Sexy billionaire hero, hockey coach and player heroine, frenemies, slow burn, secret romance are just a few reasons to read this standalone.

What would you do if you found yourself suddenly attracted to your boss' brother, a man who you know have flirty banter with. A man who would deny how attracted his is towards you but do almost anything for you if asked.

Family expectations, secrets, and assumptions pave the way in a world where honesty, integrity and trust matter. If Gabi and Nolan can accept their merger, will their families believe their feelings are real?

With scorchin hot chemistry, a great story in two person POV you are going to fall in love with Lorelei James and want to read more. Lucky for you her backlist is filled with book adventures.

Fun romance read with intriguing characters and keeps you interested until the end to find out what happens!

Want You to Want me is the second book in the adult contemporary romance series, called the Want You series, by author Lorelei James. I have not yet read the first book in this series, but that is ok because each of the books can be read in any order. They each act as their own standalone story. When I first grabbed Want You to Want Me, I as super excited for it. It sounded like just the kind of romance that I love, but I was also on a big fantasy bender at the time. All I wanted to mood read was fantasy. Lately that has shifted and I have been really loving romances again. One of the first romances  picked up in a while was this one, and I really, really enjoyed it! 

In Want You to Want Me, we meet our two main characters Gabi and Nolan. I came into this book fresh with the two characters. I didn't get to know him from any other books, and that may have shaped my opinion of him differently than other, but I love him. I think he is a refreshing male character. And I loved Gabi! I loved how strong she is and how into Hockey she is. The one thing I didn't love about this book is the fact that Gabi's boyfriend fell in love with her younger Olympic superstar sister. I'm over the whole cheated on me with my sister/best friend reason for a breakup. But other than that, watching Gabi and Nolan come together and fight their way to mutual respect and attraction was really beautiful to see. 

If you are a fan of character driven romances, like I am, then you will really appreciate how much we truly get to know Gabi and Nolan in this story. You get to feel Gabi's struggles to fit into a male dominated sports world as she tries to coach and we get to see Nolan strive to thrive and be accepted into his family company- Lund Enterprises. I felt their struggles, which I think is the magic of Lorelei's writing. She really makes me feel like I am right there beside the characters. I really enjoyed this story and I look forward to reading more in the Want You series.

This was an absolute surprise favorite! I didn't like the writing style in the first book of this series, but this one blew me away. It was so refreshing to read about emotionally mature characters who actually talked through their problems. I want more of Gabi and Nolan.

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for my copy to review.

I've always loved reading Lorelei James' work. She's always brings along a great story and a cast of interesting characters, so when I saw this latest book, I jumped at the chance to read it. Unfortunately, I didn't read book 1 in the series and felt a bit lost in the beginning with not knowing who the characters were and what their story was. Regardless, I decided to stay on track and focus on Nolan and Gabi.

I admit, in the beginning neither of them made a good impression on me. I've always enjoyed the opposites attract/enemies turn to lovers trope but I just could not see how these two could be successful in their transition to a romantic relationship. Thankfully, the addition of heartfelt moments and the banter between the two that was brought to the page, helped in convincing me to give these two a chance.

In the end, I enjoyed the way James went about bringing these two together and although at the beginning I couldn't really recognize their connection and the chemistry they shared, by the end of the book I was completely cheering them on.

Although, I struggled with a couple of concepts at the beginning, I ultimately enjoyed the romance between Nolan and Gabi. I'm off to read the first book in the series and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more books in the series.

This was really enjoyable overall. Although I do have a few hangups with the way it was wrapped up, Nolan and Gabi were cute, but I found the end conflict to fall short overall. I didn't really understand the point of their blowup when it was not really necessary to the overall issue Nolan was having. While I do understand acting out of emotion and how he was just caught up in other drama..... she literally cried herself to sleep. Let's not just gloss over that. No one should cry themselves to sleep.

Anyways, I had a fun time reading through this one and I have picked up a few of Lorelei's work before, so I'm not surprised that I enjoyed it. I just felt like it was missing something by the end of it. I'd give this maybe a 3.5/5 stars,

Lorelei James is back with Want You to Want Me, book two in the Want You series. I absolutely adored book one on this series, so this was a hugely anticipated release for me. And I was totally excited to be back with the Lund Family in Minneapolis. This book hit all the right buttons for me, a strong alpha female, hockey romance, and a little bit of that enemies to lovers sizzle.

Gabi Welk is a hockey player, turned coach. She is everything you'd want for a sports-playing female heroine. She's strong and sure of herself. Confident on the ice, but I loved how she leaned on Nolan and his strengths. Nolan was equally strong in his own way as future CEO of Lund Industries. And I loved hearing about his fashion sense and connection with the LGBTQ community. Their chemistry together was just perfect. I ate up all their text scene sequences and the banter between them.

