This was a great quick, fun, swoony read. A couple that are broken up forced on a cross-country road trip by meddling family sounds like it would be full of clichés, but not Lauren Layne. I loved these two. Their banter, fighting over the radio station and even though Reece was a bit of a jerk at times you can't help but fall hard for him.

Even though these two fight and bicker through most of the first half of the book you can't help but see how perfect they are for each other and you want to root for them. As you are reading you get to follow their friendship, previous relationship and their new budding relationship. I loved seeing all of the pieces come together the way that this story was told. I highly recommend picking this one up, it brought a huge smile to my face the entire time I was reading.

Love Story is the third book in Lauren Layne's Love Unexpectedly series. It has pretty much everything you could want in a novel. And then some.

Friendship. Love. Miscommunication. Heartbreak. Drama. Anger. Pain. Laughter. Tears. Hurt. Lust. Love. Forgiveness. Then love again.

"Love and Reece...they go together almost as well as the words hate and Reece. Hurt and Reece. Anger and Reece..."

The story is about Lucy Hawkins and Reece Sullivan, two close friends from the same small Southern town who fell in love when they were young. But they made choices like (not talking about dreams to move away and go to college, but trying long distance or fighting their feelings because of self-doubt or self-denial and also just plain stupidity on R's part...) that brought the couple's relationship to a dramatic and heart-wrenching end. Leaving both parties devastated and forever changed by the breakup.

"So I did touch his sister, despite my better judgment and the whole thing blew up in my face like dynamite stuffed in a shit cake. Fifty percent her fault, fifty percent mine. One hundred percent devastating. "

But the story is not over... several years later, Reece and Lucy meet again. They are both moving to Napa and they have to drive a car, just the two of them, across the country. This situation screams disaster and the two exs try to get out of it, but are unsuccessful because her family doesn't know about their confusing past. They end up getting in the car and taking off down the wide open highway. Along the way, the two scorned lovers spend the time splitting the drive, giving each other the silent treatment, and arguing when they're not. And spending several nights in seedy hotel rooms, trying to fight the lingering feelings of lust--- and true love.

"The man broke my heart. I should be keeping my distance, and yet... here we are. "

"I realize that there's something worse than traveling alone. It's worse to travel with someone who absolutely despises you. The loathing is mutual. And I'm pretty sure I hate him more than he hates me for what he did.

"Apparently the past six years of heartbreak weren't enough to erase the ten that came before that. The decade of my life where Reece wasn't just a part of my life, he was my life. My everything."

"We may hate each other, but we're a part of each other. Moth to the flame, or whatever."

***Chapter nine was what really made me fall in love with these characters.
Spoilers... TURN YOUR EYES IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEM!
The the funeral scene for Reece's father and it takes place after the big blowup breakup... but still, somehow Lucy shows up in support.

"Reece had no one now. Once he might have had her, but that ship had sailed in the most heartbreaking way possible. True to her promise, she'd left after the funeral was over. All without Reece Sullivan saying a word to the woman who'd once loved him with all her heart. " ***


The story is told in first person, with Lucy and Reece in alternating POVs. And the book is filled with flashbacks, detailing their whole friendship, love affair, and breakup. In the book, Layne has a gift of writing two characters who have deep flaws and big regrets, but the light in the story is that their love for each other is stronger and deeper and bigger than anything that fate can throw out them. And LL really makes the reader feel all the emotions that Lucy and Reece go through. I would definitely recommend this one!!!

What I wouldn't have given to be a fly on the window of that car or hotel room. Or on that front door step for their ILYs. :)

I received this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

After reading and reviewing Someone Like You by Lauren Layne this past December, I did a happy dance when the opportunity came up to read and review Layne’s Love Story, not just because Layne wrote it, but because it involves two of my favorite romance tropes: friends to lovers and second chances.

For the most part, Layne delivers. I like her snappy dialogue and her fresh take on creating characters, who come across as true-to-life without the typical angst-laden or sulky interludes that characterize some romances.

Love Story is told with alternating povs and time periods encompassing the “then” and the “now,” and this technique both does and doesn’t work. The way in which is works is that it allows the reader to glimpse, firsthand, those events that happened to Lucy and Reece. We are in the scene when the little boy Reece is crying over his mother’s death and the person who understands and sits with him and comforts him is Lucy. We are there when Lucy gives herself to Reece and he stomps all over her heart because he thinks he’s not good enough.

However, I think the method of storytelling also means that neither character is realized to the extent that Daisy and Lincoln were in Someone Like You, which I felt was superb for its characterization.

