CLOSE (Ryder Brothers #1) by Laurelin Paige-Review Tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 10 , 2018
Everyone wants to get close to a rock star.
The bright lights.
The music.
Those talented fingers strumming… a guitar.
Everyone wants to bang a rock star.
So why do I keep running from the one who wants me?
I’m America’s Sweetheart.
I have a reputation.
He’s a boy-band icon turned rock god.
I’m vanilla.
He’s every flavor of bad.
And he’s much, much too young for me.
If I end up in Nick Ryder’s bed, my career and I will both be screwed.
…but that’s only if I’m caught.
••••••••
REVIEW: CLOSE by Laurelin Paige is the first instalment in the multi-authored contemporary, adult RYDER BROTHERS erotic, romance trilogy focusing on the members of the former boy band the Ryder Brothers. This is twenty-three year old, singer Nick Ryder, and thirty-six year old, actress Natalia Lowen’s story line.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Nick and Natalia) CLOSE follows the building relationship between twenty-three year old, singer Nick Ryder, and thirty-six year old, actress Natalia Lowen. Natalie Lowen is a successful Hollywood actress who has struggled to keep her good-girl image but meeting bad boy, rock star Nick Ryder forces Natalia to reconsider what it is she wants in life, including a potential disaster in the making, if her reputation takes a hit while dating a man thirteen years her junior. What ensues is the building love and romance between Nick and Natalia, and the fall-out as Natalia is unable to open her heart to a future with the man that she loves.
Natalia Lowen doesn’t do relationships, and is all about protecting her good-girl reputation. Reputation and impressions are everything in Hollywood, and Natalia refuses to allow anyone to destroy her hard-fought battle with perfection and the persona she has developed for public consumption. Nick Ryder’s reputation precedes his introduction to our story line heroine but Nick has fantasized about Natalia since a young boy, a fantasy that is about to come true as Nick embarks on a seduction of Hollywood’s ‘princess’.
The relationship between Nick and Natalia is one of immediate attraction but Natalia struggles with paparazzi, public perception, and maintaining her good-girl image. Falling in love with Nick Ryder was never on the horizon but the knowledge of potential disaster forces Nat to walk away in spite of their love. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense.
We are introduced to Natalia’s best friends: her life coach Hadley, and fellow actress Rowan. Nick’s brothers are but a blip of the radar, and we have yet to be introduced to the Ryder siblings.
The world building follows Nick and Natalia as they struggle to maintain a relationship while Nick heads out on tour. From texting to phone calls, last minute flights and clandestine dinners, we are up front and center with our story line couple.
CLOSE is a story of trust and relationships; perception and love. Natalia’s inability to allow herself the freedom to love is complicated by their difference in age, a difference that she believes will destroy her good girl image. The character driven premise is entertaining and enchanting ; the characters are animated and colorful; the romance is seductive and provocative. CLOSE is a great introduction to the Ryder Brother’s but there are definite similarities to a real-life boy band and their significant others, including the names.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
Or like he spent last night making out with somebody more than a decade older than him.
“It’s crazy seeing you here,” I say. I giggle again at the sheer ridiculousness of this. “Do you come here often?” What am I doing? What am I saying? It’s like I just learned how to talk to people of the opposite sex. How have I ever gotten a date?
Not that I’m trying to date Nick.
“Occasionally. You?” He sticks his hands in his pockets and he’s so relaxed, so sexy, and I just can’t stand all that swagger on such a handsome guy that I am not allowed to touch. It’s unfair for anyone to look so effortlessly edible before nine a.m.
“It’s my favorite shop. Come here all the time.” I take a couple steps backwards, trying to shift toward my car. “I probably should—”
“Don’t you think it’s probably more than a coincidence?” He takes a step towards me, and I take one back, willing myself not to respond to the rumble of his deep voice and the magnetism of his body. “That we’d see each other again so soon. Kind of like fate, almost.”
Oh my god, Oh my god, he’s flirting with me. What do I do? He’s so hot, I can’t even look at him. But then I do, and I have total church-giggles over this, and I have to escape before I make an even bigger fool out of myself. Someone is bound to notice that I am losing my cool, and they’ll draw conclusions that aren’t even true.
