Series: The Wedding Belles (Page 1 of 2)

Synopsis:

Sex and the City meets The Wedding Planner in The Wedding Belles, a contemporary and witty romance series about three high-powered New York City women who can plan any wedding—but their own.

Alexis Morgan has spent the past eight years devoted to turning her tiny start-up into Manhattan’s premiere wedding planning company, The Wedding Belles. Now that her business is thriving, it’s time to turn towards her much neglected personal life, and Alexis approaches her relationships like she does everything else: with a plan. Not a part of that plan is Logan Harris, the silent partner in the Belles, and the one person who’s been there for her since the very beginning. But Alexis needs someone fun, and Logan’s all business, all the time—except when a late night at the office ends with an unexpected kiss that leaves the usually cool and together Alexis reeling.

Logan has lusted after Alexis since the day he walked into the tiny Harlem apartment that used to double as her office. But the ambitious wedding planner has always been untouchable...until now. Alexis has made it clear that she’s on the dating market—and equally clear that he’s not in the running. But when Alexis finds herself in need of a date for her sister’s last minute wedding in Florida, Logan knows it’s the perfect time to show Alexis that there’s more to him than numbers and spreadsheets—and beneath the pinstripes and glasses lies a hot-blooded heartthrob. As Florida’s sultry days turn into even hotter nights, Logan’s out to convince Alexis that the fling of a lifetime could just maybe turn into forever...

Review:

To Love and to Cherish started out so fabulously!  That prologue quickly pulled me in and I could feel the electricity between Alexis and Logan.  I laughed, I smiled, and I was having a blast flipping through the pages as I fell hard for Logan.  But then Alexis and I started to butt heads, and it only got progressively worse.  Which is so devastating, because I have struggled with this series *cries because LL is one of my favorite authors*.  Thankfully there is one book in this series I can highly recommend, For Better or Worse.  I fell madly in love with the second book in The Wedding Belles.  The banter, the fighting, the sexiness, the emotions that were pulled out of me, its definite a must read.  You can read my 5 Star review for that book here.  But for this current book, I couldn’t get past Alexis’ behavior and how she treated Logan.

Alexis is the creator of the Belles, and I could never get a good grasp on who she was in the previous books.  She could be such a conundrum at times, and I always wondered what had made her that way.  Well it doesn’t take us long to get a clear understanding to why Alexis is the way she is.  I felt beyond awful for what happened to her, and I fully understood why she had such severe trust issues.  But the poor guy who was put through the ringer, because of her trust issues, was Logan.

Logan is Alexis’ accountant, who’s been a constant in her life for the last 8 years.  He’s a true friend who she not only trusts with her company, but she even gave him a key to her apartment.  Now you see, this is where I struggled.  Because Alexis didn’t trust Logan with her heart at all.   Even though he proved himself multiple times throughout this book.  He showed her how he was loyal, how he cared for her, how he desperately wanted her.  Yet, she continually stepped backwards, and hurt him again and again.  Regardless of how much hurt she caused, he still wanted her and was patient.  And it got to the point where I thought he deserved someone better.  I wouldn’t have even batted an eyelash if Logan would have walked away.  I mean, a person can only take so much rejection.  And the amount of rejection that was shoveled his way was too much.  It broke my heart again and again.

Now what I loved about this book was Logan.  He was intriguing and easily pulled me in.  I loved learning the different sides of him.  Ohhh and  I loved watching him interact with Josh (he’s the main male character from For Better or Worse, that’s the favorite book I was talking about in the beginning of this review). So for Logan’s sake, I truly hope you’ll end up falling for this book way more than I did.  It was a lot of fun and there’s this cake tasting scene that was smile inducing and hot!  But then Alexis kept happening and that didn’t help me out any.  But on a positive note, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the next series LL creates will go back to being 5 Star status in my eyes!

*ARC kindly provided by Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Reading Order & Links: Amazon (click on covers), iBooks (click on titles) & Book Depository (click on book #)
From This Day Forward #0.5 Reviews: Jen	To Have and To Hold #1 Reviews: Jen Chelsea	For Better or Worse #2 Reviews: Jen
From This Day Forward #3 Reviews: Jen

Synopsis:

USA TODAY bestselling author Lauren Layne is the “queen of witty dialogue and sexy scenes” (Rachel Van Dyken)! Now, Sex and the City meets The Wedding Planner in The Wedding Belles, her sizzling brand new contemporary romance series about three ambitious wedding planners who can make any bride’s dream come true... but their own.

Discovering her fiance is an international con man just moments before they exchange vows devastates celebrity wedding planner Brooke Baldwin's business—and breaks her heart. Now a pariah in Los Angeles, she seeks a fresh start in New York City and thinks she’s found it with her first bridal client, a sweet—if slightly spoiled—hotel heiress. Then she meets the uptight businessman who’s holding the purse strings.

Seth Tyler wishes he could write a blank check and be done with his sister Maya's fancy-pants wedding. Unfortunately, micromanaging the event is his only chance at proving Maya’s fiance is a liar. Standing directly in his way is the stunning blonde wedding planner whose practiced smiles and sassy comebacks both irritate and arouse him. He needs Brooke’s help. But can he persuade a wedding planner on a comeback mission to unplan a wedding? And more importantly, how will he convince her that the wedding she should be planning... is theirs?

