Publisher: Flirt

Review: Broken by Lauren Layne

Posted April 4, 2017 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Broken by Lauren LayneReviewer: Rowena
Broken by Lauren Layne
Series: Redemption #1
Publisher: Flirt
Publication Date: September 2nd 2014
Genres: New Adult
Pages: 252
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Lauren Layne’s New Adult 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?

Broken is the second book in the Redemption series by Lauren Layne. It’s another solid contemporary New Adult book about two people falling in love while one is returning to the land of the living and the other is looking for redemption.

Olivia Middleton has betrayed her boyfriend and she hasn’t been able to get over it so in an effort to redeem herself, she takes a job caring for a war veteran who was injured overseas. She needs to give back to someone in need to wipe the smear that has tainted her reputation ever since she kissed Michael and cheated on her ex-boyfriend, Ethan Price. When she arrived in Maine, far away from New York, she was expecting to care for an older veteran but the hot grumpy guy before is her charge and she’s not at all sure what to do with this unexpected attraction.

Paul Langdon is living with survivor’s guilt and it’s chasing everyone out of his life. He’s scared off caretaker after caretaker and no matter what he does, his rich father keeps sending new ones his way. He doesn’t want to be around people. He’s got scars that are both on the inside and the outside and all he wants is to be left alone. When Olivia comes to live with him, his father made it clear that this is the last one. If he can’t or won’t let Olivia help him, then he’ll be cut off and disinherited. Paul has reasons for needing the money and so he’s got to let the gorgeous new, close to his age caretake, take care of him.

They don’t get along at first because Paul is a dick but Olivia is a lot stronger than she looks and he doesn’t scare her away. She’s got redemption on her mind and he’s not going to take that away from her. She’s going to bicker her way through his defenses and she’s going to help him get better, even if it kills her.

This book was a lot different from Isn’t She Lovely. The tone was less playful and a little darker. Olivia is Belle and Paul is the Beast. She goes to live at his fortress and she melts him with every day that they spend together. Their romance in the end was lovely but there were times when I wanted to punch Paul in his junk. He was stubborn and willful and sometimes a little cruel because that shit that he pulled with Michael? That shit was not funny.

Olivia was hard to take at times too but in her heart of hearts, she was a good heroine. She never meant to hurt anyone, least of all, Ethan. She learns a lot about herself and she grows the heck up in this book and I was glad for it. She faces some truths about herself that were hard to take but she didn’t back away from these life lessons and that made me happy for her in the end.

Paul comes around as well. He was a real beast in the beginning and even in the middle but in the end, he comes out of the dark and he really turns his life around. His love for Olivia was real and it was big and it redeemed him in my eyes.

Overall, this story was a solid read with hard times to get through. The romance was passionate, and it was real and I adored both characters in the end. Lauren Layne did a great job of bringing these two opposites together in a way that was believable and right. It’s not my favorite book in the series but it was still a good one. I just love this woman’s writing to pieces. She’s so stinkin’ good at what she does. I hope she writes forever. If you haven’t given this series a try, you should fix that.

three-half-stars

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Guest Review: Addicted to You by Renita Pizzitola

Posted December 21, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Addicted to You by Renita PizzitolaReviewer: Tracy
Addicted to You by Renita Pizzitola
Series: Port Lucia #1
Publisher: Flirt
Publication Date: August 16th 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

In the sleepy fishing town of Port Lucia, everyone knows everyone, but Isla Diaz really knows Colby Callahan, with his blue-gray eyes and the tousled brown hair always tucked sexily into his cap. After all, Isla has been crazy about Colby ever since she can remember—even if he treats her like a kid sister. Now, without her best friend, Felicity, around, Isla spots a golden opportunity to take things to the next level . . . or at least wrangle a kiss out of Colby.

By random chance, a tropical storm is headed toward the coast, leaving them stranded together overnight—and there’s nothing to do but drink. As the evening wears on, Isla gets the feeling that her not-so-secret crush may finally release her from the friend zone. With her dreams finally coming true, Isla isn’t about to pump the brakes, but is this just a one-time thing? What if the next morning, she needs more than Colby’s prepared to give?

Little does she know, Colby would like nothing more than a real relationship with Isla. She’s always been the one. But there’s a very good reason he’s been keeping his distance. Someone else loves her too, someone who also means the world to Colby: his brother.

Isla has been in love with her best friend Colby for 10 years. She would love to be more than friends but it just isn’t happening – that is until one night when they have both been drinking and end up in bed together.  Isla knows that Colby is going to regret it and can’t stand to experience that so she sneaks out of bed and heads home.

