Early Review: Cuff Me by Lauren Layne

Posted in 5 hearts, Reviews by Lacey

Cuff Me by Lauren Layne
Series: New York’s Finest #3 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: March 29th 2016
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

ARRESTED BY LOVE

Vincent Moretti is one of the NYPD’s top homicide detectives-and one of the most eligible bachelors in town. His family, however, thinks he should date his longtime partner, Jill-a sassy, sexy, smart-mouthed blonde who drives him absolutely crazy.

Behind the quiet authority, tough-guy demeanor, and dark aviator glasses lies a man with a big soul-and a hard body that can soften any girl’s heart. After years as his coworker, Jill Henley has given up hope that anything could happen between her and Vin. Besides, loving him would break all the rules. But seeing Jill with someone else triggers feelings in Vincent he never knew he had. Now he’ll have to stop playing good cop/bad cop-and find a way to convince her to be his partner for life. . .

AHHH!!! I. loved. this. book!!!

If you know me, then you know I’m a massive Lauren Layne fan. Her books are just contemporary romance heaven and I always look forward to all her releases. Cuff Me was my most anticipated read of hers, and it didn’t disappoint at all. In fact, Cuff Me is my favorite of the New York’s Finest series and so far my FAVORITE LL book ever!

You know those series where you’re just WAITING for a certain couple to get their book? There’s all this buildup for them and you have all these expectations that you hope will be met? Well, Cuff Me was that book for me. I’d been dying to read Vincent and Jill’s story ever since meeting them in Frisk Me, and Lauren Layne gave me everything I wanted and more with this book. The romance is slow, but it’s absolutely filled with sexual tension. This is a bit of the hate-to-love-you trope, a bit of opposites-attract and friends-to-lovers. LL did a brilliant job blending all these tropes together. I wholeheartedly adored Cuff Me – it’s sweet, sexy, funny, and all-around an irresistible read.

Their relationship had always been both horribly complicated and wonderfully simple.
Those two elements canceled each other out so that when it came right down to it, Jill and Vincent were beyond definition.
They simply were.

Vincent Moretti and Jill Henley are partners and homicide detectives for the NYPD. There’s a bit of love/hate going on, and a healthy dose of lust too – and while it’s obvious to everyone how in love with each other Jill and Vin are, these two are absolutely clueless about how the other feels. But no matter what they feel, they’ve always had each others’ backs. That is, until Jill blindsides Vin by coming back home after a trip… engaged.

Jill has loved Vin since forever – and even more than just her partner, he’s family to her. But it’s been six years since they were first partnered together, and Jill just isn’t sure anymore that Vin could reciprocate her feelings – so she jumps into an engagement with another man, all the while still loving Vin.

Vin has always been the quiet, shy one ever since he was a boy, so he’s not adept at expressing his feelings, but he knows he has to try in order to win Jill back. And when he finds out that Jill is engaged to another man, it awakens this jealous, possessive, alpha side of him that is seriously the hottest thing ever. And when Vin is determined to do something, whether it’s trying to solve a murder, or in this case, win over the woman in his heart, there’s nothing that can stop him. Except maybe his own fears of loving and being loved, but that’s what Jill and his family are there for, to knock some sense into him. 😉

“My brothers said that saying it would be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. They were wrong. It was the easiest. Because loving you is easy.”

I adored Jill so much. She’s just so happy and light compared to Vin’s broody and dark, and while she doesn’t make the best decision getting engaged to a man she doesn’t love, it does do what she’s always wanted: make Vin realize his feelings for her. And Vin, while frustrating, is so sweet and adoring of Jill – even though he struggles with showing her that, you can’t help but love him for it. These two make such a heart-warming couple that my heart melted every time they were together in the book.

Lauren Layne has once again written a brilliantly sexy and romantic read. I loved Cuff Me! If you love some men-in-uniform, you definitely need to get your hands on the Moretti brothers, especially Vin. Now I can’t help but hope that LL will write another book for the fourth Moretti brother, who we get to know a lot better in Cuff Me!

Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.

Reading Order: New York’s Finest series

#1 ~ Frisk Me: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ Steal Me: My Review • Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Cuff Me: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads (March 29, 2016)

FOLLOW BOOKLOVERS FOR LIFE ON:
✦ FACEBOOK • TWITTER • INSTAGRAM • GOODREADS • PINTEREST • BLOGLOVIN’ ✦

Subscribe to Blog via Email

29Jan2016

Early Review: I Wish You Were Mine by Lauren Layne

Posted in 3.5 hearts, Reviews by Lacey

I Wish You Were Mine by Lauren Layne
Series: Oxford #2 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: February 2nd 2016
Links: Ebook • Audible • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Perfect for fans of Alice Clayton and Emma Chase, Lauren Layne’s Oxford series heats up in this story of forbidden desire as a brooding jock hoping for a comeback falls for a woman who’s strictly off-limits.

