Tag: Contemporary Romance (Page 78 of 97)

BOOK REVIEW: Reclaiming the Sand by A. Meredith Walters

March 18, 2015 / / 0 Comments
BOOK REVIEW: Reclaiming the Sand by A. Meredith WaltersReclaiming the Sand (Reclaiming the Sand #1)
by A. Meredith Walters
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Bully and victim.
Tormenter and tormented.
Villain and hero.

Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable.

Particularly Freaky Flynn.

Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger's. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.

But then Flynn and Ellie grew up.

And moved on.

Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more.

When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other.

And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds.

But a painful past doesn’t always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed…and sometimes the further you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are.

So…..I don’t have a ton to say about this book, other than I was severely disappointed. I’ve recently fallen in love with a book that has the whole ‘Mean Girls’ and bullying thing going on, so I really wanted to find another book like that-bullying wise. I’ve also recently started to realize I am in LOVE with flawed characters….especially of the male variety. So, naturally, I figured this book would be a slam dunk-and all my friends mostly seemed to love it.

Well, I’m only posting this review so I can clearly voice my displeasure: This book was moronic. From the cheesy dialogue to the overly mean friends who can only be described as villains in a sad B-list movie(am I saying that correctly?? I mean A HORRIBLE WANNABE BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE), this book had very little going for it. In fact, the one thing it had in its favor? I can’t even remember his name-this book is THAT forgettable. I loved the guy from the very beginning-he was sweet, kind, and he broke my heart. But that’s literally the only reason I finished.

As for the plot?? Also moronic. Why advertise a book like it’s present day when all the bad shit happens years ago??? I didn’t sign up for flashbacks, thank you very much. It was weird and it halted the story horribly and when it did become all present day, it was boring boring boring. I just wanted it to be over. Like…..I FORCED myself to finish this-but I should have called it a day from the first cheesy moment-it all went downhill from there.

So…Not much to say, really, that I haven’t already said. I have no clue why so many of my friends gave this such a high rating. Call me a bitch, but I didn’t feel even an ounce of the angst or see a smidgen of the beauty that was talked about. It was very sad, sure, but these were deplorable characters who did deplorable things….what else is there to the story aside from, errrr, Flynn? Is that it? He was the only character I cared about. So, ya know, everyone seemed to love this and none of my friends rated low…but me, Anna, and Jen certainly had no qualms about posting big, fat 2s on the record. Hopefully you’ll find something to love about this book. I just found personal torture.

 

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Yeaaaaah this book wasn’t very good….not at all what I had expected and as it got later in the story, the dialogue became so cheesy (not Flynn, never Flynn) it was a struggle to finish. Man am I on a roll.

2 stars for Flynn.

Review to come

*****

Buddy read with Anna and Jen!


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BOOK REVIEW: The Deal (Off-Campus #1) by Elle Kennedy

March 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments
BOOK REVIEW: The Deal (Off-Campus #1) by Elle KennedyThe Deal by Elle Kennedy
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

She’s about to make a deal with the college bad boy...

Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she’s carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush’s attention, she’ll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice…even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date.

...and it’s going to be oh so good.

All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he’s worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he’s all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn’t take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn’t going to cut it. Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

Sometimes people sneak up on you and suddenly you don’t know how you ever lived without them.

Once upon a time….No, seriously. This book had all the elements of a childhood fairy-tale where the hero comes to save the damsel in distress-except, get this-the damsel isn’t in distress. She doesn’t need some random dude entering her life when everything seems to be going well for her. It’s a modern day type fairy-tale where the prince is a jock who is cocky as fuck, but somehow is sweet as can be. And the girl is an intelligent, independent student with a blossoming music career that will take her all the places she’s ever wanted to go. But while this fairy-tale type story seems perfect as can be on the surface, because it almost was, there’s a tremulous storm brewing underneath. These two characters are broken. They hurt. They have secrets. Secrets they’ve never told anybody….and it’s time they unraveled them-Together.