I can understand that Reece has experienced more than a decade of people leaving him (including Lucy, but that was his fault) and his not feeling good enough and that it is this mechanism that makes him defensive and sometimes, offensive. Likewise, Lucy doesn’t know the truth about the scene that she viewed that drove her away. But while I understood these things, I just felt like Love Story was missing some element that made Someone Like You so vital and the only thing I can think is the characterizations just didn’t work the same for me.

With that, I did enjoy the book. Layne writes with a fresh style and take that is very necessary in the romance genre. Her characters always seem real and even taking on frequently done romance tropes, she offers something new.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars--LOVE STORY is the third installment in Lauren Layne’s contemporary LOVE UNEXPECTEDLY romance series. This is Lucy Hawkins and Reece Sullivan’s story line. LOVE STORY can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Each installment does not interconnect with the other stories.

Told from dual first person points of view (Lucy and Reece) using present day and memories from the past, LOVE STORY focuses on the second chance romance between life long friends Lucy Hawkins and Reece Sullivan. Lucy has loved her brother’s best friend since they were barely old enough to walk but falling in love with a man who wants someone else finds our heroine heartbroken and in pain the morning after he takes everything she has to offer. Fast forward several years and Lucy is now a business graduate focusing on the wine making industry, and Reece will be working for a competing winery. As Lucy prepares to embark on a cross-country journey towards her destination in the wine country of California, she discovers that Reece Sullivan will be going along for the ride. What ensues is a tempestuous adventure for two people who love one another but are afraid to admit the truth.

Reece Sullivan lost everyone he loved at an early age. With the recent death of his emotionally absent father Reece knew that it was time to go forth and discover his future. With her degree in hand, Lucy Hawkins sets out to start anew in the vineyards of California not realizing that the man who destroyed her heart will be going along for the ride.

The relationship between Lucy and Reece is one of second chances; a rekindling romance between one-time best friends-a friendship that was destroyed when Reece walked away from the woman he has always loved. Several years would pass before Lucy and Reece would come face to face forcing the couple to look for the truth behind their animosity, anger and pain. The $ex scenes are intimate without the use of over the top sexually graphic language or text.

LOVE STORY is frenemies to lovers adventure; a new adult story line; a rekindling romance between two people who have never stopped loving one another but two people who got caught up in appearances, egos, and a lack of communication. There is plenty of angst, palpable sexual energy, unresolved hurt, and conflicted emotions that roller coaster throughout the story. The back and forth bickering is juvenile and immature as though neither one was able to move on from the past. The premise is engaging; the characters are passionate; the romance struggles with issues of trust and memories of the past.

Copy supplied for review

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Lucy and Reece have been friends since they were in elementary school. First Lucy was the annoying little sister of Reece's best friend Craig, but as the years went by Lucy started to become more to Reece until he just couldn't stay away from her anymore. Then one night it all changed.

Now it's 6 years later and Lucy is ready to start her new life in California. The only problem... her car broke down and her parents have decided to give her the old family car to use to move cross country. Well sure, that's a problem in itself since the car is older than dirt but it's the sexy, infuriating man that will be coming a long for the ride... Reece.

Two weeks, stuck in a car with the one man who broke her heart so completely... but as the trip commences old wounds start to fester as do old feelings of the friend who was always there for her. So what went wrong?

The dynamic between Lucy and Reece is fun, at times, flirty and intense. Reece thought he was doing the right thing by letting Lucy walk away, but will he be able to let her slip through his fingers once again?

I really enjoyed the road trip, the connection between these two and how everything come full circle. This is a sexy fun read, perfect for the lover of second chances.

I think Lauren Layne is an alien. It's the only way to explain how every book of hers that I've read is nothing short of 5 stars. LOVE STORY is her next addicting read. I will admit that first person POV is not my favorite thing to read, but Lauren Layne makes it painless to read.

There was much angst to be had at the beginning of this one, but I think it was justified from our characters' past. Poor Lucy (I freaking love that name) and Reese have had a falling out in their past that tore them apart, and neither has forgiven the other. I felt for Lucy, but my heart was holding onto Reese extra tight. He didn't have the best people in his past, so he was my favorite type of hero...a damaged one. When I say damaged, he wasn't a jerk or back boy or anything along those lines. He was a wonderful guy in our glimpses of Lucy and Reese growing up. And I have to say how much I enjoyed those flashbacks. They were quite enjoyable.

