Review: “Unpredictable” by Jenna Hartley

Book Title: Unpredictable

Author: Jenna Hartley

Series: Love In LA, Book 3

Rating: 5⭐

Release Date: July 1st, 2020

Synopsis: Juliana Wright is a well-known event planner and after tragedy struck, she’s been a little worse for wear. Now, Juliana has a beautiful dream come true wedding to plan, and she meets Harrison Hayes. Father of the bride, former NFL player and a total silver fox. She’s not ready for something yet, but when she’s around Harrison, that doesn’t seem to matter. He makes her feel things she’s blocked herself off from feeling for a long time.

Review: I want to start off by introducing you to the characters, because they were so incredible and so well written that they need special attention.

As the third in the Love In LA series, we’ve all met Juliana Wright. She’s friends with Alexis, Lauren and Harper and she’s a total gorgeous badass boss babe. Juliana runs her own event planning company, but she’s best known for planning gorgeous weddings. She’s 37, she’s successful and she’s got great friends and a good life, but Juliana can’t stop missing her fiance who went missing over two years ago. So much so that she’s having nightmares.

Harrison Hayes, on the other hand, is a stud. Almost 51, a silver fox, a former NFL player and basically the perfect guy for any woman on the planet. Harrison’s been single for a while, since he divorced his wife and did most of the raising of his only daughter, Olivia. He’s happy with his life and he’s got his friends and his endorsements and money from his NFL days to keep him going. And sure, he’s got his pick of all the women in the world too. But what he doesn’t have his companionship and honestly, he’s not looking for it. Also, Harrison is officially the most incredible older man ever written.

Juliana and Harrison have a story that is so timeless, beautiful and absolutely heartwarming. Put this book your on comfort reading list right away!

I think Juliana might be my favourite of all the Love in LA women (though, I have this secret love for Harper and I definitely need more about her, Jenna!). And her relationship with Harrison is hot as hell. From the minute they meet, to every meeting after that, it’s like the pages are on fire with how much they want each other. And Harrison isn’t even hiding how he feels about Juliana. Sure, it’s surface-level feelings, because they’ve already shared one night together, but you can tell right from the start that it’s going to be so much more.

“This man made me want to be spontaneous and carefree. Made me want to relinquish all my lists just to see what happened.”

With all this baggage and pain still lingering, it’s no doubt a big deal for Juliana to let her guard down, but with Harrison, she truly does start to let down her walls and welcome him in. Even though they shared one steamy night together, the way they fall back together again is a slow and beautiful journey. It’s interesting to see Juliana hold onto her beliefs and her broken heart even though every other part of her wants to give in. And Harrison could try and convince her to let go, but he doesn’t. He knows that she needs time and he’s willing to give that to her.

My favourite parts of this book were watching Harrison and Juliana fall in love. More like Juliana letting herself just go. It’s clear from the beginning that he’s going to catch her when she falls and Juliana just needs to trust Harrison with her heart and soul. And when she does, it’s so beautiful.

“I believe you came into my life for a reason. You showed me just how much I was missing. For all my talk of being a Zen guru, you showed me what it means to truly live. And to be loved.”

There’s conflict, of course there is – in the form of keeping their relationship a secret because Juliana is planning Olivia’s wedding (Harrison’s daughter), then Camille (Harrison’s ex-wife) who is basically infuriating and the possibility that Ryan (Juliana’s long lost fiance) could still be alive. But like the adults that they are, they handle it the way they should. There’s yelling, there’s fighting, there’s soothing and there are promises. That’s the great thing about this book – they behave their age. So often you find older character behaving like 20-year-olds and you have to take a step back and ask yourself if that makes sense. Jenna does such an incredible job giving these characters the mature and older voices that they deserve. It gives the book that much more oomph and believability.

Thanks to Jenna Hartley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!