Against All Odds by Corinne Michaels is live! 

When my ex-husband leaves me for the co-star in his movie, moving back to Ember Falls feels like my only option.

Everett Finnegan, my first love and the man I’ve never forgotten, is ready to welcome me with open arms…and an open bed.

But when I find out I’m pregnant with my ex’s baby, my entire world is upended.

My ex doesn’t want the baby, but I plan to rebuild my life as a single mother and figure out how to handle all of this alone.

Except that I don’t seem to be alone―Everett always shows up for me.

I don’t expect him to get mixed up in all my drama―not when he has his own. And I wish he would listen to me when I say we have to stop whatever it is we’re doing.

But he wants me, the baby, and my heart.

So when I’m forced to return to California sooner than planned, I’m devastated.

Everett can’t leave Ember Falls, and I can’t stay.

Saying goodbye to him the first time was hard enough. This time, it just might break me.

Available in Kindle Unlimited!
➝ https://geni.us/AAO-Zon

Listen to the Audio!
➝ https://geni.us/AAO_Audible
Duet Narration by Robert Hatchet & Andi Arndt

Preorder in Print!
➝ https://geni.us/AAO-CM

***** 5 Absolutely Incredible Stars *****

I know one thing for sure and two things for certain:
1. Corinne Michaels is one of my all time favorite authors.
2. Against All Odds is one of my favorite books. I’ve read this year.

If you take anything from this review that I’m sure will be so so very long because I have a lot to say about what I LOVED about this book, it should be that you need to read this book this very second. You need to read it, love it, embrace it, and jump heart first into the world of Ember Falls. I promise you that you will not regret jumping into this book with Violet and Everett. They are truly everything and they will steal your heart from the very first pages of this book. I promise you that. That in so much more!

Now it is no secret that this author and this series are two of my favorites. I have read every book by Corinne, Michaels and every book of her has been a five star read. Her books have made me cry, they’ve made me laugh, they’ve made me melt and swoon and blush, but more than that they’ve given me incredible reading experiences that I’ve never forgotten. They’ve given me love stories that are epically, beautiful, and heart touching in every way. They’ve just given me everything and more with her characters. I can still tell you what I felt reading that first book of hers. I can still tell you what I felt reading the 20th book of hers that I had the pleasure of reading. And I can definitely tell you what I felt reading Against All Odds because I love this book with my whole heart. It made me love everything with these characters, it completely immersed me in their beautiful love story, and it just reminded me over and over again why this author is one of my all-time favorites.

Two of my favorite tropes on this planet are second chance romance and whoopsie baby plots. So when those two incredible tropes get to be combined into a book, I’m sold. Throw in the fact that one of my favorite authors ever is writing those tropes and combining it with a small town magic that I love so much about her books? Well, I am there and I am LOVING it. And honestly? That’s just scratching the surface of what I loved about this book with Everett and Violet. Those two are the definition of two people who are so inherently right for each other and finally get the chance to see that second chance through at the exact right time. This book definitely throws some curveballs at them, but they are determined to do it together, to show each other that a second chance as possible, that this is their time, and to finally get the happily ever after that they both so deserve.

Now I have to give it to Corinne Michaels because just when I think I have found my favorite hero of hers, she goes and throws another one at me and I’m torn at who I love most. I mean I’m not really torn because I like collecting boyfriends like it’s my job, and this author truly has a talent of making me fall in love with the heroes of her world. And Everett Finnegan was definitely the hero in this book and boy did I love him. With my whole heart. I melted over the acts of service that man was bound into determined to give to Violet. But more than that I just loved how much he loved Violet, how determined he was to show her that this was the place that she was meant to be in and that he was destined to be part of her life. I loved how much he showed up for those he cared and loved about. I loved how he was willing to wait for her no matter what. I loved how much he just loved her with his whole heart and everything that came from her because that love was pure and real and absolutely beautiful. I just loved how generous and kind and funny of a man he was and I was just smitten through this whole book. I mean that man had me in tears, melting at others, and just absolutely loving him from start to finish in this book. I really can’t say that enough.

He is definitely my new favorite hero from the world of Ember Falls (don’t worry Miles, I still love you!) and I truly cannot say enough, how much this man swept my heart and Violet’s heart off their feet while reading this book. There is no resisting that man. And you will just bask in the moments with him as you see his vulnerability, as you see his determination and generosity firsthand, and as you see him willing to do whatever it takes to be with a woman he knows is his soulmate.

Now Violet is her own force to be reckoned with, and my heart went to her from the very first page of this book. There is a true honesty and depth that you get with her character that pulls you in fiercely, that has you loving her adamantly, and in every way, and that shows you that she has been through it. She has a heart of gold that girl. She is a woman who has always felt in a way like an afterthought. Like she’s in the shadows, like she’s not the first choice. And she has the trust issues to prove it. When her trust is broken once again and she is sent reeling, she goes to the only place that has ever felt like home, the small and incredible town of Ember Falls. What she finds in that town is not only a place to take some deep breaths and regroup, but the man who stole her heart over a decade ago. Right next door. Her feelings for Everett are still right there, and very very real, but she’s scared of taking a chance and reopening the doors to her heart once again.

Over the course of this book, the connection you feel to Violet strengthens as she puts the pieces of herself and her heart back together, as she tries to make sense of all of the emotions that are thrown her way, and as she navigate an unexpected path she didn’t plan on finding herself on. What I loved about Violet’s character is that not only was she’s so real and genuine, but I found her and her story to be so easy to connect to. Her trust issues, her vulnerability, and her reluctance to risk something if it’s not real or permanent, or something that I connected to in every way while reading her story and journeying through those emotions with her. I myself have not had the experiences she had, but with the way this author wrote her character and her journey, I understood and felt and breathed and lived every breath of what her character went through. I got it and I got her and I just felt completely with her in this story rooting for her with all my heart because that girl deserves the best.

