One Week With The Marine is a peek into the friends with benefits arrangement that Avery and Holden have been using to keep each other at arms length for years.

I loved Holden, he was the perfect boyfriend and friend to Avery. On leave from the military, He goes to visit Avery. She was nervous, self doubting and nearly self-destructive. She was a perfectly imperfect heroine. Holden evened her out a bit.

Overall, One Week with a Marine was a decent read. The characters were interesting, although a few felt a bit over the top. I felt it ended very abruptly and I would have liked to have seen a bit more of them and their friends and family.

*3.5 Star Review*

*Review Copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads*

The Not So Bad
* This was a short romance that was good fun in parts.
* I liked the characters, especially Avery who was a little different and spirited.
* It was humorous in parts.

The Ugly
* This book is based on the premise that love is enough. Well, that didn't really work for me. There were a lot of issues between the characters that went unresolved and in the end only one of them had to compromise for the other.
* The whole story talks about Avery being different and her fears of not being good enough for him. In the end her fears were justified because she is the one that has to do all the changing, all the sacrificing whilst he got everything he wanted. I got the impression that she needed to grow out of her quirkiness which was a real shame.
* It was rushed towards the end.

Avery believes she has the perfect arrangement with her long term best friend Holden. The have a strictly friends with benefits deal. Every time Holden is home on leave from the Marines he visits Avery and they have a no hold bar sexfest with no dating and no exchange of loving feelings. Avery has seen love ruin a good thing and Holden has been the one constant in her life so she has no plans to change anything in their arrangement. But as Holden has gotten older the harder it’s gotten to hold back his feeling for Avery, he is ready to make their arrangement evolve to a more permanent one and he only has one week to get her to agree. He doesn’t count one how stubborn Avery is in her believe of not rocking the boat. I loved reading One Week with the Marine and would give it a solid 5 stars.

Hot and enthralling - recommend this book for a cold night when you're looking to warm up.

Avery Forrester seems to be incapable of settling down on anything from a job to relationships. When her friend-with-benefits, Holden Morris, is on leave from the Marines, she finds out that his plans to settle down make her realize she might have to change so she doesn’t lose him.
I really didn’t this story. I tried to get through it even though I had a feeling I would have a problem with Avery’s personality. I was pretty much done with it after the introduction of Holden, who is well aware of Avery’s tendency to get around and he still wanted to set her up to marry him. The way it was all worded just didn’t work for me.

I really enjoyed this book! It's much different than a lot of romance these days - the hero in this one is the one who wants more and has to do the convincing - I love that! And the steam.... wow! This book is sexy! Great read!

Holden and Avery have known each other for years, always friends, now with benefits. Both Holden and Avery had decided that they would always be friends, never allowing themselves to feel anything more. Now Holden is a Marine and is coming back to be with Avery for a week. He knows that he has violated their agreement, he is falling for Avery. He only has one week to tell Avery how he feels and hopefully she will feel the same way. Strong characters and a satisfying story make this book a good addition for anyone who loves contemporary romance.

One Week With the Marine by Allison Gatta is now available from Entangled Publishing, LLC. An egalley of this book was made available by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

4 star

I was pulled right into this story. The story has laughs, heat, and heartbreak.

This is Avery and Holden’s story. Avery is not the settling down type. But when her best friend comes home from leave with a plan to settle down she knows she needs to do something to keep him. Holden has a plan but what Avery does not know is she is the woman in his plan. He has loved her for years and needs to marry her so if he has to trick her in order to do it he will. But when she must be an Army wife will she think this plan is just not for her? Good thing Holden knows her so well and can use a little persuading to get her to fall in line. But in the long term can this couple make it?

I loved these characters. I felt I could connect with the characters and the story was a great read.

I recommend this book.

I loved the concept and was immediately drawn into the book. Holden was our American Hero who always went back to Avery. They had a great friendship that spanned several years. My issue is that this couple had a little too much deceit in their relationship. They were never honest with each other. I thought they played to many mind games.