Sometimes I don’t feel half as cool as people think I am, and I’m pretty sure that if any of them took the time to actually get to know me, they’d probably change their opinion. It’s like that pond I skated on when I was a kid-from a distance, the ice looked so shiny and smooth, until you got close enough to it, and suddenly all the uneven edges and crisscrossed skate marks became visible. That’s me, I guess. Covered with skate marks that nobody ever seems to notice.
-Garret

No, this isn’t a fairy-tale, nor is it marketed as such. But don’t you ever just read the perfect book for your mood and it makes you all happy and giddy and excited and it gives you more butterflies than you’ve had in weeks? Well, this is that book (Yes, sigh, I know, Jennifer/Harriet…you guys told me). It was happy and sad and heartwarming and uplifting and no…it didn’t teach me any life lessons and it wasn’t any deeper than a puddle after the rain, but it worked for me. Sometimes books just work. Sometimes we need that little fluff on our pillow to finally get comfortable, and lemme tell ya-I had my lowest book rating week last week since, like, I’ve ever been on GR-a 1, a 3, and a 2. It was horrible, I felt horrible, and I needed a pick me up. Thank God for this little slice of adorable-ness.

“For almost two months, Hannah. I went two months without knowing your name.”
“Well, we didn’t know each other.”
“You knew my name.”
I sigh. “Everyone knows your name.”
“How did I go so long without noticing you, damn it? Why did it take seeing a stupid A on your midterm to make me notice?”

Let me get the fangirling out of the way, because I think it’s inevitable. Garret….Garret is….I just….


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Yeah, thanks, Dylan!! Exactly!!! I mean, yeah, I’ve fallen in love with so many guys I can’t even begin to count them, but there’s just something so so special about this guy. It’s been a while since a dude who calls a girl ‘baby’ has gotten my heart pumping, so it must mean something that I was able to overlook such a cheesy term of endearment. He’s sweet. He’s funny. He’s smart. He’s a hockey player. AND DESPITE BEING A TOTAL MANWHORE…..HE’S *gasp* LOYAL. Once he, inevitably (I mean, come on), fell for Hannah, he never once looked at another girl. I found this to be so refreshing and sweet and did I say refreshing?? He broke my heart with how protective he was over Hannah and how he would do anything for her at the drop of a hat. And, something you don’t always find in NA, they were best friends. Even when they were ‘together’, they were as dorky and sarcastic and bantered like any other time. Every moment where they were together was better than the last, and I couldn’t help but to get snared in their trap as the story progressed.

“I’m not other women.”
No she isn’t. Because other women don’t entertain me as much as she does. I suddenly wonder how I ever made it through life without Hannah Wells’ sarcastic barbs and annoyed grumbles.
“Stop grinning,” she snaps.
I’m grinning? Didn’t even realize it.

*****

Hannah takes a breath. “We studied. We watched TV. I went home late. That’s what happened. Got it?”
I fight back laughter. “As you wish.”
“Did you really just Princess Bride me?
“Did you really just use Princess Bride as a verb?”

I know a lot of people thought there were tons of cliches, but I really didn’t mind. If a story flows well and has good grammar and isn’t cheesy (Hallelujah), then that’s something I hold dear. Lol, oh, and I love how Hannah always calls him ‘Dude’…I sometimes slip and say it to my husband as well so I thought it was hilarious. It’s so few and far between that I enjoy a NA so strongly, so I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. There was adorable jealousy, self-sacrifices, confessions, protectiveness, and a possessive gleam any girl could get behind….Hell, can I just have Garret, please?? Please??


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While I didn’t fall head over heels right away for this story, it began to seep slowly into my pores as the story progressed and I couldn’t help but to fall in love. Of course the deal isn’t going to go perfectly as planned-then we wouldn’t have much of a romance, would we?? It wasn’t overdone and it had all the perfect amounts of cheese-I think anyone could like this, if they give it a chance.

Penises!
Sweet Jesus.
Penises everywhere.
Horror slams into me as I register what I’m seeing. Oh God. I’ve stumbled onto a penis convention. Big penises and small penises and fat penises and penis-shaped penises. It doesn’t matter which direction I move my head because everywhere I look I see penises.

