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Their Icelandic Marriage Reunion (Dream Destinations, Book 1)
Coming soon! Their Icelandic Marriage Reunion by Sophie Pembroke will be available Dec 27, 2022.
180 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 8, 2022
2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Sophie Pembroke
241 books126 followersSophie Pembroke writes very British romances for Orion, Mills & Boon / Harlequin Romance, Avon and HQ. She has been dreaming, reading and writing romance ever since she read her first Mills & Boon as part of her English Literature degree at Lancaster University, so getting to write romantic fiction for a living really is a dream come true!
She lives in a little English market town with her scientist husband, wildly imaginative ten year old daughter, and adorable four year old son. She spends her days writing, drinking tea and curling up with a good book. (Oh, and planning. There is a lot of planning.)
In Sophie’s world, happy is for ever after, everything stops for tea, and there’s always time for just one more page…
She lives in a little English market town with her scientist husband, wildly imaginative ten year old daughter, and adorable four year old son. She spends her days writing, drinking tea and curling up with a good book. (Oh, and planning. There is a lot of planning.)
In Sophie’s world, happy is for ever after, everything stops for tea, and there’s always time for just one more page…
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 2, 2023
“One thing I’ve learned over the past few weeks is, just how brave second chance love is.”
“Even if their love was never perfect, or easy, or anything else he’d thought it needed to be, it would always be worth fighting for.”
This is the second chance romance for Winter and Josh, a Hollywood couple who has been divorced for some time now and are brought together in Iceland as they celebrate a mutual friend’s hotel opening. This book just sparkles, it’s so special, so beautifully written and such a thoughtful, honest and intentionally told story. I love that Sophie highlights the bravery it takes to give a relationship a second chance and how important it is to recognize that things will not always be easy but it’s a choice to continue to show up anyway. Loved it!
“Even if their love was never perfect, or easy, or anything else he’d thought it needed to be, it would always be worth fighting for.”
This is the second chance romance for Winter and Josh, a Hollywood couple who has been divorced for some time now and are brought together in Iceland as they celebrate a mutual friend’s hotel opening. This book just sparkles, it’s so special, so beautifully written and such a thoughtful, honest and intentionally told story. I love that Sophie highlights the bravery it takes to give a relationship a second chance and how important it is to recognize that things will not always be easy but it’s a choice to continue to show up anyway. Loved it!
February 19, 2023
What is it about a marriage in trouble/divorced couple coming back together that just really gets me so deeply invested right off the bat? I wish I knew, but honestly, this book was a delight. The friend and assistant helping push Winter and Josh back together (or to get "closure") was just excellent and I loved the way Pembroke writes. Also, this is another Hollywood romance where Winter and Josh met on set and Winter is now a hot shot director and Josh is sort of taking a break. I loved the conversations that arose because of how Winter felt like Josh was constantly overshadowing her and she wasn't really allowed to be her own person. I also loved how Josh had to examine his belief that marriage and love should be easy and not take a lot of work. In fact, there's not really anything I didn't enjoy about this book, with the exception of the third act conflict. I really didn't love how that went down. But all in all, I can't wait to read more from Pembroke in the future and can see myself re-reading this book multiple times over the years.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC as well as to the publisher, though I read a copy that I purchased for myself!
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC as well as to the publisher, though I read a copy that I purchased for myself!
November 2, 2022
I was provided an arc e-copy by the publisher Harlequin Romance the author
Sophie Pembroke
So I can give a honest review thank you do much for sending me a copy.
Their Icelandic Marriage Reunion
Winter and Josh a celebrity Hollywood hot couple this is a second romance they go there separate ways when one day they are reunited in Iceland there begun watched by the press.. Will these two find there way back to each other? 4 star read 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Happy Reading
Lisa 📚
Sophie Pembroke
So I can give a honest review thank you do much for sending me a copy.
