Published: 30th August 2016
Source: Publisher (Headline Eternal)
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
My Rating:
Sex and the City meets The Wedding Planner in For Better Or Worse, the second sexy contemporary romance in Lauren Layne's The Wedding Belles series. Will a budding wedding planner and her bad boy neighbour stop banging heads and start hearing wedding bells? For fans of Jill Shalvis, Julie James and Rachel Gibson.
When small-town girl Heather Fowler finally gets promoted from assistant to actual wedding planner, she's determined to make it as one of Manhattan's elite Wedding Belles. Unfortunately, her first client demands an opulent black-tie affair at the Plaza...in five months' time. Heather's days quickly become a flurry of cake tastings, dress-fittings, RSVP cards, and bridal tantrums. But what she's really losing sleep over is the live music blaring from her playboy neighbour's apartment all night.
Five years ago, Josh Tanner was an up-and-comer on Wall Street, complete with the penthouse and the migraines. But a grim cancer diagnosis made him realize there is more to life than the corner office. If only he could convince his pretty, workaholic neighbour to let loose, too. As Heather lets down her guard, Josh is surprised when he starts falling for the sweet, vulnerable woman hiding beneath those power suits. Soon, it's Heather's turn to convince Josh to take the biggest risk of all: love.
Okay, I admit this book was pretty damn adorable (and also very sexy, can we all say yum to Josh?) and I really enjoyed it. I was in one of those weird ‘I don’t know what to read’ ruts. I was picking up and putting down books like crazy and then I grabbed this off of the shelf and just sank into it. I needed this contemporary serving of loveliness. It was light but serious and everything I wanted. The reviews were not lying.
I Had A Few Reservations
When I first started reading I was a bit concerned I wouldn't like workaholic Heather and lackadaisical Josh. They were both personalities which I don't always love as one is doing too much and burnout is obvious and then the other needs a great push to actually move forward and do something. In a man, it can make me think too much of someone who needs to be led in life. Thankfully, Layne is skilled in her characters creation and the reasoning behind each of them having such opposite personalities. And when the two were put together? Well damn, there were sparks.
I think the driving force to keep me reading were the characters of Josh and Heather and how fun they were together. I already knew they were friends first rather and insta-romance from Nereyda’s review and I loved that time they spent getting to know each other with their antagonistic friendship, it was so interesting to read. I love good banter between folk and it was spot on in this. They were fun and they drew out another side of each other. That relationship just worked for me and they made it a joy to read each page.
Good Characters Didn’t Help Me Ignore One Thing Though
As much as I loved the characters there was one thing which annoyed me. As I was reading we all knew Josh had a secret and as we learnt more about him and his time as a cancer survivor you learnt more about why he was so laid back and indifferent to a serious career, especially learning about his past life choices. What bothered me is that he kept his concerns so secret. I mean, I got not wanting to be known as ‘that sick guy’ because that would have been a tedious period in his life and the way people have treated him differently because of it, but it frustrated me to hell at how he allowed his illness control him. I know it was a defining moment for him and I’m glad it wasn’t ignored and there was a different take on the cancer survivor but it annoyed the heck out of me too. This is a good thing as it made me care enough but, damn, Josh wanted some sense knocked into him.
In The End, Does It Even Matter?
I had grumbles and complaints. No book is perfect, but I enjoyed this book. Josh and Heather annoyed me, as I knew they would, but whenever they were on page together I was utterly charmed by them. This is a romance for those looking for a lighter read that has a relationship which grows and sparks and doesn’t immediately erupt out of nowhere.
Have you read this, what were your thoughts? And have you read any other Lauren Layne as I am planning to explore more of her books soon!
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