Samantha Young

The sensual, romantic follow-up to On Dublin Street and Down London Road. Perfect for fans of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy 'Scotland's answer to E. L. James' Sunday Post Edinburgh was going to be a fresh start for Olivia Holloway. Crippled by shyness around the opposite sex, Olivia nevertheless meets gorgeous postgraduate Nate Sawyer and decides it is time to push her fears aside. Before long, Olivia and Nate form a close friendship and she finds herself confessing her deepest secrets, and Nate, being her best friend, offers to teach her the art of flirting. As Olivia and Nate's friendship turns intense it soon blossoms into a passionate love affair. For the first time Olivia opens her heart but what she doesn't realise is that Nate has his own fears and just when she finds herself hopelessly falling for him, Nate's past returns to haunt him. Will Nate have the courage to confide in Olivia, or will he cut and run? And can Olivia face up to her own fears and keep him?

Before Jamaica Lane

🧸

Aishling

There was nothing wrong with the book, it just didn’t do it for me

Lover of Romance 

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance
  

 
  
    Summary 
  
 
Olivia feels uncomfortable around the opposite sex. She was always painfully shy when she was a teenager. But when her mother had cancer, Olivia stayed by her side and took care of her up until her college years. She has never been able to get past her lack of confidence. But then she has a crush on a post grad that she encounters at the library where she works. Olivia goes to her closest friend, Nate Sawyer, a virtual player and bad boy who takes a different woman home almost every night. They make a pact, Nate will show her to be confident and how to flirt and get over her shyness including sex lessons. Olivia isn't a virgin, but has only had sex one time and it was horrible. She has very little sexual experience and it's awkward for her. So best friends turn into lovers. Our hero, Nate lost his childhood sweetheart to cancer when they were only seventeen and only has casual sex and refuses to have any serious relationship with anyone until Olivia. There is powerful chemistry between Nate and Olivia inside and out of the bedroom. Can Nate and Olivia hold onto the love they both have for each other?
 
  
    Plot and Story Line 
  
 
Before Jamaica Lane is the third book in the series and what a story this turned out to be!! I truly adored every moment this story has to offer. I do enjoy the friends to lovers trope and Samantha Young did a great job with this one. This is a story that slowly builds and it definitely will tie you up in emotional turmoil at times. Olivia and Nate have been friends for a year and spend alot of time together.

  
    “What would you prefer? Life in a maximum-security prison or trapped in Jurassic Park?"
  
  

  

  
    "Do I have a social standing in this prison?"
  
  

  

  
    "No. You're just an average Joe."
  
  

  

  
    "Then I guess I have to go with Jurassic Park."
  
  

  

  
    "Why?"
  
  

  

  
    "Well, I'll have constant fresh air, for a start, and also if I'm going to be anyone's prey, I'm going to be the prey of an animal that's acting out of instinct rather than psychopathy... You?"
  
  

  

  
    "If you're in Jurassic Park, I'm in Jurassic Park.” 
  

However their relationship takes a turn, when Olivia reveals some truths while drunk. Truths that no one would really see about it, things that she keeps hidden and hides away. To her group of friends, they see her as self-assured and confident but Olivia has never seen herself that way. She craves something more than just being the "friend" to the guys. She wants to get numbers from strange men she flirts with but it never happens. The story really gets interesting when Olivia and Nate begin "sex lessons". hehe oh boy was that different and when it comes to the bedroom, these two are very explosive to each other. However when spending so much time together in and out of the bedroom, when Nate wants Olivia to meet his parents, their relationship is taken to the next level without either of them realizing it before its too late and love has gotten tangled up in the mix. (view spoiler)[Nate makes mistakes with Olivia because he fears losing her like he lost his childhood sweetheart and he will have to fight hard to get her back. This is what I enjoyed the most through the story. I loved his zeal and determination to fight to get back the woman he loves especially when he was the one that hurt her the most.  (hide spoiler)]

  
    “You're not ready to hear this yet," he concluded. "But I do need you to know that I'm going to fight for you. I'm not making the mistake of walking away from you again. The only man in you future is me, Liv. The only kids in your future are mine.”
  

This story was quite spectacular from beginning to end, and I had some fun times with this group of friends and excited for the next book in the series.
 
  
    Narration 
  
 
I truly liked this narrator and she did a brilliant job with this book. She does great with the setting and the Scottish accents were so real and I loved the inflections and how she brought the story to life.
 
  
    The Cover 
  
 
Not my favorite of the series, but I do like the closeup of the pair here.
 
  
    Overall View 
  
 
Before Jamaica Lane is a well written story that takes friends to lovers to a whole new level. Its stimulating, provoking, and dramatic.


  


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I’ve read first books of this series many years ago and I was craving friends to lovers -where she asks for help to her friend for sexual times- and Olivia and Nate was just the hit! It was funny, sexy, emotional and sweet! 

The end was rushed a little bit but it was alright, I’ve enjoyed reading Nate’s groveling 😂

Elif Gültekin

Tropes; 

•Friends to Lovers

•Friends with Benefits

•Lessons for spicy times 😌

I’ve read first books of this series many years ago and I was craving friends to lovers -where she asks for help to her friend for sexual times- and Olivia and Nate was just the hit! It was funny, sexy, emotional and sweet! 

The end was rushed a little bit but it was alright, I’ve enjoyed reading Nate’s groveling 😂

Before Jamaica Lane

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