SYNOPSIS
Beau Fortier starred in most of my cringe-worthy teenage fantasies.
I met him when I was a junior in high school, a time that revolved exclusively around bad hair, failed forays into flirting, and scientific inquiries into which brand of toilet paper worked best for stuffing bras.
That is, until Beau moved into the small guest house just beyond my bedroom window.
A 24-year-old law student at Tulane, Beau was as mysterious to me as second base (both in baseball and in the bedroom). He was older. Intimidating. Hot. Boys my age had chicken legs and chubby cheeks. Beau had calloused hands and a jaw cut from steel. Our interactions were scarce—mostly involving slight stalking on my end—and yet deep down, I desperately hoped he saw me as more of a potential lover than a lovesick loser.
Turns out, I was fooling myself. My fragile ego learned that lesson the hard way.
Now, ten years later, we’re both back in New Orleans, and guess who suddenly can’t take his eyes off little ol’ me.
My old friend, Mr. Fortier.
But things have changed. I’m older now—poised and confident. My ego wears a bulletproof vest. The butterflies that once filled my stomach have all perished.
When I was a teenager, Beau warned me to guard my heart.
Let’s hope he knows how to guard his.
*****Patty’s Review*****
*****FOUR STARS*****
{ARC Generously Provided by Author}
This is the kiss I wanted 10 years ago. This is what I begged him for, and now that I have it, I don’t want to let it go.
THE BEAU AND THE BELLE is a sweet second chance romance between two people who couldn’t act on their feelings the first time they became a part of each other’s lives but ten years later things have changed and now it’s a battle of wills that stand in their way.
Beau Fortier was in his last year of law school at Tulane University when he met the sweet and beguiling Lauren LeBlanc. He answers an ad for a studio apartment in the home of one of New Orleans oldest and most influential families. Long ago, the Fortier’s were just as esteemed and powerful as the LeBlanc’s but during the 60s and 70s the family fell upon hard times and lost their fortune. Beau is determined to graduate from Tulane and to become a successful lawyer so that he can rebuild his family’s empire and provide the kind of lifestyle to his mother that she once grew up in.
When Beau and Lauren first meet, you can tell there’s a special chemistry there, BUT there’s an eight-year age gap between them. Lauren is seventeen and Beau is twenty-five. He knows that it would be highly improper for anything to happen romantically between them, but this doesn’t stop the lovesick and innocent teenager from hitting on Beau. While nothing happens between them during this team, deeply rooted feelings have developed. Then Hurricane Andrea steps in and ends up separating them for the next ten years.
Lauren went off to the east coast to finish out her senior year of high school and then ended up attending an ivy league university in Connecticut as well. After graduating from college, she secured a job on the art acquisitions team for Sotheby’s in NYC. Now, ten years after she left New Orleans, she’s returning home and about to open her own art gallery/coffee shop.
The years that separated Beau and Lauren have not managed to diminish the attraction they each felt for each other and when they cross paths at a formal ball held in Lauren’s honor, there is no denying that the chemistry is still very strong between them. Beau is determined to stake his claim but while Lauren may have blossomed into a stunning young woman, she’s still very much stuck in the past and the insecure seventeen-year-old girl seems to still be making all her decisions! Beau knows that Lauren is the only one for him and he’s on a mission to convince her that they belong together.
Here are my overall ratings on the book:
Heroes: 4.5
Heroine: 4
Plot: 4
Angst: 4
Steam: 3
Chemistry Between Hero & Heroine: 4.5
THE BEAU AND THE BELLE is currently available!
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*****Mel’s Review*****
4.5 Stars!
Lauren LeBlanc is a 17 yr. old junior in high school that comes from one of the oldest families in New Orleans. She grew up in New Orleans society as a debutante attending cotillions. She was sweet, innocent, & completely naive when it came to boys. Then a hot older guy moves in to the guest house apartment her family is renting. His name is Beau Fortier. He’s a 24 yr. old law student at Tulane with big dreams to build up his family name to what it once was. He comes from humble beginnings, but hopes to one day live up to the Fortier name his ancestors made prominent. Beau has completely stolen Lauren’s attention, & stars in most of her teenage fantasies. He’s all man & she has an all consuming crazy crush on him. She just wants him to see her as more than a young silly girl. They become good friends and Lauren is soon very attached to him. Then their lives go in different directions. Beau puts everything into his career, & Lauren finishes school and then moves to New York. She returns home after ten years, & crosses paths with the man she’s never been able to forget.
-I see the sparkle in her eyes that seems to whisper, The rules have changed. Back then, her beauty was irrelevant, like a delicate work of art tucked safely behind museum glass. The thought never entered my mind to cross the velvet rope.
-She might have grown up, but those damn eyes are just as communicative as they’ve always been.
-She’s a woman now, and she doesn’t have to try to be seductive. She just is.
Lauren is back in New Orleans, & Beau is ready to make his move. She was too young and off limits to him, but now she’s 27 and all grown up. There’s nothing stopping him from taking everything he’s always wanted. He’s always had feelings for Lauren & just couldn’t act on them because of her age. He never quit thinking of her, and wants to be with her. Lauren isn’t so easily convinced, & is fighting it, and holding a grudge. She beautiful and confident. She was in love with Beau ten years ago, & thinks he didn’t return her feelings. As far as she’s concerned he’d missed his chance. Except time hadn’t lessened her feelings, and he still made her feel like that same emotional teenage girl. Suddenly Beau is everywhere & she can’t escape him. She makes him work for it, and he doesn’t give up till she’s his.
Another fabulous book is this series I love! Can’t get enough of R.S. Grey’s stories!
-He’s here now and he’s so much more than I remember- more handsome, more sure of himself, more magnetic.
-At 27, I can barely handle this feeling. At 17, I’d have gone comatose.
-This is how I wanted to be touched all those years ago.
-I used to dream about him like this when I was a teenager. I used to wonder what it would be like to have him stare at me just the way he is right now.
Wrapped Up In Reading 