She deserves the best of everything. My heart could not have been happier in this book getting to see Everett show up for her and show her that she is the only choice for him, seeing him show her that they were meant to be, and showing her that she was always meant to be in the light basking in the love of those around her. (Especially his…and especially the love of her people in Ember Falls.)

Everett and Violet are definitely the best kind of second chance romance. Those two have a fiery connection, there are so much heart between them, and that love is right there on the surface from the moment they reunited. They have their fair share of hard conversations and things they must figure out, but through it all there is something so right and true about the two of them. You feel that in your bones reading this book. You feel it in the moments they show up for each other. You show it in those easy moments of laughter and jokes. You feel it in those heavier moments of emotions and vulnerable moments. You feel it in the hard truths and in the ease of the two of them together and the rightness of what could be for them. Do you feel it in the moment where they literally cannot keep their hands off of one another and that fire ignites off the pages of this book. You feel it in every breath of what they share, and it adds to the feeling you have while reading this book that they have to find their way.

These two are truly 2 halves of the same whole and they complete each other. They are meant to be. They are meant to take the second chance together and getting to see them do just that in this book was absolutely everything. They are the personification of first loves realizing that their love is the love they were always meant to have and hold onto.

Now it is also no secret that the world of Ember Falls is truly my happy place. This small town is firmly where I want to live out my days. Because there is magic in the town limits of this place. Let me tell you. Because the characters of this world, the friendships and the found family that all of these characters have created together is absolutely incredible. The way these characters show up for each other, the way they poke fun at each other in the best way, and the way they also have such shared history with one another is absolutely amazing to experience. They personify the idea that you don’t have to share blood to be family and to show up and mean it. With every breath in your body. That idea was solidified again and again in this book. Combine that with towns people who know everything about you, those hilarious group text threads, and the fact that this town is just something special makes this series one that I never want to have end.

Truly.

It will be a sad day for me when I’m no longer in the world of these characters in these books because Ember Falls Virginia is truly a special place. Corinne Michaels knows how to write a small town. She is the queen of that in my opinion. She embodies the magic of a small town, the magic of connection and friendship, and the way that people show up for each other in those places. She also perfectly captures the essence of what it’s like to live in a place that is so special and that is truly like a character in and of itself. And all well doing that, she gives you the most beautiful and epic love story that will truly steal your heart. If that doesn’t make a must read small town romance, then I don’t know what does.

Against All Odds is one of my top reads of the year. This book was everything my heart needed. It’s like the world knew I needed a second chance romance with a whoopsie baby plot by one of my favorite authors, and Boy did all of that come to fruition in this book. I loved every second. I got with these characters. From the moment I started this book, I didn’t move because I just literally read this book. I read it. I felt it. I lived it with these characters. And I relished in the two of them getting a second chance at what could be.

The second chance that Violet and Everett share in this book is absolutely breathtaking. It is beautiful and emotional on every level and it just shows that sometimes the right time finally comes around for the right people. Everett and Violet are the definition of the two most perfect people for one another finally getting that chance at that happily ever after and what was meant to be, and it is absolutely everything getting to be in the thick of that over the course of this book.

The two of them have been through it, they each have their complications and flaws, but over the course of this book they help each other heal and put the pieces of their hearts back together again. They help each other see the light and find their way back to one another. They help each other embrace what has always been between them, and what they know in the deepest parts of their hearts: that they are meant to be. Their love and connection with one another is beautiful, real, and very deeply felt. You will love getting to see the two of them fight like hell to see if second chances truly do exist. (And spoiler alert, they really do. And they’re fucking amazing…especially with Violet & Everett.)

I truly can’t say enough good things about this book and how much I loved it. It is no secret that I love this world of characters, and that I’m a huge fan of this author. And this book just solidified that love even more. I was blown away by what I got with these characters, every moment from laughing and spooning and tearing up at the emotions and blushing from the spice of it all, but more than that, I was just in love with the love. I loved the love that Violet and Everett shared, and I loved getting to see them, put the pieces of themselves and their hearts back together again page by page in this book.

The way they showed up for each other, the way they were honest with each other, the way they just understood and got each other fully through everything that came their way was outstanding. It was perfection. It was what my heart didn’t even know it needed. I could not have loved those two more and what they gave me in this book, and getting to be with them as they put in the hard work, as they felt it all, and as they built the family that they both so desperately wanted and needed…was nothing short of wonderful.

Against All Odds is a small town, second chance, romance perfection that you need to read this very second. Like I said at the start of this review, if you take anything away from everything, I’ve said here it’s that you need to read this book. You need to experience the beauty of the love story between Everett and Violet and their second chance at it all. You need to experience this magical, small town and the friend group that will give you life in the best way. You need to experience these two characters finally getting the chance with the person who was always meant to be theirs all along. You just need to experience this incredible, emotional, and unforgettable love story.

What Violet and Everett share is more than I could even ever capture in words, so just trust me when I say that you need to read this book and experience the beauty of this love story for yourself. Right this instant. I promise that you will love getting to see those two find love again with one another, and you will relish and bask in the heart of it all. They are truly meant to be and you will absolutely LOVE getting to experience that and more with them over the course of their second chance love story.