I can't get enough of this series and the Lund family. I definitely have the first series on my TBR and will be looking for the next installment of this series. If you love steamy romances with a side of family drama, check out this book and this entire series. I'm not one for billionaire romances, but the Lund family is just so much fun. And being someone who grew up in Minneapolis, it is always an extra bonus to read a book set in my hometown. Lorelei James is now firmly on my auto-buy and auto-read list!

I started reading this and realized I was missing something. So I went and looked at the author and realized there were other books in this series and a whole other series of the Lund Family. I went and started reading them and finished the other 5 books in a week or so.

This book and the others in this series are quick easy and fun reads. I love that there is a Nolan book and we were able to see the blooming start of Nolan and Gabi in Jax's book, but also get to see what the other Lund family members are up to as well.

Love the Lund family and was excited to see this next installment and it did not disappoint! Gabi and Nolan seem to rub each other the wrong way, but then the way gets clear and BAM! Talk about chemistry. This is a good enemies to lover’s story and highly recommend. Can’t wait for the next installment in this series. Lorelei James is one of my favorite writers and knows how to weave a story.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book for an honest opinion.

I' love Lorelei James and all of her Lund family books. They are fun, sexy, and full of emotion, and Want You to Want Me was no exception. I absolutely adored this book.

Want You to Want Me might have been my most favorite Lund family story yet. Completely swooned over Nolan and Gabi. I was hoping they would end up together from their encounters in previous books, I always enjoyed their back and forth banter. I loved how their romantic relationship developed out of the friendship that they built. It felt like this really gave them a solid foundation.

Definitely enjoyed how low drama the book was. Just an absolutely amazing romance. I will for sure be re-reading this one.

Gabi Welk has always been big into hockey. Now she's still a hockey girl but in need of a job that pays the bills. Nolan Lund is named the future CEO of Lund industries. Now he's trying to fix his playboy rep he's had for years. Nolan and Gabi have a history of butting heads but when Gabi needs help getting ready for a big career interview it's Nolan she turns to for help. I'll admit I did not read book one in this series. It left me lost several times when people or things were mentioned that i had no idea about. This made it difficult at times to follow the story. I really enjoyed the interaction between Nolan and Gabi. They had kind of a opposites attract thing going on. Nolan is definitely more than his looks. He's smart and caring and puts Gabi first. Gabi on the other hand is not a tomboy hockey player. She's a smart caring women who can take care of herself. I feel i need to go back and read book one and see what i missed.

Find out more about Lorelei James and this series here www.loreleijames.com

I really enjoyed this friends to lovers romance that features a female hockey player as the heroine. I've read some of the other Lund family stories and enjoyed them all, so it was great to get back into the series again with this one.

Nolan is an interesting character as he's very fashion conscious (and has the money to dress well, with his own stylist) and I enjoyed the descriptions of his clothing and when he helps Gabi dress for success in her interview with a local TV station. She is ready to move onto a new career, though she still loves coaching younger hockey players, and providing commentary for college hockey teams would be a step in the right direction. The only drawback is that the broadcasting studio works out of Duluth and she and Nolan live in Minneapolis. So their fledgling romance could get kiboshed quickly.

Nolan has his own career concerns with his sudden appointment as acting CEO of Lund industries and the corporate problems that exist in his family company at the top levels that need to be ironed out. While these two are figuring out their career choices, they realize they are attracted to each other and engage in a steamy affair that becomes more, just in time to have to deal with the reality of whether they can have a future together. It's an exciting, sporty, engaging, sexy and heartwarming romance and just what I was hoping for.

Review has been uploaded to Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

3.5 Stars

Want You to Want Me by Lorelei James is the second installation in James’ Want You series and can be read as a stand-alone. It follows ex-hockey pro Gabriella (Gabi) Welk and future Lund Industries CEO Nolan Lund in their slow burn enemies to lovers romance. This was my first novel by James and I can attest that it can really be read as a stand-alone, I could follow along with the story and all of the characters right from the start and didn’t feel like I was missing any background information.

Gabi spent her whole youth and young adulthood chasing hockey championships and is now working several jobs to get by, one of which is a hockey coach at a local rink teaching the next generation to skate. Meanwhile, Nolan is trying to shake off his previous playboy reputation and is struggling to be taken more seriously now that he has been named the next CEO of his family’s company. Instead of going out and partying after work, Nolan has started to go to his brother’s hockey rink to watch his niece skate, if he happens to annoy his frenemy Gabi as she coaches that’s all the better…two birds and one stone right? Gabi and Nolan have a weird relationship from the start, they both acknowledge that the other is very attractive but they cannot help but snipe at each other whenever they are together.

