Can't Always Get What You Want
A Novel
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Fans of Jill Shalvis and Molly O’Keefe will love this deeply romantic and uplifting debut novel about losing everything you thought you wanted—and getting exactly what you need.
Sophie Richards has been looking forward to a much-needed girls’ night out: a Rolling Stones tribute-band concert, a few drinks, a distraction from her grueling nursing shifts in acute care. But when her best friend bails, Sophie gets stuck with a blind date.
Although Brett Nicholson may be the hottest carpenter alive, and Sophie may technically be single, she isn’t exactly on the market. Six years ago she found The One. He was everything Sophie dreamed a man could be—and then she lost him. In an instant, her whole life changed, and she forgot all about happily ever after.
But as she gets to know Brett, Sophie starts to wonder about the future for the first time. With a broken heart still clouding her mind, jumping into a new relationship feels impossible. When she’s in his arms, walking away feels even harder. Now Sophie faces an impossible choice: living in the past or choosing love in the here and now.
Praise for Can’t Always Get What You Want
“[Chelsey] Krause’s debut novel will make readers laugh out loud and shed a few tears. Her storytelling ability will capture romance readers and get them excited for the author’s future titles.”—Library Journal
“If you are looking for a story that will pull on all of your emotions, filled with characters you feel a strong connection to, run, do not walk to your nearest book retailer and get Can’t Always Get What You Want.”—Fresh Fiction
“Can’t Always Get What You Want is heart-wrenching in all the right ways. Smartly written and emotionally satisfying, this story will stick with you long after the last page.”—USA Today bestselling author Lauren Layne
“A sweet, moving story about love and loss, Chelsey Krause’s debut is full of heart.”—Clodagh Murphy, author of Girl in a Spin
“Can’t Always Get What You Want is a delightful mix of humor, heart, and the struggle to move on from past grief. I am definitely looking forward to more books by Chelsey Krause!”—Mary Frame, author of Imperfect Chemistry
“This is a funny, heartfelt story about moving on, a touching debut from a very promising author. Romance lovers looking for both a giggle and a cry will get what they need from Can’t Always Get What You Want.”—Stephanie Pegler, editor, Chicklit Club
“[Can’t Always Get What You Want] immediately went into my favorites pile. . . . This book completely gave me the vibe of Cecelia Ahern’s PS, I Love You.”—Hello Chick Lit
“This book will suck you in. . . . I can’t believe [Krause] is a first-time author.”—Sassy Moms Say Read Romance (five stars)
“Can’t Always Get What You Want was a very emotional and beautiful story. The author really did a great job in sharing Sophie’s journey to finding love a second time around.”—Lustful Literature
“[Chelsey Krause] has definitely earned a place on my list of favorite debut authors. I will be waiting and watching when her new book comes out!”—Devilishly Delicious Book Reviews
Includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.
Customer Reviews
A lovely debut novel
A lovely debut novel from Chelsey Krause: her writing is comfortable and familiar, and feels like you have developed a friendship with her as you travel through the story. Her strong writing voice keeps readers engaged even with the instances of over-shared interior monologue and perseveration that stalled the plot from moving forward.
Sophie has been dragging her sorrows along for several years now, Finding some odd sort of comfort in the ‘take no chances’ approach to life, she is stalled: a job that frustrates her, guilt and sorrow and fear about taking a chance only to suffer it all again. Something has to give, and Sophie has to learn to adjust, deal with and move forward or be stuck forever.
Cancelled plans with her best friend lead her into meeting Brett on a blind date set up. While Sophie isn’t expecting much, the connection that they have, and Brett’s oh so sexy smile send up sparks of hope. But, still caught in her past, we are really seeing only her side, despite Brett’s determination and consistent efforts to convince her to take a chance. You can’t help but cheer Brett on at first, then wonder if he’s up for sainthood: patient, and non-threatening he’s engaged in a battle with a ghost for recognition and satisfaction in the relationship, one that only foreshadows a disappointing loss.
Sophie’s obsession with the loss of Aaron is understandable, but her determination to keep the past alive with her continued reviewing and comparison of their relationship to the tentative connection with Brett is doing little but holding her hostage. And she spends far too much time inside her head overthinking: as we are privy to her interior monologue, we see every moment. While I appreciated Krause’s efforts to give a ‘fuller’ view of her thoughts, several sections of the interior monologue were unnecessarily long and detailed, with too much repetition. She isn’t moving forward, she’s guilt ridded by feeling for Brett is somehow showing her as unfaithful to her feelings for Aaron. These are recurrent themes that showed just how stalled in life she was: and her inability to give Brett an honest accounting of her feelings leaves him with the hard choices. Should he beat his head against the brick wall of Sophie’s inability to move on, risking more hurt or should he walk away now
I was up and down with the story – I found Krause was mostly successful in her use of first person, although not every moment of each day needed examination, and while Sophie was repeating and circling the same issues, some of those repetitive moments could have been tightened up or removed entirely. As a debut novel this was a rousing success, showing great promise for this author in the future.
I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.