★BOOK REVIEW + EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY★Irresistibly Yours by Lauren Layne

Irresistibly_yours_alleskelle

MY RATING

I loved it!

Another winner from Lauren Layne, an exquisite mix between friends to lovers romance, sports and love at the office. Lauren Layne is the author that can have me cheering for any kind of romance trope. ANY. Really.
It wasn’t so long ago I was talking all about my love for ‘friends-to-lovers’ tropes. Well I guess I like the ‘Just-Friends-Nothing-More’ trope just as much! Anything really, if it’s Lauren Layne style!
Good feels ahead! 

Book infos & Purchase Links

IY_CoverMeet the men of Oxford magazine! In the first captivating spin-off of Lauren Layne’s Sex, Love & Stiletto series, a not-so-friendly battle of the sexes turns into a scorching office romance.

Hotshot sports editor Cole Sharpe has been freelancing for Oxford for years, so when he hears about a staff position opening up, he figures he’s got the inside track. Then his boss drops a bombshell: Cole has competition. Female competition, in the form of a fresh-faced tomboy who can hang with the dudes—and write circles around them, too. Cole usually likes his women flirty and curvy, but he takes a special interest in his skinny, sassy rival, if only to keep an eye on her. And soon, he can’t take his eyes off her.

Penelope Pope knows all too well that she comes off as just one of the guys. Since she’s learned that wanting more usually leads to disappointment, Penelope’s resigned to sitting on the sidelines when it comes to love. So why does Cole make her want to get back in the game? The man is as arrogant as he is handsome. He probably sees her as nothing more than a barrier to his dream job. But when an unexpected kiss turns into a night of irresistible passion, Penelope has to figure out whether they’re just fooling around—or starting something real.

Author : Lauren Layne
Title : Irresistibly Yours
Series : 
Oxford #1
Publisher : Loveswept
Pages : 260
Release date : October 6, 2015
Genre : Contemporary, NA.
Tour : Tasty Book Tours

 

Excerpt

IY-Quote-#7_LOWCole had been watching the brunette for the better part of three innings.

Which was just wrong on a couple of levels.

For starters, it was a rare woman who could come between Cole Sharpe and baseball. Or between Cole and any sport, for that matter.

And at Yankee Stadium in particular, the game came first. Especially a game in which the Yankees were trying to establish early dominance over the Blue Jays in the American League East division.

Cole’s eyes should have been glued to the field. Not only because the Yankees were his team—he’d been a die-hard fan since his Little League days—but because Cole was a sportswriter. Come tomorrow morning, Cole would be expected to know the details of every single at bat.

And yet . . .

His eyes shifted once more to the narrow figure of the brunette as he took another sip of beer.

There was something about her that demanded a second look and at the same time, there was nothing about her. She was utterly, completely unremarkable.

And that was the other reason why Cole’s fascination with the woman made no sense.

Cole loved women almost as much as he loved sports, but this woman?

Cole liked women curvy, but this one was slim to the point of being skinny. There was no noticeable definition of her waist through her Jeter jersey. No womanly flare of her hips.

Plus, Cole preferred blondes, and this one’s messy ponytail was just a couple shades lighter than black.

As for her face? Well, he hadn’t seen it yet. Not fully. But she’d turned her head once in the third inning, giving Cole a quick glance at her profile. The upturned nose was cute enough, but the rest of her features were hardly so arresting as to explain why he continued to stare at her.

It took Cole another half inning to realize what it was that had captivated him.

For the first time in his life, he was seeing a woman who was more absorbed with a baseball game than he was.

Tiny Brunette, as he’d started thinking of her, hadn’t lost interest in the game once. Even between innings, when the rest of the stadium was refilling on beer and peanuts, she merely scribbled like crazy in a little notebook she kept in her lap.

It was like clockwork. The third out would signal the swap of the players on the field, and Tiny Brunette’s attention would dip toward the damn notebook.

Her left hand would sneak around to twirl her ponytail around a finger while her right hand busily wrote . . .

What?

What did she write in that notebook? And exactly why did he want to know so badly?

