Title: Catch Me Twice
Author: Charmaine Pauls
Genre: Second Chance Romance
Author: Charmaine Pauls
Genre: Second Chance Romance
Release Date: September 24, 2019
Blurb
If a man
tells you he’s no good for you, best heed the warning. I learned the hard way.
I had Jake Basson’s baby. He left to chase his dream. Now he’s back, demanding
a second chance, but why should I give him anything after four years of
nothing? No correspondence, no news. I finally have my life back on track. Jake
has never been uncomplicated. He never follows the rules. I should’ve known
he’d play dirty. He caught me once. I’m not going to let him catch me twice.
(Disclosure: This story contains
cheating. HEA guaranteed.)
Purchase Links
B&N / KOBO / APPLE BOOKS
Author Bio
Charmaine Pauls was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. She obtained
a degree in Communication at the University of Potchestroom, and followed a
diverse career path in journalism, public relations, advertising,
communications, photography, graphic design, and brand marketing. Her writing
has always been an integral part of her professions.
After relocating to Chile with her French husband, she fulfilled her passion to
write creatively full-time. Charmaine has published over twenty novels since 2011, as
well as several short stories and articles. Two of her shorts have been
selected by the International Literary Society for an anthology from across the
African continent.
When she is not writing, she likes to travel, read, and rescue cats. Charmaine
currently lives in France with her husband and children. Their household is a
linguistic mélange of Afrikaans, English, French and Spanish.
Author Links
It's an emotional whirlpool which just sucked me in and drowned. The churn of sentiments is very powerful and sweeping. I started this book yesterday and had difficulty putting it away to tend to life.
Having lived in South Africa, this story is close to my heart, nostalgia and memories came creeping back and I was back in Jo'burg and Karoo, flying over the Ostrich farms and the little town of Rensburg.
The financial conditions of the towns, coupled with local stigmas and gossips struck familiar and I somehow understand it better than anyone how the social structure works in Africa more than the most readers.
Jake Bassbon is a local popular Boy who captures the starry eyes of almost all of Rensburg, including Kristi Pretorius. She gets a chance to engage him for a few minutes in the local watering hole one night and the burning embers of passion flare up, breaking all barriers for them both.
Their plans which get shattered and life throws them a curve which land them on their asses.
He leaves for Dubai...
She is left back...
A fragile promise between them to wait for each other, gets battered by long 4 years and huge oceans & continents between them ultimately end up ripping it apart. A sad tragic end to what could have been a beautiful love story...
But wait.. It doesn't end yet.
After 4 years, numerous letters, countless failures, Jake ends up coming back to the place he hated the most - home to Rensburg.
"For failing at everything I’ve ever attempted, including relationships, studies, and my profession. Failing at life."
But everything has changed and everyone has moved on.
A glimpse into the story shows cheating, which doesn't bother me at all. Shit happens on the daily basis and in real life cheating is rampant everywhere, so the holier than thous can stow away the brick bats!!!
Everything that happened in between are layers of dirt, but I’m scrubbing them away one by one.
Sure the story has a few missteps and twists and turns but the growth the characters show was the highlight of the book. Kristi and Jake start out as naive high Schoolers, but an accidental mishap pulls them by their britches and they have to mature up overnight. The tides of time are cruel to both of them.
Whereas Jake drowns in misery and turns to self abuse and despair, Kristi has no choice but to jump from a girl to womanhood in one giant step. Her strength is her mother, Kristi develops into a very level headed character and her sensibility comes to maturity fully in the second half of the book, especially towards the end. I understood why she settled once, and then again...life's tough yanno, especially for a young girl on her back foot, with a baggage🤷♀️
Second thing just blew my mind was Jake's honesty. I so got why he failed, why he faded his memories and why he came back
We’re on the top of a steep mountain, and there’s no helicopter to offer a quick lift. If we want to get home, we don’t have a choice but to battle it down the cliffs.
But then he steps up to the challenge by offering up to kneel his ego for the the ultimate apology....GOBSMACKED!! The most difficult thing to bear on the planet......and he offers it to Kristi..O.M.G and that's not even the BEST part!
The BEST part was the reason he gives her... My tears were flowing at that scene!!
How come ALL the reviewers missed it, NOBODY mentioned it🤔
I get it that shit happens
I get it that people cheat
I get it that there are Mistakes and there are MISTAKES
But I also get it that Love is strong enough to pull you out of the hole you've dug yourself in.
I'm a firm believer in strength of the love bonds, graciousness of human heart and capacity to forgive.
Charmaine has done a splendid job of showing us all the ups and downs of a love story that never got off the ground to begin with, then never got the time to ripen to its maturity. She showed ALL the pitfalls unashamedly, nothing was veiled, every sore, every cut, every bruise, every scab was to be seen like an ugly wound it was..the patterns she weaves into this love rug compliment beautifully and the end result is a tapestry of human spirit
There's compassion, grace, dignity, camaraderie, love, strength, despair, redemption and patience.
A scrumptious buffet of varied emotions, all in full glory for you to enjoy.
I needed two more things to be cleared up - some of Noah's situation and more of Dubai's scene
But it's an unputdownable book meant to be read acutely or you'll skip right over the nuances
4.5 stars where there's a will; there's a way
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