TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
The Wedding Belles #1
Lauren Layne
Releasing July 26th, 2016
Pocket Books
Sex and the City meets The Wedding Planner in The Wedding Belles!
BUY NOW
Sex and
the City meets The
Wedding Planner in The Wedding Belles, her sizzling brand new
contemporary romance series about three ambitious wedding planners who can make
any bride’s dream come true…but their own.
Discovering her fiancé is an
international conman just moments before they exchange vows devastates
celebrity wedding planner Brooke Burke’s business—and breaks her heart. Now a
pariah in Los Angeles, she seeks a fresh start in New York City and thinks
she’s found it with her first bridal client, a sweet, if slightly spoiled,
hotel heiress. Then she meets the uptight businessman who’s holding the purse
springs.
Seth Tyler wishes he could write a
blank check and be done with his sister’s fancy-pants wedding. Unfortunately,
micromanaging the event is his only chance at proving Maya’s fiancé is a liar.
Standing directly in his way is the stunning blonde wedding planner whose
practiced smiles and sassy comebacks both irritate and arouse him. He needs
Brooke’s help. But can he persuade a wedding planner on a comeback mission to unplan
a wedding? And more importantly, how will he convince her that the wedding she
should be planning…is theirs?
Lauren Layne is one of my go to authors for contemporary romance. I fell in love with her Stiletto series when they came out and loved the Oxford series that followed. She has been a writing machine so I lose count of how many books she has written so far. Most of her books usually fall in the love category where I love the characters she has written and the plot line hooks you in the beginning. There are a few that fall in the like category where I like the characters and plot line but it didn't mesh well with me as much as I would've liked. Not all books can be perfect! haha
PLOT LINE - The Wedding Belles series is one of the series I looked forward to most this summer! A combo of Sex in the City and The Wedding Planner...who wouldn't like that?! This is not my first wedding series...Nora Robert's Bride Quartet is another one that you definitely have to check out if you like these types of books. After finishing the novella of the Wedding Belles, From This Day Forward, I had high expectations for To Have and To Hold because I love love loved the novella. The story started it really well. It does hook you in! After an unfortunate incident, Brooke Burke has to start her life over in NYC. New city, new job, new friends, and possibly a new love...even though that is definitely last on the list after what happened. When Seth Tyler comes into her life, everything is up in the air. Get ready.
CHEMISTRY - Brooke and Seth had really great chemistry on the pages. You can tell they really wanted to give it a chance even though it might compromise the situation since Brooke is planning his sister's wedding. With everything else going down in between...it might not be a good idea to start something that might interfere with her job. But it's life...and life always gets in the way of things so it can be understandable. In some stories, you can really connect with the characters: feel what they feel and fall in love with the characters as the story progresses. To Have and to Hold just didn't meet my expectations in the area. I really did want to fall in love with the characters but there is just something missing more me. Maybe it was more on Brooke's end than Seth...I just don't really know. They were great together but I just didn't connect to them as much as I would've liked.
ENDING - I did love the ending. Anything with a HEA, I am happy because the characters are happy. It's the nitty gritty in between that makes things a whole lot more interesting :)
Excerpt
Hold
on. Back up. Back all the way up. What do you mean you’re getting married?”
It
was eleven p.m. on a Wednesday, and Seth Tyler was exactly where he always was
these days: behind his expansive mahogany desk at the Tyler Hotel Group, suit
jacket slung over the back of his ergonomic chair, tie begging to be undone, impeccably
pressed white shirt cuffed at the wrists.
He
raked a hand through his thick light brown hair in frustration and fixed his
younger sister with his best no-nonsense glare, an approximation—like
everything else he seemed to do lately—of his deceased father.
When
Seth's father dropped dead of a heart attack eight months ago, Seth had thought
the hardest part about his father’s passing—other than the mourning, of
course—would be taking over the family company.
Sure,
Seth had been groomed for the role. He’d wanted the president and CEO title.
He’d always wanted it.
Eventually.
But
not yet, for God’s sake.
Seth
had no problem admitting that he was a perfectionist, and he’d been bound and
determined to take over the family company his
way. The right way.
And
the right way, as Seth had determined it, was spending at least a year
shadowing each of the senior-level Tyler Hotel Group executives. Seth had
wanted to learn every possible detail, every in and out of the business, before
even thinking about taking over the reins of the Fortune 500 company.
