5 Smooches

Synopsis

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
But what didn’t happen in Vegas seems to follow them everywhere.

Lola and Oliver like to congratulate themselves on having the good sense to not consummate their drunken Las Vegas wedding. If they’d doubled-down on that mistake, their Just Friends situation might not be half as great as it is now.

… Or so goes the official line.

In reality, Lola’s wanted Oliver since day one—and over time has only fallen harder for his sexy Aussie accent and easygoing ability to take her as she comes. More at home in her studio than in baring herself to people, Lola’s instinctive comfort around Oliver nearly seems too good to be true. So why ruin a good thing?

Even as geek girls fawn over him, Oliver can’t get his mind off what he didn’t do with Lola when he had the chance. He knows what he wants with her now … and it’s far outside the friend zone. When Lola’s graphic novel starts getting national acclaim—and is then fast-tracked for a major motion picture—Oliver steps up to be there for her whenever she needs him. After all, she’s not the kind of girl who likes all that attention, but maybe she’s the kind who’ll eventually like him.

Sometimes seeing what’s right in front of us takes a great leap of faith. And sometimes a dark wild night in Vegas isn’t just the end of a day, but the beginning of a bright new life…

Review

“Oliver is both my former husband and current crush, but it will forever remain unrequited”

I anticipate reading a Christina Lauren book like no other. When one arrives I quickly put aside all my work and whatever I am reading and completely lose myself in their captivating story until I reach the very last page. Dark Wild Night was no different. From the moment I started reading I became engrossed in the tale of these attractive, fun and yet still dorky characters and the complicated but still overwhelmingly witty, sexy and entertaining story they had for me.

“This all feels so sudden . . . but at the same time it seems I’ve waited an eternity for this. “

It all started in Vegas. How many great stories could we tell with just those words. Lola and Oliver was the love story that wasn’t from that fateful weekend that then resulted in the pairing of four of their friends. Drunkingly married and then quickly divorced Lola and Oliver soon formed a deep friendship based similar interest and a mutual respect for working hard to fulfill their destiny. Each has all their focus on their careers that they do not even have a moment to think about the desires they have formed out of their friendship. But the more time they spend together the harder and harder just being friends is becoming.

“Cock.

COCK.

It’s all I can see. It’s there beneath his boxers, half-hard, obviously uncut, following the line of his hip. My God, it’s thick. And if Oliver is a grow’er, he could knock a woman’s teeth out when he fucks her. “

Always hilarious and supremely sexy, Christina Lauren’s books have an element about them that I feel others just cannot replicate. Somehow you so quickly become in love with their characters and the pure fun wit that you don’t even see the drama building until you are at that point of no return. The point where your heart is breaking and all you want is for them to all come to their senses and work through their difficulties so they can have amazing sex once again.

“I am not okay. I’m drowning in what I feel for him. “

Lola thrives on stability and changes can seem overwhelming and scary. I understood her, I feel like I am her. Moving from friends to lovers changes everything and at a time where her comic is becoming a movie and her whole life is turned upside down. I could have a panic attack just thinking about all that then add that entering into a sexual relationship with your best friend, Lola doesn’t always make the “right” choice but I feel like she makes decisions that fit her as a character. Now, lets talk Oliver, oh my sexy, nerdy, cut and hot in glasses comic book store owner man! I loved him beyond words. Patient and sweet I easily fell for him and add that he was dirty talker in the bedroom and I was begging for more. He was everything I want in a book boyfriend. When Lola is scared he is there for her but never just rolls over and lets her run scared.

“The last eight months have been the slowest, most torturous foreplay, and there’s a fever beneath my skin that makes me impatient, “

Lola and Oliver had this real and geeky quality about them but what I loved the most were their flaws. They both felt all too real too me. So much of Lola I see in myself both the good and the bad. Plus, she has great taste in men, this coming from someone who married her won nerdy man in glasses. Her story gives me hope and by the end I felt like my heart was signing a happy song. Dark Wild Night is yet another hit for Christina Lauren. This is easily a book I can see myself reading again and again.

~miranda

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4 Smooches!

Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR, ELLE CASEY, brings readers book 1 of 3 in the contemporary romance LOVE IN NEW YORK series.

Sometimes engagement rings can get lost and then found. Sometimes people can too. All it takes is a heavy-duty dose of karma and the magic of Manhattan to make it all come together.

