Rebound (Boomerang #2)
by Noelle August
February 10, 2015
288 pages
Goodreads Summary:
At Boomerang, one night can change everything . . .
Adam Blackwood has it all. At twenty-three he's fabulously wealthy, Ryan Gosling-hot, and at the top of his game in the business world. His life is perfect until a scandal from his past resurfaces and threatens to knock the tech wunderkind down and throw his company, Boomerang--a hook-up site for millennials--into chaos.
Alison Quick, the twenty-one-year-old daughter of a business tycoon--and the ex-girlfriend of Boomerang's former intern, Ethan--has a problem of her own. After nearly flunking out in her senior year of college, she has one chance to redeem herself to her father by proving that she deserves a place in his corporate empire. That means spearheading her father's plan to sink big money into Adam's company and launch it into the stratosphere--provided Adam has no skeletons in his closet.
When the two meet, their sizzling chemistry makes it tough to keep things strictly professional. But when Alison discovers Adam's secret, she knows she should bring it right to her father, who'll leverage it for his own gain and use it to ruin Adam. The only problem: she's falling for Adam--hard.
Will earning her father's approval come at the price of losing her first real love? Or can Adam and Alison leave behind past mistakes and conquer the world--together?
Adam Blackwood has it all. At twenty-three he's fabulously wealthy, Ryan Gosling-hot, and at the top of his game in the business world. His life is perfect until a scandal from his past resurfaces and threatens to knock the tech wunderkind down and throw his company, Boomerang--a hook-up site for millennials--into chaos.
Alison Quick, the twenty-one-year-old daughter of a business tycoon--and the ex-girlfriend of Boomerang's former intern, Ethan--has a problem of her own. After nearly flunking out in her senior year of college, she has one chance to redeem herself to her father by proving that she deserves a place in his corporate empire. That means spearheading her father's plan to sink big money into Adam's company and launch it into the stratosphere--provided Adam has no skeletons in his closet.
When the two meet, their sizzling chemistry makes it tough to keep things strictly professional. But when Alison discovers Adam's secret, she knows she should bring it right to her father, who'll leverage it for his own gain and use it to ruin Adam. The only problem: she's falling for Adam--hard.
Will earning her father's approval come at the price of losing her first real love? Or can Adam and Alison leave behind past mistakes and conquer the world--together?
Review
For the most part I found Rebound enjoyable. There was a moving plot with believable conflicts and resolutions. The characters share a sizzling connection while maintaining their own sense of individuality. The story moved along at a steady pace although I felt the ending could've been more.
Adam is the creator and CEO of the successful dating firm Boomerang. On the surface, he's a sexy confident guy but in reality, he's broken inside. He's haunted by his past which is the key driving force behind his desire to accomplish his goals. He feels responsible for the death of his wife and is holding a big secret that only one other person knows the truth to. He allows this to eat away at him. Nobody notices except Alison. She sees his pained looks and want to help him but she has her own demons to fight. She desperately wants to prove to her father she's capable of managing the family business. Coupled with the extreme guilt she still felt over her cheating past, she was emotionally very fragile.
I have to admit, when I first found out who the pairing was in Rebound, I had some serious doubts. Alison and Adam didn't seem like a pair that would fit. I was curious to see how they would be brought together. Their attraction was almost instantaneous. Surprisingly I was fine with that because they didn't know who each other was (they were in costumes) when they first met. Their concealed identities and mutual interest granted them the courage they needed to be open with one another. That is, until they discovered they were going to be working together. We see them both putting an effort into keeping their relationship a strictly professional one. Obviously they failed but not for lack of trying. Their feelings grew and along with it came a lot of angst. Adam was afraid that Alison will see him differently if he revealed his secret to her and Alison was stuck on how to go about seeing Adam and satisfying her father's request (to give him information on Adam's past). And me? Well, I was silently screaming at them to just be honest with each other. Their intentions were pretty clear if you ask me.
Adam is the creator and CEO of the successful dating firm Boomerang. On the surface, he's a sexy confident guy but in reality, he's broken inside. He's haunted by his past which is the key driving force behind his desire to accomplish his goals. He feels responsible for the death of his wife and is holding a big secret that only one other person knows the truth to. He allows this to eat away at him. Nobody notices except Alison. She sees his pained looks and want to help him but she has her own demons to fight. She desperately wants to prove to her father she's capable of managing the family business. Coupled with the extreme guilt she still felt over her cheating past, she was emotionally very fragile.
I have to admit, when I first found out who the pairing was in Rebound, I had some serious doubts. Alison and Adam didn't seem like a pair that would fit. I was curious to see how they would be brought together. Their attraction was almost instantaneous. Surprisingly I was fine with that because they didn't know who each other was (they were in costumes) when they first met. Their concealed identities and mutual interest granted them the courage they needed to be open with one another. That is, until they discovered they were going to be working together. We see them both putting an effort into keeping their relationship a strictly professional one. Obviously they failed but not for lack of trying. Their feelings grew and along with it came a lot of angst. Adam was afraid that Alison will see him differently if he revealed his secret to her and Alison was stuck on how to go about seeing Adam and satisfying her father's request (to give him information on Adam's past). And me? Well, I was silently screaming at them to just be honest with each other. Their intentions were pretty clear if you ask me.
A small downside to this story was that the last bit of the story unfolded too quickly for me. I would've preferred
to see the conflict develop more. For the way he behaved after he thought Ali used him, Adam sure forgave her quickly and easily (even if she was innocent). With that being said, I still
really enjoyed the method with which his dilemma was solved. Graham Quick is not a good person especially after the way he tried to manipulate his own daughter. It was gratifying to see her be the one to take him down. He had it long time coming.
Company retreats! I wish my work had such a fun event! The team building exercises were really creative. I can just imagine them carrying out the exercises and working together! I'd like to apply if there are any job openings at Boomerang ;)
Despite feeling a little detached from the story, Rebound had all the elements of fun. I'm excited to see Grey wreck some havoc in Bounce, the last book to this tasty trilogy ;)
*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinion are my own and not affected in any way.
Wasn't this a fun read? So glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteYes!! I seriously can't wait for the next book :D
DeleteI've always been under the impression that this was a New Adult. But with Adam being previously married, is this an adult fiction then?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea haha.... No clue on how they classify these things :P
DeleteI'm glad that you enjoyed this one a lot, Eileen! Probably not something I'll be reading anytime soon, because the whole bad communication thing always annoys me!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya! Hopefully the third book will be better with that :D
DeleteI haven't read the first book in this series yet, but I wanted to read this one. Do you know if they can be read as stand alones?
ReplyDeleteYep! You just get more of a background to the characters if you read Boomerang first. Definitely don't have to though :)
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