Hey, guys! Apologies for the tardiness in getting this blog post up, but welcome nonetheless to today's blog tour stop for Kesh Tanglao's latest book, (un)breakable!
About (un)breakable:
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Lorin Perez’s life is finally back on track after almost losing it six years ago. She knows meeting and dating sizzling hot professional rugby player Spence Clarke is a huge part of her healing process. But with her father starting a new family, she decides to follow her best friend Caitlin to UK–Spence’s home country–and start a new life.
However, moving to UK brings certain complications in the form of Gezellig band member Nigel Whitmore, a.k.a. the one who didn’t follow through three years ago. And even though Lorin is very clear about her no commitment rule, Nigel ignores this and pursues Lorin like never before.
Caught between the man who made her feel safe and the one who makes her feel alive, will she finally be able to set her heart free and make the right choice?
Kesh Tanglao is a full-time market researcher. When she’s not crunching numbers, she spends most of her free time watching TV shows, listening to music, and reading. Also a self-proclaimed fangirl, she likes cheering for her favorite sports teams and supporting her favorite artists.
Read the book excerpt and my review after the jump!
Book Excerpt:
“Anyway, so why is that making you pace?” Caitlin said, interrupting my thoughts.
“Well, Spence had just finished tourneys, so he’s coming back here for a couple weeks. And then he’s off to Japan for the tryouts for this rugby team in—” I cut myself off because I saw the blank look on her face. I usually lost her when I talked about rugby, or anything sports-related that wasn’t basketball, because that one she knows (because is there a Filipino who doesn’t know about basketball?).
“The point is,” I continued, “Spence and Nigel are both going to be here next week.”
“Ooh,” she said, wincing. “That is…tough. But you know this is bound to happen.” Caitlin reached over and pulled me down to sit on the couch.
“Honey, you’ve been great at juggling them in the past couple of months because they’re just mere Skype dates or something. But now they’re going to be here in person, and…” she paused dramatically before saying, “I mean, are you going to kiss them both?”
I grabbed the throw pillow behind her and hit her on the shoulder with it, making her laugh, and she fought me for the pillow. I let her win, and she hit me back with it before turning serious again. “Make a schedule,” she suggested.
“What, like Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is for Spence, and Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday is for Nigel?”
“Yeah. And the Sunday is for your rest, because you know, people in open relationships get that, too.”
I grabbed the pillow and hit her again with it. “Caitlin,” I whined.
“Or Sunday is for me because I’m the greatest best friend in the world ever?” she said hopefully with a twinkle in her eye.
I laughed. “Come on, Cait. Help me out here.”
She stood up and disappeared into her room. When she came out, she was carrying a pen and paper.
“I’m serious about this schedule. So who’s going to arrive first?” she said, her pen poised at the ready.
“Spence.”
“Good. So…” She started writing down the days of the week, and we started to plan out the whole week that Spence and Nigel would be in England.
When we were done, Caitlin placed her legs over the center table, looking satisfied like she had just finished a report. She handed the paper to me for inspection. “Do you not want them to meet each other?” she asked.
“And cause some sort of World War?” I replied. “No.”
“Nigel has been asking quite a lot about Spence. Pretty sure he’s been, hmm, measuring the competition.” She said the last two words with finger quotation marks.
“And what did you say?”
“That I know Spence is a good guy—well, both of them are. And he’s been with you for two years and he’s been there throughout your rough years, a.k.a. post-Theo—” She stopped in mid-sentence, checking if I still winced or cringed at the sound of his name (I told her about the Theo thing that Nigel did). I didn’t, so she continued.
“Lore, these two guys are great proof that you can get over that stupid guy. That life could give you the worst nightmare one day and then the best presents next.”
I placed my hand on my bad knee. She was right. I silently sent a thank you to the heavens for the two men who were making me happy right now, because not everyone gets to meet and date two fantastic guys at the same time.
“So,” Caitlin said, leaning back again on the couch, “if you could only kiss one of them, who would it be?”
I mimed zipping my lips. Cait wrinkled her nose and gave me the finger in response.
My Review:
In (un)breakable, we get to know more about about the life of Caitlin Tan's best friend, Lorin Perez. The Lorin from book 1 was a go-getter, a seize-the-moment kind of person who influenced Caitlin to take risks and be spontaneous. We see the same spunky Lorin in book 2, but now we see more details about her history and how this has shaped the story for (un)breakable. The story opens some time post-Caitlin's move to the UK, where Lorin is currently in an open relationship with hot rugby player, Spence Clarke.
While seeing how Lorin's relationship with Spence may seem to be smooth sailing, conflict sets in when she heads off to the UK for a very lucrative job and ultimately bumps into an old flame in the person of Gezellig band member, Nigel Whitmore. As these scenes unfold, we get to see the vulnerable side of Lorin and how deep old wounds go.
One of my personal criteria that makes a story great is how I can understand and relate to a character's inner struggles and difficulties. While I've never been in an open relationship, I still understand Lorin's pain. Although I just couldn't wrap my head around how she gets to fawn and fangirl over Nigel, the guy who did her wrong, and then get pissed at the same breath. There were a some inconsistent moments that seemed to clash with the way I perceived Lorin's character was developed. One of the things I realized after reading the story is that I think that I'm past the point of choosing "teams" in a love triangle just because it's convenient. I was hoping to see Lorin face her fears and conquer them. I wanted her to make a decision for herself and not base it on which guy makes her feel this or that. But that's just my personal thing.
I have to hand it to Kesh for eliciting such a passionate opinion in me. I think it takes great skill to bring about that kind of emotion in a reader. :)
Although I have to say that the Kesh's writing style has become more confident compared to the first book. I love how natural and fluid the narrative came to be and how it was fairly easy for me to see and appreciate how the characters have developed from the beginning to the end of the story. Kudos to Kesh as well for tackling the topic of open relationships with such courage and open mindedness.
And because (un)breakable ended on such a high tension scene, I'm really curious how the third installment would pan out.
Don't forget to join the giveaway where you could win awesome prizes from the author!
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the blog tour host in return for an honest review.
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