The Many Faces of Romance: wedding planner

Will a budding wedding planner and her bad boy neighbor

stop banging heads and start hearing wedding bells?

FOR BETTER OR WORSE

The Wedding Belles #2

Lauren Layne

Releasing Aug 30th, 2016

Pocket Books

Will a budding wedding planner and her bad boy neighbor stop banging heads and start hearing wedding bells in the sexy second novel in USA TODAY bestselling author Lauren Layne’s irresistible new series that marries Sex and the City with The Wedding Planner?

When small-town girl Heather Fowler finally gets promoted from assistant to actual wedding planner, she’s determined to make it as one of Manhattan’s elite Wedding Belles. Unfortunately, her first client demands an opulent black-tie affair at the Plaza…in five months’ time. Heather’s days quickly become a flurry of cake tastings, dress-fittings, RSVP cards, and bridal tantrums. But what she’s really losing sleep over is the live music blaring from her playboy neighbor’s apartment all night.

Five years ago, Josh Tanner was an up-and-comer on Wall Street, complete with the penthouse and the migraines. But a grim cancer diagnosis made him realize there is more to life than the corner office. If only he could convince his pretty, workaholic neighbor to let loose, too. As Heather lets down her guard, Josh is surprised when he starts falling for the sweet, vulnerable woman hiding beneath those power suits. Soon, it’s Heather’s turn to convince Josh to take the biggest risk of all: love.

“So this is where the noise happens, huh?” she asked.

Josh’s eyes narrowed as his friend’s hand touched Heather’s back briefly. “Absolutely,” Trevor said. “We’re sorry it keeps you up though.”

“Oh, it’s okay,” she said, waving her hand. “I mean . . . it’s not. But tonight I couldn’t sleep anyway, so you get a free pass. What do you all play?”

“Donny’s bass, Felix is on drums. Josh is lead guitar, and I, as the most important member, have the pipes.”

“Oh! I thought Josh was the singer,” Heather said with a quick glance over her shoulder at him.

Their eyes locked, and Josh felt a flicker of . . . something.

“Ah, is that what he’s telling the women these days,” Trevor joked.

“No, I just . . . I hear him, singing sometimes,” Heather muttered.

“Our boy can carry a tune well enough, but wait until you hear me, love,” Trevor said.

Josh turned away in mild disgust, pulling a beer out of the fridge as Trevor and the other guys coaxed Heather into the practice room, thrilled to have any sort of audience, even a reluctant one.

“Yo, Tanner,” Felix called.

“What,” he called, popping the lid off the bottle and tilting the beer back to his lips as he tried to shake off whatever was bringing down his mood tonight.

“Let’s show Heather here that we’re more than a bit of noise coming through her bedroom wall.”

Josh turned around to see Donny dragging one of his kitchen chairs across the room, disappearing into the practice room.

“All right, love, you just sit down and get comfortable,” Trevor said. “Tanner! Come on, man.”

Josh heard the low strum of Donny’s guitar, heard Felix do a little warm-up rhythm, and knew there was no way of getting out of it. If he refused to play a song now, he’d look like an ass.

Still, his feet didn’t move, and he took another sip of beer.

Feeling eyes on him, he glanced up to see Heather in the doorway, leaning one shoulder against the doorjamb as she studied him.

“Okay, 4A?” she asked.

Her tone was lighthearted, almost slightly reluctant, as though she didn’t want to care about why he was out here alone, feeling oddly itchy with his life.

He appreciated it. He’d spent enough time in the past few years dealing with people who walked on eggshells around him, cooing sweetness. Some of it genuine, some of it not so much.

Heather’s no-nonsense question was refreshing—and exactly what he needed.

He was happy and healthy and living the dream, damn it.

Even if he was no longer sure it was his dream.

“You going soft on me?” he asked, taking one last sip of his beer before setting it aside and strolling toward her.

Heather’s eyes narrowed. “Hardly. I just wanted you to get your shit together so I can see your cute lead singer work his magic.”

He deliberately stepped into the doorway so she couldn’t move in either direction without brushing against him, grinning at her discomfort.

“You’re in a better mood tonight,” he said, his eyes skimming over her crazy curls and relaxed expression. “Why?”

“Believe it or not, I’m not a shrew.”

“Huh.”

Heather shoved his shoulder with a little scowl. “I’m not!”

“Does that mean you’re going to start making banana bread like Mrs. Calvin?”

“Yes, definitely. And coffee cake and sugar cookies and whatever other goodies you might like. All while wearing a frilly, feminine apron.”

“Dare I hope there’s nothing under the apron?” he asked, leaning in slightly.

“Right again!” she said, in mock delight. “I just love to bake naked.”

Josh’s pulse leapt, but Trevor interrupted before the sudden X-rated picture in his mind could turn into a full-fledged fantasy.

“Dude, we doing this or what?”

Josh looked at Heather.

“One song,” she said, holding up a finger. “I may as well see what the music sounds like on this side of the wall.”

BUY NOW

Amazon | B & N | Google | iTunes | Kobo

Don't Miss Any of the Wedding Belles Novels

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.

For a list of all her works, please be sure to check out her official website!

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sex and the City meets The Wedding Planner in The Wedding Belles!

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, 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's romantic tales just keep getting better and better and her fans reap the rewards. I still have a crush on Vincent Moretti from CUFF ME! The Wedding Belles series starts off with a bang when wedding planner Brooke squares off with her bridal client Maya's surly and uptight jerk brother Seth. Yes, he is the one who holds the purse strings. The two are constantly butting heads, but man do they spark with chemistry.

Seth loves his sister, but he doesn't know that he believes in love because his ex turned down his marriage proposal. They are wealthy and he wants to protect his sister from possibly being taken advantage of by a fortune hunter. Brooke is starting over in NYC after having been humiliated at the altar by her con man fiance. There is something in her that HAS to believe in love, so when the opportunity comes with the Wedding Belles, she goes for it.

Neither of the two are perfect. Seth's heart is in the right place, but he's become cynical. Brooke is a talented woman who is smart, talented, and savvy. She also has blinders and ignores her gut instincts about Maya and her future marriage and she doesn't like that Seth wants the fiance investigated. With what happened to her, you would think she would liked to have known about her own deceitful fiance, but Layne makes her human. How many of us ignore red flags when dealing with those we love?

There are a lot of secondary characters that I enjoyed like Alexis, Heather, and Logan. (He has a British accent)! Sexy. I also liked Seth's sister, Maya. She is a sweet and fun young woman, but she admitted to herself that she was getting tired of some of the social scene. But when she needs to, she does have a strong back bone. Seth's best friend Grant brings some humor to the story. And he's not afraid to call Seth on his stuff.

The chemistry between Seth and Brooke is hot and fierce. Neither of them want more, but the heart has a mind of it's own. The heat and passion is alive one minutes, and then they are snapping at each other, not wanting to be vulnerable with each other. This is such a great romance with two stubborn people who really need each other. I know that I was rooting for them and their happily ever after. I can't wait for the next story coming out soon. I know this series will be another hit for Lauren Layne!

BUY NOW

Amazon | B & N | Google Play | iTunes | Kobo

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.

Lauren lives in New York City with her husband (who was her high school sweetheart--cute, right?!) and plus-sized Pomeranian.

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.