Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Blurred Lines by Lauren Layne
Loveswept
Contemporary Romance / New Adult
Published August 25, 2015
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo Goodreads 

Why I picked up this book:

I love Lauren Layne's books. I had to jump on this one when it came up on Netgalley!

Crushed by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Crushed by Lauren Layne
Flirt (from Loveswept)
Book Two in the Redemption series
Contemporary Romance
Published April 14, 2015
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Kobo Goodreads

Why I picked up this book:

It's a Lauren Layne book, and she's one of my few auto-grab contemporary romance authors. Speaking of, which authors do you auto-grab when you see them? I mean their books, of course, not the authors themselves!

Blog Tour: The Trouble with Love by Lauren Layne

Just a head's up: today is a 'two book tours for the price of one' kind of day, so if you haven't yet, please check out Harper Kincaid's Rule Breaker as well!

I'm a fan of Lauren Layne's. There, I've said it. I've been honest. She's got multiple series on the go and I cannot resist checking out each new book with her name on it. The Trouble with Love returns readers to the world of Stiletto magazine in Layne's Sex, Love & Stiletto series. This is the book that we've been waiting for - finally we find out about Emma and Alex! I've got some great information about the book and author, an awesome excerpt, and a giveaway for you!

For other stops on the tour, check out Tasty Book Tours.

Made for You by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Made for You by Lauren Layne

Forever

Book Two in The Best Mistake series

Contemporary Romance

Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Published October 28, 2014
Amazon Kobo


Why I picked up this book:



I'm a Lauren Layne fan.

Broken by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Broken by Lauren Layne
Flirt
Book One of the Redemption series
New Adult, Romance
Published September 2, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

I'm a complete Lauren Layne fan. I had to grab this one when I saw it was available for review.

Only With You by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Only With You by Lauren Layne
Forever
Book One in the Best Mistake series
Contemporary Romance
Published July 29, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Why I picked up this book:

I like Lauren Layne books.

Cover Spotlight and Teaser Reveal for BROKEN by LAUREN LAYNE!

I've reviewed a few books by Lauren Layne since starting this blog and I've enjoyed all of them! Layne is one of the authors I've discovered because I started blogging and those authors make it all worth it. 

I am so very much looking forward to Layne's next New Adult romance title, and I am thrilled to participate in this Cover Spotlight and Teaser Reveal. It's my first, and I couldn't be happier about it!!!

Bring on the goods!

Lauren Layne, the author of the hit New Adult romance Isn’t She Lovely, and Random House’s Flirt imprint, are thrilled to share a first look at BROKEN, Lauren’s upcoming New Adult romance, and spotlight her gorgeous new cover!

BROKEN by Lauren Layne

Flirt New Adult Romance

On sale: September 2, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-553-39035-3

About the book:

Lauren Layne’s heart-wrenching novel tells the story of a girl with secrets, a guy with scars, and a love that could save them both . . . or destroy them.

When Olivia Middleton abandons the glamour of Park Avenue for a remote, coastal town in Maine, everyone assumes she’s being the kind do-gooder she’s always been. But Olivia has a secret: helping an injured war veteran reenter society isn’t about charity—it’s about penance. Only, Olivia’s client isn’t the grateful elderly man she’s expecting. Instead, he’s a brooding twenty-four-year-old who has no intention of being Olivia’s path to redemption . . . and whose smoldering gaze and forbidden touch might be her undoing.

Paul Langdon doesn’t need a mirror to show him he’s no longer the hotshot quarterback he was before the war. He knows he’s ugly—inside and out. He’ll do anything to stay in self-imposed exile, even accept his father’s ultimatum that Paul tolerate the newest caretaker for three months or lose his inheritance. But Paul doesn’t count on the beautiful twenty-two-year-old who makes him long for things that he can never have. And the more she slips past his defenses, the more keeping his distance is impossible.

Now Paul and Olivia have to decide: Will they help each other heal? Or are they forever broken?

** Teaser Reveal!**

Olivia squirms. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I've never known a female to acquiesce that easily without a catch. How about you hit me with it now and get it over with?”

Olivia shrugs. "Fine. I was going to say that I won't run alone, if you promise to go with me."

"No," I say, almost before she's finished her sentence.

"Why not?"

I rap my cane once against the ground. "Well, for starters, despite the fact that there are tortoises that could surpass your sorry excuse for a jog, I'm in no shape to accompany even the most pathetic of runners."

"What a handy skill you have of overloading a sentence with insults," she says as she reaches up to adjust her ponytail. "That must be helpful what with your thriving social life and all."

