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smutty_and_smokey 's review for:
Finding Hayes
by Laura Pavlov
Laura Pavlov's books are just so slick and binge-able - I zipped through Finding Hayes in record time as it was such an enjoyable easy read with great likeable characters and a plot that will make you smile without hurting your head.
The plot revolves around that fantastic old romance chestnut of needing to be married to secure an inheritance. But Savannah is lucky - her best friend from childhood, Hayes, is on hand to step up, albeit they've been estranged because of a huge misunderstanding (and some terrible parental behaviour) for a decade. But the interest here really comes from their second chance - though they were friends before, never romantically involved - this is their opportunity to repair their relationship and rebuild the trust and love that was lost all those years ago. Both characters are eminently likeable people and I was rooting for their happy ending, though I wished it hadn't turned out quite how it did because Hayes had some quite entrenched beliefs and somehow they all got easily swept away, I hoped we might have a more unique ending giving voice to some underrepresented groups but that didn't happen.
I read this as a standalone and it did work, though I definitely missed out on a lot of the relationship-building and bonding, especially between the guys, and was often a bit confused about which person was part of which couple. However, that wasn't important for this story and was just a minor niggle. So better to read the series if you can, but if this one particularly appeals to you it will work as a standalone.
This is probably somewhere between 3.5 - 4 stars for me as it's really well-written and enjoyable but doesn't break any new ground (though thanks for the rarely seen 69!) so I've rounded up.
Thanks to NetGalley, HQStories and Laura Pavlov for the ARC, this is my honest opinion.
The plot revolves around that fantastic old romance chestnut of needing to be married to secure an inheritance. But Savannah is lucky - her best friend from childhood, Hayes, is on hand to step up, albeit they've been estranged because of a huge misunderstanding (and some terrible parental behaviour) for a decade. But the interest here really comes from their second chance - though they were friends before, never romantically involved - this is their opportunity to repair their relationship and rebuild the trust and love that was lost all those years ago. Both characters are eminently likeable people and I was rooting for their happy ending, though I wished it hadn't turned out quite how it did because Hayes had some quite entrenched beliefs and somehow they all got easily swept away, I hoped we might have a more unique ending giving voice to some underrepresented groups but that didn't happen.
I read this as a standalone and it did work, though I definitely missed out on a lot of the relationship-building and bonding, especially between the guys, and was often a bit confused about which person was part of which couple. However, that wasn't important for this story and was just a minor niggle. So better to read the series if you can, but if this one particularly appeals to you it will work as a standalone.
This is probably somewhere between 3.5 - 4 stars for me as it's really well-written and enjoyable but doesn't break any new ground (though thanks for the rarely seen 69!) so I've rounded up.
Thanks to NetGalley, HQStories and Laura Pavlov for the ARC, this is my honest opinion.