Normally Cole would just ask. The seat beside Tiny Brunette was free. Everyone else in the suite was there more for the networking and the free food and booze than the game. It would have been so easy just to plop down beside her, strike up a conversation. Flirt.

But for some reason he was hesitant.

Cole told himself it was because he didn’t want to interrupt whatever it was she was so diligently working on, but there was an unfamiliar fear too.

The fear of rejection.

Because nothing about this woman signaled that she’d be interested in a conversation with him.

And that would be a first.

IY-Quote-#6_LOW

My Review

Irresistibly_yours_cast_alleskelle_2

Irresistibly Yours was such a funny and light romantic comedy, mixing and switching smoothly between different romance tropes. All happily leading to the best kind of romance, the swooning kind!

We gradually could enjoy the basic rivalry between Penelope Pope and Cole Sharpe and I loved how quickly the author decided to show us Cole and Penelope true colors. The characters were what you see is what you get and I was glad not to fall into some complex mind games.

Cole did not expect to have to fight his way through the newly opened position of Senior Sport Editor for Oxford Magazine. After years of freelancing he thought the job will simply be his. Finally.

But plans never go quite smoothly and that’s with a great stupefaction that he realizes there is a competitor between him and his coveted job.
The female kind. Horror!

Irresistibly_yours_cast_alleskelle_1

From this moment on I was pretty much sold on the story. A woman fighting her way into a man’s world and expectedly falling for the big bad wolf. SOLD!

Cole Sharpe literally stole my heart! He’s a good guy through and through and though he’s ready to do anything for this job, he just can’t fight dirty. He could be a real ass, he was arrogant and cocky but underneath this alpha attitude he’s just your regular good guy and it was easy to love him. He’s also a natural born charmer and über sexy and I guess it helped!

Freshly arrived from Chicago, Penelope Pope wants a new start and she’s full on intent to get her dream job. Nothing more.
She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, she’s your regular good girl and resident tomboy. She was full of sass, snark and could stand her own job wise, yet, it was another story regarding her self-appreciation. Used to be one of the boys since forever, she developed insecurities, partly due to a bad history with men and the way she thinks she looks. While I thought it was understandable, I found it to be a little too pronounced and got annoyed with it.

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When was the last time you’ve been decently kissed, Penelope?

What started as a rivalry between 2 colleagues quickly becomes a laid-back friendship, both characters reunited over their love for baseball and sports. That is until this great chemistry between them combined to Cole Sharpe’s  irresistible charm become insufferable. Sparks fly and office shenanigans ensue.

I could torture you like this forever.

I loved the easygoing and smooth transition between the different stages of their relationship. Lauren Layne crafted a really nice and swooning story here, directing Penelope and Cole through the ‘enemies-to-friends’ stage to the ‘colleagues-to-lovers’ one and finally to the ‘lovers-to-more’, effortlessly.

Those damn eyes of yours. They undo me. 

I just kept on reading, a smile plastered on my face, really enjoying their easy banter, the sexual tension, the sexy times and minor angst. I loved it all!

As with all her books, Lauren Layne laid out the foundations to what I’m sure will be another great series and I can’t wait to read Lincoln’ story very, very soon.

Here’s the thing, Tiny. A few months ago I made you a promise that I wouldn’t fall in love with you.
I’m going to have to break that promise.

If you’re a fan of office antics, sexy times and playful banter then please pick up this one soon. Good feels guaranteed! 

Author Bio

LaurenLauren Layne is the USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance.

Prior to becoming an author, Lauren worked in e-commerce and web-marketing. In 2011, she and her husband moved from Seattle to New York City, where Lauren decided to pursue a full-time writing career. It took six months to get her first book deal (despite ardent assurances to her husband that it would only take three). Since then, Lauren’s gone on to publish ten books, including the bestselling Stiletto series, with several more on the way in 2015.

Lauren currently lives in Chicago with her husband and spoiled Pomeranian. When not writing, you’ll find her at happy hour, running at a doggedly slow pace, or trying to straighten her naturally curly hair.

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