A year ago, Jackson Burke was married to the love of his life and playing quarterback for the Texas Redhawks. Now he’s retired, courtesy of the car accident that ruined his career—and single, after a nasty scandal torpedoed his marriage. Just as he’s starting to get used to his new life as a health and fitness columnist for Oxford magazine, his unpredictable ex shows up on his doorstep in Manhattan. Jackson should be thrilled. But he can’t stop thinking about the one person who’s always been there for him, the one girl he could never have: her younger sister.

Mollie Carrington can’t say no to Madison. After all, her older sister practically raised her. So when Madison begs for help in winning her ex-husband back, Mollie’s just glad she got over her own crush on Jackson ages ago—or so she thought. Because as Mollie reconnects with Jackson, she quickly forgets all her reasons to stay loyal to her sister. Tempted by Jackson’s mellow drawl and cowboy good looks, Mollie is sick and tired of coming in second place. But she can’t win if she doesn’t play the game.

I’m a huge Lauren Layne fan – she is definitely a go-to author for feel-good, funny, entertaining contemporary romances. I’d been looking forward to reading I Wish You Were Mine ever since reading Irresistibly Yours, even though the blurb had me feeling a bit nervous. But I never should’ve doubted Lauren – while this book isn’t my favorite of hers, it’s still a sweet, heart-warming story. If you have worries about Jackson’s ex-wife, you absolutely shouldn’t – her character didn’t impede on Jackson and Mollie’s romance like I thought she would!

After an accident that causes him to lose his ability to play football, Jackson has a job he hates and an ex-wife who left him for another man. He has nothing going for him anymore… except Mollie, his ex-wife’s little sister. The one who has always been his friend, who has always been there for him when he was going through the rough times in his marriage, the one who he’s always been able to lean on. But seeing her now, all grown up as a beautiful, successful woman, Jackson wonders if he married the wrong Carrington sister after all.

But somewhere along the line, Mollie Carrington had ceased to be that awkward kid who talked about bugs at inopportune times. Somewhere along the line, she’d become his rock. The one person in the world, save for perhaps his parents, who always knew the exact right thing to say to make him feel like a human whenever he’d started to feel like a caricature of himself.

Mollie has been in love with Jackson since forever, but since he was always classified as her sister’s man, he was off-limits. But now that he’s single, and has offered her to room with him in his apartment, all the feelings she once felt come rushing back, as if they never left. Still, she worries about betraying her sister, who raised her when their parents died. Can Mollie find it in herself to pursue the one man she’s always wanted, or will her loyalty to her sister hold her back from having the love of her life?

I adored Jackson and Mollie together. I love friends-to-lovers romances, so of course I enjoyed this book. I loved the history these two characters had between them, how the chemistry simmered until they finally couldn’t help but fall in bed with each other (and they are HOT together!). They are so sweet and wonderful, definitely meant to be, but they have to first get over obstacles that prevent them from together.

“You are your own woman, and you are a woman, Mollie. You’re not a kid. You’re not a girl. And if I’ve been a complete asshole lately, it’s because I’m having a hell of a time coming to grips with the fact that I want you. And fuck, Mollie, I want you. I want you so bad, I’m dying.”

I don’t really like reading romances that involve hero’s exes, because sometimes I get worried about the hero’s loyalty to the heroine. But I absolutely shouldn’t have worried at all about Jackson and his ex-wife. Madison is a total bitch, and Jackson knowns that the woman he thought he loved never really existed. He is 100% done with his ex-wife, which I definitely appreciated.

The main reason why I didn’t fully LOVE this book was because I do wish there had been more romance. We get plenty of Jackson and Mollie as friends and as something more than friends, but we never really see them TOGETHER. As in, in a relationship. If that had been expanded upon more rather than in just the epilogue, I’m sure I wouldn’t hesitate to love the book. I also hated Madison whenever she popped up in the book, but I was expecting that, so it wasn’t too bad.

I may not have loved I Wish You Were Mine, but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable read. The humor, the writing, Mollie and Jackson’s characters, I loved them all. It’s not as light-hearted as the previous Lauren Layne books I’ve read are, as there is some angst and tension, but if you’re a fan of the author, you won’t want to miss this book! You get to see a lot of the Oxford/Stiletto gang as well – right now I’m dying to read Lincoln’s story!

Quotes are taken from the arc and are subject to change in the final version.

