Mini reviews: From this Day Forward and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me.

From this Day Forward by Lauren Layne (The Wedding Belles #0.5)
Publisher: Pocket Star
Publication Date: June 6th 2016.
My rating: 4 stars  

Up-and-coming wedding photographer Leah McHale’s career is on the rise–thanks in no small part to the Wedding Belles, the elite New York wedding planning agency that always throws top-tier business Leah’s way. So when one of the Belles asks Leah to fill in at the former First Daughter's wedding, Leah is overjoyed to say yes–until she finds out who she’ll be working with. Jason Rhodes is the one man who was able to capture Leah’s heart and, once he had it, promptly stepped all over it and left her broken. Now he’s working side-by-side with her at the biggest wedding of the season and Leah is determined to give him the cold shoulder. Despite his persistence, she is not going to fall for his charming, impish ways again. Not even if he still has that killer, irresistible smile...

I absolutely adored Layne’s first book Blurred Lines that I read a few months back. I loved how she created her romances; two characters that had been together, but then something unfortunate gets in the way preventing them being together. But then when they meet together later the great sexual chemistry is still there and the fireworks between them are just waiting to go off. This is one situation I can never tire of, especially when done well the way Layne does. Once again she creates such a build up of sexual tension between our characters Jason and Leah, for reasons we’re not aware of things didn’t work out for Jason and Leah a year ago but it’s clear when they meet up and are forced to work together (aren’t these situations just the best) that their feelings are still there despite the misunderstandings along the way.

Oh my gosh you could cut the sexual tension between Leah and Jason with a knife, there was so much crazy build up that I needed them to get their act together already. The scenes that Layne wrote were hot! And I loved the setting that Layne set the story in, with both Jason and Leah being photographers, in the wedding scene, the setting added that much more romance to the situation. I also appreciated the dual pov that Layne gave us, it certainly gave us that better understanding of both characters and why they were holding back and things had gone the way they had. I totally loved this first instalment in this series that I ended up buying both books two and three in this series half way through this book. It’s been so long that I’ve been this excited about being reading a series so thank you Ms. Layne for that!

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

Publication Date: 1st March 2016.
My rating: 4 stars  

Vanessa Mazur knows she's doing the right thing. She shouldn't feel bad for quitting. Being an assistant/housekeeper/fairy godmother to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans and none of them include washing extra-large underwear longer than necessary. But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door wanting her to come back, she's beyond shocked. For two years, the man known as The Wall of Winnipeg couldn't even find it in him to tell her good morning or congratulate her on her birthday. Now? He's asking for the unthinkable. What do you say to the man who is used to getting everything he wants?

I’m always a sucker for books which feature sports and a romance in them, especially if that romance starts off as the two characters not being able to stand one another. But with this book I could understand why Vanessa couldn’t be around Aiden, he came across as a guy with such a big ego, he wouldn’t even acknowledge her when she said good morning and the way that he would shut her down when other people were around, this annoyed me so much. So I was all for Vanessa quitting on Aiden, (she worked as his PA) and doing what she’d always dreamed of. But then when Aiden came out with that proposal out of the blue? I was really dubious about it. He’d never defended her, treated her with no respect but then urged her to come back. I really wanted Vanessa to shut him down, but of course Aiden was really insistent and sort of offered her something which was difficult to say no to. I was hoping with this arrangement Aiden would be a changed guy. Now I’m not going to ruin how things ended up or even if we’re given a glimpse into a new improved Aiden. But let me say the second half of this book was so worth it. There was heartache, lots of swoon and great character development (three things I’m a huge fan of). To be honest when I saw this book I really thought it wouldn’t be my sort of read but a big thank you to my cousin for book pushing this on me, it was exactly the sort of book I needed!