Rowena‘s review of As Long As You Love Me (Apartment 2B Trilogy #2) by Ann Aguirre.
Most people dream about getting out of Sharon, Nebraska, but after three years away, Lauren Barrett is coming home. There are the justifications she gives to everyone else—missing her family, losing her college scholarship. And then there’s the reason Lauren can’t admit to anyone: Rob Conrad, her best friend’s older brother.
Football prowess and jaw-dropping good looks made Rob a star in high school. Out in the real world, his job and his relationships are going nowhere. He can’t pinpoint exactly what’s missing until Lauren comes back to town, bringing old feelings and new dreams with her. But he’s the guy that women love and leave—not the one who makes them think of forever.
Though she’s terrified of opening up, Lauren’s ready to take that chance. Because the only thing more important than figuring out where you truly belong is finding the person you were meant to be with.
This is the second book in the 2B Trilogy by Ann Aguirre. It follows Lauren Barrett, best friend to the heroine of the first book, as she heads home to start her life over after getting kicked out of college. In the first book, Lauren was painted as this party girl who hooked up with random guys and didn’t confide in her best friend and in this book, we get to see why she is the way she is and what made her do the things she did.
Coming home for Lauren brought Rob Conrad, her best friend’s brother and the love of her teenage life back into her life. Things start off as friends as Rob is still in a relationship but the more time that Lauren spends with Rob, the more she wants him…still. She’s come to realize that no matter how many years they spend a part, the little girl that wrote stories with Rob starring as the main lead will always love her some Rob Conrad. But this time around, things are different because Rob feels them too. He couldn’t feel them for her when she was 16 and he was graduated from high school but they’re on even footing this time around and once Rob stops fighting his attraction to Lauren, things get a whole lot more interesting.
This is my second book by Aguirre and I enjoyed it. I liked her writing style with this series. She’s got stories to tell and characters to flesh out and I enjoyed being along for the ride as Lauren tried to make sense of where she was and build something for herself back at home. I loved that she came into her own person, someone she could be proud of in the end and I’m really glad that she got to find herself with Rob at her side. They were a great couple and they made sense. They made sense in a way that her and Max never did and I loved Max.
I was kind of disappointed in how long it took for Lauren to face Max again but as you find out why that was, what really happened between them, it made sense and I ended up understanding and appreciating Lauren’s apology when she finally made it.
It’s a slippery slope when you start dating your best friend’s brother but I liked the way that her and Nadia were in this book. They were normal best friends. I liked that Nadia respected Rob and Lauren’s relationship and when they were on the outs and Nadia didn’t understand where they were coming from, she didn’t choose sides. I also liked that Lauren always stood up for Rob and was happy for him even when she was hurting.
This wasn’t the most perfect of books but it’s a character driven story about two people that find love when they weren’t looking for it and they crawled into my heart and stayed there. There were times when I thought the story moved at a slow pace but in the end, I’m glad that I stuck it out because I was happy with the way things came together and I was happy to meet such a colorful cast of characters. Lauren and Rob were great and this story was a great addition to the series. It wasn’t my favorite book in the series but it was still worth a read.
Grade: 3 out of 5
This book is provided by HQN. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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