{"id":26248,"date":"2020-09-01T07:04:34","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T11:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=26248"},"modified":"2022-10-11T16:58:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T16:58:59","slug":"review-yours-to-keep-by-lauren-layne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/01\/review-yours-to-keep-by-lauren-layne\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \u2764\ufe0f Yours to Keep by Lauren Layne"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-26248\" data-postid=\"26248\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-26248 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_bbbcac8 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner gutter-narrow col_align_top tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_49667e8 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_7036296 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yours-to-keep-lauren-layne.jpg?w=640\" title=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f Yours to Keep by Lauren Layne\" alt=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f Yours to Keep by Lauren Layne\">\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_a1982ef customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pro baseball shortstop Carter Ramsey is about to be\u00a0<i>Citizen<\/i>\u00a0magazine\u2019s Man of the Year, but the only title that matters to him is out of reach: World Series MVP. Benched by a recent injury, Carter retreats to his hometown to recover. His ten-year class reunion and a potential reconciliation with the sweetheart he left behind could be perfect distractions. Until another old acquaintance throws Carter a curveball.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Olive Dunn admits that her former high school science partner is still a handsome charmer. But she wasn\u2019t swayed then, and she won\u2019t be swayed now. Because Olive remembers Carter\u2019s little shortcoming: he tends to bail the moment it suits him, without a backward glance. Best to keep her feelings strictly platonic while he\u2019s in town.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Except the entitled boy she knew is a changed man: solid, reflective, and generous. As they ease back in to their familiar friendship, things take a surprising turn, and Carter and Olive must decide if what they have is a passing flirtation or a real shot at love.<\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_23787e9 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_2d1ea91  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16466 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts.jpg?resize=135%2C44\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Sep 1, 2020<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Man of the Year<br \/><\/em><strong>Book:\u00a0<\/strong>3<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Sensual<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Amazon Publishing<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Montlake<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $4.99<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><br \/>Carter<\/strong> suffers an injury that leaves him rushing home to recover. While he is there, he takes the time to attempt to get back with an old flame that will be attending the high school reunion. Instead, he keeps coming across another classmate, <strong>Olive<\/strong>, who is not the woman he thought she was.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This one ticked my boxes but didn\u2019t necessarily wow me. Now I love a good small town romance to keep me feeling all cozy but the cozy feeling didn\u2019t really stay.\u00a0 I kept wondering what happened to the old fling. The idea of that fizzled immediately as he encountered Olive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I like the individual characters but they didn\u2019t quite work well together in my opinion. Carter is the typical handsome jock who is stuck on himself and his sports. Now that he has to slow down he is a lot more reflective and kind. He likes being around Olive. They have always had an easy going friendship so when things spark up between them, it is a no brainer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I connected more with Olive because she is this tough woman who isn\u2019t shy or afraid to be exactly who she is. I liked how she is straight shooter and didn\u2019t want to give Carter any play despite him being this big time athlete. In fact, I thought she could have come around faster than she did but I get the witty banter and the constant flirting.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The slow burn got to be a bit too slow which made the book drag.\u00a0 After a while the friendship needed to be kicked up a notch and the romance needed to seep into the storyline more. I think an addition of spice could have made this more interesting for me.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Overall, I\u2019m still invested in this series. I recommend this book to fans for a quick, easy and light-hearted contemporary romance.<\/p>\n<p><em>~ Samantha<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_eb0616c customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3jCx4vl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pro baseball shortstop Carter Ramsey is about to be\u00a0Citizen\u00a0magazine\u2019s Man of the Year, but the only title that matters to him is out of reach: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,48,50],"tags":[146,217,454],"class_list":["post-26248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montlake","category-reviews","category-samantha","tag-3-stars","tag-contemporary-romance","tag-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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Benched by a recent injury, Carter retreats to his hometown to recover. His ten-year class reunion and a potential reconciliation with the sweetheart he left behind could be perfect distractions. Until another old acquaintance throws Carter a curveball.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Olive Dunn admits that her former high school science partner is still a handsome charmer. But she wasn\u2019t swayed then, and she won\u2019t be swayed now. Because Olive remembers Carter\u2019s little shortcoming: he tends to bail the moment it suits him, without a backward glance. Best to keep her feelings strictly platonic while he\u2019s in town.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Except the entitled boy she knew is a changed man: solid, reflective, and generous. As they ease back in to their familiar friendship, things take a surprising turn, and Carter and Olive must decide if what they have is a passing flirtation or a real shot at love.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p> <hr \/> <p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Sep 1, 2020<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>Man of the Year<br \/><\/em><strong>Book:\u00a0<\/strong>3<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Sensual<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Amazon Publishing<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Montlake<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $4.99<\/p> <hr \/> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><br \/>Carter<\/strong> suffers an injury that leaves him rushing home to recover. While he is there, he takes the time to attempt to get back with an old flame that will be attending the high school reunion. Instead, he keeps coming across another classmate, <strong>Olive<\/strong>, who is not the woman he thought she was.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This one ticked my boxes but didn\u2019t necessarily wow me. Now I love a good small town romance to keep me feeling all cozy but the cozy feeling didn\u2019t really stay.\u00a0 I kept wondering what happened to the old fling. The idea of that fizzled immediately as he encountered Olive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I like the individual characters but they didn\u2019t quite work well together in my opinion. Carter is the typical handsome jock who is stuck on himself and his sports. Now that he has to slow down he is a lot more reflective and kind. He likes being around Olive. They have always had an easy going friendship so when things spark up between them, it is a no brainer.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I connected more with Olive because she is this tough woman who isn\u2019t shy or afraid to be exactly who she is. I liked how she is straight shooter and didn\u2019t want to give Carter any play despite him being this big time athlete. In fact, I thought she could have come around faster than she did but I get the witty banter and the constant flirting.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The slow burn got to be a bit too slow which made the book drag.\u00a0 After a while the friendship needed to be kicked up a notch and the romance needed to seep into the storyline more. I think an addition of spice could have made this more interesting for me.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Overall, I\u2019m still invested in this series. I recommend this book to fans for a quick, easy and light-hearted contemporary romance.<\/p> <p><em>~ Samantha<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3jCx4vl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}