Review Tour & Giveaway: Searching for Always by Jennifer Probst

Searching for Always by Jennifer Probst

(Searching For #4)

June 30, 2015
384 pages
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance 18+
Contains: sex, profanity
Source: eARC for Honest review

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Jennifer Probst sparks a blissful mind-body connection as her “sexy, satisfying” (Kirkus Reviews) new series continues!

She’s an expert in helping others de-stress, but Arilyn Meadows is running on fumes. Along with her job counseling singles seeking soul mates at the Kinnections agency in Verily, New York, she’s a yoga teacher, animal shelter volunteer, anger management therapist, and helping hand to her beloved grandfather. No time to find Mr. Right—but after discovering her yogi boyfriend in a compromising asana, Arilyn would rather dog-sit for her honeymooning friend Kate than risk her heart on another downward dog. And when police officer Stone Petty—radiating masculinity and bad-boy attitude—is sent to her for mandatory lessons in cooling off when the job gets too hot, Arilyn vows to ignore his seductive glances and sexy grin. But there’s no halting their sizzling flirtation—a red-hot, high-speed chase that’s breaking all the limits.

'Searching for Always' is the fourth book in a series, but can be read as a standalone. Arilyn Meadows has been part of the series since the beginning, but in a supporting role, and not thoroughly fleshed out. Officer Stone Petty was briefly introduced in the last book, but only played a minor role. Any major bits about them previously introduced are restated here, so if this is your first read of this series, you are good to go.

The fun thing about Arilyn and Stone is that they have such a rough start together. Their first glance wasn't a stolen moment from heaven where the stars aligned, birds sang, and a rainbow spread across the sky. No, their first encounter was full of animosity, piss, and vinegar. Not even frenemies. Just plain enemies. Each has a past - Arilyn's very fresh and painful, Stone's distant but equally painful - which has shaped who they are, how they trust, and how they react to the world. But despite each having life's disappointments, they couldn't be more opposite. In fact, they are so opposite it's quite comedic: vegetarian vs fast food junkie, yoga vs weight lifting, wine vs beer, police officer vs counselor, meditation vs aggression. And that's where they meet again, when Stone is forced to attend Arilyn's anger management sessions. Talk about setting themselves up for something crazy (or amazing) to happen.

What I liked most about this story is watching how both Arilyn and Stone changed, made compromises, but also learned from each other, often the hard way, as only strong personalities can do. As they slowly started seeing the positives in each other, and not just the things they disagreed with, they grew past frenemies into people the other could trust, or at least hope to trust. Because trust was a tenative thing here. Especially when each had been hurt in past relationships. But then small catalysts like Arilyn's dad, Arilyn's neighbor, and the ultimate sweetness to the pot - Pinky - triggered changes that neither had even imagined. Those sweet moments of "family" and love were my favorites. And, of course, Arilyn and Stone have a boat load of sexual chemistry. Stone actually takes Arilyn to places she's never been before, and it was just one more instance of their compatibility. Let's just say, Stone is quite the man.

Overall, I loved Arilyn and Stone's beautiful love story. This was a great romantic read of opposites attract, but also opposites can make each other better together than they were alone. And past hurts don't have to sacrifice future love and trust. It was also a beautiful tribute to the love of family, whether that family is human or pet, blood or not. 

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Jennifer Probst wrote her first book at twelve years old. She bound it in a folder, read it to her classmates, and hasn’t stopped writing since. She took a short hiatus to get married, get pregnant, buy a house, get pregnant again, pursue a master’s in English Literature, and rescue two shelter dogs. Now she is writing again.

She makes her home in Upstate New York with the whole crew. Her sons keep her active, stressed, joyous, and sad her house will never be truly clean.
She is the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of sexy and erotic contemporary romance. She was thrilled her book, The Marriage Bargain, was ranked #6 on Amazon's Best Books for 2012. She loves hearing from readers. Visit her website for updates on new releases and her street team at www.jenniferprobst.com.

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Help pet rescue shelters by posting a picture of your rescued pet, or sharing your favorite shelter, and using the hashtag #SEARCHINGFORRESCUES. 4 shelters will get a $50 prize (winners choice) and 1 a grand prize winner will also get a prize pack from Jennifer Probst.

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