It's okay.

My issue is that the Hero and heroine don't interact until around 40%, so there feels like a lot of setting the scene.
They both have ex issues.
No intimate scenes other than the Hero and heroine.
Breadcrumbs dropped for future books in series.
HEA. ( )

Please note that I gave this book 4.5 stars but rounded it to 5 stars on Goodreads.

I previously read the novella and decided to give this series a go since I really couldn't stomach anything more than romance novels this weekend.

The first book in the series follows new Wedding Belle wedding planner Brooke Baldwin. After a scandal has Brooke fleeing from California to New York, she is decidedly done with any romance. Having a wedding to plan with a hotel heiress should be a piece of cake for Brooke, but then she meets the bride's brother Seth Tyler and finds herself thinking about him and wondering how they would be together.

Seth for his part is not worried about getting married anytime soon, after misjudging where he was in a past relationship he has decided that marriage and him don't mix. Focused on making sure his sister isn't about to marry someone she should not, Seth decides to use Brooke to keep an eye on the groom. Of course he starts thinking about how good he and Brooke would be together and pretty soon romance follows.

Well this is a romance first for me. I loved the hero (Seth) more than the heroine in this book (Brooke). I liked that Layne chose to do a third person story with alternating POVs between Brooke and Seth. A lot of times romance books choose to focus on just the women, or if they do include the men I find most of them pretty freaking unappealing. But for some bizarre reason Seth really got to me while reading. He blames himself for his father's death and wants to keep his sister safe from what he perceives is a fortune hunter. When he starts to fall for Brooke, he wants to do what he can to keep her safe and that means making sure her past doesn't have a way of harming her future.

Though Brooke is all about the happily ever aspect of weddings and being angry at Seth for not trusting his sister's groom to be, when you find out her backstory I had a hard time with her head in the sand approach. I didn't want Brooke to be cynical, but she was naive about way too many things and didn't ever really seem to get closure on her past. I also thought it was weird that no one in Brooke's past really seemed to keep in touch with her. I always find it odd in books when a character moves that no one from families or close friends calls to check in on them unless it's integral to the plot.

I thought the secondary characters were hit or miss. Seth's sister Maya was very well developed as was Seth's best friend Grant. But I actually thought the other wedding belles (Heather and Alexis were not that developed) were barely in this story, which didn't make a lot of sense since books #2 and #3 are about them. Also I had a hard time with Brooke's boss Alexis giving her the go ahead to get involved with the guy who was paying for a potential wedding. The whole thing smacked of being unprofessional, and when things blow up (of course they did) it causes a lot of problems for all people concerned.

I liked the writing and the sex scenes were great. And I definitely got chemistry vibes from the characters of Seth and Brooke which is great. The flow was a bit lacking though in the middle I thought. I think the antagonism between Brooke and Seth ran too long and also we don't get enough opportunities to look at Brooke's past besides a phone or text from her parents. So when those things happen in the story, it just made it stop a bit for me.

The ending of book #1 definitely had me excited for book #2. ( )

I am all for any story that encourages ways to empower one's self. Lauren Layne does inspiring, entertaining and romantic. To Have and To Hold reads like a country western song. Brooke has bitten used, confused and left with a broken heart, now she has to figure out how to rise above it all, to make a fresh start. With her reputation in tatters and her business on the verge collapse, proving herself capable and reliable is essential. In walks Seth. Arrogant, irritating and irresistible. Mixing business with pleasure would be career suicide for her pocketbook, but instrumental in mending her heart. Will she risk it all for her own happy ending? With To Have and to Hold, Ms. Layne has written a song of love that is sinful, sexy and sentimental. Tempting fun. ( )

I used to say, I don't ever read contemporary romance. Since this is the second I've read, I shan't be able to say that any more!

I heard about this on the Caffeinated Book Reviewer blog and liked the idea. So I got a copy. Then I read it.

So, here we go. This is your traditional formula romance, so I wasn't expecting Great Literature. I wasn't even expecting the complexities of plotting and characterisation that I'd expect from Great Fantasy, or Great Sci Fi, which are the genres I usually read. This is formula romance: it's supposed to be mind candy; it's supposed to be a fast, fun read that gives you a happy pink feeling. And sometimes, that's what you want out of a book. My star rating reflects what I expect from the book.

So, four stars.