Their Icelandic Marriage Reunion
Winter and Josh a celebrity Hollywood hot couple this is a second romance they go there separate ways when one day they are reunited in Iceland there begun watched by the press.. Will these two find there way back to each other? 4 star read 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Happy Reading
Lisa 📚
February 15, 2023
The February 2023 #TBRChallenge is "Getaway." A second chance romance in Iceland? This is 1000% my catnip. Iceland is a beautiful country that is at the top of my Dream Vacations list (along with the Scottish Highlands). When I read far enough into this book to realize that it takes place in the winter time, that just made me even more anxious to read it.
It's pretty much what it says on the tin. Winter de Holland and Josh Abraham are two Hollywood A-listers with a romance origin story celebrated in the celebrity press as a fairy tale: they spotted each other across the set of a rom-com in which they were co-starring and basically fell in love at first sight. They lived the tale, but their marriage ended quite abruptly five years later, when Josh returned from a movie shoot to find a Dear John letter and all of Winter's belongings gone from their home. They managed to not communicate at all after that (or only through their lawyers), but amazingly, neither held bitter feelings towards the other. They looked at their failed marriage and inwardly blamed themselves.
After nearly 8 years, neither has moved on to a new serious relationship. A mutual friend, former actor turned hotelier Liam Delaney, has invited them both to the opening press splash of his latest luxury hotel in Iceland. He conveniently doesn't tell them that he invited the other, and unfortunately Winter finds out in a very public way, at a press conference for her Best Director nomination for her debut film. She manages to get out of the embarrassing questions, but is reluctant to go to Iceland - at first. Basically, her curiosity gets the better of her and she does go, against her better judgment, because she wants to see Josh and, presumably, have some closure on their relationship.
They get rather more than they bargain for, as their trip coincides with the press launch of the hotel and there are tons of social media influencers hanging around, which basically means that Winter and Josh have zero privacy. They talk, and hook up at the end, but still aren't really communicating. Winter thinks they're setting up a FWB situation, while Josh believes they are trying again in their relationship.
First, the good: this author can write. When she hits her emotional beats, it is the perfect gut punch that you want.
Unfortunately, this story just did not work for me. I loathe the idea of "influencers" in general, but why oh why are you trying to matchmake your two A-list celebrity friends during a press week that's teaming with gossip reporters? Why do you think this is going to work, especially when its the whole media construct of their relationship that Winter hated, and she's kept a low profile ever since? Their friend Liam knew what really happened to break their marriage apart, but somehow still thought it was a good idea to make their reunion a public spectacle. Ugh.
Josh and Winter have oodles of physical attraction to each other (which they do little to resist while in Iceland), but they can't communicate with each other. They don't use their words, they just make lots of assumptions about how the other person is feeling and go from there. For example, Josh LOVED the idea of them living a real-life fairy tale romance. He thinks true love is perfect and smooth sailing and has lots of ideal relationship examples in his life. It never occurs to him that Winter doesn't feel the same way, and he's kinda blindsided when she leaves him. Winter doesn't tell him how she's feeling (trapped in a story, like she can't be her true self because it will contradict their perfect romance, how she can't live up to his dreams of the perfect family ) and basically runs away. Even when they hook up again and set out expectations, Josh is just thinking that she'll eventually come over to his side, while Winter is sticking to their agreement because, well, it's what they agreed to. She's afraid if their relationship is made public that she'll be forced into that box again as "Josh Abraham's wife" and will lose her hard-fought independence as a person and a director.
I get Winter's fear, because internet gossip is pretty much impossible to control, but she doesn't seem to have gotten the message that a lot of A listers these days are using their social media to control the narrative and release news on their own terms. She issues a press release to combat the stories instead, which is not a 2023 move. I mean, I hate a lot of social media and internet gossip, and even I know this. She handles it badly, but she still makes a Grand Romantic Gesture at the end, and the story just...ends. All this worry over social media, and we don't even see the fallout that she was so worried about. So why was it even included? It just seems a waste.
I'm also not convinced that these two would make it. Supposedly older and wiser as they both near 40, they still can't open their mouths and use their words to communicate, and that's the basis of a fulfilling relationship. They don't agree on how to handle their public personas (vs their private lives). I don't believe that either will bend enough from their stated ideals/fears to make things work, because both are used to taking the easy way out.
