This is the first book I have read by Ava Harrison.
Olivia Miller is a high fashion model recovering from addiction. She has fought her way back to be a healthy weight. Unfortunately, her clients want her super skinny with rib and hip bones protruding. The story opens with Olivia in London, recently fired from a modeling gig. She’s feeling the tremendous shame of being fat, though to most people, she is anything but that. We get to meet Olivia’s friend, Lindsey (a party girl, heiress-socialite) trying to draw Olivia her back into her world of a drugs and alcohol scene. As Lindsey bullies Olivia into going out on the town, Spencer Lancaster (heir to the Lancaster Hotel chain) enters the club where Olivia and Lindsey are partying. That is where Olivia gets her first glimpse of her hero.
When Olivia and Spenser meet, they start a consensual albeit, casual sexual relationship. Spencer is in Britain to nail down a land deal Manchester. Although the deal falls through, once he meets Olivia, he wants her by his side – if only for the two weeks he’s in Europe. As they travel together throughout Europe (France & Barcelona) they start to fall in love. Once back in the States, they decide to take their relationship to a new level and start dating openly. Olivia’s past starts to come up as the paparazzi are relentless, following Spencer and Olivia as they foster their new relationship.
Olivia’s self-doubts surface quickly as more scrutiny in focused on them in the public. She is determined to make a success of herself on her own without Spencer Lancaster. That forces her back into modeling and back into a world that she thought she had left behind with booze and cocaine just to get her to a place where she can model again.
Clandestine deals with cocaine addiction, self-esteem & body issues. It might even trigger those struggling with bulimia or anorexia.
But the story is worth it. As Olivia and Spencer fight their inner demons and struggles, Ava Harrison has written this book with hope and unconditional love.