I really enjoyed the way the story progressed. It didn't feel rushed or like the characters fell into insta-love. You could feel the love that Reese and Lucy still felt for each other. There were a few times when one would say something to the other that would make me wince, but love isn't always neatly wrapped up in a bow. It's full of challenges and people make mistakes. Our characters' real world feel was quite refreshing. And I have to give a shoutout to Lucy and Reese being from Virginia. I don't get to see stories set in my state very often. :)

I can't wait to see what else Mrs. Layne comes up with next. Lifelong fan in this one!

Lauren Layne is one of my favorite authors and all her books are on auto-buy for me.I don't think I could ever hate or even dislike anything that she writes.
Her writing and characters are so beautiful!And LL does it again with a second chance romance in Love Story!

Lucy had been in love with Reece, her brother's bestfriend ever since she was a kid.But he has his issues and he broke her heart, right after one of the most memorable moments of her life.She went off for college and they haven't been in contact ever since.Now that she's back and has gotten a new job in SF, she can explore, but she will have to take Reece along!
But just because you haven't talked to someone or haven't seen them in years, doesn't mean that you don't love them anymore right?

Lucy and Reece were such a great couple!I loved seeing them in the present, along with the flashbacks that showed us what happened previously too!The story flowed beautifully and it had me turning the pages, wishing the characters would just get their heads outta their butts soon.
Reece really tested my patience in this one, but I couldn't not love him you know?
In true LL style, he does mess up, but he is human and has his flaws and his reasons.
I loved the constant push and pull between the characters and the angst.The sexual tension between them just leaped out of the pages!And I was rooting for them every second!

This was a perfect book and I urge you to grab it!Especially because its Lauren Layne and its Valentin's Day!There's no way you couldn't love this book!

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book, and it was as good as I was hoping for.

Lucy has loved Reece for as long as she can remember and he broke her heart in such a harsh way that she can't find a way to forgive him and move on.
Even though she has a new life and a new guy, when she sees him again she still feels this incredible rage. The pain he inflicted has turned into this huge wall she has built around her and she is not letting him in again.

Reece was a mystery for me at first, he didn't seem like this guy Lucy described. He still had feeling for her so it didn't make any sense why he would have pushed her away all those years ago.
And the weirdest part was that he was mad at her too, and the reasons where unknown for her.

They loved each other for so long and they have been putting roadblocks every time they got close because they are scared. They though that by pushing the other away they could prevent the heartbreak. Because love is hard and scary, most of the time you feel like your heart will be torn out of your chest. But when it's good and you find your person you realise that everything was worth it. Even if you had to go through painful times, being with that person, even if it was for a second, was better than not having them at all.

Fighting for love is the best kind of fight there is because you can get the gold or you can learn from the pain and grow as a person too.

Time might take to back to this person if you're meant to be. Or you will eventually find your way to the person that was made for you all along.

It was a beautiful book and a sweet love story that will make you believe in love again.

"Love Story" by Lauren Layne. A story of a long ago forbidden love and it's second chance. Lucy and Reece have a history, more than anyone else realizes. I liked Lucy and felt for her. The predicament she's in certainly isn't easy. Reece, while a sexy guy, certainly irked me more often than not. I did find, at times, the banter and bickering to be a bit much but then Ms. Layne would bring us to a steamy scene that certainly made me forget all about it. While I'm not a big fan of using an abundant amount of flashback scenes, it works in this story. It's needed to get a better understanding of our couple, especially Reece. My heart did melt a bit towards him as we hear and see the images from the past. While "Love Story" might not be my all time favorite by Ms. Layne, I still truly enjoyed it and was cheering for our couple to reach their HEA and find peace. It's a sweet and sexy story that brings the reader along on Lucy and Reece's joruney which is emotional and heartfelt. (received copy from NetGalley for honest review).

This is a sweet romance story written by Lauren Layne which is the 3rd novel in the Love Unexpectedly series.
This is a story about two childhood friends who end up going from friends, to lovers, to enemies before they left each other’s lives due to all the angst and pain. Suddenly they ended back in each other’s obits years later and each one blamed the other for the pain of the breakup. And neither of them has ever moved on from their relationship, short as it was.
What seemed to be meddling family members, is truly fate when the hero and heroine aka the MC- Reece and Lucy, end up stuck together on a forced two-week road trip, destined to either kill one another or fall in love all over again.
It started off a little slow yet with a strong flow yet seemed to waiver in the middle of the book. Its like neither MC wanted to own up to their miscommunication and the fact that they still loved the other one. It took majority of the book to finally get to the bottom of what went wrong which basically took us to almost the end of the book. So about 90-94 % of the book was done before we saw the MC make headway. Not to say their make up wasn’t awesome. There was a lot of angst, anger but there was a lot of heat, passion and in the end, we finally get to see that love- and they say, the flip side of hate IS LOVE which is what lead me to believe is why Reece treated Lucy so bad a lot of times in this story. Lucy doesn’t come away looking angelic. She needed to have worked on her communication skills. Two people who have a lot of pain and anger built up needed to have worked on a way to get out why they felt the way they did and finally by the end, it came out but my gosh, it took so long. I would have liked to see more put in place than the miscommunication. The characters do make this story- they are interesting and some of the pet names are outrageously awesome.


