Lauren Layne

USA TODAY BESTSELLER • Over the course of one wild road trip, feuding childhood sweethearts get a second chance at love in this charming rom-com—a standalone novel from the author of Blurred Lines and Good Girl. When Lucy Hawkins receives a job offer in San Francisco, she can’t wait to spread her wings and leave her small Virginia hometown behind. Her close-knit family supports her as best they can, by handing over the keys to a station wagon that’s seen better days. The catch? The cross-country trip comes with a traveling companion: her older brother’s best friend, aka the guy who took Lucy’s virginity hours before breaking her heart. After spending the past four years and every last dime caring for his sick father, Reece Sullivan will do just about anything to break free of the painful memories—even if it means a two-week road trip with the one girl who’s ever made it past his carefully guarded exterior. But after long days of bickering in the car turn into steamy nights in secluded motel rooms, Reece learns that, when it comes to Lucy, their story is far from over. And this time, they just might have a shot at a happy ending. Praise for Love Story “WARNING: This book will cause unexpected outbursts of laughter and massive amounts of swooning. Prepare your family and friends—you’re about to become obsessed with Reece and Lucy!”—Cassie Mae, author of Pillowtalk “A sweet and satisfying second-chance romance. Reece Sullivan is destined to be your next book boyfriend!”—Delancey Stewart, author of Mr. Big Lauren Layne’s New York Times bestselling Oxford Novel series can be read in any order: IRRESISTIBLY YOURS I WISH YOU WERE MINE SOMEONE LIKE YOU I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE I THINK I LOVE YOU Don’t miss any of Lauren Layne’s hot reads: The Love Unexpectedly series: BLURRED LINES | GOOD GIRL | LOVE STORY | WALK OF SHAME | AN EX FOR CHRISTMAS The Sex, Love & Stiletto series: AFTER THE KISS | LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH | JUST ONE NIGHT | THE TROUBLE WITH LOVE The Redemption series: ISN’T SHE LOVELY | BROKEN | CRUSHED The I Do, I Don’t series: READY TO RUN | RUNAWAY GROOM Includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

Love Story

brianna

Sven Test

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

Me. My ex. 2 weeks. 1 car. Shouldn't be a problem.

Lucy and Reece have been friends since they were kids. Reece is Craig's best friend, Lucy's brother and Lucy's family adores Reece. Their love for Reece grows even more when his mom passes away and his own family abandons him. From the beginning, Lucy has had a crush on Reece. When they were 18 and 19, they got "together", but Reece was scared and he jeopardized something beautiful with Lucy. Now, both Lucy and Reece are moving to Napa. When Lucy's car breaks down, her parents decide to give her Craig's old car. The problem is they had already decided to give the car to Reece in turn for him fixing the car. Neither is happy about this turn of events.

Sometimes life doesn't work out the way you planned when you're eight.
Sometimes life involves two broken hearts, a flat tire, an honest-to-God flood, and a few seedy motel rooms along the way.

While this book was an entertaining read, it didn't wow me. I still think Blurred Lines is the best in the series. This one had everything to make me fall in love: second-chance romance and brother's best friend. But for some reason, it fell slightly flat to me. The character that stood out to me the most was Lucy. She's so driven, outspoken, ambitious, and there was just something about her that I really liked. Despite having her heartbroken six years ago, her feelings for Reece never went away. Of course, now that love has gone into hiding and she just despises Reece.

They think the car is going to be the problem here? It's not the car that's toxic to me. It's him.

On the other hand, I'm kind of on the fence about Reece. While I had my moments of liking him and loved how he let himself be vulnerable, most of the time I didn't really like him. There was just something about him and how he would treat Lucy that had me wanting to punch his face. He could have treated her a whole lot better than he did. He made up a million excuses for his behavior, which I don't think are reason enough to treat someone like that.

She'd be my ultimate downfall if I hadn't already hit rock bottom.

I enjoyed the road trip but I don't think there was enough of it. I completely loved the flashback chapters, giving more insight to how Lucy and Reece were from the ages of eight and nine to eighteen and nineteen. Those chapters were probably my favorite ones. They were so innocent and cute and protective of one another, especially Reece over Lucy. I didn't like how Reece was always so insecure about how Lucy felt for him. I get why he had doubts, but at the same time, he knew Lucy. I feel like he was just being a coward and not facing life how he should have been. Lucy was always there for Reece in his moments of need. If he didn't want to talk, she would start talking about her day, or like one time, play Go Fish. This just added to Lucy's character and how great of a person she truly is.

"I'll never leave if you don't want me to."

Overall, Love Story is an entertaining story. I was hoping for that Lauren Layne magic, but I only got it with one character. If you haven't read any LL book, please check out some of my faves, since LL is the master at contemporaries!

BLURRED LINES | FOR BETTER OR WORSE | SOMEONE LIKE YOU

I received an eARC from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

Palmey Freysdottir

Cute love story but relied way to much on the miscommunication trope! I really just wanted to scream at them to talk to each other the whole book! I really liked the characters I just didn't get why they didn't just talk!

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I can always count on Lauren Layne to give me a perfectly sexy and swoony romance and Love Story was no exception. This one pretty much had my name written all over it from the moment I read the blurb — I mean, a road trip with two childhood sweethearts who had a really nasty split years ago? That's, like, three of my favorite tropes right there. There's no way I wasn't going to really enjoy this one. 

I liked Lucy a lot. I could relate to her attitude and drive and desire to get out of her small town. Plus, who hasn't had their heart absolutely shattered at least once in their life? I was solidly in her court from the beginning, which just meant that Reece had some work to do to win me over. If I'm honest, he wasn't the easiest character to like at times. I'm all for the antagonistic banter in a good love to hate to love story, but I found him a little too hurtful at times. What kept me going was learning about his past and how complicated it all was. It'd certainly shaped his present and I couldn't totally fault him. Lucy and Reece were so perfectly matched — even when they were at each other's throats — so I couldn't help but continue to root for them, even when Reece was being kinda douchey. He did totally win me over — and give me feels — before it was all said and done. 

Love Story was a quick, sexy and swoony read. I couldn't put it down once I started. It gave me feels and smiles and, really, that's all I ever want in a book. Oh, and the sexy times didn't hurt either. :) 

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

FAVORITE QUOTES

  Sometimes life doesn't work out the way you planned when you're eight. Sometimes life involves two broken hearts, a flat tire, an honest-to-God flood, and a few seedy motel rooms along the way. 

"I'll never leave if you don't want me to."

My heart's had barbed wire around it for a good six years now, and there's absolutely zero change that the person to slip beneath my protective walls is going to be the one who caused those walls to go up in the first place.

I want to beg him to undo the past, I want to stop remembering what it felt like when he cheated. I want to go back to when I was eighteen and so in love with this boy that I thought nothing could ever break us.