Lonely for You Only by Monica Murphy

Monica Murphy’s Lonely for You Only is a fake-relationship, enemies to lovers romance between a former boy band member and an heiress from New York City.

**I received a free, advanced copy of this book for reviewing purposes. Thank you to the author, Monica Murphy, and to Valentine PR for including me in this release!**

The Story

On Scarlett Lancaster’s 18th birthday, her parents throw a party for her at the Plaza Hotel. No expense is spared. Her father throws his little princess an over the top party, complete with burlesque dancers, 18 cakes, and a surprise performance.

Tate Ramsey, former member of ‘Five Car Pileup,’ a now forgotten boy band (think One Direction), is the surprise performance that Scarlett’s father arranged for her birthday party. Having blown through the money he made from his boy band days, he’s struggling and is selling personalized greetings online. When he’s offered 1 million dollars to perform at the heiress’ birthday party, he jumps at the opportunity. When he and Scarlett are caught in an argument, they put on a show for the photographers.

My Verdict on Lonely for You Only

*mild spoilers ahead*

Lonely for You Only has the foundation to be a great story. But, it fell flat, and earns only a 2 star rating from me. I like the story itself, but the pacing and the writing took away from it for me. The number of times that the ‘Lancaster fortune,’ or the incredible wealth and status they had was overkill. The birthday party was enough to show the kind of wealth this family has. The constant ‘reminders’ weren’t necessary.

The Characters

Scarlett’s father was just a lot to take. He planned the over the top birthday party, not Scarlett or her mother. He was all about knowing the latest celebrity gossip, but was clueless to the things happening right under his nose. And yet somehow he didn’t know that Tate wasn’t the world’s favorite anymore? He didn’t know that his daughter no longer had posters of him in her bedroom? As the kids these days say, make it make sense.

Scarlett

Scarlett herself was a bit all over the place. She’s hung up on a guy who is constantly leading her on and treating her like crap. But because their parents are friends, she’s always around him and isn’t capable of cutting him out of her life. Even when so many people in her life tell her he is not worth it, she doesn’t listen. Yet the second things get ‘rough’ in LA and her Dad offers to “call up the jet” to bring her home, she jumps at it. And why? Because Tate went into another room to give her privacy while she had to have an uncomfortable conversation with her father? One where she has to ‘fess up to all the lies she’s been telling?

Her reaction and thought process is not one of a rational adult. If she’s smart and old enough to go out to LA with her older, boyfriend, and had the knowledge and resources (aka, Daddy’s money) to hire her own lawyer to look over the contract between her and Tate, why would she react like that? Scarlett just turned 18 and in a lot of ways she’s more intelligent than your average 18-year-old. But all too frequently, she acts like she’s 8, not 18.

It was really hard to like Scarlett. And I don’t know that I’ve ever said that about a character before. From the very beginning of the book, there wasn’t a great balance between her being her own independent person, and her being a spoiled little princess. When she finds out her father hired Tate to perform, she can’t even pretend to be excited about it. I felt so bad for Tate in that moment!

Tate

On the other hand, I really liked Tate’s character. He’s a bit stereotypical, but that’s why he works as a character. Sure he blew through his money, cheated on his long-term girlfriend, and became an addict. But he also took the time to clean up his act. And even back in LA and around tempting situations, he stays strong and doesn’t fall back into old habits.

The Timeline

My main thing with the story is the pacing of the story and the ending. It was not until halfway through the book that Tate and Scarlett arrive in Los Angeles. To me, that is when bulk of the story occurs. But they went back and forth about whether or not to go through with this fake relationship for the public, that by the time they got to LA, I was ready for them to be together for real. There are plenty of great moments both in New York and in L.A., but I would have adjusted the sequence of those moments.

The ending was way too rushed. Within a few pages, Scarlett went from wanting to forget about Tate to admitting her feelings for him and hopping on the family’s jet to rush back to him. However, if the book was followed up with more to this story, my thoughts on the ending would change.

I could easily see a second book detailing the two of the in their new, real, public relationship, while Tate is on tour. I could see the ex-girlfriend or the ex-band mates trying to become part of Tate’s life again now that he is successful. Or even see the actress that kept hitting on Tate reappearing again. Or what about how the public treats them both after everything? There’s a lot of potential for a continuation of this story, but I don’t believe that it will happen.

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