Once Upon a Bad Boy (Sometimes in Love, #3)

by Melonie Johnson

Former soap opera star Sadie Gold is determined to overcome her reputation as a spoiled rich girl with more connections than talent. She’s thrilled to score a coveted role in a blockbuster movie - until she learns that the stunt man training her is Bo Ibarra, the guy Sadie lost her heart to years ago.

Sadie and Bo haven’t seen each other in a decade, and their reunion is bringing up desires they haven’t felt since they were teenagers. But Sadie has been holding onto a secret from their past she is desperate to keep hidden.

When a tabloid splashes the secret across the headlines, both of them are shaken from the fallout. Can Sadie convince Bo to take a chance on them again? One thing’s for sure, happy endings don’t come as easily in real life as they do in the movies.

• ISBN13: 9781250193070
• Publish Date: 1 July 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 4 April 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: St Martin's Press
• Imprint: St. Martin's Paperbacks
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: http://melia.co.uk/page/detail/?k=9781250193070

Reviews

[pagesbycyndy]

Sadie Gold is making a transition from soap star to movie actress and Bo Ibarra is someone from her past that just happens to own a movie stunt business in Chicago where her new film is being filmed on location. Bo is also the stunt coordinator for the movie! What a surprise for Sadie because over 10 years ago Bo abruptly broke up with Sadie and left her heartbroken.

What follows is a hot romance that is blush-worthy. I loved the back and forth between Bo and Sadie, the romance was predictable but sweet and the story-line took second place to the love story but that was not a bad thing.

This book was an enjoyable read for me, predictable but still a nice way to pass an afternoon. This review was originally posted on Fictional Reviewer

[Sam@WLABB]

I am really enjoying getting to see this group of fabulous women find their HEAs. Book after book in this series has been a solid read for me, but I think Once Upon a Bad Boy was my favorite.

Sadie and Bo, more or less, grew up together. Those summers at her grandmother's estate were the highlight of Sadie's life. There, a friendship was born, which grew into her "epic love". It was at the estate that Sadie experienced so many beautiful and amazing firsts, and she was lucky enough to share them with Bo. On her prom night, it all came to an end, when Bo suddenly broke it off with her. After a decade, the universe brought them back together, when Bo was hired as the stunt coordinator for Sadie's first film. The sparks, the heat, the feelings were all still there, but would these two be able to overlook the past and make a future together?

Sadie and Bo were so perfect together! I loved the chemistry and the challenges they constantly put before each other. I had the privilege of sharing pieces of their past, while watching them attempt to build a future together, and it was simply wonderful! They both had some aches, pains, and baggage they needed to deal with before they could really make take advantage of this second chance the universe was giving them. It was not always easy to watch them navigating the path back to each other, but I loved every second of it!

Other things of note:

• Sadie's grandmother was a queen among women. I adored her, and was very touched by her relationship with her granddaughter.

• These two had some cool jobs - stunt coordinator and movie actress. It was fun being on the set with them, and I liked that Johnson threw in some entertainment industry type drama.

• Bo's nephew was too adorable. I adored meeting him.

• Being on the movie set was fun, but I also thought the estate was fantastic. It sounded like a really beautiful place, which was only made more lovely, when Sadie or Bo shared the memories they had attached to the place.

• Bo's tattoos. My heart melted, when we got to "see" those.

• This whole series is based around this group of five friends, and I love a good female friendship. I spent the most time with Ana, but did get some page time with the entire gang, which is always a good time.

• Johnson writes very pro-women books. In each book, she touches upon something affecting women, either the exclusion of them, the diminishing of their rights, or the double standard society has, when it comes to women. I likes that she works those ideas into her stories, and it was done, quite thoughtfully in this book.

• The ending! So good!

Overall: A fantastic second chance romance between two people, who were destined to be together. It made me laugh, cry, smile, and swoon.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

BLOG | INSTAGRAM |TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN | FRIEND ME ON GOODREADS

[whisperingchapters]

I truly enjoyed this book. It wasn't memorable by any means, but still very cute and adorable. First off, I'd like to say I think the title is misleading. Bo is not a bad boy and has never been a bad boy at all. Sure, he would be kinda reckless but that's pretty much it. I was expecting those bad boy vibes since I just love bad boys! It's sad I didn't get it :(

I do love second-chance romances and this one was just adorable! Back in prom night, Bo had broken up with Sadie just because. He never gave a real explanation. All these years, Sadie has never forgotten Bo. When she starts to shoot a new movie, Bo is the stunt coordinator and that means Sadie and Bo will be spending a lot of time together.

It was so sweet to see these two characters slowly come together. Bo is such a wonderful man and the way he treats his family, especially his nephew is so heart-warming! I was rooting hard for him and Sadie to finally get together and air out the elephant in the room. I do think some things could have been dealt with better than they were.

I haven't read the previous books in the series but I just loved the girls! This friendship of women is amazing! I love their support for one another. It's one of the things that I truly loved about this book.

Overall, there's not much to say about Once Upon a Bad Boy, exxcept that it is sweet and endearing!

Follow Me:
Blog ❃ Instagram ❃ Twitter ❃ Bloglovin ❃ Goodreads ❃ Pinterest

[chymerra]

I was so excited when I saw that Once Upon a Bad Boy was up for review on NetGalley. I had read the first two books and loved them. I was expecting to love Once Upon a Bad Boy. For the most part, I did. But there were parts that I didn’t like. The parts that I didn’t like did figure into how I rated this review.

I liked Bo. He didn’t hide behind walls or keep secrets from anyone. I did feel bad that he was trying to buy his half of the business from Vic and he kept getting put off. I liked how he tried to keep his feelings for Sadie under wraps.

I couldn’t connect with Sadie, and I didn’t think she was relatable. I couldn’t get a feel for her personality. She came across as flat, which sucked for me because I liked her in the previous books. The only time I saw her come to life was when Bo pushed her buttons.

As much as I didn’t connect with Sadie, I did feel that she and Bo had sexual chemistry by the spades. That tension cranked up each meeting until it exploded into an oral sex frenzy. Speaking about sex, the author had Sadie and Bo do everything but have intercourse until the end of the book. It was refreshing.

The romance angle was a bit up and down for me. There were times where I could see Sadie falling back in love with Bo. But then, there were other times that it was almost nonexistent. That drove me nuts.

The end of the book was interesting. I didn’t expect what was revealed. I also didn’t expect Bo’s reaction to it. But, I liked how the author took something that is frowned upon and turned it into something positive.