I thump my cane against the ground again, studying her. "Must be nice, picking on the cripple."

Olivia rolls her eyes. "Please. Your soul's more crippled than your leg."

She has no idea how right she is, and I have no intention of letting her anywhere close enough to find out. I've gotten good at shutting people out by pushing them away . . . being as nasty as possible until they reach their breaking point. But with her? It's different.

We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of BROKEN by Lauren Layne! Love everything Lauren Layne? Her newest adult contemporary romance in the Sex, Love and Stiletto series, JUST ONE NIGHT, is on sale now!

Connect with Lauren

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Just One Night by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Just One Night by Lauren Layne
Loveswept
Book Two in the Sex, Love & Stiletto series
Romance
Published April 22, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca

Why I Picked Up This Book:

I enjoyed the first book in the series, couldn't resist the next one.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from The Broke and the Bookish in which they post a book-related top ten every - you guessed it! - Tuesday.

This week the theme is Top Ten New to Me Authors in 2013.

In no particular order:

1. Lauren Layne - I read and reviewed two books by Layne late this year and both were excellent. I'll be watching for more written by her in 2014.
2. A. W. Exley - I discovered Exley this weekend when I devoured her Nefertiti's Heart - a book I'll be reviewing on Thursday so stay tuned! (Spoiler alert: It was a book that could have been written just for me, I enjoyed it so very much!).  I'm looking forward to reading more in her Artifact Hunters series.
3. Lisa Burstein - Burstein's Sneaking Candy was another book that hit so many of my personal favourite elements that I cannot wait to read more from her!
4. Cassie Mae - Mae makes my list because her book Switched achieved what should have been impossible - making the main characters likable even though they schemed to break up their best friends so they could steal their significant others.
5. Michele Renae - Renae's Window was the first erotic novel in a while that I had read without an "alpha male as Dom" for the hero and I so, so enjoyed it. I've already got the follow-up, Screen, on my to read list for the start of next year!
6. Robyn Schneider - I didn't review The Beginning of Everything for this blog, but I really, really enjoyed it. I would normally have been irked by the ending because I didn't get everything I thought I wanted, but it was actually pretty profound just as it was.
7. Olivia Cunning - I haven't reviewed anything by Cunning on this blog yet, but I probably will as her erotic novels are numerous and will make excellent Monday fodder if I don't come up with something else to review instead. Though I don't love the extended nature of some of her series, I do find her novels always extremely sexy, kinky and full of variety (despite revolving around rock stars!)
8. Jillian Stone - I discovered Stone at the beginning of the year, speed reading two of the Phaeton Black books. I haven't returned to her since then only because I didn't realize until looking for a link to her website just now that she's as prolific as she is! I'm sure I'll binge read more of her books in 2014!
9. Kat Martin - I borrowed a ton of Martin's "Against The" series from my local library during the last months of my pregnancy in the spring. I loved them and I loved that I was able to binge read so many of them. I suspect I'll do the same with her historical romances when I hit a lull in 2014!
10. Thomas E. Sniegoski - I read the first in Sniegoski's Remy Chandler series because my library had a later book in the series in their 'new' section and I thought - "Hey, that looks kind of like the Dresden Files meets angels. I might like that!"  I was not wrong. I always love to add new authors of urban fantasy to my 'go to' list, and I was particularly pleased to add Sniegoski because I love what he does with angel mythology.

Which authors were you happy to discover this year?

Love the One You're With by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Love the One You're With by Lauren Layne
Random House Loveswept
Sex, Love & Stiletto
Romance
Published December 9, 2013
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb:

Lauren Layne’s Sex, Love & Stiletto series simmers to a boil as two high-powered magazine writers find love amid a war of words.

As a leading columnist for Stiletto, Grace Brighton has built a career warning women about rotten, cheating liars. She just never suspected her fiancé would be one of them. After Grace takes a heart-mending hiatus, her first assignment is to go on a couple of dates with a counterpart from the men’s magazine Oxford and report her impressions. Grace 1.0 may have been instantly smitten with the gorgeous correspondent, but Grace 2.0 has sworn off relationships for six months, and she’s not falling for his outstanding bod and trophy-winning kisses . . . or is she?

Jake Malone wants to get back to the fly-by-night, who-knows-what’s-next guy he used to be, and he knows exactly how to do it. Oxford is adding a travel section, and Jake—with no wife and no kids and a willingness to live anywhere, eat anything, do everything—is perfect for the job . . . except that his playboy reputation makes his new editor nervous. To get the gig, he must agree to a fluffy joint article with Stiletto. But after just one date with snooty, sumptuous, sensational Grace Brighton, Jake starts taking this assignment a whole lot more seriously.

