ISN’T SHE LOVELY:
Flirt New Adult Romance
By Lauren Layne
On sale: October 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-345-54911-2
Published by Flirt
Published by Flirt
The rules are clear—until they’re broken. Lauren Layne puts a New Adult spin on Pygmalion, also the inspiration for Pretty Woman, and gives the classic love story its edgiest twist yet.
“Who knew that pretending you’re not falling
for someone would be so much more difficult than pretending that you are?”
Stephanie Kendrick gave up her whole summer to
ace her NYU film school screenwriting course, so she’s pissed to be stuck with
a preppy, spoiled frat boy as her writing partner. Then again, with her
piercings, black-rimmed eyes, and Goth wardrobe, Stephanie isn’t exactly Ethan
Price’s type, either. He’s probably got his eye on some leggy blonde with a
trust fund . . . or does he?
As the summer scene kicks off in the Hamptons,
Ethan is desperate to make his snobbish mother forget the pedigreed girl who
broke his heart. While Stephanie’s a stretch as a decoy, the right makeover and
a pastel cardigan just might do the trick. She may not love the idea of playing
Ethan’s brainless Barbie girlfriend, but the free rent and luxurious digs make
a tempting offer. So does the promise of a ready-made screenplay idea inspired
by their charade.
But when Stephanie steps into Ethan’s
privileged world, the “acting” begins to feel all too real. The kissing and
touching that were intended to fool the Hamptons crowd wind up manipulating
them. And Stephanie faces a question she’s too afraid to ask: Is Ethan falling
for the real her or for the dolled-up princess he wants to see?
Buy Links:
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Author Bio:
Lauren
Layne graduated from Santa Clara University with a B.S. in political science
that she has yet to put to good use. After dabbling in an e-commerce career in
Seattle and Southern California, Layne moved to New York City, where she now
writes full-time. She lives with her husband and their plus-size pomeranian in
a tiny Manhattan studio.
My Thoughts:
Holy moly!! How much did I love this book. I love when a book completely throws you for six and you end up getting so much more than what you expected. I sat down with the intentions of reading a few chapters to get a feel for the book and it's characters and the next thing I knew I had finished the book. I had barely glanced up from it's pages I was so caught up in the story.
Sometimes I think I'm nothing but a decent-looking package for people to fill up with their garbage.
On the surface Stephanie Kendrick and Ethan Price are as opposite as you can get. Ethan is preppy and Stephanie is goth. You can't get much more opposite than that right? When they are thrown together as partners in a summer film class, Ethan comes up with the idea of Stephanie masquerading as his new girlfriend thereby killing two birds with one stone. He show's his overbearing mother that he has moved on from his ex-girlfriend and him and Steph get the storyline they need for their class project. The first thing that needs to be taken care of is the way that Steph looks. Her goth getup just wont cut it in his well to do family. The new look Steph plays the part well and the more that Ethan and Steph put on a show they begin to wonder if these feelings are all part of the act or could they really be falling for each other.
Preppy, polo wearing jocks are not my first choice in book crushes. I like my book boys with a bit of an edge. Or I can go to the complete opposite end of the scale and fall for the guy who is off the scale of sweetness. And Ethan Price is really not quite either of those things. But he is hiding hurt and pain and if there's one thing I'm attracted to it's a guy that needs to be fixed. So, what can I say. Ethan so did it for me in that regard. And he turned out to be so sweet and by the end of the book, I had to admit I think that maybe polo wearing jocks are my thing.
Stephanie was such a cool chick. From the tips of her dark hair, darkened eyes, multiple piercings, black clothes and combat boots. She was like my ideal man wrapped up in a female package. She is so not impressed with Ethan when she first meets him but they slowly develop this really easy friendship. And the time they spend together is actually fun. She finds herself opening up to Ethan. He is so easy to confide in and that easy friendship was one of the things that I loved the most.
She narrows her eyes and gives this little head wiggle as if to say what? before shooting me the bird.
So...never mind. Guess I don't have to worry about falling for this delicate little flower.
I loved the way that these two fed off each other. They were snarky and sarcastic and each gave as good as they got. There were so many times that they had me grinning with their comebacks to each other. The heat between Ethan and Stephanie was pretty hot. That attraction escalated throughout the story and complemented their friendship perfectly.
Her skin's so warm, and I don't know if it's from the sun, or because of me, and I hope to god it's the latter because I don't give a shit who's watching. I'm dying for this girl.
Were there times that these two frustrated me? Hell yes!!! I wanted to give each of them a good shake at different stages. They were both so stubborn and set in their opinions. There was one point in the book that I was almost shouting at them "What are you two doing?"... Driving me crazy is what!!!
While the pygmalion take has been done before, that in no way made this story feel overly regurgitated. It was fun. It was sweet. It had heat. It had an amazing friendship. It had great character development. It was so fantastically written and delivered. And it had Ethan Price.
5/5 Friends to Lovers Stars.
*Quotes taken from an ARC and may change in the final copy.
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