Lauren Layne

Lauren Layne is one of a handful of authors that can break your heart, while keeping you smiling the whole time. Readers don't have to like every character, but by the end, it's hard not to love them. I Knew You Were Trouble is an ideal example of that. Taylor is a little much at first meeting, but as more is revealed about her, it's easy to understand why. She hides painful insecurities. Nick pushes her, because he sees the beautiful woman behind the abrasive attitude. Another winner.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Heather, the assistant wedding planner at the Wedding Belles, is given a very high profile celebrity wedding to pull off in three months. Assuming it goes well, she will be promoted to actual wedding planner (rather than assistant). She has just moved into a new apartment and has a very noisy neighbour, whose band practises the other side of her bedroom wall. Heather goes over to complain about the noise and meets Josh.

Josh was show more my main problem with this novel, and I disliked him so much, that, had I not felt an obligation to provide a review, I would have given up on the book after the first few chapters. He is unsympathetic to Heather's desire for a peaceful night's sleep before a work day, he is patronizing (calling Heather "babe" at this first meeting), he is offensive (making sexual references to her body and general appearance, again during this first encounter), he is conceited (drawing her attention to his apparently impressive chest), he basically assaults her (he kisses her "to shut her up").

Then we get to see how he treats other women. Poor April, aka "the cute brunette", about whom he seems to know only that she was wearing a skintight dress when he met her, passed the five minute "not a crazy conversation" and has an attractive body is, sadly, "not the best lay he'd ever had". In the morning he decides that he "likes her" (really?) but that she has a chirpy annoying voice. He tells her to keep the clothes he has lent her and (I was cheering at this point) she metaphorically throws them in his face. Obviously April was not "the One", because that's Heather, but really, we are supposed to find this man a romantic hero?

Josh follows this up by forcing Heather out of bed early on a Sunday to come have pancakes with his mother, despite the fact that he considers her to be "curdled" and "sort of a bitch around him". I could go on at length, but there's also the time he asks her if she has been masturbating (yes really - was that mean to be flirtatious? - it wasn't) and the time he lets himself into her apartment while she is sleeping (she doesn't even know he has a key) and then enters her bedroom after she has told him she wants to dress in privacy, before telling her what clothes she should wear.

Other issues I had:

- Shouldn't the title be "For Better, For Worse"?
- In fact, we Brits say "bollocks", not "bullocks" in that context.
- "Heather was ... a touch crass when her trailer-park slipped in". Ouch.

SPOILERS

- Josh never seemed to feel the need to apologise for any of his behaviour. At one point they have what is described as "make up sex", but in fact there was no making up at all. Josh is rude to Heather and she retreats to her flat. Josh (the most immature 33 year old on the planet) bangs his drum until she knocks on the door and they have sex.

After he rejects her in the hospital, the next time she sees him he is proposing and has arranged a wedding for that day, but he doesn't say he is sorry he hurt her or lied to her or patronized her. No, he needs her and he sees it now, so they should get married. And, by the way, he is knocking through the walls between their apartments because he owns the building.

- I felt more could have been done with the fact that Josh was living with the fear that his leukaemia might return. He and Heather could have explored how this would affect their future, but instead Heather is presented with the bald fact and given no opportunity to have conversation with Josh about it before marrying him.

- Josh had been so unforthcoming with Heather about almost everything in his life that she was crazy to rush into the wedding. Does she really know him?

- In what way was this the wedding Heather arranged, given that she organized it for two celebrities and then it went ahead as a small intimate ceremony with different dresses and a different cake? Is it really your dream wedding if you planned it for some one else?

There were a few things I enjoyed about the story; Josh's mother was a likeable character, the Seth/Brooke engagement was sweet and the continuing set-up for Alexis and Logan was intriguing.

Overall I was disappointed though. show less

This adorable story is derivative of “You’ve Got Mail,” as the author acknowledges in her Afterword. She stated that she wanted to bring that story into the 21st Century by updating the premise a bit: the two protagonists fall in love, sight unseen and anonymously, not via email but via a dating app called “MysteryMate,” and by texting.

MysteryMate isn’t like other dating apps in that there are no photos, or even names. The app matches you with potential mates and you communicate show more under pseudonyms.

Gracie Cooper, 33, using the name “Lady” got matched with “Sir,” and they seem to have a lot in common. As Gracie explains to her best friend: “We both live in Manhattan, we’re both highly suspicious of oatmeal, we both lost our dads to lung cancer four years ago, we both put mustard on our scrambled eggs. . . ."

Gracie owns the champagne shop “Bubbles & More” opened by her late father, but it is struggling to survive in a world increasingly characterized by online sales. She has an offer to buy her out from her lease-holder, the disturbingly handsome Sebastian Andrews. But Gracie is resisting: it’s not about the numbers, she feels, it’s about family, her family, and her father’s dream. Gracie’s own dream was to be an artist, but then her father died and she has made his dream her own. She only resents and regrets it sometimes. . . .

Gracie increasingly turns to “Sir” for advice and emotional support, all the while having additional encounters with Sebastian, whom she likes more and more in spite of her determination to hate him.

Of course we know how this will end, but the path to get there will keep you entertained and interested in spite of an overall arc of predictability.

The story ends with an Epilogue that takes place one year later, and it is absolutely delightful.

Evaluation: The author writes in the Afterward that this is a story about the folly of first impressions, about optimism, and about forgiveness and growth. But it’s also just a darn good romcom that's a lot of fun. show less

ARC Review: Someone Like You (Oxford) by Lauren Layne

Here's my watershed realization. Lauren Layne, gets me. She writes stories that can breakdown emotions. She can write a story that will have me struggling to keep a straight face or fighting to hold back the tears. Someone Like You is a blend of the two that delivers a freeing experience. Lincoln and Daisy have seen some of their darkest moments play out in real time, right before their eyes. Broken hearts, shattered dreams and devastating show more losses have resided outside of their front door but a guardian angel has their back. All through this story I kept coming back to the adage about people coming into your life for a reason and that seemed to be the case with Daisy and Lincoln. In order to heal, each needed a friend. In order to move forward, they had to let go of the past. Like a fine wine, the Oxford series keeps getting better with time. show less