Find Another You

by R.J. Layer

Abby Collins is convinced that Selena Estevez is the woman she’s meant to spend the rest of her life with. But sometimes the road to happily ever after is filled with twists and turns.
When Abby starts volunteering at the Trinity Memorial Hospital and meets Pediatric Resident Dr. Samantha Christiano, she begins to wonder if the growing friendship developing between them is more than she has bargained for.
Confused and uncertain, Abby may very well have to confront what her happily-ever-after really means. Is Selena truly the love of her life or is Samantha the woman who will make all of her dreams come true?

Genre: Romance

260 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2018

About the author

RJ Layer resides in the "Heart" of the Midwest with her partner and new wife, of over twenty-five years, and their two feline rescues. She is a certified romance nut, and loves writing lesbian romance. In addition to traveling to new places, RJ can be found relaxing in the rolling hills on the water. Their hideaway is the perfect place for dreaming up engaging characters and moving stories. She's also quite passionate about photography and reading every free minute she can find.

Reviews

[Lex Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 Stars. I would say this was a little better than okay. I liked it more than her last book Dreams Unspoken, but didn’t like it as much as Judge Me Not. Like all Layers’s romances there is plenty of angst. I found some of the angst to be overblown so it didn’t always work for me, but the main storyline was alright.

Abby is in a long term relationship with Selena and wants to settle down and have children with her. Selena is more of the partier type who shies away when the talk of a family comes up. Are they meant to be together or should Abby look for something more with her friend Dr. Sam?

I’m having a little trouble with this review. I found this book easy to read and I was never bored. But the problem was I also found myself rolling my eyes at multiple times. The main character Abby, I found to have odd relationships with people, a weird relationship with her girlfriend and a very odd one with her boss. I have to talk about the boss for a minute. I found all the scenes with her to be very out there. Abby works with a woman that is supposed to be the “Dragon Lady”. Yes, her boss is very unprofessional for a lawyer or any office type setting, but she’s not this tough dragon. And Abby constantly snaps and berates her. In the real world she would have been fired ten times over. It was all just very weird.

When it came to liking the characters of Abby, Selena, and Sam, it was a bit of a mixed bag. I would find the character very likeable at times, other times I wanted to shake them and ask “what are they thinking?!” They were very up and down as was the whole book for me.

When it came to the main romance, most of it was pretty good. I believed that the characters had an attraction and chemistry. I found the sex scenes to be a mixed bag. Sometimes I enjoyed them, but I felt they started to get a little repetitive towards the end.

The biggest issue I had was the final, big angst scene. I just thought it was so overblown, ridiculously even. I know the author tried to use the characters background to explain their issues. And it was an awful past, I get it, but I just didn’t get how the past led to her current actions. Plus the fact the story was resolved in the last two pages, literally the last two, just left me shaking my head.

This was a tough one for me. Parts I did enjoy, others were rough. I think if you are looking for an angst filled romance, this book may be for you. It’s hard to recommend this one because I think people we either like it, or just sort of shake their head like I still am.

An ARC was given to me by Bella for a honest review.

[Pin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this story is interesting and I like it, but the distribution is very uneven, and that makes parts of the story feel contrived and the behavior of the characters awkward and unconvincing.
The main character Abby (34) wants children and a partner -- in that order of importance -- because she feels her biological clock is ticking away. We follow her through three relationships. And there lies my main problem with this story, because a lot about those relationships just did not work for me.
The character of Selena is a train wreck in the making from the beginning. I do not understand what Abby was thinking when planning to have children with her. Her behavior is kind of bipolar when it comes to Abby, but Abby is totally oblivious to it for four years.
The character of Blair stays a mystery for me all the way to the end. Her and Abby's relationship was forced and did not lead anywhere. What is the purpose of her in this story? What does she want from Abby? Why is Abby so unreasonably hot and cold with her? I could not figure it out at all.
The character of Sam is a mixed bag. Sweet, caring, mature, reliable at first. Then she suddenly became very immature and went AWOL for no real reason with a completely illogical justification for such exaggerated behavior. Her Italian Momma borders on caricature.
The strange and illogical conflict is resolved very unconvincingly at the very end in one very short chapter, practically in the last two pages. I just could not believe it was really the end of the book. It gives a new meaning to the tag "rushed ending".
All that makes this, for me, the second confusing and unsatisfying book in a row from this author (the first being Dreams Unspoken). I liked her first two (The Real Story and Judge Me Not) much better, and that means maybe there is still hope for me and this author's books in the future.

2.25 stars
July 8, 2018
*A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.*

[currentlyreadingbynat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of this book. Abby is with Selena, and we see their relationship play out in the first half of the book. Then, Abby meets Sam and she develops a friendship with her that eventually turns romantic. I think the way the author balanced out the first relationship with the new one was really good. This can sometimes be done where the characters are basically cheating and then it feels gross. Instead, the development of their friendship and then romance was gradual with lots of chemistry between the two.

I would've given this novel 5 stars if the conflict towards the end wasn't as blown out of proportion as it was. Plus, the resolution was very quick in the final few pages, making it feel a bit weak.

All in all, worth a read.

[Velvet Lounger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Struggled with this one. Wanted to like it, it wasnt horrible, but the three relationships didn't work for me.