REVIEW: Someone Like You by Jennifer Gracen

Someone Like You (The Harrisons #2) by Jennifer Gracen: What I truly love about every book that I have read by Jennifer Gracen is that her characters are real. They have depth, they are not perfect, they hurt, they have been hurt, they are strong and they power through no matter what. They come out the other side stronger and better and that just makes me love this author and her characters even more. This is the second book in the Harrison series, and although I have read book 1, this series can be read as stand alone books without losing the reader. This is Pierce and Abby’s Story.

Pierce Harrison is the youngest of the Harrison children. The black sheep of the family, he has never gotten along with his father and felt that with the exception of his sister Tess, neither of his brothers really cared about him. At the age of 18 he snubbed the family fortune and set out on his own path, becoming a big name football (soccer) star in London. After a scandal forces Pierce into early retirement, he returns to his family home on Long Island to lick his wounds and figure out his life. He never thought a little league soccer team and their sexy coach could change his life for the better.

Abby McCord is a school teacher by day and soccer coach for her nephew, Dillions, team by night. Abby has been burned in love before and is not willing to be burned again. She guards her heart so that she is not lied to, not crushed again. But there is something about Pierce that makes her want to take a chance on him. When they are thrown together as co-coaches for the remainder of the year, Abby decides to take her sisters advice and have a little fun with the sexy bad boy, after all, she has already googled him and she knows all about his bad boy past.

When a family event pits Pierce and his father against each other, Pierce will begin to wonder if he is really good enough for Abby, if she would be better off without him, if he should push her away before she realizes that he is everything his father accused him of being. It will take the Harrison siblings to show some tough love to Pierce, to stand by him, to make him see that with Abby he can be exactly what he has always dreamed of being, the best of himself.

What I loved about Pierce and Abby is their connection. Abby calls Pierce on his bull and Pierce shows Abby with his actions that he will never lie to her, that he will always tell her the truth and never hurt her. But he does hurt her, and he does lie to her, and she knows it, and she calls him on it. She knows why he is pushing her away, and she is ready to fight for him, for them. Abby is a wonderfully strong character, but with the help of her mother, she comes to see that what she has had all of her life, a loving supportive family to lean on is the one thing that Pierce has never had.

The interaction and the intervention between Pierce and his siblings had me in tears and at time had me laughing out loud. The brothers that he thought wanted nothing to do with him, were ready to stand up and fight on his behalf, letting Pierce know without question that they were on his side, that they had his back and that they would stand by him no matter what.

Another amazing book by Jennifer Gracen and I look forward to more in this amazing series.

Book Info:

Publication: April 26th 2016 | Zebra Shout | The Harrisons #2

Pierce Harrison–yes, that Pierce Harrison, black sheep of the wealthy Harrison clan–has come home to his family’s luxurious Long Island compound. The big question is why the dangerously sexy soccer star agreed to coach a kids’ soccer team. His co-coach Abby McCord should be grateful. Instead she’s fending off some seriously smoldering advances from the scandal-ridden athlete. Good thing bad boys are so not her type . . .

Abby is definitely not lacking in passion, but the sweet-faced beauty needs to learn a thing or two about taking a team to the championship–and a whole lot about how to let a man into her once-broken heart. Pierce definitely knows how to make the moves, but will Abby trust that the bachelor the world has condemned as a scoundrel can settle down with the one woman who has taken hold of his heart?