4 stars-- Hard Sell (21 Wall Street #2) by Lauren Layne

Oh dear. Enemies to lovers, indeed!

The Gist: Matt and Sabrina? Well they hate each other. Probably. They sure fight like cats and dogs whenever they within arms distance of each other. But Matt has a problem. His reputation and his job are on the line after a wild trip to Vegas and he needs his image cleaned up. Namely...settling down with a good woman. Sabrina? Well she's the best "fixer" out there. Much to her dismay the only solution to this problem is for her to play the part of that "good woman".

Sabrina takes the barstool vacated by Feinstein and, catching the bartender’s eye, orders two mimosas before crossing her legs and turning to face me with a triumphant smile. No doubt about it, she knows that she skillfully unfucked my entire morning and did it well. Damn it. There’ll be no living with her now.

I really enjoyed Matt and Sabrina. Layne does an amazing job with enemies to lovers. Lordy the snark and jabs and hell they give each other. Yeah, they're fiery. And it translates to all areas of the relationship which can be quite fun. They were both interesting characters. Easy to like. Workaholics, incredibly talented. Easy to root for.

My only issue really with this one was the initial set up. He got a lap dance during a bachelors party and some of the guys in the large group did some drugs. Apparently that's the kind of thing that makes it into the Wall Street Journal and is enough to cost him his job even though he's one of the most successful at the firm and hadn't touched any of the drugs. Yeah. Okay. I thought that was a pretty weak catalyst for everything.

Overall, though, despite not loving the initial set up for the story I enjoyed the actual story quite a bit. It was fun seeing these two trying to call a truce and work together. Seeing them fight their years long attraction and face the past. They were great characters and easy to spend time with.

Twenty-eight and filthy rich, Matt Cannon is the youngest broker on Wall Street. He may be a “boy wonder,” but he’s every inch a man. Ask any woman—any night. But when Matt’s latest fling makes scandalous headlines, his clients get anxious, and his bosses at Wolfe Investments level an ultimatum: keep his assets zipped, get a “real” girlfriend, and clean up his act. Only one woman can help Matt with something this hard.

For PR genius Sabrina Cross, the best fixer in Manhattan, playing Matt’s steady is going to be a challenge, even if it’s just for show. They already have an explosive history, she can’t stand the cocky party boy, and worse—she can’t stop thinking about him. So who’ll dare to break her “no touching” rule first? Because when that happens, Matt and Sabrina’s game of let’s pretend will get so hot it could set both their reputations on fire.

Amazon | Goodreads | Layne on HCBS

  

*covers link to Amazon

Daily Email | Weekly Email | Bloglovin | Facebook