Let's hear it for romance in your 40s!! Vanessa is in her 40s and recently divorced. Through a support group, she meets new friends and they form the Savvy, Sexy and Singles Club. I loved the friendship they formed. These were grown, strong women supporting one another. When Michael shows up on Vanessa's door looking for help with his sister and her fiancé, Vanessa is wary. When she learns that the fiancé is Vanessa's abusive ex-husband, she can't resist Michael's request for help.

This is definitely a classic tropey romance. There is insta-love, a bachelor auction, a small town where the hero is the sheriff and the heroine is stranded for the week in said small town with no room in the hotels so of course she has to stay with the hero. All of this leads to a fun, enjoyable read. While I'm admittedly not a massive fan of insta-love, this one is so well written it was tough not to like. I really liked Vanessa and Michael and thought that the author handled their journeys well. While the confrontation with Michael's sister and Vanessa's ex-husband was definitely part of the story, it played such a small role that the romance really was at the forefront the whole time. These two had major chemistry and scenes that could make you blush.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a steamy banter-filled romance with a small town feel. I had not read anything by LaQuette before but hope to read more in the future.

I loved the diversity of the characters. However, something in the story missed the mark for me. It felt disjointed; something about it didn’t quite get its claws fully in me. Maybe it’s that most of the characters seemed one-dimensional (despite the attempt to give them depth) or that the pacing of the story felt off to me. Overall, an enjoyable story.

3 stars

The author has potential but I didn’t connect with this book. I thought the characters were under developed and I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two main characters and the shipping of the other two friends was way too obvious and neat. But, I also have to recognize that this isn’t my normal read and part of the reason I didn’t enjoy it is because it was about a 40 something divorcee who I had absolutely nothing in common with. I would still give her other books a try.

Vanessa Jared has been put through the ringer! After divorcing her abusive husband of 25 years Vanessa goes to a divorce support group and meet Janae and Cree and they form a friendship over their past. They vow to come back better than ever and help each other in the process. Two years later, a sheriff pulls into town asking for Vanessa's help. Her ex has his claw's in his sister and wants help getting her out. She is reluctant to help, but when she realizes her ex proposed to Michael's sister with her stolen grandmother's wedding ring, she decides to help in order to get it back. What she doesn't expect is to fall in love with Michael the small town sherif and have her life flipped upside down again.

This was cute, fun and an easy read, but I don't think I was the target demographic for this book. I found myself more excited about the situation between Michael's sister and Vanessa's ex than the romantic connection between Michael and Vanessa. It was suspenseful and a ticking time bomb. I also found myself skimming a lot. It did do a great job of showing life after divorce and how to open up after heartbreak in a beautiful way.

Overall, I'd rate this a 3.5 but rounded up. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 9/20

Thrilling read! I was able to connect with all of the characters and throughly enjoyed the story the author painted.

A rom com! Vanessa has rebuilt her life after her divorce from Karl. She's happily 40 something and single. with good friends and fun. Then Sheriff Michael Parks shows up and asks her to stop his sister from marrying Karl. That's the hook to start the romance between Michael and Vanessa. It's a bit trope-y but it's also fun. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A light read.

Loved This fabulous story of learning to love again. The slow burn romance pulled me in quickly. I enjoyed the level of spice and that there was good representation. Can’t wait for the Author’s next book

This is a really easy, fun, steamy read with a healthy dose of depth. The conflict and stakes were well-developed and resolved and I adored the friendship aspect of the Savvy, Sexy, and Single club! Vanessa and Michael are a great couple, and I was excited to see what looked like a hint of another book with Adam and Janae at the helm.

CW: emotional abuse by a spouse (off the page)

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me to give my honest thought on Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man!

Vanessa Jared is a newly single woman who just divorced her manipulative husband. She also took him for everything he had. While working on herself she goes to a divorce class where she meet two ladies Cree and Jane and they decide to ditch the class and head to a bar. The form a bond and a club.

Every year on the anniversary they met the ladies have a nice outing. On the day of their two year anniversary Michael Park the sheriff from a near by town that Cree and Janae live in stops by and ask that she help him stop his sister from marrying her ex husband.

I loved the story and I loved how it taught Vanessa that there was life after her divorce and to stop and look around especially in a small town.

Great Debut novel from the author!

