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BLURRED LINES
Lauren Layne
Releasing Aug 25th, 2015
Loveswept
In
a novel that’s perfect for fans of Abbi Glines and Jessica Sorensen, USA
Today bestselling author Lauren Layne delivers a sexy take on the timeless
question: Can a guy and a girl really be “just friends”?
When
Parker Blanton meets Ben Olsen during her freshman year of college, the
connection is immediate—and platonic. Six years later, they’re still best
friends, sharing an apartment in Portland’s trendy Northwest District as they
happily settle into adult life. But when Parker’s boyfriend dumps her out of
the blue, she starts to wonder about Ben’s no-strings-attached approach to
dating. The trouble is, even with Ben as her wingman, Parker can’t seem to get
the hang of casual sex—until she tries it with him.
The
arrangement works perfectly . . . at first. The sex is mind-blowing, and their
friendship remains as solid as ever, without any of the usual messy romantic
entanglements. But when Parker’s ex decides he wants her back, Ben is shocked
by a fierce stab of possessiveness. And when Ben starts seeing a girl from
work, Parker finds herself plagued by unfamiliar jealousy. With their
friendship on the rocks for the first time, Parker and Ben face an alarming
truth: Maybe they can’t go back. And maybe, deep down, they never want to.
Kristine's Thoughts:
** I received an advanced readers copy for the purpose of this blog tour via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!**
I have read most of Lauren Layne's books and look forward to each new one as it is released. Her stories have always manage to draw me in and put a smile on my face. Blurred Lines was no exception.
In this book Layne takes on the whole "friends with benefits" scenario. Although it is a topic that has been done a gazillion times, it didn't feel like the same old story and didn't get monotonous. I think this was because of the amazing way that she penned her characters and the interactions between them. The combination of humour and real to life dialogue had me in stitches numerous times. The banter and petty arguments that Parker and Ben had as friends and roommates over things like hot water, towels and remote controls resembled so many real life relationships. I am sure most people will relate.
It took me a little while to warm up to Ben. Admittedly, I wasn't a fan in the beginning. In fact, I found him to be a bit of a sleaze ball. I enjoyed his interactions and relationship with Parker but hated the womanising and disrespectful way he was towards the women he brought home. It had me worried for a little bit because how could I enjoy a book if I wasn't a fan of one of the main characters? As the story progressed and certain things came to light that explained his behaviour I found myself liking him more and more. His obvious devotion to Parker was quite endearing as well. In the end I did manage to warm up to him and was hopeful for a positive outcome.
As I find with most of Lauren Layne's books, this one was a quick and easy read. If time permits, it could easily be read in one day. The chapters were all short and alternated between Parker and Ben's point of view. I love multiple points of view. It was nice to get inside the heads of more than one character.
This is my guilty pleasure genre and Lauren Layne always manages to satisfy my reading itch. For that I am thankful!
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Excerpt
My
sophomore year of high school, I had a short-lived friendship with
this girl named Korie Hamilton.
She
was nice enough.
A
little too much purple eyeliner, a few too many likes
sprinkled throughout her constant chatter, but we had every class
together our first semester, so we kind of became friends by default.
Anyway,
Korie was forever yammering on and on about how her best friend on
the entire planet was Stephen Daniels, a boy she’d known for all of
four weeks before promoting him to BFF status.
Apparently
it was, like,
ohmigod, like, the best thing ever
to have a guy she could talk to without complicating things with
romantic entanglements.
Please.
Real
best friends can generally go more than a couple hours without
mentioning each other’s name, but Korie found a way to fit
Stephen’s name into every other sentence.
Just
friends
my ass.
I
guess technically
they were platonic for a while. Stephen had a girlfriend named Libby
Tittles, or something unfortunate like that, and Korie had this
on-again-off-again thing with her junior high boyfriend.
But
anyone who’s ever seen a movie, or watched TV, or just had basic
awareness of human interaction saw exactly where Korie and Stephen
were heading: Humpville.
Even
though Korie swore up and down that she didn’t like him like that,
both of their significant others were long gone by Thanksgiving of
sophomore year.
By
Christmas vacation, Korie wasn’t uttering quite so many likes.
Why?
Because Stephen’s tongue was in her mouth before school, after
school, and every freaking weekend.
But
we all know how this ends, right? Just a few short months later, not
only were Korie and Stephen no longer dating, they sure as hell
weren’t best
friends.
Their
short-lived romance and ensuing breakup barely even registered a blip
on the gossip chain, but I’d like to think it taught some of us
high school girls a valuable lesson:
Guys
and girls can’t be just friends. Or not best
friends, anyway.
Shit
gets too complicated.
But
let’s fast-forward a few years, shall we?
I’m
now twenty-four, and I have a public service announcement to make: I
was wrong.
Guys
and girls really can
be best friends.
It
is
possible to have a platonic relationship with a guy where there are
no romantic inklings, no sexual fantasies, and no naïve
proclamations of I
don’t like him like that
in a torturous attempt to hide an agonizing unrequited love.
How
do I know this? How do I know that a guy and a girl can be best
friends without romantic entanglements?
Well,
let’s see, I’ve been on the female end of one such platonic
relationship for six years now.
Six.
Years.
!
True
story:
Ben
Olsen and I met the summer before our first year at University of
Oregon during freshman orientation. We were assigned to the same
group in one of those terrible ice-breaking activities where you have
to put a sticky note on your head and guess what kind of safari
animal you are, or something, and we just . . .
Clicked?
I
don’t know why we clicked in the Hey,
you’re cool but I have no interest in boning you kind
of way, but we did.
Maybe
it was because I was in stupid insta-love with another guy in our
group. Or maybe because my ovaries were hyperaware that Ben’s
ridiculous good looks would lead to heartbreak. But whatever the
reason, we did the implausible.
We
became best friends.
And,
yes, every single one of my female friends has given me the exact
same warnings I gave Korie Hamilton way back when: It
won’t work.
My
friends are split down the middle on how it will actually go down,
but they’re all convinced that it will
go down.
Half
think that Ben and I are soulmates who are just biding our time until
marriage and babies.
The
other half think that we’re going to have too much to drink one
night, have awful sex, and never speak again.
Ben
and I proved them wrong when freshman year ended and our friendship
was still intact. Sophomore year? Repeat.
Junior
year, we really upped our game. Not only were we closer than ever,
but we became roommates.
It happened sort of by accident when one of his housemates backed out
at the last minute, and I belatedly realized I couldn’t bear one
more year of dorm food, so I moved in. And it worked.
So we did it again senior year.
Here
we are, two years after graduation, still living together, although
we’ve upgraded from crappy off-campus housing in Eugene to a
slightly less crappy two-bedroom house in the Northwest neighborhood
of Portland.
And
yes. Still platonic as ever, with not so much as a hint
of change in the air. I’m crazy in love with Lance Myers, my
boyfriend of five years, and Ben . . .
Well,
Ben’s on a rather awe-inspiring mission to seduce the entire female
population in western Oregon.
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Lauren 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.
