Enter to Win 1 of 2 Print ARCs of To Have and To Hold,
The Wedding Bells Book One
By: Lauren Layne
Releasing
June 6, 2016
Pocket Star
Pocket Star
In From This Day Forward (The Wedding Belles #0.5) by Lauren Layne, Leah McHale is thrilled to be asked to photograph the wedding of a former president's daughter. However, there's one downside to accepting the job. She's expected to work alongside her ex, Jason Rhodes, because the job is too big for one person to handle.
Jason Rhodes is determined to win Leah back, especially since she broke up with him due to a simple misunderstanding. Working side by side with her during a big wedding will give him the perfect opportunity to talk to her, but when she keeps giving him the cold shoulder, he doesn't know what to do. Still, he's not willing to give up trying, not until she realizes that she's the only woman that's ever managed to capture his heart.
Ever since reading my first book by Ms. Layne, she's become a must buy author for me, and with every story I've read by her, I find they get better and better. Right from the beginning, this book swept me in to it's fast-paced and solid plot, due to the main characters and the history between them. Leah needs the job she's been offered, yet it's hard for her to have to work alongside Jason because she thinks he betrayed her when they were together. Something she can't get past, even though it was all a simple misunderstanding. Would the heroine allow Jason to explain the truth once and for all?
Both the main characters, as well as the secondary ones were so entertaining. Leah and Jason's friends want both to be happy, and aren't afraid to offer their advice. Jason's friend, Heather, was a real hoot the way she teased the hero about Leah. Her cheeky attitude towards him definitely shows the tight bond they have, and how she can get away with giving him a hard time.
The dialogue between Jason and Leah is a nice mix of intense and playful. Jason will do anything to get a response out of the heroine, no matter whether it's a negative one or a positive one. At least if he can get her to respond to him than there may be hope of her giving him a second chance. Or at least the chance to explain that he's not the womanizer she believes him to be. However, the fact that Leah is so stubborn doesn't work in his favor, so it's lucky that she still has strong feelings for him and can't seem to stay away. Until eventually, their intense chemistry spills over onto the pages through hot sex scenes, and prove that these two are so right for each other.
Overall, Ms. Layne has penned another incredible novel that captivated my attention from start to finish with its solid plot, relatable characters, an ending that had me cheering for this couple and has me so looking forward to future books for this series. I liked that Leah finally realized that if she didn't allow Jason to explain that she would be miserable and lonely for the rest of her life. I would recommend From This Day Forward by Lauren Layne, if you enjoy second chance romances.
Ever since reading my first book by Ms. Layne, she's become a must buy author for me, and with every story I've read by her, I find they get better and better. Right from the beginning, this book swept me in to it's fast-paced and solid plot, due to the main characters and the history between them. Leah needs the job she's been offered, yet it's hard for her to have to work alongside Jason because she thinks he betrayed her when they were together. Something she can't get past, even though it was all a simple misunderstanding. Would the heroine allow Jason to explain the truth once and for all?
Both the main characters, as well as the secondary ones were so entertaining. Leah and Jason's friends want both to be happy, and aren't afraid to offer their advice. Jason's friend, Heather, was a real hoot the way she teased the hero about Leah. Her cheeky attitude towards him definitely shows the tight bond they have, and how she can get away with giving him a hard time.
The dialogue between Jason and Leah is a nice mix of intense and playful. Jason will do anything to get a response out of the heroine, no matter whether it's a negative one or a positive one. At least if he can get her to respond to him than there may be hope of her giving him a second chance. Or at least the chance to explain that he's not the womanizer she believes him to be. However, the fact that Leah is so stubborn doesn't work in his favor, so it's lucky that she still has strong feelings for him and can't seem to stay away. Until eventually, their intense chemistry spills over onto the pages through hot sex scenes, and prove that these two are so right for each other.
Overall, Ms. Layne has penned another incredible novel that captivated my attention from start to finish with its solid plot, relatable characters, an ending that had me cheering for this couple and has me so looking forward to future books for this series. I liked that Leah finally realized that if she didn't allow Jason to explain that she would be miserable and lonely for the rest of her life. I would recommend From This Day Forward by Lauren Layne, if you enjoy second chance romances.
BLURB
Sex and the City meets The Wedding Planner in this prequel to USA TODAY bestselling author Lauren Layne’s The Wedding Belles series about three high-powered New York City women who can plan any wedding—but their own.
Up-and-coming
wedding photographer Leah McHale’s career is on the rise–thanks in no small
part to the Wedding Belles, the elite New York wedding planning agency that
always throws top-tier business Leah’s way. So when one of the Belles asks Leah
to fill in at the former First Daughter's wedding, Leah is overjoyed to say
yes–until she finds out who she’ll be working with.