Reading Order: Oxford series

#1 ~ Irresistibly Yours: My Review • Ebook • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ I Wish You Were Mine: Ebook • Audible • Goodreads
#3 ~ Someone Like You: Ebook • Goodreads (Dec. 13, 2016)

FOLLOW BOOKLOVERS FOR LIFE ON:
✦ FACEBOOK • TWITTER • INSTAGRAM • GOODREADS • PINTEREST • BLOGLOVIN’ ✦

Subscribe to Blog via Email

16Dec2015

12 Days of Sex, Love & Stilettos with Lauren Layne

Posted in Blog Tours, Giveaways by Lacey

Click the banner to follow the tour.

Julie, Grace, Riley & Emma want to bring a little “heat” to your Holiday Season, so they are playing NAUGHTY, NICE, STILETTO & SPICE! Each heroine has chosen the perfect blend of Naughty, Nice, Stiletto & Spice for four different personality types…so make sure to follow the tour to find out if you are Flirty, Luscious, Sweet or Sophisticated!

https://www.victoriassecret.com/

http://www1.macys.com/shop/makeup-and-perfume/chanel?id=61916&edge=hybrid&cm_kws=coco%20chanel

The Sex, Love and Stiletto Boxed Set by Lauren Layne
After the Kiss, Love the One You’re With,
Just One Night, & The Trouble with Love
Publication Date: November 24th 2015
Publisher: Loveswept

Hailed by Ruthie Knox as “fun, sexy, and sharp as a spike heel,” the Sex, Love & Stiletto series from USA Today bestselling author Lauren Layne introduces the glamorous columnists of Stiletto magazine and the ridiculously hot men who love them. Now all four novels—After the Kiss, Love the One You’re With, Just One Night, and The Trouble with Love—are together in one eBook bundle.

AFTER THE KISS – Book One

“After the Kiss is a knock-your-stilettos-off, total page-turning treat that had me fan-girling up within the first chapter.”—USA Today bestselling author Mira Lyn Kelly

Julie Greene loves flings: first dates, first kisses, that first sexy romp between the sheets. But when Julie has to write an article about the magical shift between dating and “I do,” she’ll need a man brave enough to reform a total commitment-phobe. Normally, that man would be Mitchell Forbes, a devastatingly handsome workaholic who stays in relationships far too long. But Mitchell is looking to cut loose for once, and Julie’s exactly the type of no-strings fling he’s looking for. In other words, he’s the polar opposite of what she needs—and exactly what she wants.

LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH – Book Two

“Spunky, flirty, and full of sass, Love the One You’re With is everything a romance should be! Lauren Layne has a winner.”—New York Times bestselling author Christie Craig

After her fiancé turns out to be the kind of rotten, cheating liar she always warns her readers about, Grace Brighton swears off relationships for six months. She makes an exception for a joint article on dating with a gorgeous counterpart from the men’s magazine Oxford—and tries to tell herself she’s not instantly smitten. Jake Malone only agreed to this fluffy assignment because his playboy reputation makes his new editor nervous. But after just one date with snooty, sumptuous, sensational Grace, Jake starts taking this assignment a whole lot more seriously.

JUST ONE NIGHT – Book Three

“Sexy, sassy, and surprisingly sweet, Just One Night is a total page-turner!”—New York Times bestselling author Donna Alward

As Stiletto’s resident “sexpert,” Riley McKenna writes articles that are the magazine’s most read. But when Riley is forced to confront a long-hidden secret—that her own sexual experience is limited to one awkward college encounter—she calls in the favor of a lifetime. Sam Compton knows two things about his best friend’s little sister: She’s the woman for him, and she’s completely off-limits. Sam shouldn’t even consider Riley’s proposition. But after a one-night stand in the name of research, they learn firsthand that, with each other, there’s no such thing as just one night.

THE TROUBLE WITH LOVE – Book Four

“The Trouble with Love is a heartwarming read I devoured in one sitting and haven’t been able to stop smiling over since.”—New York Times bestselling author Violet Duke

Five years ago, Emma Sinclair was a blushing bride-to-be. Now she’s the ice queen of the Manhattan dating scene—and her latest article forces her to face the devilishly sexy guy who ditched her at the altar. After giving up everything for a pro soccer career, Alex Cassidy is hanging up his cleats and taking a shot at journalism . . . in the same city as his former fiancée. But Emma isn’t the innocent girl he remembers. She’s chic, sophisticated, and assertive—and she wants absolutely nothing to do with him. The trouble is, Alex has never wanted her more.

Buy Links:
Amazon • B&N • Google Play • iTunes • Kobo

Excerpts
After the Kiss: http://laurenlayne.com/after-the-kiss
Love the One You’re With: http://laurenlayne.com/love-the-one-youre-with
Just One Night: http://laurenlayne.com/just-one-night
The Trouble with Love: http://laurenlayne.com/the-trouble-with-love

Lauren Layne is the USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance.

