Review: I Only Have Eyes For You by Bella Andre

  Title: I Only Have Eyes For You
  Author: Bella Andre
  Publisher: Oak Press LLC
  Publication date: January 1st 2012
  Source: Netgalley
  My rating: 3.5 stars

 

Goodreads Description: Get ready for another Sullivan to fall in love in Bella Andre's bestselling contemporary romance series!

Sophie Sullivan, a librarian in San Francisco, was five years old when she fell head over heels in love with Jake McCann. Twenty years later, she's convinced the notorious bad boy still sees her as the "nice" Sullivan twin. That is, when he bothers to look at her at all. But when they both get caught up in the magic of the first Sullivan wedding, she knows it's long past time to do whatever it takes to make him see her for who she truly is...the woman who will love him forever.

Jake has always been a magnet for women, especially since his Irish pubs made him extremely wealthy. But the only woman he really wants is the one he can never have. Not only is Sophie his best friend's off-limits younger sister...he can't risk letting her get close enough to discover his deeply hidden secret.

Only, when Sophie appears on his doorstep as Jake's every fantasy come to life-smart, beautiful, and shockingly sexy-he doesn't have a prayer of taking his eyes, or his hands, off her. And he can't stop craving more of her sweet smiles and sinful kisses. Because even though Jake knows loving Sophie isn't the right thing to do...how can he possibly resist?

Twenty-five year-old Sophie Sullivan is one of six children.  With four overly protective brothers and twin sister, any man she decides to date doesn’t stand a chance.  But Sophie doesn’t want just any man; she wants long-time family-friend and bad-boy, Jake.  Unbeknownst to either of them, they’ve each harbored a secret crush and longing for the other for years.  Sophie feels Jake could never notice her, the “nice” one of the twins, she feels plain and ordinary compared to the other Sullivan siblings. 

Jake feels Sophie is out of his league.  She’s gorgeous, smart and accomplished.  He feels like he’s not good enough for her and is certain her brothers would never approve, especially in light of his womanizing reputation.  Also, Jake has a closely guarded secret that makes him feel even less worthy, and he’s not about to tell her about that. 

After witnessing her brother’s wedding and love story, Sophie’s determined to make Jake notice her and capture his heart.  She shows up at his doorstep, throwing caution to the wind, with a plan to seduce him.  That night Sophie and Jake’s dreams come true:

”No one has ever kissed me like that,” she said in a breathless voice, “like you couldn’t get enough, like you couldn’t stop yourself and I was driving you crazy.  All these years and I never knew it would be like that.”

 Unfortunately, the morning is a different story altogether.

What I love about this story:

There is no third-party angst: No one that you wish would be written out of the story so the lovers could get on with it already!

There is no insta-love: Sophie and Jake have known each other since she was five.  Through the story they both come to realize how much attention they both quietly paid to each other, how much they’ve been on each others radar.   

This is relatively frustration and drama free: You know what I’m talking about.  The part when we reach about 75-80% in the story and they figure out they can never be together.  Usually it’s some sort of highly annoying situation where lack of communication is involved. 

 

This is a perfect light and sexy read! Wonderful for when you need an escape from real-life, and don’t well all need that once in a while?  Win and win!  This was part of the Sullivan series but you don’t need to read them before to enjoy this.  However, I probably would’ve appreciated the references/updates on the other brothers if I had.  My only complaint was at the beginning of the story Sophie is treated so much like a child and I found over the top.  Fortunately, this goes on for only a small portion of the story.  This was a sweet and very addictive story, and I find myself wanting to find out about the other Sullivan siblings. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Oak Press LLC for allowing me to read this.