Quit Bein' Ugly by Lani Lynn Vale // ARC Review

Her mouth tasted like everything I'd always imagined it would. Sweet, cherry, and mine.

Quit Bein' Ugly by Lani Lynn Vale

Standalone - The Southern Gentleman Series #3
Release - April 20, 2021
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat Level - 4 out of 5/a couple of scenes
Format/Source - eARC provided by the author
Length - 181 pages
Publisher - Indie

There’s a crush, and then there are the type of feelings that Croft Cruisie evokes from a person.

He’s everything that any straight woman would want: tall, handsome, charismatic, muscular, and sweet.

At least, Carmichael thought he was sweet, until he brings another woman to the gym she owns with her brother, on the night that’s to be their first date, and lets her know in a quick and painful, non-verbal way that her feelings are not reciprocated.

Fast forward six months, and she’s still trying to move on from the rejection.

It doesn’t help that the jerk moves in next door to her, and that she has to see him workout shirtless every single day.
How can a woman get over a silly crush when that silly crush won’t so much as give her room to breathe?

***

Croft doesn’t know what happened.

One day he was supposed to go on a date with the girl that wouldn’t leave his thoughts for even a second, and the next she’s avoiding him like the plague.

No matter how hard he tries—and admittedly, it isn’t all that hard due to the biggest case of his career taking over his life—he can’t get her to tell him what he did wrong. She refuses to give him a second chance.

At least, not until he’s nearly killed in front of the courthouse, that is.

The moment he sees his chance, he pounces. Or, more literally, he limps.

But the limping is what draws Carmichael in. The Southern charm that was instilled in him since birth will be what gets her to stay.

That’s his plan, anyway.

Funny thing about plans… they never seem to work out how you expect them to.

This was a slow burn type of read and these characters had my heart in palpitations. Misunderstandings and assumptions are never my cup of tea, but when Croft brought another woman to Carmichael's gym, on the night of their much anticipated first date, I got where she was coming from. I'd probably arrive at the same conclusion too. However, I wouldn't wait SIX MONTHS to get answers!!

Once these two had things sorted, their relationship evolved into something beautiful. Croft was all strength and intelligence and dominance, but Carmichael was no slouch. She gave as good as she got, she loved just as hard, and together they built something that could last.

I loved getting to see all of the other characters again and how they played a role in this romance, even a small one. I'm definitely looking forward to Shultz's story, which comes next year, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that these people will be making another appearance.

I'm a huge fan of this author's work and every story is a winner for me!

───── ❝ but... ❞ ─────

Aside from how much I enjoyed this story, it didn't get five stars because I had some issues with it, such as:
☆ Here's the thing, I practice law so when a story has a lawyer or some other legal professional in it, I can immediately spot discrepancies. I may no longer work in criminal law, however, when I did, I never went up against another criminal law firm in court or during any kind of proceedings except for instances in which they provided co-counsel or were counsel for co-defendents. So the idea that a rival firm would plant people at a high school and at another firm to get... something... sounds utterly ridiculous. So while it made for good drama, it wasn't realistic and had me giving a look of bafflement more than amusement.

Lani Lynn Vale is married to the love of her life that she met in high school. She fell in love with him because he was wearing baseball pants. Ten years later they have three perfectly crazy children and a cat named Demon who likes to wake her up at ungodly times in the night. They live in the greatest state in the world, Texas. She writes contemporary and romantic suspense, and has a love for all things romance. You can find Lani in front of her computer writing away in her fictional characters world...that is until her husband and kids demand sustenance in the form of food and drink.

You can find out more about her and her amazing books on her website: https://lanilynnvale.com/