GRR Reviews Now and Then (The Now Series Book 1) by Brenda Rothert

Now and Then is about changing relationships, how accommodating unfairness only breeds more, and secrets hurts.

Emmaline Carson has settled into her career as a graphic designer. She was the quiet sister, compared to her sister Layla, the outgoing, confident one. Emmaline had a crush on the neighbor boy, Cole Marlowe, but Cole had dated Layla, not Emmaline. A decade later, Cole's now an attorney planning to work his way up the corporate ladder, until a chance encounter at a cafe brought Emmaline back into his life. Now Emmaline has matured into a woman, and Cole's comfortable in the friendship they developed, possibly into something more. But Emmaline and Cole are both keeping secrets... and these secrets can tear them apart... Esp. when Layla get back into the picture... When Emmaline was forced to choose between her relations with her sister and love with Cole...

Both Emma and Cole have secrets to keep and relationships they had to balance. The ebb and flow in the relationship are good, but the flashbacks are a bit too jarring, IMHO. And the interfering sister Layla... was too mentally unbalanced to have been a credible threat, after all the build-up before. How did someone this unbalanced and needy got to be an attorney?

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman had a crush on man long ago, but man dated her older sister. Ten years later, he's back, and wanted to date her, but her sister is in the way again...

Tropes: sibling problem, reunion, friends to lovers, unrequited love

Overall Rating:  4/5 (rounded up from 3.5/5)