{"id":70405,"date":"2023-05-31T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=70405"},"modified":"2024-05-28T07:47:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T11:47:28","slug":"arc-review-good-as-gold-by-sarina-bowen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=70405","title":{"rendered":"Release & ARC Review: Good As Gold (Giltmaker, #1) by Sarina Bowen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Good As Gold by Sarina Bowen is available now!<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A fun, steamy and chemistry-filled friends-to-lovers romance with a newly divorced woman trying to have a baby, and her childhood best friend only too happy to help out. A second chance with the one who got away, and a gorgeous love story!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audio<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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

Leila:<\/strong>
\nWhat I meant to do: Quietly divorce my lout of a husband and then have a child all on my own.
\nWhat happens instead: My crush comes back to town when I\u2019m at my most vulnerable. After too many cocktails, I ask him to be my baby\u2019s father.
\nIn my defense, it\u2019s been a rough couple of months. Seeing Matteo Rossi again after fourteen years has done a number on my emotions. And my libido.
\nIn the morning, I\u2019m hoping he\u2019s forgotten the whole thing. But no such luck. In fact, Matteo has a few clarifying questions. And a few naughty ideas, too\u2026<\/p>\n

Matteo:<\/strong>
\nWhat I meant to do: visit Vermont for my brother\u2019s wedding. Make amends to my family, and mourn the loss of a friend.
\nWhat happens instead: a hot affair with the one who got away. But it can\u2019t last. My life is two thousand miles away, and Leila deserves everything. She\u2019s as good as gold.<\/p>\n

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

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

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

A fun, steamy and chemistry-filled friends-to-lovers romance with a newly divorced woman trying to have a baby, and her childhood best friend only too happy to help out. A second chance with the one who got away, and a gorgeous love story!<\/p>\n

This is the story of Matteo Rossi, whose siblings have shown up in the True North<\/i> series, and though this book reads well as a standalone, I was happy that we got the chance to catch up with characters that I love, once again.<\/p>\n

Matteo left Vermont as a teenager to follow his dreams and make something of himself. He now has a well-established ski tour company in Colorado and is doing very well for himself, but his best friend and business partner has tragically died, and he\u2019s heading home to Vermont for a break, and to see his family after years of being away.<\/p>\n

Leila and Matteo were best friends as teenagers, and crushed wildly on each other. But Matteo never felt worthy of Leila, which is what led him to leave town to make a success of himself. But by the time he returned to get the girl, she had moved on with their other best friend. Now, Leila has left her unhappy marriage, and is establishing herself as a single woman when Matteo finally comes back to town. Though she\u2019s angry at him for being away for so long, they quickly recapture their easy friendship, and when a drunken Leila confesses that she longs for a baby and is investigating ways to make it happen on her own\u2026 Matteo offers to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really sorry. Especially for making it weird by bringing up sex. I know you\u2019ve never thought of me that way.\u201d
\nHe laughs again. \u201cIt\u2019s cute that you think that.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s a fun set-up, made all the more exciting by the sizzling sexual tension between Matteo and Leila. It\u2019s clear they still have feelings for each other (for Matteo, Leila was the girl who got away), and watching them work through it all and build up to the big moment is so entertaining!<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know you were actually thinking about this.\u201d
\n\u201cCan\u2019t seem to think about anything else.\u201d He shrugs. \u201cThe question is, though, whether I\u2019m considering it because it\u2019s generous. Or because I want to bang you.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love the dynamic between these two! I loved their friendship, their banter, how easy everything is between them, and how openly they go into their arrangement. They never actually share what they\u2019re feeling, but they don\u2019t hide their attraction, and though it should be awkward as all hell, their mad lust for each other makes it an easy and natural shift in their relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in. I want to do this for you.\u201d
\nOh my heart. It\u2019s fluttering again.
\n\u201cIn the interest of full disclosure. I also want to do you.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And there is nothing awkward about Matteo and Leila together, because oh holy damn, they are so freaking hot together! The sexy time is sizzling, and their close connection and depth of feeling for each other make everything all the more intense.<\/p>\n

She wanted a sperm donor, and I delivered. But it feels like I left a piece of my soul up on the second floor. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Their baby making efforts bring a new closeness to their relationship, and their feelings for each other only grow, and I loved watching them fall so hard and so completely. But Matteo is only in town temporarily; he has commitments, and a life across the country. Does he truly have a shot with the one who got away? And where does his happiness truly lie?<\/p>\n

This is such a gorgeous story. I loved Matteo, loved seeing him reconnect with his family and all of the wonderful moments with them together. He\u2019s absolutely beautiful with Leila, and though he\u2019s a bit confused as to what he wants from the future, I loved watching him work through it and figure it all out. Leila handles it all like a champ. She\u2019s strong and brave, and she follows her heart, and I loved seeing these two get their happy ending!<\/p>\n

Though there are lots of fun and funny moments, this book is full of emotion, with a gorgeous love story and plenty of swoon. I loved it.<\/p>\n

4.5 stars!<\/p>\n

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

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Giltmaker series<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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Good As Gold <\/strong>(Matteo & Leila)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Golden Touch (#2) <\/strong>(Nash & Livia)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Check out more amazing reads on our Sarina Bowen Author Spotlight<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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  Good As Gold by Sarina Bowen is available now! A fun, steamy and chemistry-filled friends-to-lovers romance with a newly divorced woman trying to have a baby, and her childhood best friend only too happy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70347,"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":[25,9,29],"tags":[59,48,378],"class_list":["post-70405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-friends-to-lovers","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-review","tag-sarina-bowen"],"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\/2023\/05\/Good-As-Gold.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-ijz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70405","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=70405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}