I believe I have other books by this author on Mount TBR because SuperWendy is a fan, so I will give her another try. Unfortunately, this one was just did not hit right for me.
It's pretty much what it says on the tin. Winter de Holland and Josh Abraham are two Hollywood A-listers with a romance origin story celebrated in the celebrity press as a fairy tale: they spotted each other across the set of a rom-com in which they were co-starring and basically fell in love at first sight. They lived the tale, but their marriage ended quite abruptly five years later, when Josh returned from a movie shoot to find a Dear John letter and all of Winter's belongings gone from their home. They managed to not communicate at all after that (or only through their lawyers), but amazingly, neither held bitter feelings towards the other. They looked at their failed marriage and inwardly blamed themselves.
After nearly 8 years, neither has moved on to a new serious relationship. A mutual friend, former actor turned hotelier Liam Delaney, has invited them both to the opening press splash of his latest luxury hotel in Iceland. He conveniently doesn't tell them that he invited the other, and unfortunately Winter finds out in a very public way, at a press conference for her Best Director nomination for her debut film. She manages to get out of the embarrassing questions, but is reluctant to go to Iceland - at first. Basically, her curiosity gets the better of her and she does go, against her better judgment, because she wants to see Josh and, presumably, have some closure on their relationship.
They get rather more than they bargain for, as their trip coincides with the press launch of the hotel and there are tons of social media influencers hanging around, which basically means that Winter and Josh have zero privacy. They talk, and hook up at the end, but still aren't really communicating. Winter thinks they're setting up a FWB situation, while Josh believes they are trying again in their relationship.
First, the good: this author can write. When she hits her emotional beats, it is the perfect gut punch that you want.
Unfortunately, this story just did not work for me. I loathe the idea of "influencers" in general, but why oh why are you trying to matchmake your two A-list celebrity friends during a press week that's teaming with gossip reporters? Why do you think this is going to work, especially when its the whole media construct of their relationship that Winter hated, and she's kept a low profile ever since? Their friend Liam knew what really happened to break their marriage apart, but somehow still thought it was a good idea to make their reunion a public spectacle. Ugh.
Josh and Winter have oodles of physical attraction to each other (which they do little to resist while in Iceland), but they can't communicate with each other. They don't use their words, they just make lots of assumptions about how the other person is feeling and go from there. For example, Josh LOVED the idea of them living a real-life fairy tale romance. He thinks true love is perfect and smooth sailing and has lots of ideal relationship examples in his life. It never occurs to him that Winter doesn't feel the same way, and he's kinda blindsided when she leaves him. Winter doesn't tell him how she's feeling (trapped in a story, like she can't be her true self because it will contradict their perfect romance, how she can't live up to his dreams of the perfect family ) and basically runs away. Even when they hook up again and set out expectations, Josh is just thinking that she'll eventually come over to his side, while Winter is sticking to their agreement because, well, it's what they agreed to. She's afraid if their relationship is made public that she'll be forced into that box again as "Josh Abraham's wife" and will lose her hard-fought independence as a person and a director.
I get Winter's fear, because internet gossip is pretty much impossible to control, but she doesn't seem to have gotten the message that a lot of A listers these days are using their social media to control the narrative and release news on their own terms. She issues a press release to combat the stories instead, which is not a 2023 move. I mean, I hate a lot of social media and internet gossip, and even I know this. She handles it badly, but she still makes a Grand Romantic Gesture at the end, and the story just...ends. All this worry over social media, and we don't even see the fallout that she was so worried about. So why was it even included? It just seems a waste.
I'm also not convinced that these two would make it. Supposedly older and wiser as they both near 40, they still can't open their mouths and use their words to communicate, and that's the basis of a fulfilling relationship. They don't agree on how to handle their public personas (vs their private lives). I don't believe that either will bend enough from their stated ideals/fears to make things work, because both are used to taking the easy way out.
I believe I have other books by this author on Mount TBR because SuperWendy is a fan, so I will give her another try. Unfortunately, this one was just did not hit right for me.
