5 STARS ✮ LAUREN LAYNE ✮ FOR BETTER OR WORSE

For Better or Worse

The Wedding Belles #2

Lauren Layne

When I requested this book to review I was a little bit nervous since the first full novel in the series wasn't a complete winner for me. Lauren Layne is generally a go-to author for me when I need a low-angst read and To Have and To Hold really didn't do it for me. So I grabbed this and dug in. The rest is history. Ladies and...well, ladies, we have a new favorite.

Heather is an assistant wedding planer who we met in the previous installments of this series. She strives to become a full-on wedding planer. The wedding her boss and friend Alexis is giving her to prove herself is high profile and everything she ever dreamed of. When she moves into her new posh New York City address her first run-in with her unruly next-door neighbor is everything but pleasant. When he kisses her to shut her up she is outraged. And a tiny little bit tempted.

Josh used to be a hedge fund manager. He embraced his job despite it being stressful, after all it also came with a lot of money. A grave diagnosis makes him reconsider his life and the changes he makes are supposed to make him happy. Josh loves music, he is good with instruments - starting a band has been giving him exactly what he wanted, right? But something is missing...

No amount of money could help you out when fate picked you as one of her victims, as she'd done to Josh.

When his new neighbor knocks on his door late at night, demanding for him to stop the noise he is amused by the firecracker standing in front of him. After his illness Josh doesn't do relationships - living in the moment is kind of a relationship-killer. How can he burden somebody with the prospect of losing him? But damn if Heather doesn't tempt him to get into her pants. What he isn't prepared for though is that Heather will give him a run for his money. Their friendship soon turns into one with benefits.

The woman was annoying, yes, but ashe was also...interesting. And despite all those badass walls she tried to put up, he'd bet his guitar that there was a sweetheart hiding benath all the curls and sass.

Heather is such a wonderful heroine. She started out rather bitchy, but who can blame her when she runs on little sleep, a lot of caffeine and tons of work. Soon she finds herself charmed by her new neighbor and they become friends. There is always a sexual tension between these two but the friendship aspect is just as present and I loved how they started building on that. Heather is hardworking, sweet yet feisty and independent.

Josh is the "OMG"-kind. He is cheeky, has a fantastic sense of humor and although he is a manwhore the good man in him shines through throughout the story. His seemingly careless attitude belies his demons which are only waiting to make an appearance. He is always there for Heather, helps her out when she needs him.

"Damned if I don't like you a little bit, 4C, especially when you're all pissy and shit."

This story has a bucket load of witty LL-signature banter and hilarious quips and comebacks. I was mostly in public when I read this story so a lot of people heard me laughing about the things that come out of Josh's mouth. There is a lot of reference to banana bread and it never got old. The chemistry between our two main characters is steamy and to me they are a pair made in heaven. Big love.

"Morning, 4C. Aren't you pretty in the morning. And by pretty I mean your hair is enormous."

Lauren Layne taps into a serious topic yet it never outweighs the lightheartedness of the story. This book was everything from charming to enthralling, sexy, hot and sweet and this time around I was left completely satisfied and I look forward to the things LL has in store for Alexis and Logan.

"Yup. You're a cancer survivor, but you're not being one of the cool ones who keeps on trucking, saving your "I beat it" flag and taking on the world. You're one of the scared ones who's letting it beat you. Not phyiscally, but mentally and emotionally. The leukemia is whipping your ass. "