Book Review: Where You Are (Between the Lines #2) by Tammara Webber

Summary: 

Graham Douglas doesn’t do romantic relationships, but he was knocked for a loop when he met Emma Pierce on the set of his last film. As they grew closer, he did everything in his power to keep from falling for a girl being pursued by superstar Reid Alexander. Now home in New York, his life is once again under control, until Emma appears and shows him how not over her he is.

Emma Pierce is forsaking an up-and-coming Hollywood career to embark on a life she’s only dreamed of—the life of a regular girl. After spending months burying her feelings for the two night-and-day guys who vied for her heart while filming her last movie, a twist of fate puts her in a coffee shop in the middle of Manhattan with the one she still misses.

Brooke Cameron was a fresh-faced Texas girl when she arrived in LA. Now she’s a beach sitcom star turned conceited heiress on the big screen. Having just survived three months on location with her ex—Hollywood’s reigning golden boy—she’s older and wiser and has set her sights on her close friend Graham. The only thing standing in her way is the girl he can’t forget.

Reid Alexander can sum up his life in one word: boring. Between film projects, there’s little going on outside of interviews, photo shoots, and the premiere of the film he finished last fall. The next-to-last thing he expects is to get a second chance with Emma, the girl who rejected him. The last thing he expects is for his still-bitter-ex to be the one to offer it to him on a platter.

Release Date: October 1, 2011

Age Group: Mature YA

Source: Purchased

Review:

I started Where You Are immediately after finishing book one in the series, Between the Lines.  I love it when I am able to read series novels one right after another!  Between the Lines was mostly about Emma and Reid's romantic relationship and Emma and Graham's friendship.  Now, the tables have turned.  Emma and Graham are together, well, as together as they can be while living on opposite sides of the continent and having to keep their relationship a secret from the press.  Emma and Reid are thrown together again during the publicity tour for their movie, School Pride.  Reid decides to use this time as an opportunity to get Emma back. 

Reid is not content to let Emma and Graham be happy together. Emma is the one who got away, and he wants her back.  If not for a relationship, at least for a one-night stand---because that's the extent of his relationship ability.  Have I mentioned that I really hate that guy?  Brooke, Graham's good friend and Reid's ex-girlfriend, has decided that she wants Graham for herself.  She hatches a devious, back-stabbing plan to break Emma and Graham up, and asks Reid for help.  They conspire together throughout the entire book to break Emma and Graham up.  The lengths they go to are unbelievable.  Brooke's favorite rationalization is "the ends justify the means," and she tells herself it's all worth it to be with Graham. 

Where You Are features alternating first-person narrative, with Emma, Graham, Reid, and Brooke as the narrators.  I liked getting to know Brooke better, as I had always assumed there was a deep layer of hurt and inadequacy underneath her polished, witchy veneer.  Although I hated her actions, and hoped for her plan to fail, I did like getting to see her vulnerable side.  I absolutely hated Reid until the very end of the book, when he shows he has a tiny bit of morals and does the right thing for once in his life.

Overall, I enjoyed Where You Are, although it was my least favorite book in the series.  There was simply too much plotting, and too much back-stabbing to make it a favorite read of mine.  I did love the ending, though, and the way Webber wrapped things up.  It's  must read for the series, but not a book I'd ever read again.