Vanessa Jared, a woman in her 40s who has been divorced from an abusive husband for two years, is trying to get her life back on track. When small-town sheriff Michael Park asks for Vanessa’s help by talking to his sister, who is engaged to Vanessa’s ex-husband, Vanessa wants nothing to do with the situation. But Vanessa knows helping Michael is the right thing to do, and when she hears that her ex proposed with her grandmother’s ring, Vanessa makes a deal with Michael. She will go with him and talk to his sister, and he will get her grandmother’s ring back.

After 20 years of marriage to an emotionally and verbally abusive man, she doesn’t have much confidence and is struggling to find herself. She’s trying to find her purpose, and she learns so much about herself and what she wants over the course of the story. I love that the story realistically portrays her journey in healing from the abuse in her past while highlighting her strength, determination, and perseverance. I also love that the protagonist is a woman in her 40s. In many of the romance novels I read, the female protagonist is younger, and it’s great to see a more mature woman in the lead role.

The romance between Vanessa and Mike is also great, and I love how hard Mike falls for Vanessa. They have amazing chemistry and banter, and their spicy scenes are hot! Like, get a fan because the sex scenes fogged up my kindle! It was wonderful to see Vanessa and Mike find such passion and love and connection with each other.

I enjoyed the story. It’s fun and funny, sexy and sweet, and it has a great romance. The story also touches upon many relatable themes, including healing after divorce, the long-term affects of abuse, taking a second chance on love, body positivity, consent, embracing friendships (I’m talking to you Savvy, Sexy Singles Club!), and more. I would recommend it to readers who like contemporary romances with small-town charm, some touching and poignant scenes, awesome friendships, and a steamy love story.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I loved this book. It was a gem. I loved how the book is about people in their 30’s and love how the relationship between Vanessa and Michael unfolded. I love how she handled her past and not let it ruined her future. It was great to be about real struggles and how everything wasn’t just perfect.

I really really wanted to love this book but it ended up just being average for me. I felt like the relationship was more lust than actual chemestry between the characters. Vanessa had a good amount of depth to her character but Michael felt really flat. Honestly, I was more entertained by Vanessa's two best friends than anything else in the story. It does deal with some more serious topics like emotional abuse, trauma, and toxic relationships so check TW before reading. I think the romance was just rushed so I never had a chance to actually feel like I was reading a romance it felt more like a contemporary fiction/womens fiction with a side plot of romance.

This book is everything I love about romance novels, even though Vanessa’s circumstances were horrible, I loved the built up to the love they have for each other. These characters knew what they wanted, they were very transparent and direct in every way. I knew once they got together it will be explosive and it was.

Vanessa is recently divorced, to a very manipulative man, and in a divorcee meeting she meets 2 other women and together they created their own little crew., and the rest is history. While she’s healing from her past Michael comes knowing on her door, wanted her help, her ex is marrying his sister and he knows he’s not a good guy and he needs her help to convince her not to marry the man. This turns her whole life around.
But I love hoe everything worked out in this book, the secrets being revealed, her friends are awesome, Michael is just DREAMY, everything was awesome, I wont call this an Enemies to lovers type pf trope, since they were not enemies, but this romance was such an easy and just STEAMY romance, I couldn’t get enough.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
I love about romance novels

This was a fairly quick and fun book to read. Vanessa is a woman in her 40s who is divorced from her emotionally abusive and manipulative ex-husband. I liked her character and Michael, the brother of her ex-husbands new fiancé. I wish this book took place over more time than the week she was in his small town, and I wish it was dual first person POV. I would have preferred to read their thoughts about the situations they were in so the third person where it seemed to focus more on one character than the other in certain parts just didn’t work for me.

I am really hoping Janae and Adam get their own book (the epilogue seemed to hint towards some chemistry between them)!

Overall, would recommend.

Book received for free through NetGalley

Read 9% of the way into this book but kept starting and stopping and ultimately forgot about it. Figured it was better to review as is. It was written well just not my cup of tea.

I really vibed with this story. The characters (esp. MC) were so fun to read. I had a few LOL moments and ended up rooting so hard for the MC. On Vanessa's road to finding herself, we are dealing with the backlash of her abusive relationship. This book is perfect for book clubs!

A story with diversity, good friends, romance and comedy. A plus with an older couple.
Vanessa Jared a beautiful black womand and a recent divorcee and is barely holding it together. Her divorce and treatment of by her husband left her a bit insecure. During a meeting with a support group, she meets two women who end up being her lifeline. They become the best girl squad. The friendship and support of each other are large part of the story. These ladies have each other’s back and will not hesitate to give each other the hard truths.