^^Definitely one of my top favorite scenes lol^^

I laughed so hard and so frequently with this story it’s not even funny (ironically). The humor was absolute perfection. Sometimes I think we all need to put our pitch forks aside and go along for the ride…it’s nice to just stop and enjoy and not over think a book-in fact, I find it’s necessary sometimes. So, I will end my NA week on a VERY strong note…..I’m going back to my fantasy/dystopian/paranormal….boy have I missed it.

 

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Buddy read with Sarah (AND MAYBE ANNA OH ANNA YOU BETTER YOU TURD (Do you feel guilty yet)) starting this weekend!! Woot! Let’s see what all the fuss is about 😀 ♥


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BOOK REVIEW – Best Kind of Broken (Finding Fate #1) by Chelsea Fine

March 15, 2015 / / 8 Comments
BOOK REVIEW – Best Kind of Broken (Finding Fate #1) by Chelsea FineBest Kind of Broken (Finding Fate #1)
by Chelsea Fine
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

SOMETIMES MOVING ON MEANS MOVING IN

Pixie Marshall wishes every day she could turn back time and fix the past. But she can't. And the damage is done. She's hoping that a summer of free room and board working with her aunt at the Willow Inn will help her forget. Except there's a problem: the resident handyman is none other than Levi Andrews. The handsome quarterback was once her friend-and maybe more--until everything changed in a life-shattering instant. She was hoping to avoid him, possibly forever. Now he's right down the hall and stirring up feelings Pixie thought she'd long buried . . .

Levi can't believe he's living with the one person who holds all his painful memories. More than anything he wants to make things right, but a simple "sorry" won't suffice--not when the tragedy that scarred them was his fault. Levi knows Pixie's better off without him, but every part of him screams to touch her, protect her, wrap her in his arms, and kiss away the pain. Yet even though she's so close, Pixie's heart seems more unreachable than ever. Seeing those stunning green eyes again has made one thing perfectly clear--he can't live without her.

Review:

I loved this book.  It was beautiful, raw, sexy, funny and utterly heartbreaking.  But the most astonishing thing to me, was my ability to connect with the storyline and characters on a level I never have before.  Of course I’ve felt characters pain, happiness and horror, but this felt as though their emotions became embedded in my soul.  Their joy and despair were mine, long after I closed the book.  I’m not sure if it was the seamless writing, the characters that I understood inside and out, or a personal connection I have to what took place in their past, or maybe it’s all three meshed together?  But whatever it was, reading this book was truly astonishing.  I will remember Pixie and Levi’s story for as long as I live.

Haunted eyes stare back at me in the mirror as I slowly finish shaving.
I wish I would have known back then how significant Pixie was going to be.
I wish I would have known a lot of things. – Levi

Pixie and Levi have known each other forever.  They were best friends since childhood.  Until an event that was beyond painful and horrifying made them fall apart.  But now they are now faced with seeing each other every day.  Working and living together is bound to lead them down a path they are unsure of.  Because feelings don’t just disappear, they continue to build and now they are a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

Pixie’s been living here for only twelve days and I already want to stab myself with a spoon. Not because she keeps blowing the fuse, though that reoccurring shenanigan of hers is certainly stab-worthy, but because I can’t do normal around Pixie.
But fighting? That I can do. – Levi

Pixie had me cackling like a mad woman in the first chapter alone.  Her inner thoughts, along with the games she played against Levi to annoy him were hilarious.  Like tears pouring down my face because I’m laughing so hard hilarious.  I loved those moments.  And they were much needed because they still drowned from so much pain.  The pain you could feel radiating from the both of them was intense and devastating.  I have never cried and felt a pain as deep as theirs in a book.  It honestly felt as though my heart kept breaking apart and I just needed them to take that step to fix the other, so I could heal too.

