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This is a gorgeously sweet second-chance-romance. A huge pop star on the run from her wedding flees to the only place she can think of \u2013 her home town, and the man she left behind. It\u2019s an easy, fun read, with a beautifully natural and swoony romance, and I loved it so much!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When celebrity Laina Kelley bolted from her small hometown church on her wedding day, she ran to the first place that came to mind\u2014the home of the local farrier, a gorgeous playboy who just so happens to be her first love \u2026 and biggest frenemy.<\/p>\n USA Today bestselling author Adriana Locke delivers a new \u201csweet and spicy!\u201d standalone romance about a runaway bride who finds herself in the arms, and horse barn, of her deliciously handsome frenemy\u2014who just so happens to be her first love.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t your average romance. It begins with me in a wedding dress, just not at an altar \u2026<\/p>\n I never expected to be a runaway bride. I also never thought I\u2019d end up on my ex\u2019s doorstep to flee from said wedding. Now that I\u2019m here, it\u2019s easy to find the key in an old boot by the door and let myself inside. It\u2019s not breaking and entering if I have a key, right?<\/p>\n It\u2019s safe to say that Luke Marshall didn\u2019t expect to find me on his couch in my wedding dress, my veil over my face in tears. He has no choice but to listen to my panic-induced plea for salvation. It\u2019s only a matter of time before the tabloids get wind of my disappearing act, and my life is over.<\/p>\n Luke takes pity on me and says I can stay\u2026 on one condition.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t sing for my supper\u2014I have to earn it. I have to work in the barn alongside him, up to my elbows in horse manure. Oh\u2014and because there\u2019s only one bed, I get the couch.<\/p>\n This works \u2026 in theory. However, when sparks start flying, and the small-town farrier asks me to stay, I\u2019ll have to decide between my life as a pop star or a second chance with my first love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4.5 stars!<\/b><\/p>\n This is a gorgeously sweet second-chance-romance. A huge pop star on the run from her wedding flees to the only place she can think of \u2013 her home town, and the man she left behind. It\u2019s an easy, fun read, with a beautifully natural and swoony romance, and I loved it so much!<\/p>\n You can read this as a standalone (I did), but it does form part of the Marshall Family series, and follows on from More Than I Could.<\/p>\n Laina and Luke fell madly in love as teenagers, and were together for six years before she left town to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. Now, her life is unrecognisable, and she\u2019s about to enter what will undoubtedly be a very toxic marriage to a huge movie star. Desperate for escape, she flees to the safety and anonymity of Luke\u2019s ranch, and though they haven\u2019t spoken in years, he welcomes her with open arms.<\/p>\n \u201cI told you once that I would always be here for you. I meant it. And you don\u2019t know what it means to me that you knew that.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Away from her life and all of the external influences which pressure her every day, Laina finds a freedom she hasn\u2019t felt in years. Though Luke tauntingly puts her to work cleaning out his stables, she finds peace and comfort in his quiet life, and the two of them quickly re-establish the closeness between them, opening up about their lives and revisiting their past. The banter and flirting is so good, and there\u2019s still SO much chemistry between them.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know you knew how to cook.\u201d They know they were the love of each other\u2019s lives, and there\u2019s still a wonderful openness between them. They\u2019re honest with each other, they\u2019ve missed each other, and neither of them are too shy to put their feelings out there. They don\u2019t hold back, and oh how my romantic little heart was swooning.<\/p>\n \u201cI want nothing more than to carry you upstairs and show you exactly how much I\u2019ve missed you,\u201d he says, searching my eyes. It\u2019s sweet, sexy and so blissfully easy, and I felt so much watching these two come back together.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had many life experiences since I left this town, but none of them feel the way I feel when I\u2019m with you.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n They do have some hurdles to face, and have to deal with the challenges that exist outside of their happy bubble, as well as figure out what the future looks like for them. But, rest assured, this is an angst-free read with no unnecessary drama, and I loved watching them figure it all out.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand how different our lives are and how each is important to us. But I can\u2019t just be exiled from your life again. I want you \u2013 I\u2019ve always wanted you. Not a day has passed that I haven\u2019t wanted any part of you that you\u2019d give me.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n As with most Locke series, there is a great family introduced in the Marshalls. They are a close bunch, all up in each other\u2019s lives, and I\u2019ll be diving into the first book for older Marshall brother, Chase, and I\u2019m looking forward to more from this fantastic bunch.<\/p>\n Such a gorgeous read, I loved this book \u2013 4.5 stars!<\/p>\n An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n More Than I Could (#1)<\/strong> (Chase & Megan) This Much Is True (#2)<\/strong> (Luke & Laina) <\/p>\n She loves connecting with readers, fall weather, football, reading alpha heroes, everything pumpkin, and pretending to garden.<\/p>\n Hailing from a tiny town in the Midwest, Adriana spends her free time with her high school sweetheart (who she married over twenty years ago) and their four sons (who truly are her best work). Her kitchen may be a perpetual disaster, and if all else fails, there is always pizza.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Website\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Goodreads\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Amazon\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Facebook Group<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Instagram\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 \u00a0TikTok\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Bookbub<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Pinterest\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0 \u00a0Youtube\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0 \u00a0Verve<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This Much Is True by Adriana Locke is live! This is a gorgeously sweet second-chance-romance. A huge pop star on the run from her wedding flees to the only place she can think of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73936,"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":[57,9,24,29],"tags":[763,59,1543,48],"class_list":["post-74159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","category-romance","category-second-chance-romance","category-steamy","tag-adriana-locke","tag-arc","tag-marshall-family","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\/2024\/03\/This-Much-Is-True.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-ji7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74159","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=74159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/73936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Amazon Worldwide<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\nReview<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n\u201cYou haven\u2019t seen me in a long time. I can do lots of things that you don\u2019t know about.\u201d
\nOur gazes collide as soon as the words come out of my mouth. The corner of Luke\u2019s mouth tugs toward the ceiling.
\n\u201cI may have you prove that,\u201d he says before walking away.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cPlease do.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\nMarshall Family<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n
\nReview<\/a>
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\nMeet Adriana<\/b><\/h4>\n
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USA Today and Amazon Charts Bestselling author, Adriana Locke, writes contemporary romances about the two things she knows best\u2014big families and small towns. Her stories are about ordinary people finding extraordinary love with the perfect combination of heart, heat, and humor.<\/p>\n