Michael is Korean American and sheriff of a small town. He is a great person, hard working and caring. There a things in his past that make him cause him to be a bit of a control freak,
When Michael’s sister gets engaged to Vanessa’s ex, he needs her help to convince his sister that he is not the one for her.
The attraction is instant. When Vanessa gets stuck in his small town. It becomes difficult to stay away from each other. As they get closer, they both have to deal with their pasts and insecurities to get their HEA.
Good story, great epilogue. Hopefully more to come with other characters.

This is an exciting an absolutely wonderful story. Vanessa and her two girlfriends are delightful and fun. The three are divorced and looking to live their best lives. Michael is the Sheriff in a small town and takes his job of taking care of people seriously. This is a cross racial relationship as Vanessa is black and Michael is Korean. The author makes really interesting with the vivid way she brings the characters to life. The friendships and community relationships are great and magnifies the love that grows between Vanessa and Michael.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the eARC to read and review!

A sexy and sweet romance that delivered a worthwhile story. The cover is so eye-catching and is emitting some serious heat between the two characters on it.

Vanessa is still trying to move on with her life after being in an emotionally abusive marriage for twenty years. Even with the best girl friends a gal can have and therapy, at 40 years old she feels lost without direction. Until the charming sheriff of Monroe Hills, Michael Park, unexpectedly turns up at her door.

I admire her greatly for agreeing to help Michael stop her ex from marrying his little sister after all she’s endured. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d said no. It’s taken a lot of hard work for Vanessa to get to a place where she can advocate for herself, her worth and what she deserves. She will never let anyone dictate or micromanage her life ever again. I really enjoyed seeing her shine with sass, wit, and confidence.

Michael is a great big brother who, ever since his parents tragic death, has devoted his life to caring for his much younger sister, Cindy. So he only has his sister’s best interest at heart when he goes behind her back to seek Vanessa’s aid. Cindy’s sudden change in behavior and engagement to a man (Vanessa’s terrible ex) who gives him bad vibes sent off too many red flags for him not to do something. What he didn’t expect was feeling a deep attraction to Vanessa, to her wit, her strength, and her curves. Michael’s very protective of those he cares about so it was natural for him to extend that to Vanessa. He’s very easy to like but overstepped quite a few times.

I adore second chance romances, which was one reason I was looking forward to reading this story. Vanessa and Michael are so cute together and have great chemistry. I wanted so much for them to be together and happy and carefree. But their escalating relationship further complicates the inevitable. Vanessa just wants to get her grandmother's ring back and close the door on this dark part of her past, be happy, and have a fulfilling life. Michael wants to keep his sister safe even at the cost of potentially losing her. Comparatively, I think this story was also a (non-romantic) second chance for Michael to let go of the past and go after something that’s just for him and makes him happy.

The author has devised a complex situation that really draws you in. Of all the times to find the love of your life it had to be in the midst of facing your darkest demons and more than likely destroying the good heart of another. Getting involved romantically with each other could complicate things. Throw in forced proximity and an agreement to be temporary friends with benefits, and you’ve got an exceedingly enticing romance. My emotions were held in such excruciating suspense the more Vanessa and Michael got to know each other, fearing the inevitable confrontation and its aftermath. I wasn’t a fan of the moment when things went south because I didn’t think the shock value was worth it and also not fair to Vanessa or Cindy.

The main characters have a great support system in their respective best friends who are equally endearing and likable. And, luckily for us readers, there’s an equal number of conveniently single best friends, which I’m hoping means more books for the other members of The Savvy, Sexy, Singles Club.

"Vanessa Jared’s Got a Man" was better than I could’ve ever imagined. It made my heart happy. If you like second chance and/or forced proximity romances, then you’ll enjoy this fun, heart-warming read.

CW: emotional abuse in a relationship/marriage

There a lot to like about this book. One hot couple with two great characters, multiple cultures represented, two great friendship groups the for me stole the show, some rebuilding after getting out of an abusive relationship, etc. I love how Laquette doesn’t hold back when talking the issues in this. Especially when it comes to abuse.

It a really great read funny, sexy, and emotional. Been in a book slump but I bet I apprecate this one more if I ever get to reread it. Right now giving this 4 stars.

Thanks Netgalley, St. Martins Press, and OrangeSky Audio for this book and audiobook.