Publisher: Loveswept

Item: An Ex for Christmas
Rating: 4.5
Author: Lily B

Review: An Ex for Christmas by Lauren Layne

Posted November 29, 2017 by Lily B in Reviews / 19 Comments

An Ex for Christmas by Lauren Layne
Series: Love Unexpectedly #5
Published by Loveswept on November 7th 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Christmas
Pages: 218
Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Bought
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 4.5 Stars

Heat:

She’s making a list—and checking it twice. But is there a nice guy among all her naughty exes? The New York Times bestselling author of Blurred Lines returns with a charming friends-to-lovers rom-com.
When a psychic tells spunky, superstitious Kelly Byrne that she’s already met her true love, she becomes obsessed with the idea of tracking him down before Christmas. Kelly immediately writes up an “Ex List” and starts contacting old boyfriends to figure out which one is the one. When her college sweetheart rolls into town, Kelly convinces herself that they’re meant to be. The trouble is, sparks are flying with someone she’s never given a chance: her best friend, Mark.
Mark Blakely has watched the guys on Kelly’s list break her heart, and he’s not looking forward to watching them do it all over again. Mark’s always been there for her, but the timing’s never worked out for their relationship to be something more. Now, just as Mark is ready to move on, the sexual tension between them is suddenly off the charts. With Christmas morning around the corner, he just hopes Kelly will wake up and realize that everything she wants has been right in front of her all along.
Lauren Layne’s USA Today bestselling Love Unexpectedly series can be read in any order
This ebook includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

When a psychic tells a superstitious Kelly Byrne that she had already met her true love, she becomes obsessed with tracking him down so she isn’t alone for Christmas. Kelly makes an “Ex List” and starts contacting her old boyfriends to try and figure out which one of these guys are her true love that she has passed up on. But, Kelly never expected that this Christmas sparks might be flying with someone else.

Mark Blakely has been Kelly’s best friend forever. He has watched the guys on Kelly’s list break her heart and isn’t really looking forward watching, or experiencing that again. Plus, Mark has been sitting on the sidelines long, and is ready to move on to something more. All he has to do is convince the woman who is looking elsewhere to see what is in front of her.

YES! This is exactly the type of romance I adore and always on the look out for. Kelly and Mark were so perfect together in this book. It’s been a while since I have enjoyed or read a romance, so when I picked this one up and was unable to put down, I knew I had a winner.

I enjoyed the humor and the romance. I totally love best friends to lovers tropes, so I was sold on this right away. Plus, Layne has a way of building up romances that are both adorable, tension filled and steamy. I really liked the build up, I loved when sparks flew between the two with both became aware of each other.

I loved that they co-own a dog and how wonderful and protective their friendship/relationship was. Turning the pages both warmed my heart and made me giggle. Layne does a great job of lacing humor into her books.

If you love Christmas, this really brings romance and holiday to the table as Kelly is a complete Christmas junky.

I did like Kelly, I liked her spunk and her personality, but her belief in the Sight and superstition turns into a gospel she lives by and feels a little crippling at times. When she was starting to discover her feelings for Mark, she never took the time to sit back and think about the woman’s words, what they meant, and that maybe, just maybe she didn’t have to live by them. It was especially exasperating when she mentions that she always wanted to feel like that about someone, as she does for Mark.

Mark totally won the story for me, I wish if she author was going to put one chapter from his POV in it that maybe there would have been more. I’d really liked to get into his head and find out his thoughts on Kelly’s process and how he felt about it, because it felt like Mark had a big role in what kept happening to Kelly and her Ex’s.

There was a bit of unnecessary drama thrown into the end, I honestly did not expect Kelly to actually get through her list and I would have been fine with that, especially with the way she felt for Mark.

But this was a totally cute, totally feel good Christmas romances that just melts your heart. I think it’s perfect for the holiday season.

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Review: Walk of Shame by Lauren Layne

Posted April 25, 2017 by Lily B in Reviews / 18 Comments

Walk of Shame by Lauren Layne
Series: Love Unexpectedly #4
Published by Loveswept on April 18th 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 218
Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Bought
Buy on Amazon
Rating: 4 Stars

Heat:

Sparks fly between a misunderstood New York socialite and a cynical divorce lawyer in this lively standalone rom-com from the USA Today bestselling author of Blurred Lines and Love Story.
Pampered heiress Georgianna Watkins has a party-girl image to maintain, but all the shopping and clubbing is starting to feel a little bit hollow—and a whole lot lonely. Though Georgie would never admit it, the highlights of her week are the mornings when she comes home at the same time as her uptight, workaholic neighbor is leaving to hit the gym and put in a long day at the office. Teasing him is the most fun Georgie’s had in years—and the fuel for all her naughtiest daydreams.
Celebrity divorce attorney Andrew Mulroney doesn’t have much time for women, especially spoiled tabloid princesses who spend more time on Page Six than at an actual job. Although Georgie’s drop-dead gorgeous, she’s also everything Andrew resents: the type of girl who inherited her penthouse instead of earning it. But after Andrew caps one of their predawn sparring sessions with a surprise kiss—a kiss that’s caught on camera—all of Manhattan is gossiping about whether they’re a real couple. And nobody’s more surprised than Andrew to find that the answer just might be yes.

This was my very first Lauren Layne book and I am happy to say it will not be my last.

After seeing this show up on my goodreads feed over and over again, I decided to finally give it a shot. I was looking for a fun new romance and Walk of Shame delivered, boy did it deliver! It was fun, sassy, flirty and filled with banter, exactly what I was in the mood for.

Georgie is a socialite, who has never had to work for money in her life and spends most of her nights partying. Andrew is a cynical top of his crop, extremely smart divorce attorney her happens to live in her building. The two clash a lot, but it doesn’t stop Georgie from showing up at 5 am in the morning for a good banter fix that has been going on between her and Andrew.

This was just so much fun. I wasn’t sure if I would like Georgie. She has no direction in life, she spends most of her time partying and she is a bit too much at times. If I was to meet her in real life, there would be zero chances that her and I would connect. She does have a positive side and that is Andrew. His character seems to ground her as the book goes on and even changes the way she leads her life, even if just a little bit. She is also kind of sweet to the people around her. Georgie is a people person and everyone she meets just tends to gravitate towards her.

The tension and the back and forth relationship between the two was one of my favorite parts. I did love Andrew the most. He is a young attorney, and he is sort of a genius, having graduated from law school at an earlier age. He is also pretty terrible with emotions since he prefers to look at the logical side of things. Georgie kind of tilt’s his perfect world out of balance and in a way she is just what he needs to loosen up a bit.

I did really love Andrew. I thought he was so cute with his emotional awkwardness. At times I felt so bad with him I wanted to wrap him up and protect him.

If you are looking for fun, flirty, antagonistic romance that has great tension and build up before the sexy times - this one is definitely worth a try.

I did take a full star away only because I felt like Georgie’s character could have used more substance. She was just very flighty and had no real purpose in life I feel so at times it felt frustrating. Also, I did not particularly enjoy the scenes where she attempted to slap him, those kind of responses to anger are not my cup of tea. There might be a time and a place for that, but in no way in this case did I find it justifiable.

Overall though, I really, really enjoyed this book and super glad I read it.

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