Leah is a financially destitute new age hippy. James is a wealthy surgeon with a trust fund. She’s awkward, he’s poised. She’s completely crazy, he’s way too sane. People might say they have nothing in common, but they’d be wrong. They both live in Manhattan, they both have no idea how to change a baby diaper, and they’re both lost … until they find one another.

LOVE IN NEW YORK SERIES READING ORDER:
Love in New York: Book 1 (Lost and Found)
Love in New York: Book 2 (Cabin Fever)
Love in New York: Book 3 (Mister Fixit)

About this series: I’d never been to New York City before, but I knew I would love it and wanted to write a story that was set in the most exciting city in the world. So I hopped on a plane with my friend Susan and spent 5 whirlwind days there, soaking up the culture, seeing the sights and nailing down the scenes that would eventually end up in this series. Those of you familiar with New York City know what I’m talking about when I say you just can’t beat Russ and Daughters’ bagels, Central Park, Times Square, Brooklyn, and Yonnah Schimmels’ knishes.

Review

“…what was once a very refreshing oasis of sanctuarial bliss has now become a very cold, very wet pool of regret…”

Leah Carmichael is desperate to avert what she just knows will be a karmic disaster of epic proportions. Twenty-eight, about to be evicted and woefully underemployed as a clerk in a new age shop, Leah finds a ring in a fountain and she is certain this a test, one she must pass, in order to move on to good in her life. So begins the journey of finding the ring’s rightful owner and returning it.

“Everything’s falling apart and yet life must go on.”

Dr. James Oliver, famed Manhattan plastic surgeon, masks the pain of loss with cool indifference. Always living up to or exceeding everyone else’s expectations of him, he’s never taken the time to figure out what exactly would make him happy in this life. Slamming into Leah on the street unwittingly kicks off a series of events in the good doctor’s life that has him rethinking everything.

“FYI, no insane person in the history of insane people ever admitted to being insane.”

Leah and James’ first few, um, “run-ins” don’t go all that well. They keep popping up in each other’s lives, and neither is none-too-impressed by the other. When Leah’s ring tracking journey leads her to James’ door, however, things really start to get interesting. See, the thing is, James doesn’t want the ring back – it’s a symbol of all that is wrong in his life. As anxious as Leah is to right this karmic wrong and return the ring to him, James is just as determined to keep that ring – and all it stands for – out of his hands, his life or, as the case may be, his couch cushions.

“Karma is seriously giving me her all. I thought I respected her before, but I was wrong. Now I feel her true power, and I am in awe.”

Several attempts, several disguises, several hair-brained schemes at deceiving the doctor into seeing her so she can return this damn ring all result in failure. Leah is getting frustrated, she is convinced that this is yet another karmic test, and she becomes more determined than ever to get this ring back into James’ hands. She pulls out all the stops, even roping others – albeit very begrudgingly – into her shenanigans. The harder she tries, the more entertained by her efforts the doctor becomes. And he is equally as determined to make sure that that ring stays with her.

“Go ahead, Karma. I’m on to you. I know your game. I can handle anything you throw at me. Bring it.”

This book was a terrifically hilarious, zany, wacky, sometimes goofy, slapsticky romcom. Elle Casey was so descriptive; I could literally picture some of these scenes playing out. There were so many moments in this book that had me laughing out loud – big bellowing belly laughs, the kind that make your husband look at you like you’re crazy from the other side of the couch. Tears streaming down my face, foot stomping on the floor, hiccupping laughter. It was awesome.

This was a really quick read; I zipped through its pages like Leah zipped through crowded New York City streets in pursuit of James. It’s a book you won’t want to put down because you just have to know what ridiculousness Leah is going to serve up to James next and what he’s going to do to foil her plans.

Lost and Found is a riot of humor; scheming hippie girls, uptight doctors, psycho secretaries, a hospitalized homeless guy who just lost his foot, a sweet baby girl, and a Cartier clerk accomplice. This was an absolutely perfect example of opposites attracting in the most wonderful and satisfying of ways. On a really crappy day in my world, Elle Casey did the impossible with this book and had me smiling and laughing.

4 Karma-can-kiss-my-ass Smooches for Lost and Found from me!

~ Danielle Palumbo

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