Prior to becoming an author, Lauren worked in e-commerce and web-marketing. In 2011, she and her husband moved from Seattle to New York City, where Lauren decided to pursue a full-time writing career. It took six months to get her first book deal (despite ardent assurances to her husband that it would only take three). Since then, Lauren’s gone on to publish ten books, including the bestselling Stiletto series, with several more on the way in 2015.

Lauren currently lives in Chicago with her husband and spoiled Pomeranian. When not writing, you’ll find her at happy hour, running at a doggedly slow pace, or trying to straighten her naturally curly hair.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Pinterest • Instagram

$25 Gift Card to Victoria’s Secret
Blown Glass Stiletto-Tini Ornament
Winners Choice Rollerball Perfume (Black Opium, Juicy Couture or Acqua di Gioia)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FOLLOW BOOKLOVERS FOR LIFE ON:
✦ FACEBOOK • TWITTER • INSTAGRAM • GOODREADS • PINTEREST • BLOGLOVIN’ ✦

Subscribe to Blog via Email

24Nov2015

Release Week Blitz + Author Interview & Giveaway: Steal Me by Lauren Layne

Posted in Exclusive, Giveaways, Spotlight by Lacey

Happy Release Day to Lauren Layne – Steal Me is live! Check out my Q&A with Lauren below, as well as my review and a fantastic giveaway!

Author Interview: Lauren Layne

What would readers be surprised to find out about you?

That I’m a total science fiction geek. Star Wars is my favorite movie of all time, although my husband has slowly converted me over to Star Trek, and I’m a big fan of that as well.

Tell us about your writing process. Do you start with an idea or a character? Do you know what’s going to happen from the beginning or do you figure it out as you write?

I almost always start with the idea or the general premise; rarely does the character come first. And I’m a planner. I’ve gotten looser with my planning as I write more books and get more comfortable with the flow of writing a book, but I generally have at least a pretty comprehensive list of scenes that need to get written before I type Chapter One.

Who gave you the one piece of writing advice that sticks with you to this day?

I believe it was Nora Roberts who said, “I can fix a bad page, but I can’t fix a blank one.” I repeat that on almost a daily basis. I know that I just need to reach The End, no matter how messy the words might be. Once the words are there, they’re always fixable.

Is there one thing you have to have when writing?

Oh man. I’m going to be super literal here and say my laptop. I like music but don’t need it. And usually have my water bottle, but not always. Sometimes a notebook, sometimes not. I’m pretty bare bones and minimalist J

How did you choose the names of your characters?

The main characters I spend a bit of time going through name lists, trying to get the right vibe (and finding one that I haven’t used before, which is getting harder and harder). For minor characters, I use a “random name” generator on my web browser.

How has music played a role in your life and in your writing?

I make soundtracks for almost all of my books, there’s always one song that’s more vital than the rest. Name any of my books, and I can tell you which song I listened to on repeat while writing it!

When was the moment that you knew you had to be a writer?

Ha. I think I was born this way. For as long as I can remember, I was that kid that said I wanted to be an author when I grew up, and I always loved writing in school. Then college ended. I had no more writing to do for school, but I also didn’t think that writing could be a full-time career, so I entered the work force and put writing behind me as a hobby. What a mistake!! That all came back to bite me a few years later when the need to write was so strong that it was all I could think about. It took me a year or so to work up the courage, another year or so to stick with it, and then I decided to jump in with both feet. I quit my job, moved to New York, wrote about four books in two months like a mad woman, and got an agent/publisher.

What can you tell us about your couple, that we won’t find in the book?

Of all my books, Steal Me is the one that veered the most from my original outline. The original heroine was a feisty red-head named Kat who was the least suspect in a burglary case. I’m not sure why or when it changed, but by the time I’d finished Frisk Me (book one in the series), I knew that Anthony’s story and woman were entirely different than I’d originally planned.

Steal Me by Lauren Layne
Series: New York’s Finest #2 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: November 24th 2015
Publisher: Forever

IN HOT PURSUIT

Being a cop might be in Anthony Moretti’s blood, but protecting and serving the city of New York has always been more than just the family business. If that means his love life stays locked up, well then that’s just another sacrifice made in the line of duty. That is, until he sets eyes on the gorgeous new waitress at The Darby Diner and suddenly Anthony’s morning coffee is leaving him a whole lot more hot and bothered than usual.

Though waitressing at The Darby isn’t exactly Maggie Walker’s dream job, it pays the bills and gives her time to work on her novel. Now if only she could stop fantasizing about gorgeous Anthony Moretti every time he sits down at her table, she’d really be in great shape. But when he needs her help identifying a criminal threatening The Darby—and Maggie recognizes her ex-husband—she fears her fresh start might be a pipe dream. Faster than a New York minute, Maggie and Anthony find themselves in one perilous pursuit that only gets hotter with each and every rule-breaking kiss.

Buy Links:
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iTunes • Kobo • Google Play