Irresistibly Yours by Lauren Layne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Irresistibly Yours (Oxford #1) by Lauren Layne is the first book in her new Oxford Series and oh my, what a gem this was for me!
The Irresistibly Yours storyline is based around Cole and Penelope’s relationship along with a fantastic cast of secondary characters. Now apparently, this series is a spinoff of the Stiletto series, which by the way, I have not read yet but yes, I do have them on my Kindle as we speak. You can bet that I will be backtracking at some point to read that series because these side characters played a crucial part of in this story and let me tell you, there was not one that I didn’t love wholeheartedly:)
OK, I digress, now back to Cole and Penelope, oh my gosh, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I adored these two. Penelope, oh Penelope, yes, serious girl crush going on right here. I am not embarrassed to say that I was totally and utterly in love with this girl and I mean from the get-go. She was a breath of truly fresh air. Penelope was so many things, she was kind, caring, care-free, loving, loyal, just a total and complete down-to earth, beautiful girl deep down to her soul. This girl is the one you want, actually no, you need as your best friend, be it a man or a woman, she is the one girl you want by your side. Now with that being said, my heart literally hurt to hear her feel so insecure and inadequate with herself. She had such low self-esteem at times that my heart was breaking and yet, nobody would have ever guessed it because she put on a heck of a tough front. What I really loved about her character was that although she put up a tough front, she never let it show on the outside, she never let that disguise she that she wore most of the time “ruin” her character like so many stories do. No, even though on the inside she felt that she wasn’t “aesthetically worthy” of someone like Cole she never let it show on the outside and this girl just wowed me every chance that she got. She was one truly amazing woman with a spirit to match.
Cole, oh Cole, this guy was all kinds of beautiful, he was sexy, he was kind and caring, he was simply perfect in my eyes, well, except at one point in the story, now I seriously could have done him bodily harm, lol, for the way he treated Penelope . Cole, from the get-go had me hooked, he was truly a warmhearted soul, deep down he was sensitive and loving and I could go on and on but you get the picture. His relationship with his brother, Bobby, moved me to tears, yes, actual stream down my face tears. I LOVED seeing and hearing about his relationship with Bobby, it added so much to the story and so much depth to his character. I thought the author took a serious and sensitive family matter and made it beautiful and for me, it couldn’t have worked more perfectly into this storyline! This was just another highlight of this story and it was done brilliantly!
Cole and Penelope’s relationship was a beautiful slow-build and it was done with such perfection, such class, such sensitivity, I get goosebumps just thinking about it. I loved this story and all of it’s characters from the beginning until the very end. I loved that it had ALL of the FEELS, one minute I was smiling so hard and the next minute I was getting choked up. I loved that it was a fast read, well, for one, I couldn’t put it down once I started and the storyline flowed so flawlessly and so seamlessly, it was done perfectly. It was also fairly light on drama and angst BUT don’t be fooled because the amount of both that were inserted in the story from time to time was spot on. I was glued to my seat at times, not sure what would happen, I was crying happy tears as well as sad tears, I was totally engaged with characters but could also relate and connect with them too. I honestly felt like I was watching a movie and I was right there in the moment with all of them, “living” their story. I can’t tell you how refreshing it felt to be so engrossed in a story that it made me feel a “part of it,” and that is the best feeling in the world as a reader. The storyline had just about everything that I look for and love while reading!
Congrats Lauren Layne on a Grand Slam, this book was beautiful in every single way possible and now I will be anxiously awaiting Lincoln’s story:)
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