SYNOPSIS
Lee Stone is a twenty-first-century woman: she kicks butt at her job as a communications director at a women-run electric car company (that’s better than Tesla, thank you), and after work she is “Stoner,” drinking guys under the table and never letting any of them get too comfortable in her bed…
That’s because Lee’s learned one big lesson: never trust love. Four major heartbreaks set her straight, from her father cheating on her mom all the way to Ben Laderman in grad school—who wasn’t actually cheating, but she could have sworn he was, so she reciprocated in kind.
Then Ben shows up five years later, working as a policy expert for the most liberal governor in Texas history, just as Lee is trying to get a clean energy bill rolling. Things get complicated—and competitive—as Lee and Ben are forced to work together. Tension builds just as old sparks reignite, fanning the flames for a romantic dustup the size of Texas.
Title: Fool me once
Author: Ashley Winstead
Publisher: Graydon House
Publication date: April 5, 2022
Ashley Winstead is an academic turned novelist with a Ph.D. in contemporary American literature. She lives in Houston with her husband, two cats, and beloved wine fridge.
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REVIEW
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
After In My Dreams I Hold A Knife, her smashing debut last year, Ashley Winstead does a 180º and delivers a complete different thing for her second novel. One could wonder if the transition from dark thriller to rom-com would work and, rest assured those of you with any doubts (I had none), it absolutely does! It was bloody fantastic! She is now not only a name to watch in the thriller genre but also in the romance one.
Lee Stone (Stoner for her friends) is a comms director at a women’s electric car company in Texas. After some heartbreaks she’s sworn never to do relationships again, but her try to get a clean energy bill rolling will put back in her life Ben Laderman, her last boyfriend and the one she cheated on before he could cheat on her. Now, five years later, when forced to work together old sparks will reignite but will their past allow them to flame?
I absolutely adored this enemies to lovers story. Kicking it off with an hilarious first scene it just keeps getting better and better as it progressed. It was a romance, yes, but with much more depth than your typical romances. I usually avoid stories in which politics play a main part but here I found all those politics added a whole layer to the story that served not only as an excuse to moved the story forward but to make really important points about climate change, sexism, misogyny and feminism, with a cast of strong and ambitious women not afraid to mark their ground.
Both Lee and Ben were really well developed. They were three dimensional characters, with their virtues and their flaws, which made them much more realistic and engaging. Their chemistry was off the charts and the level of steam was just the right amount to not overpower the story. The banter between them was hilarious with several laugh out loud moments. Despite their setbacks I could not help but root for them both personally and professionally.
Fool Me Once was much more than a romance. It was a story about love but also about fighting for what you believe in, trust and forgiveness, not only about forgiving others but more importantly, learning to forgive yourself. With it Ashley Winstead proves she can write anything she wants and I’ll be there to read it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Graydon House for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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