Speakeasy by Sarian Bowen

Pages: 452
Publish date: May 29, 2018
Publisher: Tuxbury Publishing LLC
ASIN: B07CHZGT6C
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU 

Speakeasy:

I received an e-arc of Speakeasy by Sarina Bowne in exchange for an honest review. This has no influence my thoughts and feelings on the book. 

If you know me for a while, you know I love Sarina Bowen, I’ve read all but 1 of her books now and I just love reading them. The romance just hits me in the right places and the ‘Truth North’ series has to be one of my favourite romance series I’ve read. So when I heard about Speakeasy and it was going to be about May, hell I was excited. 

Speakeasy follows May as she tries to get a grip on life. After she finds out that her girlfriend is cheating on her, she thinks everything is over. And lucky Alec is there to save her before things get messy. Alec doesn’t want anything to do with the Shipley family, however when he sees May is trouble he can’t help but intervene. But for a man that doesn’t do love, it’s new territory when he starts to spend more time with May and things might just change. 

May has been one of my favourite characters in the ‘True North’ series and while I loved seeing her from other character’s point of view, it was really nice getting inside of her head and really understanding her. May has been through a lot, losing her father, falling for her best friend, realising she is an alcoholic and coming to terms with and coming out as Bi. We see all that through the rest of the series, but here in Speakeasy we see her fall and come back together. The reader is able to see how she really is going with everything. How in reality she is breaking inside and needs to let it all out. 

May is an interesting character and you can see throughout the novel. The reader can see that she hasn’t really gotten over everything that has happened in her life. But the reader is able to slowly she comes out of her shell. And while she is sometimes the life of the party, she gets to find herself in this book. 

Alec, ah what can I say about him. We have met him briefly before Speakeasy, we haven’t really got to meet him. And like May it was really interesting to see him as the protagonist rather than someone on the side. Alec is grumpy and very closed off. He doesn’t really believe in love and relationships and you can see that throughout the novel. He holds this wall around him that he doesn’t want anyone to break through. Nevertheless, the reader is able to see throughout Speakeasy that these walls start to crumble. At first, Alec doesn’t know what to do, but something or someone grabs hold. 

I really enjoyed Alec and May together and while they may not be my favourite couple in the series, I liked reading their story. May and Alec are two very different people, but they seem to come together in Speakeasy and really find one another. Alec has trouble really getting to know May, because of her last name and while that was super annoying. May has a lot of trouble trusting the right people, but Alec changes things and that was great to see. They do go through their rough patches – I am not lying there and hell both of them were frustrating at times, however, I did like how it all came together. 

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Speakeasy by Sarina Bowen. And while it wasn’t my favourite in the series, it still has a special place for me. May and Alec were adorable and I loved seeing them break down each other’s walls. Things got a little crazy at times, but it’s a romance novel, so why not. Speakeasy explores the notion of what it is to be family, how someone can change your life forever and letting go is sometimes the best thing to do.