My eyes drop to her mouth, her throat, her hands. Every instinct I have is screaming to touch her. To cross the space between us and wrap my arms protectively around her small frame. To shield her from all the bad things, the sorrowful things. All the things I’m made of.
But that can’t happen. We can’t happen. – Levi

But it’s hard to move on when there’s still so much broken history and unsaid words between them.  And within that history, is a desire for one another.  Their sexual tension was intense!  It was fun but edgy, and that combination gave me sweaty palms and a smile that couldn’t be knocked off my face.  But in the next instance, the mood would switch and it felt as though they were on the edge of the precipice and I was terrified to breathe.  Because I kept thinking it was all going to crash to the ground eventually, and in some irrational way I believed any movement or breath from me would provoke the situation.  Oh yeah, I was that deep into this book.

Our eyes meet beneath the dimmed lights, colliding in a tangle of shared emotions too raw to touch. How did we get so broken. – Levi

Even though I was obsessed with Pixie and Levi, I loved that we got to watch their coworkers and best friends became wrapped up in their lives.  The familiarity of it all worked perfectly, and they felt like an extension of true “family”.  They stuck up, argued, and meddled (loved Mable!) with each other.  It was constant entertainment!

I used to know him. I don’t anymore. – Pixie

Best Kind of Broken was a flawless story of ones hopes, crushed hearts, and being lost while desperately trying to find your way out of the dark.  It was impossible not to have my emotions tangled throughout these pages and love every broken moment of it.  Even the snippets of their past were woven throughout the story beautifully.  An important memory placed here and there never once distracted me from the story, and I loved learning as much as I could about their past.  Because they use to be the truest of friends, and watching them trying to find their way back to each other was incredible.

Reading Order & Links:
Amazon (click on covers), iBooks (click on titles) & Book Depository (click on book #)
***Each book can be read as a standalone, but best enjoyed in order.***
Fine Best Kind of Broken
Best Kind of Broken #1
Reviews:
Jen		Perfect Kind of Trouble chelsea fine
Perfect Kind of Trouble #2
Reviews:
Jen		right kind of wrong chelsea fine
Right Kind of Wrong #3
Reviews:
Jen

BOOK REVIEW: Confess by Colleen Hoover

March 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments
BOOK REVIEW: Confess by Colleen HooverConfess by Colleen Hoover
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a new novel about risking everything for love—and finding your heart somewhere between the truth and lies.

Auburn Reed has her entire life mapped out. Her goals are in sight and there’s no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a risk and puts her heart in control, only to discover Owen is keeping major secrets from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

The last thing Owen wants is to lose Auburn, but he can’t seem to convince her that truth is sometimes as subjective as art. All he would have to do to save their relationship is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin…

“Are you here to save me?”

Hmmmm…it appears I’m on a roll this week. I’m not rating ANYTHING as I had expected. Me and Hoover have had a tremulous relationship, I’m the first to admit that. But after the epicness of Ugly Love (oh shhh) and the extreme fangirling that commenced after I fell in love with my dear Miles, I figured this next one would be the same in a lot of ways. Meaning, maybe I’d finally bridged that hurdle with her writing and I could maybe finally start connecting to all her books. I mean, I LOVE ART. I OBSESS over drawing and painting and what have you. What could possibly go wrong with a story that has a pretty decent female lead, an adorable good guy, and lots of beautiful artwork?? Apparently a lot, it seems.

I continue to stare at my feet, not wanting her to see in my face that I think she’s crazy for agreeing to spend the weekend with me, because she deserves better than what I can give her. I don’t however, think she deserves better than me.

Colleen Hoover seeps, if nothing else, passion into every one of her works. You feel her physically pushing love, adoration, energy, heart into her stories no matter the content. I may not love all the music, poetry, lyrical type writing, but many of you adore it-so why not keep doing it, if it works for her? She’s an artist, in her own way, so she SHOULD keep expressing her passion in her books. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The problem for me? It was broken. I didn’t feel an ounce of the passion I’ve felt in her other stories. I’m not saying she didn’t put effort into her story, I’m just saying it was missing something. Something that was a vital pulse this story lacked. I can’t put my finger on it, but it wasn’t there. And I think that’s my problem-I just felt disconnected.

