Tidal by Emily Snow

SYNOPSIS

Now that Willow Avery is out of rehab, she’s got one chance left to prove herself before she’s officially on every producer’s shit list. At least, that’s what her parents and agent are claiming. She doesn’t really give a damn if she never makes another movie or not—she just wants to get on with her life, get back to her friends, and find her next escape. But Willow is broke. And whether she likes it or not, acting is the only job she knows how to do.

When she accepts the lead in a beach drama, Willow finds herself in Hawaii. And in Hawaii, she finds Cooper, the gorgeous surfer hired to train her for her new role. With the bluest eyes she’s ever seen and the sexiest Australian accent she’s ever heard, Cooper’s different from the men she’s used to. He doesn’t want to use her. And he refuses to let her fail. But when an old friend re-enters Willow’s life—a friend whose toxicity she’s been drawn to time and time before and whose presence brings about the painful memories she’s tried so hard to suppress—Willow will have to choose between the girl she was and the person she’s becoming. The lifestyle that helps her forget the pain and the guy she’s falling hard for

TIDAL is available to purchase below
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Reviewed by Gitte and Jenny

Gitte: I really enjoyed this story Jenny. I think it was just what I needed after some heavy emotional reads. Don’t get me wrong this one sure did have high emotions and angst. However, Emily’s writing made this journey a quick, sweet and easy read. I have to say I was really hooked in this story as well as pleasantly surprised as I don’t have an affinity with the celeb world at all.

Jenny:  I did eventually enjoy this story and yes, it was the perfect book to delve into after a few very heavy emotional reads.  I say eventually, because I have to say it did take me a while to get into this one and the reason for that was Willow, which I’ll explain shortly. I enjoyed Emily’s writing and the story was brought together well and it definitely was an all round read with drama, romance, a heat factor and angst.

Gitte:  Tidal is an emotional and sweet journey about Willow and Cooper, two broken people who by finding each other start their journey together, helping each other come to terms with the past whilst falling in love.

I loved Cooper, I thought he was a lush character. He had depth and intrigue and yeah he was also extremely yummy! He was intense yet knew when to step back. He saw through Willow’s façade and liked the girl behind the public persona. Despite having his own emotional issues and a tragic past he wanted Willow to find her true self again. I think I actually connected with Cooper more than Willow.

Now in regard to Willow, it took me a while to connect to her. This is a personal thing for me. I have a real problem with whiny celebs as I am of the opinion that these people chose this lifestyle well aware of its pitfalls. If you don’t like what comes with fame and fortune; get out. You chose it, deal with it. That may sound harsh but hey…it’s my opinion. So this is where I struggled a bit with Willow to begin with. Nothing to do with how she was written by the Author, because I thought she was spot on. As the story progressed I saw the girl underneath and I thought she was sweet, funny and intelligent. She just didn’t have the coping mechanisms nor the family support. She also had a tragic experience which actually broke my heart once it was revealed.

Jenny: I’m with you there Gitte.  I absolutely connected with Cooper more than Willow in this story.  I really did love that guy.  He wore his heart on his sleeve, he was gorgeous, sweet, cheeky and well….Australian.  Being an Aussie myself I know that’s a bit biased ;). He isn’t afraid to show his feelings and he was such a good influence and a perfect fit for Willow.  He was just what she needed

“Cooper what exactly do you want from me?”
Nothing. Dammit, everything.  I needed to get it out there, Wills – how I’m feeling about you”   sigh…..I really did love Cooper!

I said earlier that I “eventually” really liked this story.  By that I meant that it did take me a while to connect with Willow’s character and therefore I was finding it hard to find my footing with the story.  I had problems with her for different reasons to you GG.  For some reason in the beginning Willow sounded so much like Lindsay Lohen and I commented to you that I was having a hard time connecting to her because of this.  I actually really disliked her at one point because I couldn’t shake the image of LL out of my head.  But Willow did eventually grown on me and I  came to understand her and like her.  As you say, she wasn’t afforded the support and understanding from her parents and those around her plus she had a lot of pain to deal with from her past.  Little by little she inched her way in and then I started finding myself caring about her and totally forgot the LL comparison I was making earlier.  I became concerned for her and so wanted everything to be right in her world and everything to work out for her and Cooper.  Lord knows, they both deserved each other and they deserved happiness. 

Gitte:  So overall, I really enjoyed this story, there was romance, intrigue, suspense and angst and the epilogue was FAB!!! Melted my heart!

Jenny:  I enjoyed this read too Gitte and thought Emily Snow did a great job of conveying the trials and tribulations of the Hollywood machine and the selfish parents who don’t always have their children’s best interests at heart.
There was definitely romance, drama, a lot of chemistry between Cooper and Willow and I absolutely loved the supporting cast of characters in Paige and Eric, I thought they were really warm characters who added to the story and I also loved delving into Connor’s background story as well.
I have to say the epilogue absolutely won me over.  I actually welled up reading that.  It was a really nice way to end this story.

ARC supplied by author for a fair and honest review