Spotlight & Review: The Loner by Kate Moore

Posted 11/12/2014 by Isabelle MBTL in review / 1 Comment

I received this book for free from Book Plug Promotions in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Spotlight & Review: The Loner by Kate Moore

The Loner by Kate Moore
Series: The Canyon Club #1
Published by Boroughs Publishing Group on November 20, 2014
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 200
Source: Book Plug Promotions
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
three-half-stars

Series Rating: four-stars

PRIDE

Loner Will Sloan, son of a waitress and a dead rodeo cowboy, former scholarship
student, new billionaire, is back in L.A., land of palm-lined drives and fiery
sunsets. His friends urge him to jump into the hot city dating scene, but a
chance encounter at a school reunion revives a powerful past love. He’s never
forgotten Annie James…and this time around, he swears he’ll do the walking out.

AND PERSUASION

Widowed young, Annie James believes she’s
recovered from the early heartbreaks that left her single and jobless at 24.
Ten years later, she’s got a job, a house, and a personal passion helping
at-risk kids. Then she steps up to do a favor for a friend and help a poor boy
win a scholarship to the Canyon School. Doing so unlocks the door to the past,
and to the one man who could break her heart again. This time, though, love
will conquer all.

“Moore is a talent to
remember.” —RT Book Reviews

Blurb:

Gatsby meets Persuasion in
a story of sex and money in L.A. as a self-sufficient loner, new billionaire
Will Sloan, dares to cross the divide of privilege to claim his lost love.

AMAZON ** SMASHWORDS

Annie James left the boy she loves ten years ago, because she knew he was too young with a bright future ahead of him. Now, fate has brought them together again and it feels like he wants revenge.

Will Sloan have been hurt before, now he gets a second chance to clean the slates of his past and he believes that he needs to get revenge to start a new beginning. What he doesn’t expect is the pull that Annie still has over him, and the fact that hate is too close to love to comfort. Will he what he wants or what he needs?

The Loner is a good romance of learning how to let it go. The plot is a bit slow at some points, but the concept behind it’s really good. I love the school, or better yet, I love the school that it can become. I like the idea of what comes next and I love a few of the secondary characters.The main characters are good, but Will got on my nerves a few times.

Will is a deep character. Sometimes he is a bit immature, sometimes he seems a bit lost, the truth is that he has hang on to his pride and let this misguided notion leads his life’s choice. He evolves a lot through this story and it’s nice to see this evolution.

Annie is a great heroine. I like her choices and I like the person she has become. She is an easy character to love, connect and relate.

Ms. Moore has created a good beginning of a promising series with some amazing characters to be explored in the future. I love Josh, and I can’t wait to read his book. I also like some other guys from the 05 class and I believe this school setting is perfect for a series. I’m really looking forward to see what comes next!

You may like this book if you enjoy HEAs, you should read this because you want to see multidimensional characters; but you MUST read this if you enjoy complicated and beautiful romance stories!

EXCERPT from The Loner:

“Whatever
committee I’m on. She has to be on it.”

“It can be arranged.”

“Arrange it.” Will turned and walked away before he did anything
else stupid. He headed for the short hallway off the main patio. He hadn’t made
his revenge speech yet.

He leaned against the wall opposite the door marked “Women,” tipped
his head back against the stucco surface, and drew a steadying breath. He could
count the number of times he’d seen her without a jacket. The lavender dress she
wore offered revealing views of her person. From thin straps the neckline dipped
in a simple lace-edged V. While Chambers spoke, Will’s eyes kept wandering back
to that dipping V. He imagined hooking his fingers in those straps and pushing them
down over her shoulders. And then telling her how over her he was. That was the
plan, right?

When the door opened, he shifted, flattening a palm against each
wall, blocking her way. She halted in front of him and squared her shoulders.

“Nice lace.”

She blushed instantly, and her response sent a hot flash to his
groin.

She recovered quicker than he did. “Do you know why Josh Huntington
threw us together tonight?”

“His deep devotion to Canyon.”

A look of disgust crossed her face. “Josh doesn’t do anything
that isn’t purely in his own self-interest.”

He was glad to hear her say it. At least she wasn’t taken in by
the guy. His own questions were pressing on him again. “Why did you leave Canyon?”

“Why did you come here tonight?”

He kept his palms flat against each wall. “Are you kidding? New
Directions for Canyon? I’m the only guy who doesn’t see the place as a holy shrine.
You want to hear my idea for Canyon? Sell it to developers, bring in the wrecking
ball and the backhoes, and give hundreds of poor kids a full college ride.”

“An excellent plan. Hostile, but practical.” She tried to slip
by him, and he leaned forward, bringing his face within inches of hers.

“Make me less hostile.” He reached out a hand and tucked a strand
of her hair behind her ear. Her whole body shivered at the touch, and he felt gut-punched.
He forced himself to press for the answers he wanted. “Why didn’t you answer that
letter?”

He caught a puzzled look in her eyes, but the men’s room door
opened.

“This is not the time or the place for this conversation.”

“Come with me. You can explain it.”

Voices intruded. Two men stepped into the hallway and halted.
Will took his hands from the walls. Deep brown eyes pleaded with him. He took her
arm, leading her down the hall.

“You were eighteen,” she said in a low voice.

“I knew my mind. You pretended not to know yours.”

“You had an amazing college opportunity ahead of you.”

“You didn’t believe in me. You believed in guys like Moreland,
but not in me. You thought I wouldn’t make it.”

“You had not even begun to live. I was a widow. My husband had
been dead barely a year. A year.”

“You saw where I lived,” he said quietly. “You were afraid to
take a chance on a nobody like me.”

“I did what I had to do, what I thought was right. And look at you. You’ve done
well. Without me. You can’t deny it.” She slipped out of his hold and headed across
the patio.

A smart man would let her go. He decided to be smart.

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About Kate Moore

Kate has lived most of her life along the California coast. That experience has made her a jeans-wearing, toes in wet-sand, married to a surfer, fog-loving weather wimp, with a hint of East Coast polish from spending her college years in Boston. Family history connects her to Irish and English immigrants, Cornish miners, gold prospectors, and adventurers who sailed around Cape Horn bound for San Francisco.

When she’s not reading, writing or brainstorming, Kate walks in the redwoods, feed birds, collect books, apples and leaves; she watches tele-novellas on Spanish-language TV and immerses herself in all things English. Her favorite food groups are butter, brown sugar, dark chocolate, and red wine. Kate’s early literary influences were The Little Engine That Could, The Little Red Hen, and Winnie the Pooh. Austen, Heyer, Chaucer, and Homer came later and inspired her to put that first plot on paper.

Kate’s heroes are honorable, virile outsiders with some grand ambition; her heroines are practical princesses, who drive those edgy loners into love with good sense and good sex.

Her family and friends offer endless support and humor. Kate says her children are her best works, and her husband is her favorite hero.