Irresistibly Yours (Oxford #1) by Lauren Layne

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Releasing October 6, 2015

Loveswept

Blurb:

Meet the men of Oxford magazine! In the first captivating spin-off of Lauren Layne’s Sex, Love & Stiletto series, a not-so-friendly battle of the sexes turns into a scorching office romance.

Hotshot sports editor Cole Sharpe has been freelancing for Oxford for years, so when he hears about a staff position opening up, he figures he’s got the inside track. Then his boss drops a bombshell: Cole has competition. Female competition, in the form of a fresh-faced tomboy who can hang with the dudes—and write circles around them, too. Cole usually likes his women flirty and curvy, but he takes a special interest in his skinny, sassy rival, if only to keep an eye on her. And soon, he can’t take his eyes off her.

Penelope Pope knows all too well that she comes off as just one of the guys. Since she’s learned that wanting more usually leads to disappointment, Penelope’s resigned to sitting on the sidelines when it comes to love. So why does Cole make her want to get back in the game? The man is as arrogant as he is handsome. He probably sees her as nothing more than a barrier to his dream job. But when an unexpected kiss turns into a night of irresistible passion, Penelope has to figure out whether they’re just fooling around—or starting something real.

Link to Follow Tour: http://www.tastybooktours.com/2015/08/irresistibly-yours-oxford-1-by-lauren.html Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23395414-irresistibly-yours Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/149063-oxford

Buy Links: Amazon | B & N | iTunes | Kobo

Review:

Do you know who Jackson Burke is? Of course you don't. He appears for a very brief amount of time (in the epilogue) and is going to be the main character in the second book of the series. Do you know who Lincoln is? If you have read the Stiletto series you definitely do and probably want to read his story. He is going to get his story in the third book and I am going to wonder what happened to him and when he is going to get his happily ever after. I am a little mad because after some parts that I disliked in this book I found out that Lincoln isn't going to get his story soon, but some guy Jackson Burke will. And there is a hint that he cheated on his wife. After reading the blurb for the second book things made a little more sense, but that's not the best first impression.

Penelope is mostly my kind of girl. With the exception of the onion rings. I hate those. At a point I was wondering if there was going to be a love triangle-ish situation because she was showing too much interest in Lincoln. That was a little frustrating. I can say that the first 40% didn't entirely agree with me. I was happy that the who is going to get the job part was solved fairly quickly. I liked Cole as a person and I was happy to see that he knew he had made mistakes, even if he didn't try to fix them.

The story was good, but it felt like the kind of movie you watch and know from the beginning how things are going to happen and how it’s going to end. I guess that if you liked the stiletto series you will like this book too. The fact that I spend most of this view complaining about the next books and those complains were the first thing that came into my mind when I started writing this review show to me that I didn’t find the story very original or captivating.

Excerpt:

Oxford was the country’s top selling men’s magazine where Lincoln—and most of Cole’s other closest friends—worked.

But more important, it was also where Cole worked.

Well, sort of.

He would work there. Just as soon as he found the asshole who was after his job.

Cole wasn’t going to pretend that he didn’t have a competitive streak. It was a prerequisite for someone whose bread and butter came from knowing the nuances of professional sports.

And it was rare that Cole felt a personal investment in a competition. But tonight? Tonight, it was definitely personal. Cole was the competitor.

The prize?

The title of Senior Sports Editor at Oxford.

The magazine was finally getting a real sports section. Their token two-page spread on fantasy football squeezed in between cologne reviews and the proper way to wear a tie clip was being expanded to a multipage, multitopic sports section.

A section that needed an editor.

Cole was the right man for the job. The only man for the job. Not only had he been writing for Oxford as a freelancer for years, but the editor in chief, Alex Cassidy, was one of his closest friends.

When Cassidy had come to Cole and explained that he wanted to make Oxford a serious contender for the Sports Illustrated readers, Cole had been damn sure that Cassidy was offering him the job.

Hell, Cassidy had been begging him for months to join the team, and Cole was finally ready—ready for a steady paycheck.

Ready to belong to something.

Because, although Cole wasn’t exactly dying to buy a house in the ’burbs and settle down with a nice girl, it wasn’t just about Cole.

It was about Bobby, and the fact that Bobby’s care was getting more and more expensive. His brother needed more than Cole’s occasional freelance checks could provide.

Cole wasn’t just ready for this job. He needed it.

And that’s when Alex Cassidy had dropped his bomb.

The job wasn’t Cole’s for the taking.

So, goodbye to Easygoing Cole. Hello, Gladiator Cole.

Because, really, what the fuck?

Cole hadn’t minded that they’d had to publicly post the position. He understood there were HR boxes that had to be checked. But never had Cole thought there’d actually be competition. Not only were the Oxford guys practically his family, but Cole was the best damn sportswriter in the city.

His application should have been a formality. Their request that he update his résumé and

submit a portfolio should have been just a matter of documentation.

The position was his, damn it. Cole was the Oxford sports section.

Except he wasn’t. Not yet anyway.

Cassidy had called him yesterday to inform Cole that he was a finalist. A fucking finalist.

Pissing Cole off even further, Cassidy wouldn’t tell him who his competition was. Cole had named every worthwhile sportswriter in the city, but Cassidy wouldn’t so much as grunt in confirmation.

Damn Cassidy and his unshakable professionalism.

His friend hadn’t left him completely in the lurch, though.

Cassidy had pointedly mentioned to Lincoln that the other candidate had been invited to the suite reserved by Berkin’s Hospitality Group for tonight’s Yankees game.

Lincoln had, of course, told Cole.

So here they were, trying to sniff out the competition.

It was the only reason Cole would be caught dead in the luxury suite. Cole hated luxury suites.

This wasn’t what baseball—or any game—was about. Baseball was about the peanuts, the rowdy crowds, the overpriced beer. It was about the sound of a fastball smacking against the catcher’s glove, the satisfying crack of a wooden bat when a rookie pinch hitter really got hold of one.

For Cole, watching baseball was about sitting with his brother in the stands, watching Bobby’s face go positively ecstatic every time they did the wave, and the way his brother never, ever got tired of the seventh-inning stretch.

That was baseball.

And Cole wanted nothing more than to be an anonymous part of the rowdy crowd, preferably on the third baseline, watching the Yankees hopefully trounce the Blue Jays.

Instead, he was stuck here with a bunch of fools who wouldn’t recognize a line drive if it hit them in the ass.

Adding insult to injury, it was all for nothing. There was no sign of his competition. Cole knew every decent sportswriter in the city, and none were here tonight.

It was possible, he supposed, that Cassidy was considering some out-of-town jock for the position, but a quick scan of the room showed only familiar faces, all corporate bigwigs.

“Let’s get out of here,” Cole said to Lincoln, downing the rest of his beer in three gulps.

“You don’t want to wait for Cassidy?”

“Nah, I’ll catch him tomorrow.”


Author Info

Lauren Layne is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance. Prior to becoming an author, Lauren worked in e-commerce and web-marketing. In 2011, she and her husband moved from Seattle to New York City, where Lauren decided to pursue a full-time writing career. It took six months to get her first book deal (despite ardent assurances to her husband that it would only take three). Since then, Lauren's gone on to publish ten books, including the bestselling Stiletto series, with several more on the way in 2015. Lauren currently lives in Chicago with her husband and spoiled Pomeranian. When not writing, you'll find her at happy hour, running at a doggedly slow pace, or trying to straighten her naturally curly hair.

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