Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead: Looking down the loaded barrel of her past where her 
abandonment and trust issues thoroughly stole the show called how to be the best at never getting hurt whilst hurting yourself, Lee Stone is literally plunged into her worst nightmare – working alongside her ex from 5 years earlier Ben Laderman.
Desperately trying to win her hard earned promotion, Lee plays the competition card with Ben who rises enthusiastically to the challenge with his fundamental belief that he’s got this one in the bag. In many ways, Lee or indeed Stoner believes this is his sweet revenge given the betrayal that led to Ben leaving Texas, and yet as both pool their skills and resources together it appears her yin is perfectly matched with his yang, until of course, it’s not and the progress they made on passing the Green Energy Bill falls into a total dust heap. Itching to crawl deeper beneath each other’s skin, both work hard at loving and hurting each other equally, trying to cling on to maturity, personal reflection and acceptance with both hands.
Energetic, quirky, and mixing politics and love in the very best kind of ways, Fool Me Once is a stellar example of what happens when love never really leaves the building despite being rough-handled out the door. With strong themes of forgiveness, trust and betrayal, it is evident that sometimes things in life just don’t pan out the way they are intended, and yet, in spite of this perhaps, both Stoner and Ben prove that fate and chaos never stop dancing the dance of love.
Throughout, tension and pacing were crafted cleverly and with as many lows as highs (and many hilariously messy moments in between), our two heroes earn our adoration page by page. Equally, both were well drawn characters, and whilst Stoner is by far the central character, it is their beautifully complimentary binaries that really sing home. Romance lovers, environmental crusaders and socially progressive thinkers will love this read in equal measures, and I highly recommend you pop this one in your pocket when you need a solid laugh, a harrowing cry and all other expressions of love in between
Book Info:
Publication: 5th April 2022 | Graydon House |
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. After 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