He pulls my legs until they’re wrapped around his waist, and then he lifts me off the bar and directs us toward the living room without stopping our kiss. I try to ignore the smell of pizza being overcooked in the oven, because I don’t want him to stop. But I’m also really, really hungry and don’t want the pizza to burn.

The first 12% of this story I was very happy. I loved Owen and his cute little facial expressions and his optimistic attitude. I liked the mystery shrouding Auburn and her secret lawyer meetings and the loneliness that exuded from her with each of her walks to and from work. But for some reason, around 20%, something didn’t feel right. I wasn’t getting any butterflies I had gotten in the beginning and I was losing the tentative connection I’d had earlier. There were parts in the middle I loved-drunk scene, Target scene, etc. But as that passion, for me, started to fizzle, so did my interest. I’m not going to lie, I was going to DNF this at 55%. I knew all the little twists I needed to know and I just wasn’t feeling it. But then I skimmed, a little, to get past a lot of the blah blah blah parts. I got past them and I moved on. I was still considering DNFing. Then something happened-I stopped skimming (almost completely! 😉 ) and started to become connected again around, oh, 65-70%? I can’t be sure. And the story totally exploded for me. I got super into it and I was so glad I pushed myself to stick it out. If the rest of the story had half of that intensity, I’d have never been bored. The last 30% was by far my favorite, and I can’t help but to be sad the rest of the story didn’t grip me as deeply.

It’s amazing how much distance one truth can create between two people.

To give you guys an idea of the characters, I’m just guna say a little about each. Owen was a sweetheart-if that isn’t your thing, then pass on by. He was adorable, self-sacrificing, and sweet as candy. He had his sexy, protective moments, believe me-but more often than not he was very kind and funny. (It’s funny that that isn’t a huge turn on, book wise, for a lot of people) I love a break from the intense boys, every now and then, so I definitely did not mind. Auburn I really liked. She was funny (especially when drunk) and very hopeful. She had her own issues we don’t find out about until later in the story, and normally I’m not into these kinds of twists, but this one kind of worked for me. And Trey. That dumbass. He was like those old time villains who twist their mustache while laughing maniacally. He was a little too…err…fake villain-ish for me. Almost unrealistic-but what do I know??

“I’m scared I’ll never feel this again with anyone else,” I whisper.
He squeezes my hands. “I’m scared you will.”

I’m very sad this one wasn’t a complete win for me. I’m always looking for the next great book to obsess and fangirl over, and this one just wasn’t it. I didn’t have HUGE expectations, but I had expectations, all the same. It even had a hint of that insta-love, at first, but it isn’t what you’d ever guess. I think this story will touch many people, some more than most, based on your own personal experiences, but it definitely isn’t for everyone, I don’t think. It’s slower than you’d expect from Hoover and, like I said, not as colorful or passionate as I’m used to seeing-No matter my previous opinions on her other stories, they are always painted so vividly for us and leave little to the imagination. I think a lot of people will feel the same way, but I guess time will tell.

 

 

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BLOG TOUR + REVIEW + EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY – The Trouble with Love (Sex, Love & Stiletto #4) by Lauren Layne

March 10, 2015 / / 2 Comments

BLOG TOUR + REVIEW + EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY - The Trouble with Love (Sex, Love & Stiletto #4) by Lauren Layne

I'm so excited to be a part of the blog tour for Lauren Layne's newest book, The Trouble with Love! It's a definite must read! See below for my review, an excerpt, learn a little about Lauren Layne and enter an amazing giveaway. Enjoy!

BLOG TOUR + REVIEW + EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY – The Trouble with Love (Sex, Love & Stiletto #4) by Lauren LayneThe Trouble with Love (Sex Love & Stiletto #4)
by Lauren Layne

Synopsis:

As Lauren Layne’s salacious Sex, Love & Stiletto series returns, a jaded columnist discovers a steamy way to get over an old flame: falling for him all over again.

As Stiletto magazine’s authority on all things breakup-and-heartache, Emma Sinclair writes from personal experience. Five years ago, Emma was Charlotte, North Carolina’s darling debutante and a blushing bride-to-be. Now she’s the ice queen of the Manhattan dating scene. Emma left her sultry Southern drawl behind, but not even her closest friends know that with it she left her heart. Now Emma’s latest article forces her to face her demons—namely, the devilishly sexy guy who ditched her at the altar.