After that night the pair of them have some pretty awkward moments.  At times it feels to Isla that Colby is wanting more from their relationship but then he’ll back off and she’s more than confused.  Then he suggests that maybe she should be with his brother – also her friend – and she’s even more confused! But then, maybe she’s been so focused on Colby for so long that she hasn’t really looked at anyone else.  When Landon kisses her, however, she knows that Colby’s the only one for her – if only she can get him on board.

This was a cute story.  I liked both Isla and Colby a lot.  Of course we only saw Colby through Isla’s eyes so of course he looked awesome since she was in love with him. 🙂

While I liked the story I really wish that Colby and Isla could have spent more time together during the book as a couple.  Most of the book is them working through their issues – or avoiding them, whichever was happening at the time.  I guess I just wanted more Colby/Isla time and that was hard when Colby was trying to be unselfish and make other people happy.  IDK – it was good but I was frustrated with it somewhat.

Overall I liked the book and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars

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Guest Review: Just a Little Kiss by Renita Pizzitola

Posted August 21, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Just a Little Kiss by Renita PizzitolaReviewer: Tracy
Just a Little Kiss by Renita Pizzitola
Series: Crush series #3
Also in this series: Just a Little Crush
Publisher: Flirt
Publication Date: August 25, 2015
Genres: New Adult
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Like most of the residents of her dead-end beach town, Felicity Daniels doesn’t know what she wants from her future. Instead of college, she’s waiting tables at the local grille where she’s more likely to run into the guy who was the love of her life—until one decision changed everything. Now as this year’s tourist season kicks in to high gear, Felicity realizes that whatever she wants isn't going to be found here.

Mason Hayes is the quintessential Summer Boy: hot, impulsive, and born without strings attached. While in town helping with the family fishing charter, he plans to have a little fun—and hopefully get over a certain girl. He’s never had a long-term relationship, but when he meets Felicity, he wonders if he’s found the girl who could change that.

With her heart still in repair, Felicity’s happy to have a distraction like Mason, but her best friend thinks he could also be her ticket out of this town. What’s the harm in using him to escape more than just her boredom? After all, he is just a Summer Boy, and they never stick around. But after one kiss, Felicity wonders if only one summer with Mason will ever really be enough.

Tracy’s review of Just a Little Kiss (Crush #3) by Renita Pizzitola

Felicity is almost 20 years old but feels kind of like she’s at a standstill in her life. The problem is…she’s not sure how she would do things differently. She’s been waitressing at the same restaurant since her junior year in high school and her biggest adventure so far has been moving to her family’s houseboat to get away from the overcrowding in her parent’s home. She’s thought about going to college but doesn’t really know what she wants to do. She flirts with guys who come into her small town for the summer and calls them her Summer Boys.

Mason is spending his summer helping out his uncle and cousins on their charter fishing boat. He really has no idea what he’s doing but when his uncle had to have shoulder surgery he volunteered his time. He didn’t expect to meet a beautiful girl who lived just across the pier but once he met her he couldn’t stay away. Though it seems as though Felicity is holding back he can’t seem to stop thinking about her.

The pair start an affair that becomes much more emotionally involved than either of them thought it would. Mason is excited for the adventure and hopes that the relationship won’t end when summer does. Felicity only wants to think of Mason as a Summer Boy and is scared that her life is rolling out of control – she’s not sure how to handle that.

The third book of the series and we finally get Mason’s story. We met him in the first book where he was the heroine’s best friend and he believed himself in love with her. When he finally meets Felicity, however, he knows that what he felt for Brinley can’t even come close to what he feels for Felicity. I loved how he was all-in from the get go. He may not have been that old (19) but he wasn’t afraid to go after what he wanted – and that was Felicity. He took care of her without her actually being aware of it and he did it so sweetly that I had to admire him for his stealth. Lol

Felicity was someone who didn’t get emotionally involved with guys. She had been hurt in the past from a long term relationship and she was leery to go for it with any guy much less one that was only hanging around for the summer. Mason was different though and she knew that he was almost immediately. She held herself back from him as much as she could but in the end she knew it was pointless as she had fallen in love with him. In the story we find out eventually that she has an anxiety disorder, and yes, she was a bit of a worrier, but frankly I didn’t feel that she had gone too overboard with it. I kind of wish that aspect had been played up so that the self-diagnosis would have had more of an impact. Yes, she stressed about things but I thought those stresses were all pretty justified and not over the top.

For the most part the story was very sweet. There were a couple of misunderstandings that caused strife in the relationship but overall the romance was pretty smooth sailing. I liked that cuz sometimes I just need to sit down and read a nice romance without too much other stuff going on. This was been a fun series and I’m looking forward to more of it – and reading more from this author.

Rating: 4 out of 5

This title is available from Flirt. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This title was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

four-stars

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