Seth linked his fingers in hers. “Take me home, Baldwin.”
She laughed. “You know, for such a rich, savvy guy, you can be a total dork.”
“I like to think it reveals my vulnerable side.”
She glanced up at him suspiciously. “Do you have a vulnerable side?”
“I do. Her name is Brooke.”

Alright. So. I don’t think this will be very long because, as everyone around me knows, I hate bashing my favorite authors, especially one where this is the only book in existence I really don’t like by them. Unless something big happens that really sets me off or the book is just offensive on too many fronts, I don’t relish writing negative or down-trodden reviews. They’re depressing, they’re bleak, and they aren’t actually all that constructive.

But I’m sure all my friends who know I adore LL are wondering why this one didn’t work for me. And the answer is really simple: I did love the male lead, but everyone else was like a paper character in a paper play in a city made of, you guessed it, paper. Had this been….more…I doubt I would have felt disinterest for it. But, as it is, all I could think about was getting on to my next book, and, frankly, that’s a re-read….which doesn’t bode well for my attachment to this story.

“Brooke.”
She paused and looked at him, exasperated. “What?”
“Stay out of my way,” he repeated.
“Under one condition,” she said with a wide, fake smile.
He narrowed his eyes and waited.
“I’ll stay out of your way, big brother”—Brooke reached a hand up to his cheek, patted it with a condescending familiarity—“if you stay out of mine.”

Seth was, and always will be, the star of this story. He was the reason I didn’t DNF, he is the reason I still smiled and sighed and, in the end, was a gooey mess of ‘please love me, not her.’ I am extremely loyal to the men I fall in love with, even more so when they steal my heart completely. I can’t say Seth was my favorite LL character (I think that prize belongs to my baby Mitchell), but he was damn vulnerable, sweet, sexy, and powerful….He was a win in all the ways that mattered and I felt so bad this was his story-He deserved so much more, in my opinion.

Objectively, he was aware that he’d known this woman for a little over a month. It was far too soon to start thinking of them as a unit—to start thinking of her as his. And yet, he also knew down to the quietest, most secret part of his soul that she was his. And he was hers.
And that they would fix whatever had broken inside her.

And when his morals started coming into question, it really fucking pissed me off. I get it-we have to have the inevitable falling apart near the end so it can be swept up and made adorable-I get it. I even love this in LL’s, I really do. But what I can’t get over is how he was looked at, portrayed, and betrayed by those he loves most (aside from his sister, who, I thought would be the biggest issue but was, in fact, the least annoying side character) when he was just trying to help in the only way he knows how. SO, yeah, he wasn’t perfect and he makes mistakes-But the way he was treated….my BBF claws came out and I was ready to tear some people a new A-hole.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her slide her phone into her bag, and was surprised when she shifted her body around to face him. She didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was studying him. He half expected her to start jotting notes about him in her little book.
Uptight.
Control freak.
Unlikable.

And then I guess to wrap this up I need to address the heroine and her new cronies (aka, the wannabe Stiletto squad). I liked Brooke-a lot. But I feel like she was very…me me me. And while with most lead MCs this doesn’t bother me when they are like this, she did. For whatever reason, when she would flub up, I didn’t find it endearing-like I usually do-so much as obnoxious or eye-roll worthy. She was the sweetest chick and I was rooting for her, but when she causes problem after problem for literally no other reason than she’s scared, I can’t help but to get annoyed.

And as for her friends….I might have dozed off a bit as my mind began to wonder into la-la land when they were present. Never have I cared less about LL side characters…and GOD does that fucking suck. I don’t know what to say about them other than they are the first side kicks that I didn’t connect with. Maya, Seth’s sister, yes-I loved. Grant, Seth’s best friend-yes, he was okay, until the end in which I might have ripped his balls off with said BBF claws. But the Wedding Belle’s I was just talking about?? *Snooooooooooreeeeeee*

“There is no after dinner. It’s a business meeting.”
“Poor Brooke,” Maya said, patting Brooke’s hand. “I don’t think you realize just how much trouble you’re in.”
“How so?”
“Let’s just say when my brother wants something, he gets it. Always.”

So, ouch, that hurt. It did. But I think I’m at the point where if no one reads this other than myself (over and over and over again to edit and re edit), that’s okay with me. But, if by some small chance a new friend or someone who believes what I say on a regular basis looks to this review for candid advice, I can’t lie and pretend like it was okay-Because it wasn’t. If I can steer someone to literally any other LL book or series for their first endeavor, I will do everything in my power to do so. This author rocks and I adore her, so I’m extremely disappointed that I’m not liking where this series is going. I have 5 starred almost every single book she’s written, aside from a couple 4/4.5 stars, and that’s astronomical. This is my first full-length novel by her I’ve rated below a four…and it’s not a feeling I’m familiar with. I hope that you’ll see past my distance towards this book and look to what I’ve really been trying to say here: This may have been a miss, but there literally isn’t another one of her books I think negatively of. Go find them-and enjoy.