But
his father’s heart had had other plans. Mainly, up and quitting during a
routine round of golf. And so, quietly, per his father’s wishes, Seth had
become CEO two years ahead of schedule.
Not
a day passed that Seth didn’t wish his father was still with him, but in truth,
taking his place at the head of the boardroom table had been easier than Seth
had anticipated. The investors hadn’t freaked out. The executive team hadn’t
left in mass exodus. Even Hank’s longtime assistant, Etta, had stuck around,
seemingly content to call Seth boss even as she busted his balls about not
eating enough vegetables, getting enough sleep, or getting his hair cut.
But
if taking over the family company was easier than Seth had expected, there was
one ramification of Hank Tyler’s death that Seth hadn’t been in the least
prepared for:
A
wedding.
Maya
Tyler inhaled a long, patient breath, as though preparing to deal with a
difficult child. “Well see, marriage, Seth, is when two people fall in love and
decide to spend the rest of their lives—”
“Yes,
I’m aware of how marriage works,” Seth interrupted. Although, not as aware as
well as he’d like, as it turned out. He wouldn’t be getting any firsthand
knowledge of how marriage worked any time soon.
Maya
bit her lip. “I’m sorry. I didn't mean to remind you of Nadia.”
Seth
glanced down at his desk to avoid his sister’s too-perceptive gaze. She wasn’t
wrong. He’d gotten to the point where he could go most days without thinking of
his ex, but he hadn’t yet figured out how to think about marriage without
hearing the incredulous laugh she’d let out when he’d gone on one knee and
showed her the ring he’d spent months picking out.
“Can
we not?” he said curtly.
“Don’t
get pissed. It’s a wedding. You’re supposed to be happy.”
“I’m
not pissed; I’m just surprised.”
That
was an understatement. Seth had not seen this coming, and for a man who
exercised precision in all things, he couldn’t say he was enjoying the shock
value of Maya’s announcement. Especially not on the heels of his father’s
death. A death that everyone but Seth had seen coming, because Seth had been
the lone outsider on the knowledge that was his father’s longtime heart
condition.
Apparently,
Hank had considered his only son a control freak—had known that Seth would have
stopped at nothing to try to halt death in its tracks.
His
father had been, well, right. It was
hard to admit, but if Seth had known about his father’s condition, he’d have
devoted every waking hour to researching experimental treatment and the best
doctors.
Hank
Tyler hadn’t wanted that for his final months. Not for himself or for
Seth.
Still,
Seth resented not having the choice. Resented his father nearly as much
as he missed him.
But
he’d put that behind him. Mostly.
Hank
was gone, and Maya was still here. Maya was all he had.
He
had known she was dating a new guy—Neil something or other. But Seth hadn’t
thought a thing about it. Maya had whipped through a constant string of casual
boyfriends since high school, and other than a two-year relationship in
college, they had never been serious.
And
it certainly hadn’t gotten close to marriage.
What’s
worse, Seth hadn’t even met this man that was apparently to be his
brother-in-law.
But
none of this would have mattered, not really, if Seth’s instincts hadn’t been
buzzing that something was amiss with the way this was all going down.
Something was off. He knew it down to his gut.
“How
long have you been seeing this guy?” he asked.
Maya
slumped back in the plush chair facing Seth’s desk with a groan. “Don’t do
this. I knew you were going to do this.”
He
frowned. “Do what?”
“The
big brother thing,” she said.
“Hard
not to, what with me being six years older and all,” Seth said.
He
didn’t add that he was doubly obligated to be protective given Hank’s death
just months earlier. Maya had definitely been Daddy’s Little Princess. She
still got tears in her eyes every time their father’s name was mentioned.
Maya
leaned forward, her pale blue eyes much like his own, although her blond hair
was lighter than his, thanks to her frequent trips to the salon.
“I
love him, Seth. I know you’re jaded these days, but Neil is exactly the
type of guy we women spend our entire lives dreaming about.”
Seth
bit his tongue to stop from saying that he bet Maya was exactly the type of
girl that guys like Neil dreamed about, too. Young, pretty . . . and filthy
rich.
Or
so Neil likely thought.
Five years ago, she ditched her corporate career in Seattle to pursue a full-time writing career in Manhattan.
She writes smart romantic comedies with just enough sexy-times to make your mother blush, and in her ideal world, every stiletto-wearing, Kate Spade wielding woman would carry a Kindle stocked with Lauren Layne books.
When not bringing The Sexy, she likes to blog about her Instagram addiction, and why mean girls are the worst.
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