What worked for me:

This book has a double-dose of flirtatiousness. The repartee between Grace and Jake is quick and clever. I love good wordplay and intelligent, sharp dialogue. I find chemistry between characters really pops when they've got good banter, and these two have it in spades!

Layne leverages social media to amp up the tension between her endearing romantic leads - not only are all their moves being analysed by each other, the world is watching. And the complication of trying to decide what's part of the game and what's real and whether there's a line between those two any more.... It's all so delicious, I loved it! 

I also really enjoyed the back and forth as they each tested the waters for something more, and then pulled back, remembering their own, independent goals. The give-and-take here was excellent.     

What didn't work for me:

The book started a little shaky for me as I was worried Jake's slightly superior attitude was going to rub me the wrong way - it was a little alpha, a lot manipulative. BUT, he quickly won me over by being willing to admit his errors and by being a good sport about Grace's revenge.

I also have to admit that I was already over the Grace 1.0 / Grace 2.0 device after the cover copy. I have no problem with conflicted self-dialogue, nor with a character torn between their old habits and the new ones they're trying to deliberately adopt, BUT.... But. This really made me think of the inner goddess thing in Fifty Shades of Gray (which I admittedly have only skim-read), and that was cringeworthy.

Bottom line:

The second title I've read written by Lauren Layne, and I'm becoming a, dare I say it? - a fan. This book was a witty, flirtatious, fun read that I recommend you check out.

There's obvious leads to the next books in the series, and I'll be watching for them!

4.5 stars
For fans of contemporary romance, witty banter.

Isn't She Lovely by Lauren Layne

The Basics:
Isn't She Lovely by Lauren Layne
Random House Publishing Group - Flirt
New Adult, Romance
Published Date: October 28, 2013

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In a modern, New Adult take on Pygmalion, Stephanie is a Goth film student paired with Ethan, a preppy business student to work on a screenplay for their summer class. When her sublet apartment falls through, Ethan offers her a deal - fake her way through a few parties and events as his girlfriend, and she can stay in his apartment. The catch? She'll have to undergo a makeover to fit in with his upper-class social set, and they decide to use the experience as the inspiration for their screenplay. As their attraction to each other grows, Ethan begins to wonder if Stephanie really can fit into his world, while Stephanie's concerned Ethan may be attracted to the fake version of herself rather than who she really is.

What Worked for me:

Frankly, I'm a fan of Pygmalion inspired stories. Something about the tension between before and after the makeover, and the discovery of identity beneath image, the development of self-confidence... there's just a lot of material there that I enjoy.

Isn't She Lovely was a delight. I lost a few hours of precious sleep (I'm a new mom!) racing to finish the book, and I didn't regret it. It was my first New Adult book, and I quite liked it. While I enjoy the freshness and teenage drama of Young Adult novels, there's a maturity in that New Adult period that I was happy to embrace. I can also see how this genre will explode in the next few years as all those teenagers devouring Young Adult books move to this genre. Can we start calling Young Adult books Teen books now?

On the characters front, both Stephanie and Ethan face personal issues apart from the tension developing between them. Ethan was particularly convincing as he faced his problems - I won't be more specific to avoid spoiling the book for anyone. Let's just say that I felt like he was very genuine.

My favourite moment is late in the book when Stephanie is caught in a conversation about whether or not being Goth is a phase for her - there's a line about how life is full of phases, one after another. The idea of this really resonated with me. I'm not a fan of romances about couples who reclaim or renew their relationship, but this conversation really piqued my interest in reading one that embraces the idea of phases of life and renewing a relationship as the individuals enter new phases in their own lives, and new phases together as a couple.


What didn't work for me:
There wasn't anything that stands out as being a low point for me. Obviously the Pygmalion/opposites attract-makeover plot has been done before, but I liked Layne's spin on it, and I found her resolution satisfying.


Bottom Line:
I highly recommended this book. It was fun, with great pacing. It made me think about modern prejudices based on clothing and class, which so often fails to account for backgrounds and attitudes. I'm already looking for more New Adult books to read, and I'll add Lauren Layne to my list of authors to watch for in the future!

5 stars
For fans of She's All That, My Fair Lady, Grease and any other Pygmalion-inspired movie, fans of new adult romance, fans of Sarah Dessen.