America's Sweetheart: A Novel

Jessica Lemmon

Oct 2018 · Loveswept

About this ebook

Old flames burn bright. When a disgraced starlet returns home to lick her wounds, she discovers that her high school sweetheart is just as tempting as ever.

“No one writes big-hearted bad boys like Jessica Lemmon!”—New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster

Allison: When I left for California, I gave myself a new name and never looked back. Now my carefully crafted good-girl image is getting torn to shreds in the press thanks to my Oscar-winning A-hole of an ex-boyfriend. So I escape to the only safe haven I know and trust—my hometown—to take a breather while I plot my triumphant Hollywood comeback. However, when I arrive at my parents’ house, Jackson Burke answers the door instead. And suddenly the past comes rushing back. . . .

Jackson: First kiss. First time. First love. Yep, Allison Murphy and I shared a lot of firsts back in the day. When she left, she took half my heart with her. Now she’s back in town, and even though I swore I’d keep my distance, her parents hired me to remodel their house, and I’m going to finish the job. But one hot kiss later, suddenly the press is calling us the next big celebrity couple. Sure, I’ll play the part, for Allison’s sake—but I refuse to let her close enough to break my heart all over again. . . .

Praise for America’s Sweetheart

“Excellent contemporary romance—a second-chance love story that skillfully blends lighthearted sweetness and gut-wrenching emotion.”—New York Times bestselling author Lauren Layne

“From Hollywood to the heartland, this sexy, poignant romance from Jessica Lemmon proves that you can go home again and rekindle your first love.”—Kate Meader, USA Today bestselling author of the Laws of Attraction series

“America’s Sweetheart is the perfect second-chance reunion! A dynamic combination of sweet and sexy.”—USA Today bestselling author Jules Bennett

“True love and steamy seduction, with a healthy dose of destiny, make this latest entry a success.”—Library X-Press (starred review)

Look for Jessica Lemmon’s standalone romances with heartfelt HEAs:

FIGHTING FOR DEVLIN | FORGOTTEN PROMISES | SHUT UP AND KISS ME | EYE CANDY | ARM CANDY | MAN CANDY | RUMOR HAS IT | AMERICA’S SWEETHEART

This ebook includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

Ratings and reviews

The was a pretty good read. The writing flowed well, and I thought the characters were developed nicely. I didn't like how the book went from Jax's point of view, to suddenly switching to Allie's point of view. It was solely Jax's POV for half of the book, and then switched. It switched again towards the end. I really liked Jax. He was a genuinely good guy. I wasn't a fan of Allie for pretty much the whole book. She's shallow, and only worries about herself and her fame. How she thought that what she did was okay, and Jax was just supposed to play along was beyond me. She did redeem herself in the end, and I enjoyed their HEA. I voluntarliy reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.

I love a good second chance romance which this one is and I wanted to give this five starts but I disliked the main female character Allison so much I just couldn't. Jackson on the other hand I adored. I wanted to shake him and scream "you can do so much better." The heart wants what the heart wants though even if he know she'll probably break his heart again. Even with my dislike of Allison I did enjoy this book. The author has a great way of infusing humor and witty banter into the story making it so much fun to read. I'd recommend this one with snarled "Allison"!

Good story America's Sweetheart is the fifth book in the Real Love series. It's a standalone story that has characters from earlier books making a quick appearance but you don't need to have read the others to enjoy this one. The story is told in first person point of view with most of the first half told by Jackson and the second by Allison. The copy I read was an uncorrected pre-publication file so I'm going to assume that the one thing that bothered me throughout was corrected. When the story switched from Jackson to Allison, or vice versa, there wasn't any indication at the begining of the chapter. It was a bit distracting but not really something that took me out of the story. I love second chance stories and this is a pretty good one. Allison and Jackson were high school sweethearts until Allison moved to Los Angeles to take a summer job with her aunt. The job turned into the opportunity of a lifetime to act in a TV show. Jackson didn't want to move to L.A. and they eventually broke up. Fast forward 10 years and Allison has returned to Columbus in disgrace. Jackson now has is own remodeling company and is working on her parent's home. When she opens the door to the house both of them are shocked to see the other there. America's Sweetheart is a fairly fast paced story about two former lovers getting reacquainted and discovering that there is still more than just a spark between them. We find out the true story behind Allison's disgrace and how the she and Jackson manage to work things out between them so that they can get their HEA. I've really enjoyed reading this series. It's been fun for me, not just because Jessica Lemmon wrote it, but because it's set in the city where I was born, raised and lived for 58 years. The references to places in Columbus are generic enough that nothing seemed to really be wrong. I am curious, though, about one of Jackson's favorite places called Little Town. Since I've never heard of a place called that in Columbus I'm guessing that it's a made-up location which is perfectly fine since this, after all, is fiction. 😊 A review copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.

About the author

A former job-hopper, Jessica Lemmon resides in Ohio with her husband and rescue dog. She holds a degree in graphic design currently gathering dust in an impressive frame. When she’s not writing about super-sexy heroes, she can be found cooking, drawing, drinking coffee (okay, wine), and eating potato chips. She firmly believes God gifts us with talents for a purpose, and with His help, you can create the life you want.