My rating: 4.0 stars ****
"I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

Imagine the craziness of moving across country to start a new chapter in your life. You're filled with hope and nervous excitement. Now couple journey that with finding out that you will be trapped on the first part of your new adventure with the one person who broke your heart.

That is what Lucy is confronted with in Love Story. Two weeks with Reese - the boy she gave her heart and virginity to only to have him reject it - harshly.

Being cooped up together in the car isn't easy for either of them. The days of their road trip are filled with eye opening truths and angst. There is also a lot of laughter as well as knock your panties off sexual tension. It's an intense ride but it's also hilarious and touching.

It's a great second chance love story that quickly pulls you in. Reese and Lucy were this made-up couple that I felt completely invested in. I thought their relationship drama was realistic and easily relatable to. My heart ached for them and I felt real empathy for all that they were enduring. I desperately wanted them to get past their differences and find happiness together. I loved the journey they took together.

But I'm not surprised, it is what I have come to expect from Lauren Layne. Her romance books are everything you could ask for - not only are they are sexy and charming but they are also exceptionally well written with characters you genuinely like. You get a incredible love story every time you one click a book from her. It's truly a spectacular accomplishment.

Her latest release, Love Story blew me away. Reese and Lucy gave me all the feels. I adored them and I loved my time spent trapped in Horny. So I can't recommend reading Love Story enough. Get your copy now!

The more I read from Lauren Layne, the more I like her.

Reece and Lucy have a whole bunch of unresolved feelings between them. Including a lot of hurt and anger. And those are the ones that they deal in the most because it's too hard for them to get to the love they feel. I'm just going to throw this out there and say that Reece was totally in the wrong, as far as I'm concerned, and I felt Lucy deserved better. But I see the pull of loving the broody guy ;)

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. 🙂

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.

24 year old Lucy is finally done with school. She’s landed her dream job at a winery in Napa, California.
And after a saying good-bye to her family she’s planning on driving cross-country to take in some sights she might never visit again. But her car dies before she can leave and her parents graciously gift her the old family car. Which has been lovingly fixed by her brother’s best friend Reece. The guy she’s loved since she was only eight years old. The guy that broke her heart after having sex with her when she was 18.
And now she has to spend two weeks in a small car with him? Because he’s coming to Cali too! He’s got a job at another winery. He needs a change of scenery after taking care of his dying dad for so long.

Off they go – on the road-trip that will either end up with them killing each other…. or the road-trip that might just be the exact thing both of them needed….

READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO LUCY & REECE!!!

I really enjoyed this story. It was so adorable!
We have this story that’s happening now in the present, but we also go back in time to when they were 8 and then 16 et cetera. Just too cute – and moving and…ugh…I just loved it! And I’m not really a fan of going back in time in my books! But it was really adorable to see how they went from best friends as kids to falling in love, to breaking each other’s hearts. Ugh.

And the present. Just as adorable. They’re fighting and arguing and hating each other. But they’re also still horribly in love with each other – only they don’t know it – yet!

►► LOVE STORY was a really adorable and sweet and moving and sexy second-chance…LOVE STORY ☺ Run to your nearest amazon to find out how Lucy & Reece will finally find their HEA with each other!

Boy does Lauren Layne know how to pack a book with all the feels, and let me tell you, Love Story sure does pack a punch! I am a sucker for so many of the tropes in this book. Second chance romance? Check. Friends to lovers? Yes please. Older brother's best friend? Don't mind if I do! Throw in a good old fashioned road trip, and all the delightful young love feelings turned into adult lust and I was a goner. This is the kind of book that you read in one sitting, because there is absolutely nothing about it that would make you want to stop.

“You want me.” I blink. “That's what you have to say? You kissed me.” “You kissed me back.” I touch the corner of my stubble-grazed mouth and scowl at him. “So? What are you going to do about it?” Reece tiredly runs a hand over his face. “Hell if I know, Lucy. Hell if I know.”

I am a sucker for young love, because I know from experience just how powerful, yet volatile it can be. So many feelings, no maturity to know how to handle them. The way Reece and Lucy bicker and banter, the way they can't stand being alone together, yet can't seem to stay away from each other. It was a classic situation of either kill each other, or go ahead and get it on. Sparks flying off the pages, from the insults slung, the needful glances, or the stolen kisses. It was impossible to resist, you just want to sit back and wait to watch it ignite.