It’s during one of these hockey rink visits when Nolan overhears Gabi being dumped by her boyfriend for her younger sister. He takes pity on Gabi and agrees to be her designated driver and she goes to drown her sorrows at a local dive bar. Gabi was slowly starting to think that she was wrong about Nolan and that he does care about others, maybe even cares about her, when she overhears him saying some hurtful words about her. Gabi withdraws from Nolan again and they continue for a bit with their witty and sometimes hurtful banter towards each other. It’s not until they connect again at a family party where they decide to trade favours that their change from enemies to lovers really starts.

I really liked this book. The slow pace of this relationship was so realistic and both Gabi and Nolan have their own well developed personalities and I was happy to see that neither of them really dimmed their own light for the other. I loved reading how their hurtful banter changed to flirty banter back and forth and I enjoyed tagging along as they really get to know each other on a deeper level. The reason I gave it 3.5 stars instead of 4 was because until the family get together the book was really slow, I found that I was forcing myself to turn the pages. There was such good character development that I knew it would get better but I was so bored waiting for it to happen. Luckily, it did get better and I am so glad I stuck it out through those first few chapters.

I highly recommend this book for those who like a good enemies to lovers romance that is realistic with great character development.

~ Harshita

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫, HJ Top Pick!!!
Want You to Want Me was definitely a refreshing take on the sports romance trope, in that for a change it was the female lead that was the athlete. I loved following Nolan and Gabi’s love story, this was a nice easy read. This was more of a slow burn romance but that worked very well for this story. The thing I loved about this novel was not only that it show cases a strong female role model but that James highlighted and included the LGBTQ community. It was nice to see such positive views on both these topics.

Both Nolan and Gabi were excellent characters that had amazing sparky banter that definitely translated into their physical relationship. But I will say that Nolan stole the show for me. I loved that he was such a fashionable man and that he did not shy away from his love for fashion. As for Gabi I loved that she had such a tough girl exterior and that she had put everyone else above herself but Nolan showed her that there was more to herself. The only thing that I was not too happy about was that there was this strong build up to the scandal but I found that it kind of fizzled out, but in saying that I think even though it lacked oomph it wrapped up nicely.

Overall I enjoyed this novel immensely, even though it is part of a series, Want You To Want Me can be read as a standalone, though I do recommend reading the entire series. ~ #HarlequinJunkieBlog

Gabi is a former hockey player who just got dumped by her boyfriend in front of her Frenemie Nolan. Nolan is a billionaire and tagged as the player . These two are opposites at best but that does not stop the tension that builds between these two. They develop a friendship that is sweet and compelling. Frenemies to lovers but will it stick ? Nolan dealing with family and pressure to prove himself and Gabi trying to situate her life are obstacles that they will have to navigate for true love. This story you have a ex Olympic skater, a billionaire , a little hockey and Nolan cute niece and you have great ingredients for a hit!

This was my first Lorelei James book and what a wonderful surprise it was. This was such a good twist on the stereotypical gender roles.

I loved that our main heroine, Gabi aka Gabriella, is a sportsperson. She plays hockey, has six pack abs, runs away from tough conversations, and is a very simple person.

Our hero is a metrosexual billionaire, who is getting prepped to be a CEO. He loves fashion and really cares about his experience. This has caused some issues in his life, people assuming he's gay, him turning into a playboy in the past to prove otherwise. He is a genuinely good and funny guy who really cares about Gabi.

I loved how both of the main characters had misinterpreted the other in the beginning. I loved how they got over it and became friends. Their relationship was definitely a slow burn, and there definitely was a really good burn. Their banter, their text messages, their developing relationship was such a fresh thing to read. These two didn't have ego matches.

This book was feminist without the author needing to repeatedly throw it in our face that it is feminist. It just was. And it was so good to read it.

There was a little conflict at the end. The only minor issue I had was that there wasn't enough conflict in this book. I like reading such books because it's a feel good time.

Loved this book. It was great to see Nolan step away from his family and discover his own identity. I love the direction of these books because while James gives you tension and drama, our heroes and heroines always have each other’s back. Looking forward to the next!

Gabi (Gabriella Welk) is a former Olympic hockey player who works at Jax’s rink (see previous book, I Want You Back). She has a frenemy relationship with Jax’s brother, Nolan, but they really don’t know one another. When Nolan goes to pick up some paperwork from Jax’s office, he overhears Gabi getting dumped by her boyfriend and offers to be her designated driver for the night. Unfortunately, he sticks his foot in his mouth, and Gabi ends up sneaking out of the bar. Luckily a heart-felt apology leads to a texting and then in-person friendship.