After giving up everything for a pro-soccer career, Alex Cassidy watches his dreams crumble as a knee injury sidelines him for good. Now he’s hanging up his cleats and giving journalism a shot. It’s just a coincidence that he happens to pick a job in the same field, and the same city, as his former fiancée . . . right? But when Emma moves in next door, it’s no accident. It’s research. And Alex can’t help wondering what might have been. Unlike the innocent girl he remembers, this Emma is chic, sophisticated, and assertive—and she wants absolutely nothing to do with him. The trouble is, Alex has never wanted her more.

Review:

The Trouble With Love was hilarious, sexy, heartbreaking, and addicting.  Emma and Cassidy’s past has been dangled in front of us in the previous books, but we never really knew what happened to them.  Why it all fell apart.  But what made this book so potent, was not only the fact that we already knew both of them, but the idea that they could have a second chance at love.  There is something extraordinary in the ability to resurrect something that was demolished.  To find hope that love still exists after the insurmountable happens.  And Emma and Cassidy’s tumultuous journey is exceptional.  It was the perfect ending to the Sex, Love & Stiletto’s series!

He smiled. “You didn’t look me up even once?”
“It hurt too much.”
Alex sucked in a breath at the unexpected admission. “Em—”
“Back then,” she corrected. “Back then it hurt too much. After a few months . . . I just didn’t care.”

I loved Emma!  I understood her coldness, the fronts she always tried to display.  The reason she wouldn’t talk to her close friends about what happened.  She tried her hardest to protect herself from anymore heartache.  Because she had suffered more than one should.  She had been madly in love with her college sweetheart, Alex Cassidy.  Well, that is until he stood her up on their wedding day.  To say that Emma is jaded, is an understatement.  But Emma isn’t just hurt, there’s much more to her than that.  She is an amazing friend, and I loved all of her interactions with Julie, Grace and Riley.  But of course, my favorite interactions were between Emma and Cassidy.

Cassidy was sexy, dominating, and wounded.  Although the wounded part could be hard to tell sometimes, because that man held himself together with steel.  An amazing feat, since he lost the love of his life seven years ago.  He stated that the night before their wedding, Emma told him that she didn’t want to marry him.  They never got to talk afterwards or have any type of closure.  But he’s in luck, because he gets to force the issue.  Camille, the Editor in Chief of Stiletto Magazine, decided to take a three month sabbatical and placed Cassidy in charge.  He was now in the perfect position to tell Emma that her next article would be about her exes.  Of course it was done in the desperate hope that he would gain some insight into everything that went down.  But his plan just may lead them down a different path.  Will he get even more than he bargained for?

Then he seemed to change his mind, and glanced at her anyway. “Sometimes I think I’d prefer you hate me. At least then you’d notice me.”
Everything inside Emma seemed to freeze. I notice you— too much. Do you notice me?

When Emma and Alex were in the same vicinity, it was intense!  Their hurt runs deep, jealousy was unavoidable, and the sexual tension between the two of them was through the roof!  They try their hardest to ignore one another, but that never seemed to work out how they wanted.  That is because they have too many emotions that are barely simmering below the surface.  And each time those emotions tried to bubble over, I cringed, I gasped, I laughed, and I melted.  I loved every moment that they were near each other, even if it was torturous at times!

The Trouble With Love was heartbreaking, emotional and gave me just the right amount of hope and laughter.  Looking back, I wasn’t even a few pages into their story and I was already gasping and sucking in my breath!  But what is also amazing about this series are the friendships.  The male and female friendships play such a key component in each story.  It’s beautiful to watch true friends love and help each other.  It’s impossible not to become attached to them, to not feel as though they are your best friends too.  Honestly,I’m not ready for their stories to end.  I’m hoping we will get a sneak peak here and there of the Stiletto women in the Oxford Series, but if not, I’m more than happy with how each book in this series ended. But going back to Emma and Cassidy, their journey was beautiful.  I loved Emma and Cassidy’s story and I know you will too.

