Title: Before Jamaica Lane
Series: On Dublin Street #3
Blurb:
Despite her outgoing demeanor, Olivia is painfully insecure around the opposite sex—usually, she can’t get up the nerve to approach guys she’s interested in. But moving to Edinburgh has given her a new start, and, after she develops a crush on a sexy postgrad, she decides it’s time to push past her fears and go after what she wants.
Nate Sawyer is a gorgeous player who never commits, but to his close friends, he’s as loyal as they come. So when Olivia turns to him with her relationship woes, he offers to instruct her in the art of flirting and to help her become more sexually confident.
The friendly education in seduction soon grows into an intense and hot romance. But then Nate’s past and commitment issues rear their ugly heads, and Olivia is left brokenhearted. When Nate realizes he’s made the biggest mistake of his life, he will have to work harder than he ever has before to entice his best friend into falling back in love with him—or he may lose her forever….
The Review:
I remember reading this two years ago and laughing at the “witty jokes”. Either I’ve lost my sense of humor or I was just a bit cracked from the pressure of life when I first read it, because this time around, all the jokes felt a bit cringe. Their entire meeting is centered around how Olivia is a “guy” and how she gets all the nerdy jokes and how unique that makes her. And Nate has “superstar gorgeousness”, and they’re both funny. I mean, Nate is so funny he reviews movies for a living. Too bad all the jokes fell flat for me.
This book follows a friends to lovers trope. Olivia and Nate are best friends and Nate is roped into coaching Olivia about love, and….you know…other things. Things go wrong and Olivia falls for the guy who isn’t available. There’s a backstory about how Nate’s old girlfriend died and he’s still in love with her….yeah, it got tiring after a point.
I feel like the book’s major weakness was that it had too many tropes going on. The friends to lovers plot, the love and other things coach plot and the dead lover plot. The book was supposed to have a decent grovel but it fell flat, too. The heroine doesn’t give in easily and he does grovel but something just feels off. I couldn’t connect with it.
So, I suppose I’m going to go and find a better grovel book out there.
Books and Readers 