Hey ForeverBookers,
How are you all doing today? I hope you’re well!
I’ve just finished rereading Rebound by Rosemary Rey and I loved it! From recollection I loved it the first time I read it as well, about 5 years ago.
5 Stars!
5 Stars!
I read this for a few readathons:
For Reading Rivalry - A book I think should be turned into a movie - I’d love to see this play out on television, actually but a movie is close enough.
For Litwits - A love story - that’s the central plot of Rebound and the whole Pentagon trilogy.
Literary Love Affair - Soulmate Love - Perla and Matt are what I class as realistic soulmates.
Popsugar Reading Challenge 2019 - A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter - Rosemary Rey.
Rebound is set in America and is about an almost 30 year old woman, Perla Mercurio and a doctor, Matthias Keene who have a very passionate affair...do they fall in love??? You’ll have to read to find out...
Rebound is a very character centric novel. Not much happens plot wise, apart from the characters interacting. I was fine with this as it’s what I expected when I first read it, those 5 years ago. It’s also written in first person prose. I love reading books that are like this because it’s as if I’m the main character, and when that’s a female, I feel that I can relate.
Note: there are a LOT of sex scenes in Rebound so if you’re under 18 or uncomfortable reading sex I don’t recommend it!
Spoilers Below...
“I tolerated the pain because I was young and loved to dance.”
Perla, our main character is at the doctors surgery to see someone about pain in her hip that she endured through dance when she was younger.
“Hives broke out all over my chest and shoulders while waiting to be seen by one,”
is on the first page of Rebound. She doesn’t like the thought of being seen by the doctor, as is evident above. She gets really nervous, hence the rash. We don’t know if the rash is true or but I suspect it’s just a statement used to describe her nerves. The nerves are described further in,
“I felt an itch, and I scratched my neck as my heart beat quickened. The nervous squirms in my belly made me nauseas.”
Perla clearly doesn’t know who the doctor will be. This makes her nervous because she’ll be revealing her body to a stranger. I know that I’d feel nervous doing this.
“Despite the extra pounds I carried in my midsection, hips, and behind, I looked good. My bust was always fuller, which conflicted with the slender body frame of ballerina’s. I felt sexier because of all the extra physical activity.”
We, the readers know that Perla is overweight from the above statement. This is revealed early on in Rebound. This is the first time the term “sex” is mentioned in any capacity anywhere in the book, but as I said above, it is described soooo much throughout, as it’s an erotic novel. Perla is proud to be who she is. she thinks she looks “good” too. When the doctor walks in, though, all nerves are forgotten about for Perla.
“I turned my head to see the most gorgeous man enter the room. He was tall, standing at about six foot, three inches. Ben was five foot, nine inches tall, and this man stood much taller and broader than my ex.”
This is the first time Perla sees the doctor, Matthias Keene or Matt as we come to know him through Perla. She thinks he’s beyond good looking and is more handsome than her ex, Ben. Ben only appears once much later in the book but is spoken of quite a bit as a bad comparison to Matt. Ben and Perla were married but when Ben no longer talked to her and just became really distant, she put a halt on their relationship. This is something I really admired about Perla. How she’s strong enough to say when she doesn’t want something and stand up for her beliefs. If more of us were like this, the world would be a better place, I think.
“I have to work to make ends meet. I have to work to pay off debts. I just can’t walk away from all I’ve built in the last two years. I don’t expect you to understand, but I hope you will respect why I live the way I do.”
Perla has to work two jobs to pay off her divorce. One at the gym, as a trainer and a receptionist and one at an Inn. The Inn job is more out of the kindness of Perla’s heart because Alice, one of the owners of the Inn is ill and Perla feels it’s right to help out and try to make it easier on her. Ross, Alice’s husband wants her to sell up.
“Ross isn’t interested in dealing with this anymore. He wants me to take the purchase offer for the Inn, but you know I can’t do it.” Ross wants Alice to rest and relax because she’s ill. She wants to keep going, though. Ross and Alice are very much side characters in the book. The Inn plays a significant role in “Rebound” later on and I believe in the other books, too. Is this for a good reason or a bad one? You’ll have to read to find out.
Matt doesn’t like Perla’s independence. He wants to protect her but as I said above she’s strong and she’ll do what she has to do to remain self sufficient. This was also refreshing, a book heroine actually wanting to be independent and not wanting to rely on others. Even though, this is a contemporary novel it’s still good to see. I wish that more fantasy and YA novels had this sort of main character, especially YA because adults, who are reading this should already know how to stand up for themselves and be brave in any situation realistically, but teenagers need role models to follow. Most main characters in the YA realm are dictated to in some way and told what to believe. They might try to overcome this but that is normally what their novel is about. Here, in Rebound, Perla is already brave and ready to stand up to whoever stands in her way.
“Am I right? Do you want me,” he asked again...
“Yes I want you...all the time.”
This is Matt asking Perla if she wants to have sex again. This couple is pretty much insatiable as all they do throughout Rebound is have sex. There are of course other important themes brought up to, some of which I’ve summarised above but the main theme of the book is sex. Perla and Matt are at it more than they’re not in the story. This is a clean moment above, which is why I’ve highlighted it. “I’m in. I’ve been in since I took you home with me. I was in when you stayed. When I found you sleeping on the couch, looking so beautiful and at home, in my home, I was in.” This just proves how much Matt loves Perla and wants to be with her. Even though neither of them reveals any sort of feelings to each other until near the end.
Matt introduces Perla to his friends near the end of the novel. She gets on with one of the women but none of the others. They all think they’re better than her.
“I’m sure Brady could hook him up with someone better. What the hell do they have in common?”
This is the girlfriend of one of Matt’s friends, Brady, talking about Perla and Matt’s relationship. Of course Perla being who she is, doesn’t like being talked about. She lets them know that she overheard them talking and that she doesn’t want to be friends with them. This is another instance of Perla being strong and standing up for herself.
Perla wants Matt to use a condom throughout “Rebound” because she’s scared to let him in, metaphorically more than physically.
“I wasn’t ready to allow him to be inside me without a barrier. I needed to play these encounters safe.”
She’s scared to connect to another man after what her ex husband did to her. Ben basically didn’t trust Perla after he thought that she lost their company from when they were together. Of course, Perla is innocent of this crime. It’s got nothing to do with her. What it has got to do with is revealed right at the end of Rebound, when Perla finds evidence that she’s not to blame. I don’t want to spoil any more but it’s a good and exciting reveal. Does Perla allow Matt in to her life? You’ll need to read to find out.
We see Matt’s family a little bit in “Rebound.” He and Perla go to visit his sister, her husband and their daughter once. This was nice, because we got to see Perla interact with other characters, not just Matt and her best friend, Chelsea. Perla loves seeing Matt as an uncle and is thinking about him as a father, too. “Matt walked over to Leona and bent down. She handed over a pinch of food, which he took in his mouth.” This shows just how animated Matt is with children. I believe he wants to be a father and for Perla to be the mother of his child but that isn’t revealed in “Rebound.”
At the end of Rebound we get a twist or a reveal in the story. It’s to do with the Inn and Matt’s friends. That’s all I want to say. What’s been going so well for Perla and Matt up to that point could all end up badly. Will it? You’ll have to read the trilogy to find out.
Stand by for my next review, coming soon...
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