Nolan Lund is the odd man out among his cousins at Lund Industries; the only non “C” – he is the CEO in training, but his dad isn’t going to be stepping down any time soon. He works twice as hard to make up for his one mistake, yet he’s cut out of all major decision-making processes. Trying to turn over a new leaf and his playboy image, he’s pleasantly surprised over his budding friendship with (and growing attraction to) Gabi.

Gabi and Nolan connect because of honest and direct conversation. Instead of playing games or denying/avoiding difficult topics, they open up to one another from the start. The only thing I don’t like about this is that Gabi blames her “loose lips” on too much alcohol an awful lot, and I feel it is unflattering of her character. But that aspect goes away quickly as the pair becomes genuine friends, and Gabi relies on Nolan for help in a stressful situation. Because of the dual POVs, we discover that Nolan falls hard for Gabi from the start. I love that not only is he physically attracted to her, but likes so much about her person. It’s all the little things they do for one another that melts my heart. They fall in love quickly, and they are excited over admitting it. And because of the open communication, they are very much on the same page and recognize it’s not too soon even though it’s a short time.

While Gabi and Nolan’s journey to love seems like smooth sailing, they both have personal issues to deal with, causing conflict for the pair. Both are struggling with career-related decisions that ultimately impact each other. Rather than let the pair suffer alone, driving them completely apart, the author allows the pair to hurt and then heal through conversation and character growth.

Want You to Want Me is another delightful romance in Ms. James’s Want You/Need You series. I love how Gabi and Nolan embrace their feelings right from the start. Overall, the story is a fun, breezy read, making it great for the beach or poolside on a hot summer day.

My Rating: B+ Liked It A Lot

Gabriella Welk is at a crossroads in her professional life and has just been dumped by her guy friend for younger sister. When she goes to drown her feelings the last person she expects to accompany her is Nolan Lund. Just when she thinks she was wrong about the guy, and they might have a connection, he goes and says something that hurts. But she doesn’t care what “Mr. Fancy Pants” thinks of her, right?

Nolan Lund is supposed to be the future CEO of Lund Industries, but his family hasn’t been including him in crucial decisions, and the lack of confidence burns. His serious commitment and long hours don’t seem to be enough.

In Want You to Want Me Gabriella is the athlete, and while Nolan is very masculine, he’s known for his fashion savvy and flair. In the previous books it’s usually been the male set in sports role, however the switch worked, and I liked seeing a Gabriella cast a strong athlete. The story tackled some of the stereotypes female athletes face, like being called “butch” or not feminine, having people assume you’re a lesbian because you excel in sports. And Gabriella’s confidence did take a hit over the years because of this. She questions her desirability, and so Nolan’s words at the bar hurt. Nolan has had the opposite problem, his looks and interest in looking good has had people assume he doesn’t have a head for business, or he’s gay.

Once Gabi and Nolan got past the initial hiccup over his words, they get to know each other more and more through flirty texts, reaching out to each other more and more for guidance and support. So, when Gabi gets a chance to interview for a sportscasting job and needs the perfect outfit to nail the interview she goes to Nolan for help. Oh, loved the trying on scene, sparks flying as Nolan gets a full on look at just how gorgeous is, and Gabi enjoying his lusty appraisal!

I loved this slow burn romance, the flirty banter back and forth through texts and in person was a delight! At a glance, Nolan and Gabi seemed to be complete opposites, but they got each other on a deeper, meaningful level, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing these two fall in love!

This is book two in the Want You series, but the Need You series ties in as well, featuring more of the Lund’s and their romances. I’ve loved every book, but each holds up as a standalone romance. There was some history with Gabi and Nolan in the previous book, I Want You Back, a situation I didn’t remember until I started reading this one that gives some insight into their relationship. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to read it first, and there is the fact that it was sooo good! I LOVED Lucy and Jaxon’s second chance romance so much!

Oh gosh. I don't even know where to begin. First time author for me and I DNF'd. I didn't make it past 25% and most of that was skimming. There was just too much boring details about Nolan's business and Gabi's hockey. Lots and lots of unnecessary details that bogged down the story. There wasn't much communication going on, either. Which made the details that much more overwhelming. Maybe it got better, I don't know. What I do know if first times leave a lasting impression and Ms.James didn't leave a very good one.

Thank you for the opportunity to review. Sorry I can't leave a more positive one.