{"id":65205,"date":"2022-06-21T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=65205"},"modified":"2022-06-21T01:22:46","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T05:22:46","slug":"review-promise-me-nothing-hermosa-beach-1-by-jillian-liota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=65205","title":{"rendered":"Review: Promise Me Nothing (Hermosa Beach, #1) by Jillian Liota"},"content":{"rendered":"

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FREE ON ALL PLATFORMS!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Amazon US\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Amazon UK<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon CA<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon AU<\/a> <\/strong><\/h4>\n

B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Apple\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Books2Read\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Blurb<\/b><\/h4>\n

Wyatt Calloway isn\u2019t a good idea.\u00a0<\/strong>
\nI didn\u2019t pick up my life and move to this urban beach city to spend my days swooning over a rich bad boy who rides a motorcycle and seems to always get his way with just a flash of that smile. I\u2019m here to get to know the brother I\u2019ve never met. Try and create a family when I\u2019ve gone so long without one. Maybe find a place where I belong. But I can\u2019t seem to get him off my mind.<\/p>\n

Hannah Morrison isn\u2019t a good idea.\u00a0<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m back in town just for the summer, and my priorities are to spend time with my little sister, check in with my family, and make sure things aren\u2019t really as bad as they seem. But somehow, the new girl becomes my focus. She\u2019s got a ton of baggage, and she doesn\u2019t understand why she\u2019s really here. But I\u2019ll do anything to make her feel like she belongs. Even give her promises I\u2019m not sure I can keep.<\/p>\n

Welcome to Hermosa Beach<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

4.5 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

The first book in the Hermosa Beach<\/i> series, this is a dramatic and beautifully emotional story with wonderful characters and an opposites-attract romance that completely owned my heart. I loved it!<\/p>\n

Hannah\u2019s idyllic childhood came to an abrupt end when her parents died. She went into the foster system until her beloved older brother became old enough to become her legal guardian, but his tragic death when she was 12 meant that she was all alone in the world, trapped at the mercy of whichever foster parents she happened to be housed with. Now she\u2019s 20 years old and still struggling to find her feet and make a connection with somebody. So when she receives a message from someone who tells her that he is her half-brother and he invites her to his home in Hermosa Beach for the summer, she is just desperate enough to go, and she soon discovers a world that she never could have imagined.<\/p>\n

Her brother, Lucas, is wealthy\u2026 ridiculously wealthy, and though he is the product of an affair between his mother and Hannah\u2019s father, he welcomes Hannah with open arms into his home, introduces her to his friends, and supports her as she finds a job and tries to figure out where her life is going.<\/p>\n

Everything about my life screams that I\u2019m lacking in the things Lucas seems to have in abundance.
\nLike money. Confidence. Complete comfort in his own skin and a belief that he deserves to take up space in this world.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wyatt is a good friend of Lucas\u2019 and a Hermosa Beach local, but he has been living away from home for a few years. Now he\u2019s back in town to catch up with friends and spend time with his younger sister, and all it takes is one look at the new arrival in town for him to be completely smitten. Things don\u2019t go according to plan when Hannah is instantly dismissive, and then when he learns that she is Lucas\u2019 sister, it complicates things a bit, but he can\u2019t stay away from her. He knows she has had a difficult life, and that all she has been through has left emotional scars, but nothing can stand in the way of all that he\u2019s feeling.<\/p>\n

I also wonder if I\u2019ll ever recover from the way she makes me feel when she looks at me with those soft eyes that are both so world-weary and so trusting at the same time. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I loved watching Hannah and Wyatt come together. He\u2019s so gentle with her \u2013 he moves slowly, not rushing anything, but at the same time he doesn\u2019t hide the way he feels. He\u2019s there for her in all the ways, supporting her and encouraging her to come out of her shell and start to live, and their romance is so gorgeous.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I know anything about you, he adds, his hand holding me lightly at the side of my neck, his fingers singeing my skin, \u201cit\u2019s that you\u2019re probably deserving of an amazingly happy life more than most people I know.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

He makes me feel precious, treasured, like I\u2019m something priceless that he needs to protect.
\nAnd it\u2019s one of the most beautiful things I\u2019ve felt. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the same time, Hannah is building a relationship with her brother, and she\u2019s making friends of her own, and I loved seeing her find her strength and embrace her new life. You can see the shift in her as she finds her confidence, her sense of humour starts to come through more and more as she teases and jokes around, and I loved seeing her start to flourish.<\/p>\n

But the people that she is coming to care so much for have a secret, and it\u2019s one that has the potential to shatter the delicate trust that she has built. It\u2019s heartbreakingly emotional, and I loved that even though we sort of knew where the story was going, the way it unfolds was not predictable, and I read with my emotions completely caught up, desperate for Hannah and Wyatt to find their happy ending.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have any idea what I feel when I look at you? How enraptured I am with you?\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I loved this book. It\u2019s beautifully written, and the romance is sweet and sexy with so much heart. I was so easily swept up in it all. In the midst of all of the emotion we\u2019re introduced to a big group of family and friends on Hermosa Beach, and there are some really intriguing characters and complex dynamics there. I\u2019m really looking forward to getting to know them more as the series continues.<\/p>\n

Such a gorgeous read \u2013 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

Review Copy generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Hermosa Beach<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0 \"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Promise Me Nothing (#1)<\/strong> (Wyatt & Hannah)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Apple\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Books2Read\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Be Your Anything (#2)<\/strong> (Lucas & Lennon)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 B&N\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Apple\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Books2Read\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Give My Everything (#3)<\/strong> (Ben & Remmy)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Apple\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Books2Read<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

We Were Something (#4)<\/strong> (Logan & Paige)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Apple\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Books2Read\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

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Bonus novellas for side characters<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Nowhere Like This<\/strong> (Otto & Quinn)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Anywhere But Here<\/strong> (Reggie & Eleanor)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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About the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Jillian Liota is a Southern California native currently living in Kailua, Hawaii. She is married to her best friend, has a three-legged pup with endless energy, and acts as a servant to two very temperamental cats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jillian has authored ten novels in contemporary and new adult romance, and has had her writing praised for depth of character, strong female friendships, deliciously steamy scenes, and positive portrayal of mental health.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Website<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0Facebook<\/a> |\u00a0 Facebook Group<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Newsletter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Goodreads<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Instagram<\/a> |\u00a0 Bookbub\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Twitter<\/a> |\u00a0 Pinterest\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 TikTok\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  FREE ON ALL PLATFORMS! Amazon US\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon UK\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon CA\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon AU B&N\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0 |\u00a0 Apple\u00a0 |\u00a0 Books2Read\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback   Blurb Wyatt Calloway isn\u2019t a good idea.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,13,9,29],"tags":[1406,1169,48],"class_list":["post-65205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-new-adult","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-hermosa-beach","tag-jillian-liota","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Promise-Me-Nothing-1.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-gXH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/65181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}