November 28, 2022
Life after miscarriage and divorce is hard enough, but when you and your ex are both in the entertainment industry, everything is under a microscope.
Winter is 5 years beyond her marriage to Josh when they both attend the opening of a friend’s new hotel. Of course between celebs, influencers and paparazzi seeing him again brings up mixed emotions. They agree to be cordial and that helps get some closure. Do they want more? Is it worth the risk?
I liked the story, empathized with Winter’s need to be seen as her own person, not just Josh’s ex. You see publicized relationships often in the media and it’s easy to not see beyond the surface, but they are real people with real situations.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book but my opinions are my own.
Winter is 5 years beyond her marriage to Josh when they both attend the opening of a friend’s new hotel. Of course between celebs, influencers and paparazzi seeing him again brings up mixed emotions. They agree to be cordial and that helps get some closure. Do they want more? Is it worth the risk?
I liked the story, empathized with Winter’s need to be seen as her own person, not just Josh’s ex. You see publicized relationships often in the media and it’s easy to not see beyond the surface, but they are real people with real situations.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book but my opinions are my own.
December 22, 2022
Surprisingly insightful and nuanced ....
This is one of the best written second chance books I've read in a very long time. Its made even more poignant with a miscarriage and a divorce. Five years after an abrupt dissolution to their marriage after a miscarriage, Winter and Josh are at an Icelandic spa. Actors, though now Winter is a director, they have a chance to finally achieve some closure, since Josh just read her note and let her go without a fight. Winter has only moved forward after the miscarriage and divorce. Josh is fixated on an easy true love, and moving on so he can find that easy true love and that fairytale love story, since it wasn't Winter (he had already moved on with a series of blondes and I was glad this wasn't dwelled on too long).
Winter is such a great and empathetic character who feels the vast range of emotions. Josh is a good character too, though he's more cookie-cutter and wants things neat and tidy. They both have to deal with their unresolved guilt.
Endings and beginnings.
Recommend.
This is one of the best written second chance books I've read in a very long time. Its made even more poignant with a miscarriage and a divorce. Five years after an abrupt dissolution to their marriage after a miscarriage, Winter and Josh are at an Icelandic spa. Actors, though now Winter is a director, they have a chance to finally achieve some closure, since Josh just read her note and let her go without a fight. Winter has only moved forward after the miscarriage and divorce. Josh is fixated on an easy true love, and moving on so he can find that easy true love and that fairytale love story, since it wasn't Winter (he had already moved on with a series of blondes and I was glad this wasn't dwelled on too long).
Winter is such a great and empathetic character who feels the vast range of emotions. Josh is a good character too, though he's more cookie-cutter and wants things neat and tidy. They both have to deal with their unresolved guilt.
Endings and beginnings.
Recommend.
December 23, 2022
A-list actors Winter and Josh had a fairy tale marriage—until tragedy tore them apart. Reunited by a matchmaking mutual friend at a resort in Iceland, they seek closure. When passion flares, can they risk a second chance at love?
I loved Winter and Josh—they had so much chemistry together, and it was clear they had never fallen out of love. They each blamed themselves for the breakdown of their marriage, but the situation was complicated. I enjoyed the Icelandic setting with its natural hot springs. It's a heartwarming, satisfying read.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
I loved Winter and Josh—they had so much chemistry together, and it was clear they had never fallen out of love. They each blamed themselves for the breakdown of their marriage, but the situation was complicated. I enjoyed the Icelandic setting with its natural hot springs. It's a heartwarming, satisfying read.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
December 28, 2022
I really wanted to read this book since I’ve been to Iceland. I really enjoyed this one. Winter and Josh were a couple reunited in Iceland. Both actors, which means their relationship is out there for everyone to critique. Winter and Josh both Blake themselves for the loss of their marriage. I love second chance romances. This book was well written and very enjoyable with great emotion. I wanted to keep reading until the end. Huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book!
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December 1, 2022Contemporary Romance, Family Life Fiction, Women's Fiction
Miniseries
Dream Destinations (Book #1)
Miniseries
Dream Destinations (Book #1)
May 19, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews