This Time Love

📘 About This Book

This time they may just find love. Evelyn Bennett’s life was forever changed five years earlier. A broken engagement and a devastating injury were just the beginning of what was to come. With the death of her beloved grandfather, she is once again confronted by Sebastian O’Connor, a man she had vowed never to work for again. Sebastian O’Connor has found himself at a crossroads. He has inherited a fifth of a company from a man he had once worked for and respected. He had left because he refused to take orders from Evelyn after the company had been left in her less-than-capable hands. But things were now different, and after a vote, he would take over the company, making Evelyn take orders from him. There was no love lost between Evelyn and Sebastian from the day they met. That was about to change. Now that each of them owns equal shares of Evelyn’s grandfather’s business, neither of them wants to relinquish control to the other. When old, buried secrets come to the surface, they find themselves uniting for the well-being of the company. Somewhere between Sebastian’s confusing kisses and Evelyn learning to deal with old hurts and insecurities, the pair find themselves attracted and in a relationship neither expected. Sebastian can be a bit domineering. Evelyn does a pretty good impression of a shrew. These two people meet again five years after they had parted on not-so-good terms to find that they are now different people, people who may just find that this time there is love between them. This is a standalone novel, approximately 94,000 words. I love a story with people who are less than perfect. Please note this is an open-door romance. I hope you enjoy. – Lizzy Castle.

📖 Summary

Elizabeth Castle's 2017 fiction novel, This Time Love, spans two hundred and forty-six pages of emotional turbulence, professional rivalry, and personal reconstruction. The story centers on Evelyn Bennett, a woman whose existence was irrevocably altered five years prior to the novel's present timeline. During that life-altering period, Evelyn suffered a broken engagement alongside a devastating injury, setting a tumultuous tone for the years that followed. Just as she attempts to navigate her ongoing struggles, the death of her beloved grandfather strikes another heavy blow, forcing her to confront a past she might otherwise have preferred to leave behind. That confrontation comes in the form of Sebastian O’Connor, a man with whom Evelyn shares a deeply contentious history and someone she had previously vowed never to work for again. Sebastian finds himself at a major crossroads in his own life following the grandfather's passing. He has inherited a fifth of the company from the older man, someone he had once worked for and deeply respected. Sebastian had originally departed from the firm because he fiercely refused to take orders from Evelyn, whom he viewed as possessing less-than-capable hands to run the business. Now, however, the playing field has shifted. Circumstances have evolved, and Sebastian anticipates that after a forthcoming vote, he will take over the enterprise entirely, thereby reversing their previous dynamic and forcing Evelyn to take orders from him instead. From the very first day they ever met, animosity and mutual resistance defined their interactions, with absolutely no love lost between them. As the professional stakes rise and they are thrust back into each other's orbits within the corporate structure, the tension builds. Castle uses this classic setup of forced proximity and workplace rivalry to explore themes of grief, resilience, personal growth, and the fragile path toward unexpected romance. Evelyn must grapple with the physical and emotional scars of her past injuries and broken heart while simultaneously defending her position and capabilities in a corporate world that has repeatedly tested her strength. Sebastian, driven by his ambitions and past grievances, must confront his own stubborn biases and preconceived notions about Evelyn's leadership. The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of corporate restructuring and personal bereavement, probing whether these two fierce antagonists can move past their bitter origins. As they are forced to collaborate and navigate the complex legacy left behind by Evelyn's grandfather, the boundaries between professional friction and personal connection begin to blur. Castle crafts a compelling portrait of two resilient individuals trying to find their footing after profound loss, ultimately suggesting that sometimes the very people we vow to avoid are the ones who help us redefine our futures. Through a delicate balance of emotional depth and character-driven conflict, This Time Love captures the messy reality of healing from old wounds and the surprising ways love can emerge when least expected.

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