitting for Maggie and her journey. I didn’t feel it was too much or too little as it was often pretty steamy at times. I enjoyed watching Maggie’s thought process during her struggles with the opposite sex as her emotions grew and changed and became something she didn’t understand to something she figured out step by step along the way.
About the Author:
Originally a Florida girl, at seventeen Chanel moved to London to attend an international university. In the four years that followed, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, learned how to dance, travelled through Europe, and made lifelong friendships. Chanel fell in love with London and planned to stay there forever. But fate intervened on a Caribbean cruise, when an American fighter pilot with smooth dance moves, swept her off her feet.
Now, a happily ever after later, Chanel is living her next adventure in South Korea. An avid reader and hopeless romantic, she is happiest curled up with a book. She has a weakness for handbags, puppy cuddles, and her fighter pilot husband. Chanel writes New Adult contemporary romances and Young Adult thrillers. Her New Adult debut, I SEE LONDON, will be released by Harlequin (HQN) on February 3, 2014, followed by a sequel, LONDON FALLING, later in the year.
Find Chanel Online:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
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Thanks for hosting me today, Lisa! So glad you enjoyed I See London :)
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ReplyDeleteCool contest....book sounds good too!
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