lauren layne – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 250 pages
Author: Lauren Layne & Anthony LeDonne
Publisher: Blackstone
Release Date: October 24th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Layne–and her real life husband and high school sweetheart, Anthony LeDonne–comes a new holiday romcom that is sure to warm even the coldest heart.

Katherine, an ambitious NYC attorney, gets diagnosed with a concussion and must be monitored for 48 hours to make sure it doesn’t get worse. Unfortunately, she forgot to update her emergency contact so the person they call is her ex-husband, Tom. Unable to be left alone, Katherine reluctantly agrees to travel to Chicago with Tom for the holidays. But thanks to a blizzard, what should have been a quick plane ride turns into an antagonistic overnight misadventure that stirs up old feelings even as Tom prepares to propose to his girlfriend on Christmas Eve.

A delightful meet-cute between The Proposal and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Emergency Contact is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for the ALC.

OH SO WITTY.

The nods to Planes, Trains and Automobiles was absolutely at the forefront of this book and had my chuckling throughout. Not one thing going right in the midst of a divorced couple forced to hang out for the holidays is a romance combination I have never read and completely devoured. I love how unique this felt in the genre and it gave a sense of hope of reconciliation (in the right situations).

Reverse grump x sunshine was the most prominent factor and I liked the flipped script. Both Katherine and Tom had to come to terms with how their marriage declined and what were the truly important aspects of their lives. I feel like all of the traveling chaos allowed them to come together and realize what they both had been missing.

It’s a short book, filled with just enough holiday antics to call it a holiday romance and one I will definitely be recommending this year.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Holiday Romance
Language: a little strong
Romance: kisses
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: divorce, car accident, loss of a parent (recounted)

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 288 pages
Author: Lauren Layne
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: June 29th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Love Is Blind meets You’ve Got Mail in this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy following two thirty-somethings who meet on a blind dating app—only to realize that their online chemistry is nothing compared to their offline rivalry.

Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just months after a lung cancer diagnosis, she sets aside her dreams of pursuing her passion for art to take over his Midtown Manhattan champagne shop. She soon finds out that the store’s profit margins are being squeezed perilously tight, and complicating matters further, a giant corporation headed by the impossibly handsome, but irritatingly arrogant Sebastian Andrews is proposing a buyout. But Gracie can’t bear the thought of throwing away her father’s dream like she did her own.

Overwhelmed and not wanting to admit to her friends or family that she’s having second thoughts about the shop, Gracie seeks advice and solace from someone she’s never met—the faceless “Sir”, with whom she connected on a blind dating app where matches get to know each other through messages and common interests before exchanging real names or photos.

But although Gracie finds herself slowly falling for Sir online, she has no idea she’s already met him in real life…and they can’t stand each other.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC. All opinions are my own!

HOW ADORABLE.

Ahhhhh so happy I got an ARC of this one because Y’ALL.

CUTENESS OVERLOAD.

Okay, first I need to preface this by saying, I have NOT seen You’ve Got Mail. I will in no way be able to convey if it’s like it or not (the summary says it is). So with that skeleton thrown out of my closet, lets get into the review!

I couldn’t get enough of this couple. Gracie and Sebastian play a perfectly sweet sunshine/grump + hidden identities (a FAV) scenario that had me grinning from ear to ear. All of their interactions were spot on and they were easy to fall in love with. The whole cast was easy to fall in love with for that matter.

This seemed to play on a little bit of an insta-love, but in a realistic style. I had no issues with the progression and timeline. Everything felt so natural that Sebastian and Gracie would fall in love. If anything I would have loved even more page time with them. I love how sweet they were on each other without even trying. Gosh the chemistry was fantastic.

Aaaand the family dynamics!! This had some of the best sibling relationships I’ve read about in a long time. They were all so kind!! And supportive!! And there for each other!! Ahhhh, I loved it. It was so meaningful to see these connections along side the romantic one. Graice had a lot of solid friendships as well. I really think all of these other people in Gracie’s life made this book sing. Nothing felt lacking even with the romance at the forefront.

There was so much to this story (and for under 300 pages I am wowza impressed). I found myself absolutely invested in that final movie ending moment and how CUTE. Just gave me all of the giddy, sunshiney feelings.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: very little
Romance: kisses
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of parents (happened prior to timeline in book), a side couple struggles with infertility