One Night With A Marine is a sexy romp with a determined Marine and a skittish photographer. Holden's ready for commitment and Avery is ready to head screaming for the hills.
Avery is a coward. Not only is she a coward but she's a twitchy coward who lies to herself, making up lame excuses about herself and her past as justification for not taking a chance with the only man she's ever been with and ever loved. She does crazy, over the top things in order to cover her fear and thank goodness for her, Holden is patient, understands her and indulges her when she's being maniacal. Aside from the fact that she's in love with Holden and would do anything for him but is too afraid of it all, she has no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. Some might find her diversionary tactics endearing or cute, but I just found them annoying. I wanted her to grow a pair, face her fears and start living her life instead of hiding from it.
I liked Holden. The man has the patience of a saint. I am in awe of the fact that he put up with Avery and her antics, and the fact that he loves her just the way she is. I would have liked it if he had stood up to his parents when they put down Avery more, but frankly his parents were awful human beings, especially his mother and they never let him have a word in edge-wise. Poor Holden. I thought that Holden was very brave for broaching a subject he knew Avery would balk at and putting himself and his heart on the line. He took a risk with her and while it initially backfired, I'm glad it worked out for him in the end. He deserved to have the woman he loves and be happy.
I enjoyed Ms Gatta's writing and I'd read more from her but I sincerely hope her future heroines are a heck of a lot more likable than Avery.

One Week With the Marine is the first book in the Love on Location series by Allison Gatta and also the first (but not last) book I have read from this author. I am certainly planning on reading the second book in the series which I am hoping will be about Avery's friend and her boyfriend who kissed another woman. I would want that for my heroine, but I do believe that he had a good reason for doing it. This book is pretty much all about Avery and her mommy issues, so I can believe that Oliver can have some solid reasoning.

The book had definitely room to be filled with endless drama and angst, but that didn't happen and it had a perfect dosage of each. It could have been very tiring with Avery's commitment phobia, but fortunately, it was almost balanced. For me, she over reacted when she found out what Holden was going to do with his deployment, but I am also holding him responsible because he never shared his plans with her, so she was caught off guard.

The book is a good companion for a hot summer night. It's quick to read and has a good flow. The characters are mostly likable, the writing is good and as the first book in the series, it becomes a good foundation for the next books.

Avery and Holden had a friends with Benefits arrangement since they were teens. They have both been secretly in love with each other, and scared to rock the boat. Avery is terrified of commitment, having seen what her mother had gone thru with men, she did not want to go that route, and then her best friends relationships, were horrible, she was on a constant wheel of disappointment, and Avery did not want that, she felt that it was better to keep her relationship with Holden the way it was, no strings, that way it would last. Holden, loved Avery and every time he saw a picture on Facebook of her with her latest conquest he was green with envy, what he did not know, was that Avery, never slept with anybody else, Holden was her one and only. When Holden, asked for a relationship, and Avery agreed, all hell broke loose, because he never told her about his deployment. Both said hurtful things, but both were able to acknowledge what they really felt for one another.. Hopefully we get to read her friends story next, you can't leave us hanging like that.

A friends to lovers story always is a one-click for me. But this one has that theme with a little twist, usually its all coyness and discovering feelings, in this book we learn the friends have "benefits" and that they are smoking hot. So a relationship well how much more hot could that be, well let me tell you the intimacy level gives a whole new level of hotness. This story may have the word marine in the title, but that to me was a side story, yes Holden is all kinds of alpha hotness but this contrasts well with Avery and her sparkyness. These two have a lot of history and i liked that. A first time author for me, but really great sunday read curled up on the lounger.
http://books-and-thebigscreen.co.uk/books/one-week-with-th…ne-allison-gatta/
review is on goodreads under the name kimothy

I often turn to Entangled’s Brazen imprint when I’m looking for a quick and sexy read. More often than not, I tend to stick to authors whose work I’m familiar with, but every now and then the blurb for a new (to me, at least) author’s book will sound so good that I just can’t pass it up. That’s exactly what happened with One Week with the Marine by Allison Gatta. I’m a total sucker for the friends first trope and when you add in friends with benefits and a hero that’s all in when the woman is resistant, well, I couldn’t pass it by. And I’m glad I didn’t.

I really enjoyed this book. As I said, I’m a big fan of the friends first trope, so Avery and Holden hit the spot. I enjoyed their chemistry and the underlying feelings neither of them was quite ready to deal with. There was no slow burn in this one, seeing as how they’re friends with benefits. They got right down to the hot and dirty with little time to waste. That was all fair and good — and don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the sexy times — but I found myself more interested in seeing what would happen when they let down their walls a little. Or, I guess I should say, when Holden knocked down Avery’s walls. Did I mention I love it when a guy is 100% in, bound and determined to get the girl? Well, I do… and that’s just part of the reason I loved Holden.

In actuality, One Week with the Marine was probably closer to a 3.5, but I’m rounding up because I don’t do half stars and it was more than a 3 star read for me. It held my attention, I liked the characters and the friends-to-lovers romance was great. This was my first Allison Gatta book, but it won’t be my last. I’m looking forward to seeing where she takes the Love on Location series and the secondary characters I met in this book.