It was just kissing!
“It’s really weird, I have to admit.” I dance back some more, then glance behind me to make sure I’m not going to back into the street and get run over and make this even worse. “And really awkward.” I brush some hair back that’s come loose from the messy bun at the base of my neck.
He shrugs, seeming to disagree. And it’s true that I’m the only one who seems to be awkward right now. “I don’t know about that. Doesn’t have to be awkward. Could just be convenient. Since I never got your phone number.”
If I didn’t think he was flirting before, I know he definitely is now. I don’t want to say no to him, but I have to say no to him. He cannot have my number. Can’t have anything more than a memory of a scorching-hot make-out in the back of a club. What we did was not for a sunlit day. It was for a dark corner. And yet, I still can’t seem to actually say the word no. So instead I say, “Why do you need my phone number?”
Oh my god, this is mortifying. It really is like I’m in high school again and I’ve forgotten not only how to talk to boys but how to stand in their presence.
He takes another step toward me, laughing. “Well, for one thing, I thought it might be nice if we had dinner sometime.”
He has the most ridiculous smile, I realize. It lights up his entire face. You can see it in his eyes, and there’s no pretension. It’s all genuine. Pure sunshine. I’m rendered speechless by it for half a second and I have to ask, “What was that?”
“Dinner,” he says, that huge-ass grin in full force, taking another step toward me, and now there’s only three feet between us, and I can feel the body heat from him, can remember what it felt like the last time he walked me backwards into a wall and then his body was pressing into me, and his mouth was on me. When his chest was against me, when his cock was pressing into me and my hips—
I suddenly jump backwards. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.” I look around suddenly to see if anyone’s noticed this exchange yet.
It’s fine, it’s still fine.
We’re just two people who work in the same industry who bumped into each other on a Saturday morning and are chatting like people do on Saturday mornings when they bump into each other. While giggling. Totally fine.
“What are you worried about, Natalia?” He doesn’t chase after me, just stands there looking confident and laid-back. Like a man trying to tempt a scared animal out from hiding. “I mean—I do bite, but most women like it.”
I smile at that, because I can’t help it, but I duck so he doesn’t see.
He’s probably so much more experienced than me.
He’s probably so dirty in the bedroom.
God, I shouldn’t be thinking about that. “I shouldn’t even be talking to you,” I say, shaking my head. I turn toward my car.
“No, you shouldn’t be,” he calls from behind me, and I have to actually close my eyes to collect myself because it’s obvious he’s thinking about doing not-talking things. Things like last night. Things like biting.
Things good girls have no business being so turned on by.
I tell myself he probably says stuff like that to all the girls who walk away from him.
But who am I kidding? Who has ever walked away from Nick Ryder? Besides me, I mean. Twice now. I deserve an Oscar for my willpower. That should be a new category.
“Bye, Nick,” I call as I flee with my coffee.
Then I step into my car, put my keys in the ignition and drive away before I lose my senses and change my mind.
In 2013, Laurelin Paige self-published her first novel. Her husband was just laid off, she had three kids, one with special needs, and they had just filed for bankruptcy so she needed this novel to work. Less than 1 year later, her debut novel, Fixed on You, was at the top of the bestseller lists and was named one of the top ten selling books of 2014 by Publishers Weekly (the only self-published book to do so) and a Top Ten Favorite Read of 2014 by People Magazine. Her successive self-published novels have been smash hits with readers.
Laurelin Paige is the NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Fixed Trilogy. She’s a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters.
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Thanks for the great review Sandy. Are you hinting at the ‘Jonas’ brothers???
Another great review and excerpt. Congratulations to Laurelin on the new release.
Wonderful review and excerpt, thanks Sandy.
Excellent review & excerpt, thanks Sandy. Looks great.
.another great review.thanks for the wonderful excerpt.
Very nice review, thanks again Sandy.
Thanks for another excellent review Sandy.
Fantastic review, thanks Sandy.
Excellent review, Sandy. Thanks.
Terrific review, Sandy. Another good looking book.
Looks great, thanks for the excerpt.
Great review, Sandy. Sounds like a good one.