Graffiti Love by G.G. Andrew
Series: Love and Lawbreakers #1
Publication Date: February 11th, 2016
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KaveMan is a London graffiti artist--world famous, wealthy, brilliantly creative. And Laurel Xavier hates him.
Laurel, a laid-off city planner, is bitter from compromising her dreams and still losing her sensible job. So when she gets a glimpse of the mysterious KaveMan, whose dream is apparently painting others' property in her hometown of New Haven, she's determined to find him, unmask him, and ruin his so-called career--even if it means losing some shoes and self-respect in the process.
But why does chasing KaveMan make her feel more alive than she's felt in years?
KaveMan isn't used to sharing his real self, let alone his real name. But when he's caught by Laurel Xavier, he starts to realize the one woman he yearns to whisper his secrets to is someone who would scream his identity from the highest rooftop. That would mean the end of his work, his passion. It can't ever happen.
Unfortunately, he bloody well can't seem to stay away from her.
Laurel is a frustrated city planner who’s been laid off. She hates graffiti and doesn’t approve of KaveMan and his “art tours” that he does around the world. When he ends up in New Haven, where Laurel lives, she appalled that he’s defacing her city. She almost catches him at one point when she’s lecturing at Yale but he evades her. From then on she’s determined to catch him and turn him in. No one knows who he really is and she wants to bring him out into the open.
KaveMan aka Jamie manages to stay away from Laurel until she writes an editorial piece in the local paper. She basically tells him that if he wants something to paint, he can paint her yard fence. When she wakes up one morning and finds her fence painted white – along with fairies and elves – she’s shocked. When the man himself actually knocks on her door and introduces himself as KaveMan she’s not sure what to do. She’s incredibly attracted to him but how can that be when she doesn’t like what he does?
Despite her feelings on his art Laurel eventually finds herself in bed with Jamie and falling for him. Their relationship is complicated by so many things – the least of which is that he’ll be leaving a couple of weeks. Both Jamie and Laurel have to learn to trust – not only in each other but in their feelings.
This was such a sweet story. I truly didn’t think that it would be because of the whole graffiti aspect of the story. I guess I thought it would be a bit grittier but I was pleasantly surprised at the romance in the book. I loved watching Laurel and Jamie come together and fall in love. GG Andrew has a lovely sense of romance and that has come through in all of her books that I’ve read.
The story also involved Laurel’s sister, Kim, who is a kleptomaniac. She’s gotten in trouble with the law more than a few times but she’s trying to be better. When a new cop moves into town he has no idea about Kim’s “issues” and they’re incredibly attracted to each other. Unfortunately when Scott finds out who Kim is he’s probably not be so attracted any longer. This part of the story was a bit sad. Kim truly had a problem – as well as a criminal record – but wanted Scott to see her as someone else. Since this says that it’s book 1 in the Love and Lawbreakers series I can only hope that we get to read Kim’s story in an upcoming book. I look forward to it.
The story was sweet and funny with a good portion of sexy to top it all off. I definitely recommend this book. I know I’ll be re-reading it sometime in the near future.
Rating: 4 out of 5