P.S.  Did I mention that I read this book in one sitting?  That is extremely rare for me!  Emma and Cassidy refused to allow me to close their story, even if for a moment! *ARC kindly provided by Random House Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Reading Order & Links:
Amazon (click on covers), iBooks (click on titles)
***Each book can be read as a standalone, but best enjoyed in order.***
after the kiss lauren layne
After the Kiss
Reviews:
Jen
Chelsea		love the one you're with lauren layne
Love the One You're With
Reviews:
Jen
Chelsea		just one night lauren layne
Just One Night
Reviews:
Jen
Chelsea
the trouble with love lauren layne
The Trouble with Love
Reviews:
Jen
Chelsea

Buy Links:  Amazon | Barnes | Kobo | iTunes

Add To: Goodreads

Follow The Tour → Click Here

Excerpt:

[scroll-box]“Explain?” Julie said.

Emma sighed. “The apartment above me had some sort of water disaster. My entire apartment looks like the set of Titanic, minus the nubile Leo.”

Julie eyed Emma’s wet hair. “So, is your hair wet from, like, dirty pipe water?”

“No,” Emma said, taking a last sip of Julie’s coffee and handing the cup back as she located her badge. “Fortunately, I’d showered before the pipe burst and I managed to dodge the worst of the spray. Unfortunately, drying my hair wasn’t an option.”

“Right. That whole electrocution thing,” Julie said as they swiped their badges and headed to the elevators.

“Um, yeah, I couldn’t have gotten electrocuted even if I wanted to,” Emma said, punching the Up button. “The power went out.”

Julie’s brown eyes bugged out. “Seriously? Flooded and you have no power? Is everything ruined?”

“Of course not. I still have this lovely dress,” Emma said, pulling the hem of her dress out to the side, curtsy style. She pretended not to notice the way the two girls who had been gossiping happily as they crossed the elevator lobby immediately quieted when they spotted her.

The dress would have been a distraction all by itself. The drippy wet bun was also atypical for a swanky office building in which sophisticated and polished was the unofficial dress code for women.

But a lack of makeup made everything worse. Much worse.

Not that Emma was really a glam type of girl, but she had a distinct disadvantage of having very fair eyelashes, despite her medium brown hair. And her eyes’ shape made it worse. They were both large and tilted upward in a semi-distinctive manner. Bambi eyes, her mother had always called them.

But without eyeliner and mascara, she was more Lord of the Rings’ Gollum than adorable baby deer.

“You know, it’s a good dress, if a bit out of place for work,” Julie mused, as they followed the two gossiping girls and a middle-aged man yapping into his phone onto the elevator. “Sexy. A little slutty even. Go you!”

“That’s great, Jules. Slutty was just what I was going for on a random Wednesday morning at the office.”

“Well then, you should have called me. We’re the same size–ish. I could have lent you something.”

“I’ll be taking you up on that tomorrow,” Emma said as Julie hit the button for the twelfth floor. “Everything I have will need to be dry-cleaned at best, burned at worst. But this morning, I couldn’t make it from Upper East over to Upper West in the middle of traffic and still make it to the office in time.”

The elevator doors had just started to close when a male hand stuck between them, activating their sensors so that the doors reopened.

Great. Really freaking fantastic.

A lesser woman would have groaned in dismay at the sight of the man in front of her.

Emma merely straightened her shoulders, ignoring Julie’s softly uttered “Oh, dear.”

It was him.[/scroll-box]

Author Info:

Lauren Lauren Layne is a snarky cynic with a serious weakness for happily ever afters. Marrying her high school sweetheart was a good start. *cue Disney soundtrack.* But Lauren wanted all romance, all the time. Now she writes fictional happy endings, and considers her job done well if you swoon while reading her books. Don’t worry. You will. Once upon a time she lived in a Manhattan high-rise, but now she’s on the laid-back train in the Seattle area. If you ever find yourself in Issaquah, she’ll probably buy you a drink. Maybe. Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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