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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book so much! I was already excited to read Matt and Sabrina’s story whenever they were in the same room in Hot Asset, and I’m so happy that it was an even better one than I had hoped for! They’re so good together, and they can be themselves around each other. From the bickering to the confessions, it was all just amazing!
Steam: 3/5 (some open door scenes)
Steam: 3/5 (some open door scenes)
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction, Infidelity
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Matt Cannon, rot in hell. You will not be forgiven for your crimes against Sabrina
Thank you Montlake Romance for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Our next couple in the 21 Wall Street series are Matt Cannon and Sabrina Cross. We've seen these two in the previous book and they intrigued me ever since. I knew their chemistry will be explosive and it's no surprise I'll enjoy this... A LOT.
Hard Sell is a frenemies-to-lovers book and the youngest broker of Wall Street is in trouble. Matt's reputation is tainted after a bachelor party in Las Vegas and headlining on newspapers. His clients are wary which caught his bosses' attention. To fix his troubles, he asked his frenemy, Sabrina, to be his fake girlfriend and convince his clients he's a committed man. However, they had a deal wherein their arrangement is professional: No hookups and no falling in love with each other.
*Sighs* I'm enticed on Matt and Sabrina's relationship. They're so compatible and I can't help swooning. They may be cynical with each other but their chemistry? FIREWORKS. I love their constant bickering and sexual tension. Both of them have problematic parents making them commitment-phobe and in spite of their issues both characters are independent, career driven and strong-willed.
It's only Sabrina who can put up with Matt and remorseless call him out. She got the sass and toughness I love in a heroine. She helps everyone but fears falling in love with Matt because it might be unrequited. I'm sorry Ian but Matt dethrones you as my favorite hero in the series. I love him and the only thing I dislike is when he took time for him to profess his love for Sabrina. Just a minor setback. The ending almost tear me up when he redeemed himself.
I'll definitely read more Lauren Layne's books. I'm starting to love her novels and I can't wait for the final book because it's about Kate and Kennedy. I'm betting it'll give me lots of feels.
Final rating: 4.5 / 5 stars
Our next couple in the 21 Wall Street series are Matt Cannon and Sabrina Cross. We've seen these two in the previous book and they intrigued me ever since. I knew their chemistry will be explosive and it's no surprise I'll enjoy this... A LOT.
Hard Sell is a frenemies-to-lovers book and the youngest broker of Wall Street is in trouble. Matt's reputation is tainted after a bachelor party in Las Vegas and headlining on newspapers. His clients are wary which caught his bosses' attention. To fix his troubles, he asked his frenemy, Sabrina, to be his fake girlfriend and convince his clients he's a committed man. However, they had a deal wherein their arrangement is professional: No hookups and no falling in love with each other.
*Sighs* I'm enticed on Matt and Sabrina's relationship. They're so compatible and I can't help swooning. They may be cynical with each other but their chemistry? FIREWORKS. I love their constant bickering and sexual tension. Both of them have problematic parents making them commitment-phobe and in spite of their issues both characters are independent, career driven and strong-willed.
It's only Sabrina who can put up with Matt and remorseless call him out. She got the sass and toughness I love in a heroine. She helps everyone but fears falling in love with Matt because it might be unrequited. I'm sorry Ian but Matt dethrones you as my favorite hero in the series. I love him and the only thing I dislike is when he took time for him to profess his love for Sabrina. Just a minor setback. The ending almost tear me up when he redeemed himself.
I'll definitely read more Lauren Layne's books. I'm starting to love her novels and I can't wait for the final book because it's about Kate and Kennedy. I'm betting it'll give me lots of feels.
Final rating: 4.5 / 5 stars
Would it be petulant of me to compare all of LL's books with the Oxford/Stiletto days? I don't know, I do it anyway. I feel like the O/S series left a really high standard that the 21WS plot + premise just can't match up to. Also, personally speaking, I can't imagine why anyone would choose to romanticise bankers... The writing is good, the plot works out well, but I think just the premise of mixing finance x romance is too off-putting a combination for me. I loved Sabrina as a character, I liked Matt as a character, and yet mixing the idea of Wall Street (again, why anyone would feel the need to glorify this segment of society any further than it already is) x Romance as a genre just felt like a hit-and-miss. Mostly a miss, for me.
This is another book Rowena chose for me for our Summer Reading Challenge. I enjoyed it more than the previous book. I really liked Sabrina and Matt together. They had a great love/hate thing going on with lots of chemistry. I'm super excited to jump into the next book. I hope we get a book for Jarrod, too.
https://celebrityreaders.com/2021/03/28/21-wall-street-series-by-lauren-layne/
4.5 stars — I had a feeling I might enjoy Matt and Sabrina, and I was right! Which is so weird, b/c if you follow my reviews, you know I’m NOT an enemies to lovers trope fan. But somehow I often end up loving Ms. Layne’s versions. I think it’s because you can tell from each of their POVs that there’s a lot going on underneath, and if mean things get said there is at least internal remorse (and sometimes external). It’s seriously the little things, and Matt and Sabrina’s story had ALL the little things for me.
I kind of enjoyed that they were both damaged by their upbringings to be wary of marriage and commitment, but for different reasons. But I felt for both of them. I’m not saying they didn’t frustrate me at times, but not enough for me to lose my love for them…I knew they’d get there.
The funny thing is, I’m not sure what I love about each of them individually, though they’re both very interesting individuals with a lot of sass and snark. But it was the two of them together that had me captivated. I think it’s because their relationship had so much push and pull — this amazing chemistry, with both of them alternating between fighting it and capitulating. And it was just fun to watch them both slowly start to realize things — start to let their guard down with one another. I just really enjoyed that journey.
As always, the secondary cast was awesome. I seriously think Ms. Layne writes some of the best friend groups.
Also, shout out to Juno who was adorable.
And now we move on to Kennedy and Kate. I really have no idea what’s behind both of them, but I’m excited.
4.5 stars — I had a feeling I might enjoy Matt and Sabrina, and I was right! Which is so weird, b/c if you follow my reviews, you know I’m NOT an enemies to lovers trope fan. But somehow I often end up loving Ms. Layne’s versions. I think it’s because you can tell from each of their POVs that there’s a lot going on underneath, and if mean things get said there is at least internal remorse (and sometimes external). It’s seriously the little things, and Matt and Sabrina’s story had ALL the little things for me.
I kind of enjoyed that they were both damaged by their upbringings to be wary of marriage and commitment, but for different reasons. But I felt for both of them. I’m not saying they didn’t frustrate me at times, but not enough for me to lose my love for them…I knew they’d get there.
The funny thing is, I’m not sure what I love about each of them individually, though they’re both very interesting individuals with a lot of sass and snark. But it was the two of them together that had me captivated. I think it’s because their relationship had so much push and pull — this amazing chemistry, with both of them alternating between fighting it and capitulating. And it was just fun to watch them both slowly start to realize things — start to let their guard down with one another. I just really enjoyed that journey.
As always, the secondary cast was awesome. I seriously think Ms. Layne writes some of the best friend groups.
Also, shout out to Juno who was adorable.
And now we move on to Kennedy and Kate. I really have no idea what’s behind both of them, but I’m excited.