Review: Now and Then
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 9, 2014
I really wanted to love this story however...The heroine was a hypocrite and annoyed meI gave the book 3 stars because I liked the story and the Hero was a great guy (for the most part). He only annoyed me once when his mother called him on a derogatory word he used in her presence an instead of apologizing like an upstanding adult (who respects his mother) should have done, he responds with as he is 27 years old he should be able to say whatever he likes. He came off sounding like a preteen jerk in that moment.Unfortunately I had a real problem with Emma and spent most of the book wishing I could reach through my computer and slap her.So the book is about two sisters, Emma and Layla who are two years apart in age with Emma being the younger of the two. They are also as different as night and day with Layla being a cheerleader, outgoing, and popular while Emma is shy and a bit geeky. They both develop a crush on the boy who moves in across the street, Cole. He is a year older then Layla an three years older then Emma. He takes Layla out a couple times in high-school and he takes her to his senior prom. That night Layla tells a devastated Emma that she lost her virginity to him.Years later Emma runs into him (literally) in a coffee shop. The accidental meeting leaves an impression on Cole who is now an attorney as is Layla. Emma is a graphic artist. Emma and Cole start seeing each other. Layla has a list of goals and next on the list is to get married. She sets her sights on Cole.when he shows up at their parents house with his parents.for dinner. Emma decides to keep her relationship with Cole a secret. First because she's afraid Layla will take him away from her, then because she doesn't want to hurt her sister, then because she's afraid to make her sister angry.I was okay with her deception at first but then became irritated when she became a fanatic about it. At one point when Layla was trying to insinuate herself into Cole's path so he would take notice of her she called Emma an told her that she joined the same charity board that Cole was involved in. Instead of warning Cole Emma says nothing leaving it so Cole is completely surprised when Layla shows up at a meeting he's having with the directors. Layla then twists his arm to have drinks with her so he can catch her up on what the charity is about. When he texts Emma and asks if he can see her that night he is upfront and tells her he's meeting Layla or drinks. She responds and asks him why he's having drinks with Layla and he tells her about Layla joining his charity. She then had the audacity to get mad at him when she knew what her sister was up to. UG!So I mentioned earlier that I thought Emma was a hypocrite and here is why...Early in their relationship Emma tells Cole when she was in Paris studying art she had a LOT of casual sex. With all the guys she slept with she only had one serious relationship which she later tells Cole wasn't that serious even though they lived together for a short time.So one of Emma's biggest problems with Cole is that she believes he slept with Layla the night of his senior prom. When she finally confronts him about it he tells her he never slept with Layla. She calls him a liar because her paragon of a sister told her otherwise. He tells her several times he never slept with Layla and that he has never lied to her. She then throws his sister in his face because she knows he hasn't been completely honest about the sister Emma only met once and whom Cole has always been secretly ashamed of. They argue and Cole tells her they are through and walks out.Later when Emma has a conversation with her friend Dani, Dani tells her being as Cole slept with Layla in high-school maybe it didn't mean anything to him. Emma tells Dani that if Cole can have meaningless casual sex then maybe he isn't the man for her. At this point I'm like HUH? what about all the meaningless casual sex she had in Paris? Pot calling kettle much?Later when she finds out Layla lied to her about sleeping with Cole I so wanted Cole to tell her where to go and how to get there. But of course he didn't.Then my last issue was the hair pulling drag out Emma and Layla got into on Christmas Eve at their parents house. We got the F bomb more then once as well as several others and then Emma throws all the guys Layla has slept with in her face in front of their parents. I couldn't believe these two were adults and this wasn't happening during one of the many flash backs to their teen years because neither of them were acting like grown women. not to mention neither showed an ounce of respect for their parents. Emma should have showed Layla some compassion knowing Layla had had a crush on Cole and Cole wasn't interested, after all she had been there herself. She also should have apologized for deceiving Layla for months and Layla should have acted like an adult and moved on but IMO I think she was reacting to Emma lying to her more then she was in losing a guy she never had to begin with,I was a bit surprised that after ten years of friendship the Marlowes didn't trust the Carsons with the truth about their daughter and the Carsons didn't feel the need to share Mrs. Carson's health scare with the Marlowes.Lastly .I correctly guessed Cole's sister Shay's issue the first time Emma met her. ;). I'm glad he made peace with it.I am going to say I do recommend this book even though it irritated me because I still think the story was good