Brooke is a wedding-planner, who's just had the embarrassment of her professional and personal life when her fiance got arrested by the FBI at the altar. Upon which, she discovers he's a con man - and she didn't even know his real name.

Cue the end of Brooke's business, and she flees up to New York to join a firm of wedding planners who've just lost a member to marriage. Her first wedding to plan is for Maya, a hotel heiress - and it's being paid for by Maya's brother, Seth, who suspects the groom is a wrong 'un.

Insta-lust between Brooke and Seth, and the bone of contention is obviously Maya's wedding.

Sooo.....

What I Liked
Brooke
The failure of Brooke's business wasn't her fault, and she's trying to make a new start. The story did not require her to do something unutterably stupid and then get rescued from the consequences by a man.

Brooke wasn't perfect - she was capable of saying, and doing, mean things in a fit of temper. Then she would apologise. Brooke might have been a bit too determined to look on the bright side, but she wasn't so nicey-nicey that I wanted to smack her.

To be strictly fair, she's not the kind of woman I'd probably spend much time with, but I could see that she was a decent person, and I wanted her to be happy.

Seth
Seth, I really liked. He had drive, commitment, and control; I do like a rational man. He wasn't your typical chest-beating alpha male, so lots of extra points there. There was a certain amount of Mr Darcy to him - he's the responsible, hard-working, control-freaky one who could do with learning to lighten up a bit.

Relationship: Brooke and Seth
This is make-or-break for me. I've read romances where I've just thought, "This is going to last, like, six months after the end of the book. The sex might be great, but you'll bore each other to death." Not so with Brooke and Seth. They've each got enough spine to stand up to each other, and their differences are complementary. Brooke tends to look on the bright side too much; Seth tends to be rather more of a cynic. They can each learn from each other, smooth each others' rough edges, and have the kind of give-and-take that makes a relationship work. I think they'll make it. :-)

Also, this is not one of those books where you think, "If this were real, he'd be arrested for harassment or sexual assault." You get insta-lust, but at least it's mutual.

Maya
I loved that bit right at the end. You'll know it when you get to it.

The Plot
This is a romance; it's about the characters and their relationship, not about the actual plot, which is kind of fortunate because there wasn't much of a one. But it worked.

The Writing
Layne can write. The book whizzes along, with cute banter between the characters. The editing could have been a bit better - tell me once, you don't have to tell me again a few pages later - but it wasn't enough to spoil the enjoyment of the story.

What I Didn't Like
Brooke
Given what had happened to Brooke, I thought she'd be rather more suspicious of Maya's fiance. Maybe the author was trying to get across that Brooke's method of dealing with the issue was basically to ignore it and try to pretend it not only never happened but could never happen, but if so, that didn't come through quite strongly enough to work properly. I was more like, WTF? Hello? Pollyanna.

Seth
There wasn't anything I didn't like about Seth. Apart from his name.

The Plot
The big thing that triggers the "boy loses girl" part of the book, I was left thinking, WTF? (again) Why is this such a big deal? Sounds like a sensible course of action to me. Then I thought, maybe it's me? But no, it's me and a bunch of other reviewers.

Overall
I really enjoyed this - hence the four stars. It's like candy-floss: sweet and sugary and insubstantial, but great fun while it lasts. It does what it's supposed to do: give you a nice, happy pink feeling. The world needs books that just give you a happy pink feeling without demanding much in the way of intellectual effort or being put through the emotional wringer.

Will I read another book by Lauren Layne? Quite possibly. There are two more in this series, apparently - the next one doesn't attract me quite as much as the third. ( )

To Have and To Hold is a new novel by Lauren Layne. Brook is a wedding planner new to NYC after her con man ex fiancé got arrested at the alter. Her first client at her new employment is Maya Tyler who is engaged after only dating fiancé Neil for three months. Brooke is hoping to start her career in New York of with a wonder wedding but what she doesn't bargain for is Maya's controlling but extremely hot and wealthy older brother, Seth, who distrusts Neil and is falling for Brooke.

I thought this book was very well written. The characters were well developed and were very likable, most of the time at least. At first Seth seems like a controlling jerk but the you see the insecurities hiding beneath the surface. I got hooked from the beginning and soon didn't want to put it down. Seth and Brooke were both badly wounded by their previous relationships and I found myself rooting for them. Lauren Layne did a wonderful job making these characters not only likable bit easy to relate to. This book quickly became one of my favorites.

I received a free copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. ( )