After All by Karina Halle (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by Self Published on July 2, 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, General, Romance
Format: eBook
- A fake relationship? √
- Lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers? √- A one-night stand turned into a lie of epic proportions? √AFTER ALL hits all the requirements for the PERFECT SUMMER ROMANCEFun, light & sexy as sin, this STANDALONE contemporary romance from the NYT and USA Today bestselling author of The Pact and Before I Ever Met You, will make you laugh, blush and swoon your heart out.
Emmett Hill is the perfect gentleman.
At least that's what his PR team wants the world to think.
Tall, handsome, and wickedly charming, Emmett is in the midst of a career comeback, having landed the role of a villain in a popular TV show. The only problem is, Emmett has come a long way from the "nice guy" characters he used to play and his old squeaky clean image is quickly being tarnished by bar fights, womanizing and bad boy behaviour. Considering he's two years shy of forty, it's an act he needs to drop. And fast.
Enter Alyssa Martin.
At twenty-eight, Alyssa is tired and ready for a change. Her job as office manager has grown stagnant and unfulfilling, while she's become continuously frustrated with Vancouver's lackluster dating scene, always searching for Mr. Right in a city of Mr. Wrongs.
When Emmett and Alyssa's paths cross at a mutual friend's wedding, their chemistry is off-the-charts hot, culminating in a steamy one-night stand.
What neither expected was for the media catch wind of their coupling - and run with it.
Now Emmett has to convince Alyssa to date him for the sake of his image. Her curvy, cute and "normal" persona is just the ticket to smoothing out his reputation, while Emmett provides Alyssa with the excitement and change her life has been lacking.
The only problem is, the two fight like cats and dogs outside of the bedroom.
And considering their arrangement is just for show, they shouldn't be in the bedroom with each other anyway.
Right?
Try telling them that.
Note: After All is a spinoff of Before I Ever Met You, however it is a complete standalone novel. You do not need to read Before I Ever Met You to enjoy After All as it follows different characters
This was such a fun and sexy read! I love enemies to lovers stories, and while that doesn’t necessarily 100% fit for this story, it’s close enough!
Alyssa is not going to fall for the charms of Emmett Hill – He’s handsome & charming, and making his comeback as the villain in a popular TV show. The media is obsessed with who he’s sleeping with and the revolving door that is his bedroom as well as his now regular fights that are tarnishing the once squeaky clean image he had. But one thing Alyssa can’t deny is the chemistry between them, and when she gives in at a friend’s wedding, pictures are snapped and in order to turn things around in the media, Emmett has to convince Alyssa that she should pretend to date him for a few months.
Emmett is tired of the media raking him over the coals for his reactions to being taunted… but when the public absolutely loves the idea of him falling for a ‘normal’ girl like Alyssa, he’ll do whatever he can to convince her to stick around for a couple months. If they explore the sexual connection between them along the way… what kind of harm could that cause right?
So I’m a sucker for this kind of story, and despite not loving the one other book I had read by Halle, I knew I had to give this one a try. First an older MC – sign me up! I love love that Emmett is 38 in this story. I love a guy who has a few years and some experience under his belt… literally. I’m not 20 anymore and while I like reading about guys / girls who are, sometimes I need a hero who is a bit more mature! Second, it’s clear that Alyssa isn’t just going to fall at Emmett’s feet because of who he is. Emmett really had to make an effort to woo her and earn her love and respect.
This was sexy and fun and everything I had hoped it would be. Do you love a dirty talker? Because then Emmett is seriously your man. The things that came out of this guys mouth… *fans self* but… and I will stress this… they weren’t cheesy or over the top… I didn’t cringe once while reading the sex scenes in this book and that’s hard for me! But on top of the dirty talk there was some seriously fun banter and I really enjoyed seeing these two get to know each other.
There is some drama of course … and both Emmett and Alyssa has some pretty heavy baggage to deal with. I wish that those things had been fleshed out a bit more. Additionally, I felt the big “issue” at the end was both a bit predictable and ugh a bit frustrating. cue spoiler (view spoiler).
Overall, a hot and sexy read with minor issues at the end. If Halle writes more like this, I’ll definitely be reading it.
About Karina Halle
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of Where Sea Meets Sky, Racing the Sun, The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.
Halle is represented by the Waxman Leavell Agency and is both self-published and published by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.
Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.