******************

Well…definitely not what I had hoped for. It was up and down, repetitive, and, most importantly, I was bored (a lot). As usual, the male lead was the star of the show and he had me smiling so big more often than not. In the end, I was a gooey emotional mess, choking on butterflies, and utterly won over….but, at that point, it was too little too late.

Some of the characters felt underdeveloped and it felt like a sad imitation of the Stiletto girls. I think I was most disappointed because this had so many perfect, wonderful developments that could have made this a five star, easily. I just hate in books when something happens and everyone reacts and blames [and gangs up on] the male lead and UGH I just HATE it. This put the final nail in the three star coffin for me. I don’t know.

Anyway, I’ll write a review, but it might be a couple days because I have so little time these days…and this just kills me to rate this so low.

RTC

Synopsis:

Discovering her fiancé is an international con man just moments before they exchange vows devastates celebrity wedding planner Brooke Baldwin’s business—and breaks her heart. Now a pariah in Los Angeles, she seeks a fresh start in New York City and thinks she’s found it with her first bridal client, a sweet—if slightly spoiled—hotel heiress. Then she meets the uptight businessman who’s holding the purse strings.

Seth Tyler wishes he could write a blank check and be done with his sister Maya's fancy-pants wedding. Unfortunately, micromanaging the event is his only chance at proving Maya’s fiancé is a liar. Standing directly in his way is the stunning blonde wedding planner whose practiced smiles and sassy comebacks both irritate and arouse him. He needs Brooke’s help. But can he persuade a wedding planner on a comeback mission to unplan a wedding? And more importantly, how will he convince her that the wedding she should be planning…is theirs?

Review:

Oh my gosh, I feel sick to my stomach and I want to cry over this rating.   I love this author.   In case you didn’t know, she’s one of my favorites.  I adore her books and her latest releases always makes me think, now this is my favorite.  Just like two of her releases this year, I Wish You Were Mine and Good Girl.  Wow, they were sooooo good and definitely must reads!  But To Have And to Hold didn’t wow me or let alone work for me.  I loved some of the ideas, but unfortunately the story and the majority of the characters fell flat.  *cries*

I kept thinking what was wrong with me?  I should love this!  So I sent a whining text to my co-blogger Chelsea, who had just finished this book.  I rambled on in my text that the main male character felt fleshed out but the others were like cardboard characters.  That the heroine and side characters would vacillate between being believable to being written like they were one-dimensional, and I just didn’t get it.  Chelsea was like wait…..and she screen shot her review.  Our thoughts were so similar, I wasn’t alone!  But I still hoped that my opinion might change. But as I continued trudging through the pages, I was left feeling not much at all.

We start out the story following Brooke who has recently moved to NY from LA.  She’s been hired by The Wedding Belles and I went into this thinking YAY, another group of females to love.  Because I love, love, love the women at Stilleto!  But the Belle ladies didn’t even get close to the friendship, love and banter of the Stiletto women.  And while I have a fabulous grasp on what each character looks like in Stiletto, well, I don’t even remember what our heroine looks like let alone any of the 3 other women.  None of the Belle’s stood out.  I truly wished each of them and their friendship would have floated off of the pages and into my heart. *cries again*

So with the Wedding Belle ladies falling flat, I hoped I would love Brooke.  But that didn’t happen either.  Her internal dialogues never gripped me and in the moments where it felt like Brooke’s character was alive, she rubbed me in all of the wrong ways.  Her actions and words irritated me in certain situations.  Like the breakfast scene.  I just wanted to knock some sense into her.  Now I’m usually a little too forgiving when it comes to heroines.  But this time, I didn’t care for her enough to want to work towards forgiveness or even liking her.

So Brooke meets Seth, who is going to help pay for his little sister’s wedding.  And ultimately Seth becomes the one who wants Brooke to help him unplan the wedding, because he doesn’t trust his sister’s fiance.  And this is where I got hung up.  Because things come into play and I kept scratching my head wondering why no one mentioned View Spoiler »a prenup. If Seth was so concerned about his sister, why not at least work on protecting their hotel fortune? Then after that’s secured he could work on trying to figure out how to protect his sister’s heart, if he still wasn’t a fan of the guy or was afraid that his sister was going to get her heart-broken. That makes the most sense in my head. « Hide Spoiler  Maybe that’s too logical, but I wish one of them would have at least talked about it.  And Seth being the guy who tries every avenue to help or protect the ones he loves, I was shocked he never thought of it.

Now you see, at first I loved Seth. He was my only light in this whole book.  He felt real.  I could feel his emotions radiating off of the page.  Plus I loved how demanding and sometimes possessive he could be, oh, he was so hot.  But then, my feelings towards him stopped.  I don’t now if it’s because I couldn’t truly care for the other characters and those meh feelings transferred over to Seth?  *shrugs*  I’m so disappointed and saddened I felt this way towards this book and the characters.  I wish I could give this book a glowing review, but I can’t.  But on a huge positive note, I’m definitely going to try the 2nd book in this series, so fingers crossed that book will be a much better fit!

*ARC kindly provided by Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*