Review: Where You Are by Tammara Webber

Graham Douglas doesn’t do romantic relationships, but he was knocked for a loop when he met Emma Pierce on the set of his last film. As they grew closer, he did everything in his power to keep from falling for a girl being pursued by superstar Reid Alexander. Now home in New York, his life is once again under control, until Emma appears and shows him how not over her he is.

Emma Pierce is forsaking an up-and-coming Hollywood career to embark on a life she’s only dreamed of—the life of a regular girl. After spending months burying her feelings for the two night-and-day guys who vied for her heart while filming her last movie, a twist of fate puts her in a coffee shop in the middle of Manhattan with the one she still misses.

Brooke Cameron was a fresh-faced Texas girl when she arrived in LA. Now she’s a beach sitcom star turned conceited heiress on the big screen. Having just survived three months on location with her ex—Hollywood’s reigning golden boy—she’s older and wiser and has set her sights on her close friend Graham. The only thing standing in her way is the girl he can’t forget.

Reid Alexander can sum up his life in one word: boring. Between film projects, there’s little going on outside of interviews, photo shoots, and the premiere of the film he finished last fall. The next-to-last thing he expects is to get a second chance with Emma, the girl who rejected him. The last thing he expects is for his still-bitter-ex to be the one to offer it to him on a platter.

Author Recommendation: Mature Young Adults (language, drinking, sexual situations)

*NOTE: No spoilers for Where You Are but some spoilers from Between the Lines (bk #1)

Review:
I have to be completely honest here. I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book. I loved Between the Lines (the first book in the series) and felt it had a very satisfying ending. I wouldn't have minded a book with new character POV's but when I read it would be about the same four people as the first book and with the same romantic entanglements I was leery. It sounded like a rehash of the old plotline to me.

I'm happy to say I was pleasantly surprised.

Graham and Emma have a chance encounter after filming of their movie School Pride has ended and decide to take the plunge to become more than friends. Theirs is a tenuous relationship. The sparks are definitely there. These two are great people and great for each other. However, they come with some baggage and reservations mainly in the forms of former costars Reid and Brooke. Where You Are is told from all four POV's. This allows us to see everyone's motivations and reactions.

Reid and Emma had a brief relationship during the filming of School Pride that still bothers Graham. Brooke now has her sights set on Graham with a laser beam focus. Although filming has since wrapped, there are promotional events, interviews and the movie premiere that throw the four together again and bring up old feelings. The terrible twosome of Reid and Brooke team up to create doubt within Emma and Graham's blossoming relationship and really no good can come of that when these two sworn enemies join forces.

It is a testament to Tammara Webber's writing that I did not throw this book across the room. I despised certain actions by the characters but somehow (I don't know how she does it) Tammara stays 100% true to the characters so I accept it with baited breath hoping everything will work out right in the end.

The tone for Where you Are is very different. While Between the Lines was all about experimenting and wild parties, Where you Are is all about taking things slow, being responsible and consequences to ones actions.

A good portion of this book is spent watching Emma & Graham's relationship slowly develop. I mean slowly, we get all the deep conversations, Skype chats and romantic declarations which is probably going to be boring for some, but for me I always feel like we get short changed on this side of the relationship in books. The book usually ends right when the relationship is getting started. I really enjoyed them. They have some very difficult decisions to make if they want their relationship to work so I really enjoyed how responsible they were about everything. I found them to be very romantic.

Have no fear though, Reid and Brooke stir up enough trouble for our sweet couple to keep things interesting. I would say that Reid is still almost 90% unredeemable but there are glimpses of the other 10%. It's his (occasional) kindness and potential that keep me rooting for him even though I didn't want him to get the girl.

Brooke. Ahhhh Brooke. I think she falls into the 99% unredeemable category. She took her scheming to win Graham over to extremes that are are pretty unforgivable in my eyes. I understand what made her this way and maybe felt a twinge of sympathy but man oh man I hated her.

One thing that did bother me was Graham's reaction to Brooke's scheming. They have been good friends for 4 years and he does know another side to her but he was just too passive during one or two of her more aggressive maneuvers. That was fitting with his personality and he was still insecure about Reid but still. He should have made Emma's feelings a higher priority at the very least.

The ending leaves me pretty excited for book 3- Good For You (the last book in the series - available December 2011) It's spoilery so I'll just leave this link to Tammara's site and if you want to know about the next book head over there.

Rating 3.5 out of 4: Tammara Webber has a real gift of writing engaging, yet complex YA characters that keep me coming back for more even though I occasionally want to smack rather than hug a couple of them. lol

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Buy the book!
Where You Are: Between the Lines Book #2: Amazon ($2.99)
Between the Lines - Book #1: Amazon ($2.99) Source: Book provided by the author for my honest review.