One Week With the Marine by Allison Gatta, is one hot and sexy romance. The hero, Holden Morris, is a Marine with a bright future in public service. He is presently a captain, and with his next deployment he will be promoted. Holden hails from a family of military men and his uppity parents are constantly in his face about how each deployment will earn him more money and prestige. The heroine, Avery Forrester, is a photographer and a commitment phobe. She and Holden have been best friends since high school and established a friends with benefits relationship from the moment Holden enlisted. Although she won't admit to it, Holden is her one and only.

Holden has decided that he wants to settle down with Avery. They are in love, even though the sentiment has never been spoken. Holden has his work cut out for him, and overtime he shows Avery that they can be much more than an on again off again liaison.

I enjoyed this book. Both Avery and Holden are likeable characters with vulnerabilities that are easy to identify with. They are a beautiful couple and their sexy times are passionate. The chapter where Avery cooks for Holden is absolutely hysterical, and I had tears rolling down my face from laughing. With Holden's snooty parents, Ms. Gatta is able to execute pompousness perfectly. Overall, this is a very steamy read with good character development.

Complimentary copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

Everything is perfect ‘til things get complicated...

Holden and Avery have been each other’s constant for more than five years. Their history is bittersweet, with him being the golden boy destined for a coveted military career and Avery being the wild child from the wrong side of the tracks. Even with life and family pulling them in separate directions, they manage to hold on regardless.

Because of her messed up family life growing up, Avery has huge hang ups about marriage, commitment and the idea of settling down to one person makes her break out in hives. She is seriously panicked at the mere mention of serious dating.

For the last five years, she and Holden have had a “friends with benefits” set up. Its easy and fun and with his overseas tours, their time has always been limited and fleeting. It made life easy and it was simple to pretend nothing serious was going on.

Holden has been half in love with Avery since she was still in high school. She has been all he can think about in forever and now that he is home and contemplating whether or not another tour is in his future, he realizes that it’s only ever been Avery for him. He’s not a kid anymore and although it’s been fun and exciting, their arrangement isn’t enough for him anymore. He’s ready to take that next step with Avery. Claim her for himself, once and for all.

Now he just has to convince the love of his life that he isn’t going anywhere without her and that finally making their relationship official isn’t the tragic ending she’s predicting.

What I liked:
Avery and Holden were great together, they were funny, laid back, flirty, tender and smoking hot! I loved that they had history, that they were friends before they became lovers. That they each fell in love with the other innocently at first and managed (even though Avery wouldn’t acknowledge it) to hold on to that feeling and nurture it even though they were apart. That was freakin’ romantic and convinced me what they had was special, real and would stand the test of time.

Avery is great at the whole avoidance thing so it’s not surprising that she holds out as long as she did when it came to making things official with Holden. It was a little frustrating that she kept rejecting the possibility of a HEA for herself. Her fear of ruining the one thing that means everything to her showcases just how deep of an emotional scar she bares from her past.

It was funny to see how all the reasons she quoted for why this commitment thing wouldn’t work, she’d already proven false with her unconditional love of Holden. Is she had taken a step back and seen what Holden sees, Avery would have realized that she was already in a committed relationship with Holden and the only thing that was changing was her acknowledgement of their title as a couple.

Favorite Line:
Their first time…
“You can’t leave without taking a part of me with you.”

Memorable Moments:
1. Avery’s sarcastic journal entries. They were funny but honest. It gave an intimate more vulnerable look inside Avery’s head.

2. Avery’s congratulations celebration/tradition. It broke my heart to see this side of her. Up till than she’s been a cocky, confident, all or nothing character. But that scene, her simple enjoyment of the moment and her excitement of sharing that with Holden showed her soft center. Loved Holden for seeing and understanding that about her.

* * * ARC provided for an honest review * * *

3.5☆
Allison Gatta is one of my go-to authors.

What I liked:
The writing style
Holden
The humor
Standalone
HEA

What I didn't like:
Avery (I had a like/dislike relationship with this character)

I look forward to reading more from this author.

I voluntarily received an ARC from NetGalley

Ms. Gatta is a pro at standing out. Her stories range from sweet, salty to naughty. One Week With a Marine falls into the naughty category with a number of sweet moments. What woman wouldn't want a man whose willing to fight for her heart? Holden never ran from a battle and he was in a fight to the finish for Avery's heart. If it ain't broke don't fix it, would be a good way of describing the appeal of Allison Gatta. Be careful! She just might run away with your heart.