“And then I realize he is answering, just not with words.

Having my own husband who tends to be a tight-lipped kind of guy, this almost brought me to tears, because that's what I love more than anything. A man whose actions show the depth of emotions, not just words. Of course, it wouldn't be a story if our delightful heroine wasn't being just as stubborn and too dense to recognize it for most of the book. Still, these two were everything I needed in my life, and like all good stories, it was a sore disappointment when I reached the end. Not the ending, oh no, it didn't disappoint in the slightest. Just that it ended. ~ George, 5 Stars

Will add to amazon on release

Another Fantastic, Beautiful and Adorable Romance by Lauren Layne. This had it all and I couldn't and didn't want to stop reading. Ms. Lanes writing manages to bring you right into the scene with the characters. Her descriptive use of language makes each scene very realistic and the emotions the characters are feeling, believable.
Written in dual POV that I love. The reader is also gifted with the history of Reece and Lucy's entire past together in flash backs, getting to experience their first conversation, first kiss, and other firsts, some very special as well as horrific times making their story truly unforgettable and deepening their real connection.
They say there is a thin line between love and hate. So when Reese and Lucy are thrown together on a two week road trip across the country it is only fair to expect lots of twists and turns as well as ups and downs. Especially with a chemistry that is still off the charts.
But could their hate, they have been holding onto due to young love insecurities and a lack of communication, give way to possibly a never ending love with redemption and a deeper connection? You need to read this Fantastic, Adorable, Charming, and Completely Enthralling Romance!
I highly recommend that you read this story!

After receiving an ARC through NetGalley I voluntarily wrote a honest review.

Love Story by Lauren Layne.....Love and Hate is the perfect ingredients for an amazing romance story. Lucy and Reece have known each since childhood, Reece is Lucy's older brothers best friend. They are attracted to each other and know they should never cross that line. Now crossing the line and keeping it a secret, can they make it work. This is my first book by Lauren Layne and she is an amazing storyteller I can't wait to read more. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book from publisher via NetGalley.

Best friends from nine years old, become lovers, only to have a misunderstanding that keeps them apart. Fate brings them together once again. I had a difficult time keeping an interest in reading this book and its characters. This was just an okay read for me.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

You guys know just how much I adore Lauren Layne and her books. And lately, every book of hers has felt like a super hit to me. So it pains me to even say this, but I was very disappointed by Love Story. I had a lot of expectations. I mean it's a second chance romance + a road trip + Lauren Layne! What could go wrong?

Characters

I usually have no problem enjoying Lauren Layne's characters, but here, oh boy. Let me get to the positives first. I really enjoyed Lucy's character. I connected a lot to her especially with her aspirations and her willingness to work her butt off to reach her aspirations. She was really sweet, and was a good person. But as the story progressed, I felt like she was also spineless at times, which honestly isn't a particularly attractive quality in a heroine.

Then there's Reece, who I was fully expecting to swoon over, but who mostly just made me want to punch him in the nuts. I was actually quite keen about his character, at first. He had that broody, grumpy thing going on for him, that I seem to devour in romance novels, but the more I got to know him, the more unlikeable and frankly, intolerable he became. The guy had very low self-confidence, and what's worst he was so insecure about Lucy and her success that he kept cheapening her ambitions. I can take a grumpy hero, but one who is an absolute asshole to the heroine because she has goals that are beyond him? Yeah, no thanks. I feel like I could have gotten behind his character had we actually seen him understand how messed up his feelings were, but we don't.

Romance

Despite my issues with the characters, I did find parts of the romance to be enjoyable. I liked seeing a lot of the flashback scenes between Lucy and Reece, and thought they were really sweet. Not to mention, Lauren Layne knows how to write strong sexual tension between her couples. There were plenty of sexually charged scenes in the book that were very well-written. But I think, in the end, I just didn't feel like Lucy and Reece connected emotionally as I hoped they would. I needed to see more of them being communicative, instead of jumping into bed to avoid talking to one another.

Road Trip
I always enjoy a book with a road-trip in it, because it feels like a way for me to actually travel while I'm actually on my bed. I expect lots of sights and scene descriptions. And I got that here ... only the sights and scenes were motel rooms. There was so much potential here that went very much unexplored.

Writing this review has made me realize just how much this book didn't work for me. I love Lauren Layne, and I will still be reading everything that she pens, but this wasn't the book for me. If you're new to her books, I don't recommend starting with this one.