BOOK INFORMATION
TITLE – Time to Begin
SERIES – Ward Sisters, #5
AUTHOR – Patti Korbet
GENRE – Contemporary Romance
PUBLICATION DATE – September 15, 2014
LENGTH (Pages/# Words) – estimated at 125k words
PUBLISHER – Patricia Korbet
COVER ARTIST – Patti Korbet
COVER ARTIST – Patti Korbet
BOOK SUMMARY
She'd been dealt too many blows to count. He'd always lived life on easy street. Are they Yin and Yang or a mistake of epic proportions?
Makeup artist Reggie Reynolds has endured a life as colorful as her ever-changing hair. After a painful childhood and a tragic adolescence, by sheer force of will, she found success – first in Hollywood, then on Broadway. Returning to her hometown offers a chance to help her aging grandfather and realize her dreams, not to mention soothe a broken heart. But even her storied past won't prepare Reggie for what happens in her next chapter.
When reporter Eddie Besson meets Reggie on a flight to New York City, he thinks he's at an all-time high-point in his cushy, perpetual-youth life. Twenty-four hours with Reggie changes Eddie's perspective. Despite the fact she doesn't want anything to do with him when he leaves, Eddie can't stop thinking about the girl from New York City long after he's gone from the Big Apple.
As Eddie's perfectly-orchestrated life falls apart, he has some tough decisions to make, with only one thing certain: there will be consequences to pay for his lackadaisical approach to adulthood. Reggie's own soul-searching reveals some painful truths, including guilt about passing judgment on the guy from Maine. When she runs into Eddie again – this time on his home turf – sparks fly and decisions must be made, choices that aren't universally well-received. Will this unlikely pair go all-in, find a way to balance the scales and live life on their own terms? Or will tragedy tear them apart for good?
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EXCERPT
The girl with the pink and black striped hair kept looking at him. Eddie thought he was just being paranoid at first, but she was definitely staring. He didn't think he could possibly know her – after all, she looked like part of a Punk crowd, and despite his appreciation for the genre, that was definitely not his speed of social group. Maybe they'd had classes together in college. She might be around his age. But though he felt like he knew her somehow, he didn't recognize her.
Pink Hair didn't make any effort to engage him. Nonetheless, there she was, staring again. This time, though, her eyes watered and she looked like she struggled to keep the tears away. Maybe she wasn't staring at him so much as through him. He should probably ignore her. But then her eyes drifted shut and a tear escaped, running down a surprisingly angelic face.
Shit, he thought. Don't do it, Besson. Just stay where you are.
Too late.
He got up and moved to sit next to her. When he put his hand over hers, she jumped a little and looked at him, confused.
“Hey, you okay?” Eddie asked.
“Um, not really. But it's nothing. Don't worry about it.”
“If it was nothing, then you wouldn't be crying. Want to talk about it?” Jesus, what was it with him and providing an ear these days? First Kay and her marital troubles, now a stranger? Who next? Maybe she'd say no. Hopefully.
“No, that's okay.”
Oh, good. That's a relief, he thought. Eddie's hand was still covering hers and she looked down at it. Since she didn't pull her hand away, Eddie left his there. Maybe it comforted her. Maybe it would be enough and she wouldn't use him as a sounding board. She sniffed and when she looked up she smiled at him.
“I'm Reggie.”
“Eddie. You headed to New York?”
“Yeah. You?”
He nodded. “I've got a meeting.”
“Oh? You in finance or something?”
Eddie laughed. Hardly. “No. Reporter. I work at a small-town newspaper up north. My boss is sending me to meet with a potential new buyer for the paper.”
She'd bristled a little at the word 'reporter', but relaxed again when he said he worked at a small-town paper. Huh.
“Because you run things?”
“Nah. They want to meet with all the editors and I was away when they came last month. I guess it's nearly a done deal and they want to figure out where we all fit in their organization.”
“Oh. How long are you in the city?”
“A day. Fly down today, fly back tomorrow. What about you? Why are you headed to NYC?”
“I live there. Well, in Brooklyn, anyway. I work in the city.”