Jason
Rhodes is the one man who was able to capture Leah’s heart and, once he had it,
promptly stepped all over it and left her broken. Now he’s working side-by-side
with her at the biggest wedding of the season and Leah is determined to give
him the cold shoulder. Despite his persistence, she is not going to fall for his
charming, impish ways again. Not even if he still has that killer, irresistible
smile...
“Do you
have any plans for your unexpectedly free weekend?” Alexis asked as she perused
the menu.
Leah’s
eyes narrowed on her friend. Alexis Morgan might be the queen of poker face,
but Leah had known Alexis for close to a decade now. She knew when she was
being handled, and right now, Alexis was definitely working up to
something.
Instead of
answering the question, Leah took a sip of her mimosa and waited. When Alexis’s
brown eyes flicked up to hers, Leah merely lifted her brows. Waited some more.
With a
sigh, Alexis set the menu aside and folded both arms on the table, leaning
toward Leah. “I need a favor.”
“Anything,”
Leah said automatically, meaning it completely.
Her
relationship with Alexis may have started as a business arrangement—they’d both
arrived in the city ten years earlier with big dreams of pursuing their dream
careers.
But somewhere along the way, Alexis and Leah
had transitioned from sometimes business associates to friends.
Alexis had been there for Leah when she’d needed her, and Leah fully intended
to repay the favor any way she could.
“I need
you to work the Preston wedding.”
Leah
blinked. “The Preston wedding. As in, the wedding of the former First Daughter
we were just talking about? The one this weekend?”
Alexis
nodded.
Leah sat
back, stunned. “Holy crap, Lex. That’s not really me doing you a favor,
hon. More like the other way around. This would be the opportunity of a
lifetime for me. For any photographer.”
“I know,
but I still hate asking last minute like this. If it were up to me, I’d have
recommended you from the very beginning, but Kylie’s college roommate and her husband
are a two-person photographer team, and Kylie wanted to give the opportunity to
her friend.”
“So what
happened? They had a falling-out?”
Alexis
shook her head. “They live in San Francisco and she’s a few months pregnant.
There was some complication; she’s been put on bed rest. Nothing serious, just
a precaution, but ergo . . . she’s certainly not going to be flying to New York
any time soon, and certainly can’t be photographing a wedding.”
“Ugh. That
sucks,” Leah said sympathetically.
Alexis
smiled. “This is why I knew you were right for the job. You get it. You
get people.”
Leah
rolled her eyes. “You hardly have to sweet talk me into taking a job that’s
likely to be the highest-profile wedding of my career.”
Alexis
glanced down at her Bloody Mary, stirring a pickled green bean. “Well there is
one tiny thing I haven’t mentioned.”
“Bring
it.”
Alexis
looked up. “It’s a huge wedding. One photographer’s not going to cut
it.”
Leah waved
her hand. “Oh please. My ego’s not so big I can’t handle a little teamwork. Who
else you bringing in?”
Alexis bit
her lip, and Leah tensed at the rare unease she saw on her usually confident
friend’s face.
Alexis
leaned forward and touched her arm. “Leah, you have to know how impossible it
is to book one good photographer on short notice in June, much less two, and
I’m counting myself lucky because two of the best happened to be available, but
. . .”
“But
what?” Leah asked, her heart pounding faster as she somehow knew what her
friend was trying to say. Knew whose name Alexis was terrified to say.
Alexis’s
gaze cut away from hers and fell somewhere over Leah’s shoulder, even as Leah felt
the shiver of awareness that someone else had stepped into her personal space.
Alexis
glared at the newcomer. “You’re early, Rhodes.”
Leah’s heart
stopped, just for a moment. Slowly, she turned around and glanced up into the
dark brown eyes of Jason Rhodes.
He pulled
a toothpick from his mouth and gave her a slow, sexy once-over. “Hiya, Red.
Long time.”
Leah could
only shake her head. It had been a long time, but not nearly long
enough.
Not only
was he the one man on the planet she could absolutely, positively not
work with.
He was the
one man who Leah had let in close enough to break her heart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lauren Layne is the USA
Today bestselling
author of more than a dozen romantic comedies. She lives in New York City with
her husband (who was her high school sweetheart--cute, right?!) and plus-sized
Pomeranian.
In 2011, she ditched
her corporate career in Seattle to pursue a full-time writing career in
Manhattan, and never looked back.
In her ideal world,
every stiletto-wearing, Kate Spade wielding woman would carry a Kindle stocked
with Lauren Layne books.
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