Review: Love Story by Lauren Layne

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Standalone - Love Unexpectedly #3
Release - February 14, 2017
Genre - Second Chance Contemporary Romance
Trope - best friend's sibling
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 2.5 out of 5
Length - 218 pages

When Lucy Hawkins receives a job offer in San Francisco, she can’t wait to spread her wings and leave her small Virginia hometown behind. Her close-knit family supports her as best they can, by handing over the keys to a station wagon that’s seen better days. The catch? The cross-country trip comes with a traveling companion: her older brother’s best friend, aka the guy who took Lucy’s virginity hours before breaking her heart.

After spending the past four years and every last dime caring for his sick father, Reece Sullivan will do just about anything to break free of the painful memories—even if it means a two-week road trip with the one girl who’s ever made it past his carefully guarded exterior. But after long days of bickering in the car turn into steamy nights in secluded motel rooms, Reece learns that, when it comes to Lucy, their story is far from over. And this time, they just might have a shot at a happy ending.

Find it here:
Goodreads | Amazon

MY REVIEW

If you're looking for a story with tons of angst and you're a fan of constant pushing and pulling between protagonists, then you're really going to enjoy this story.

Reece is Lucy's brother's best friend. They met when they were kids and had a connection all their own. Over time, as they grew, those friendly feelings grew with them and became more. When Lucy was 18 years old (Reece was 19), they were in love, without actually telling each other. Reece ultimately breaks Lucy's heart and it seems their story was over before it even began.

Six years later, both Lucy and Reece are prepared to start over in California. Separately. Unfortunately, their family has other ideas and complicates matters. They find themselves stuck together on a two-week road trip, destined to either kill each other or fall in love all over again.

Although I enjoyed the premise of the story immensely, I wasn't a fan of how immature the characters acted. Their bad behavior and poor communication skills frustrated me. It took them until the over the 90% mark to finally get their heads out of their asses. The rest of the time their bickering, being petty, and lashing out. I was also disappointed that there wasn't more grovelling from Reece. He was pretty mean and all I got for the trouble was:

"Lucy Hawkins was my girl. Now she's my woman. And I'm her man. She'd better start getting used to the idea."

For me, it wasn't enough and so the ending fell flat. Otherwise, I liked the banter, the bits of drama, and the idea of the broken hero that had some redeemable qualities, even if they were very well hidden.