“What do you do? If you don't mind my asking. Sorry. Reporter's instinct to ask questions.”
“It's okay. I'm a makeup artist.”
“Oh yeah? Where do you work? In the movies?”
“I did. For a long time I worked in L.A. on movie and TV sets. I've been on a Broadway play for the past seven months. We were supposed to be done after six weeks. Then it stretched to six months. We're regrouping right now, but we're back to work tomorrow. They're talking about a long-term run.”
“Sounds like you're pretty excited about it.”
“It's basically my dream job. I always wanted to work on Broadway, but it's hard to get into the business there. Much easier in Hollywood, where there are a million different productions. Eventually, if you meet the right people, you're set. I got lucky and hooked up with a stylist when he was just getting started. That led to where I am now.”
Eddie smiled. “Seems like you made some smart moves.”
“I did. Now I get to work in my hometown and be near my family.”
Eddie laughed. “Me too. But somehow, I don't think my hometown quite compares with yours.”
“No? Population isn't in the millions? No loud noises, smelly exhaust or ridiculous traffic?”
“No all-night takeout, no clubs with up-and-coming music. No way to escape your family, even when they're driving you nuts. I love everything about New York.”
“Me, too,” Reggie said. “Those are just people's usual complaints. But everything you said, that's the reasons why I love living there. Plays, music, art, culture, food, history. It's all there.”
Now boarding Delta Flight 1220 to New York's LaGuardia at Gate 8. Please have your ID and boarding passes ready.
“I guess it's time to board. Where are you sitting?” Eddie asked.
“Um, 14C,” Reggie said, looking at her boarding pass.
“No way. I'm in 14A. Looks like we're sitting together.”
Reggie smiled. “Good. I was going to have to ask your seatmate if I could switch. Now I don't have to do that.”
CAT'S REVIEW
"Time to Begin" by Patti Korbet - the story of Eddie and Reggie. Eddie, a reporter from Maine, meets Reggie, a makeup artist in NYC. I liked Reggie - she's a strong woman that has overcome some tough times but still has managed to make the best of her life. Eddie, after meeting her, realizes he has not done the same. I wasn't a huge fan of Eddie - he didn't seem right for Reggie - to me he was a bit weak - but I guess that's what he needed in Reggie. I wasn't sure what Reggie got from him though. I really wanted to like him and the two of them together more throughout but it was tough for me. I didn't totally dislike them, I just didn't always feel the connection. I have to say, though, that the ending was wonderful - from Eddie's traumatic event to the epilogue. I haven't read the previous books in the series and perhaps it would have helped by giving me some more background but I'm not sure. (Received an ARC for an honest review)
★★★.5
AUTHOR INFO
For a majority of her life, two things have been true about Patti Korbet: she loves to read and she has a very active imagination. You can often find her with a book or her Kindle in hand. And in the last few years, she's frequently been typing away at her little netbook, turning the myriad thoughts that run through her head into story ideas.
Her career path to author has had many twists and turns, but Patti has been making up stories in her mind for as long as she can remember. Just as her son turned 9 months old, she made serious work of molding those stories into works of fiction. She put her nose to the grindstone in the fall of 2012 and hasn't looked back since.
When not reading or writing, Patti pretends to be a gardener, loves to dance, watches a variety of shows with compelling characters and most importantly, takes care of her family of four. She hopes one day to convince her husband that fiction writing is a worthy pursuit. In the meantime, she's proud to see the seeds of imaginative storytellers and prolific readers in her daughter and son.
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ReplyDeleteThank you for the review! Your honesty is appreciated and I'm glad you loved the ending. I enjoyed your assessment of the relationship between Reggie and Eddie - I want my characters to feel like they could be people you know. So often, there are couples we know who get looks from friends or acquaintances, shaking their head and saying, "He doesn't really deserve her" or "I see what he gets out of that relationship, but what does she get?" Not everyone sees these couples that way, but certainly some do, and I love hearing someone say that very thing about my characters, because that means I succeeded in making them realistic. If you'd like to read about Reggie and Eddie from another perspective, Reggie appears in Back to December and Only One, and as Josh's best friend, Eddie is a secondary character in This Year's Love.
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