Living in the Shallows
by Tani Hanes
Genre: NA Romance
Release Date: October 28th 2016
Summary from Goodreads:
Aileen Foster is half Japanese, rocky smart, brilliant at the piano, and really, really poor. She also likes to keep herself to herself; “an arm’s length sort of girl, with a very long arm”, as someone describes her in Living in the Shallows. Through her professor, she gets an amazing job for the summer in Japan as an interpreter for popular boyband UK Crush, who are making a movie.
When she meets the boys, she’s shocked by their openness, kindness, and frank physicality. She’s never met anyone like these guys before, who live so raucously, emotionally, and they awaken feelings she’s never had, particularly Theo, the acknowledged flirt and womanizer of the band. She travels with them as they film the movie, falling more and more under the spell of these amazing boys, who themselves are charmed by the presence in their midst of an intelligent, articulate female who isn’t a crazy fan; who hadn’t really even known who they were before this job:
Gethin, the ginger Welshman, who keeps his feelings to himself, but won’t hesitate to throw a punch if he thinks someone he cares about is being hurt;
Matthew, the gentle Scot, who is so beautiful that it almost hurts to look at him sometimes;
Ronan, the fun loving Irishman who loves to laugh;
Theo, the emotional English boy who loves with his whole heart, but seems to bounce from one beautiful woman to the next.
Eventually, Tink, as she’s known to the boys, realizes that she has to make some decisions about life and living that she never thought she’d have to make. Classical piano has been her whole life, and she is woefully unprepared to deal with the river of emotions released by being with these boys, Theo specifically. How can she give her heart to someone, anyone, when she never ever, thought she’d have to, let alone want to?
Buy Link: Amazon
Check out sample chapters of the sequel, Diving Deep, on Wattpad!
Excerpt:
I woke up to the sound of the knob on the interconnecting door being rattled.
“Hey! What’s going on in there then?” Ronan yelled from the other side. “Theo! Is Tinker Bell in there with you? She’s not in her room!”
“Good lord,” Teddy groaned. “That boy could raise the dead, honest to god.
“Shut up, Ronan!” he shouted.
“But Theo, Tink’s gone! We can’t find her! Is she in there?” Ronan roared.
“Fuck. Yes! We’re SLEEPING! Now leave us alone, please!” He rolled over.
I laughed and got out of bed. “Forget it; it’s probably time to get up, anyway.”
He rolled back over and covered his face with his pillow.
I picked up my UK Crush shirt and unlocked the door. The knob immediately turned and the door opened to show Ronan and Matty standing on the other side, one looking avidly curious, one looking upset and concerned.
Teddy appeared behind me, shirtless and crazy haired, eyes still bleary with sleepiness. “She had a nightmare and I was the only one awake. All we did was talk and then sleep, so get your minds out of the gutter, you two. I’m going to take a shower.” And he turned around and walked away.
They looked at me. I nodded. “Really, that’s what happened.”
Matty looked at me. “You okay now? All better?”
I kissed his cheek on the way by. “All better, truly, thanks for asking.” And I, too, headed for my room to shower.
About the Author
My name is Tani Hanes, and I am a 51 year old substitute teacher. I’m from central California and am a recent transplant to New York City. The most important things to know about me are that I’m punctual, I love grammar and sushi, and I’m very intolerant of intolerance. The least important things to know about me are that I like to knit and I couldn’t spell “acoustic” for 40 years. I’ve wanted to write since I was ten, and I finally did it. If you want to write, don’t wait as long as I did, it’s pointless, and very frustrating!
Author Links:
Website |Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook | Tumblr | Pinterest | Wattpad
GIVEAWAY:
Quick Reasons: cutesy contemporary; LOVE the relationships built in this read; diverse setting with some quirky, unique characters; complex dynamics; the snark is great; I’m a sucker for boy band romances; this was so adorable, I think my penguin beak rotted
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- fishing for more
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- entertaining
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- devoured it
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- hot and steamy
Huge thanks to Tani Hanes and YA Bound Book Tours for sending me a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review! This in no way changed my read of or opinions on this book.
Oh, my penguins. This was such an adorably sweet read. I mean, that’s not saying much really–I’m a huge sucker for boy band romances, as I think I’ve stated a time or two before in my reviews. But this one! This one was so cutesy, I think my penguin beak might have rotted just a little bit–and that’s not a bad thing at all, trust me!
I think my favorite part of this entire thing, though, were the relationships we got to see be built and steadily grow. The snark is delicious and entertaining from the start. Aileen’s reactions to and interactions with the boys only became more entertaining and amusing the further into the plot I got. The relationships are complex, realistic, and too endearing for the good of all readers–if you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself wishing you were part of the crowd.
The plot is what you’d expect from a cutesy contemporary read such as this–not filled with action, but there is a TON of drama and angst. There is a love triangle, but it’s brief…mostly because the love triangle quickly becomes a love, er… quintet? Quintuple? I mean seriously, it’s more amusing than it is annoying–Aileen ends up kissing each of the boys, though in different settings and, in a few instances, for different entertaining reasons. Trust me, you won’t mind the roMESS at all–because it’s the best kind of romess to have in a book.
This was, in the end, a highly entertaining, snark-tastic, roMESS of a read. I cannot wait to dive into the second book, as soon as it becomes available–I’m not sure where it’ll lead our characters, but I’m betting there’s bound to be more drama and kissing involved. I’d recommend this to lovers of boy band romances, cutesy contemporaries, and wonderfully realistic relationships. This book sang a lullaby to my heart; why don’t you turn your tv off and take a listen?
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