Twice in a Blue Moon/ Christina Lauren/ 355 pgs

Normally, I love Christina Lauren's books but I struggled with this one. The writing is great but the pacing and focus are very much off. Tate is a sheltered young girl with a family secret. For her 18th birthday, her grandmother takes her on a trip to London. They become acquainted with Sam, another young American, and his grandfather and during the two week trip, Tate falls in love with Sam and shares her family secret with him. Then he betrays her and sells her story to a newspaper. He has his reasons but still, this is a huge betrayal of trust. We then skip ahead fourteen years. Tate is a well-known actress about to start filming a new movie. Guess who wrote that screenplay? Sam. The first third of the book, set in London, and showing Sam and Tate falling in love, is great. But the second third barely focuses on Sam and Tate's reunion and Sam is not remorseful at all about what he did and how it affected Tate. The last third is taken over by a secondary character who is not worth the pages. Overall, this is a very uneven read though I loved the peek into the film-making process.