Take 3 parts Rules of Love add 2 parts Men Of Summer and a splash of the Movie Valentines Day you have a perfect mixture of a wonderful story. This books is compiled of 5 different stories that can be enjoyed separately but all overlap in some way or another. Almost all the characters we have met before and have asked "When is so in so going to get their story??"
Mr. Right now.
Narrated by: Jason Clarke (British Accent *Swoon*) and Rose Dioro
Trope: Second Chance Lovers
This story we see Shane coming to San Francisco hot off a trade. He is determine to make this his year, and in order to do that he is focusing on the game and not on the women...unless it's the woman he has not stopped thinking about since high school. Clementine is a sweet yet sassy dog walker (and lover) who is giving up on finding her Mr. Right, and focusing on finding Mr. Right now. She has held onto her V card for far too long and is ready to get rid of it. When out one night at a comedy club, she should run into her old high school fling, none other than Shane himself. What could go wrong when two people, not looking for love because no one has held a candle to each other for years, meet by chance? More like...what can go right?
Jason was the absolute PERFECT British ball player and Rose brought Clementines spunk to life so well. Loved every minuet of these two!
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Captain Romance
Narrated by: J.F Harding and Katie Schorr
Trope: Second Chance lovers, Forbidden Lovers, Friends to lovers.
Mr. Charasmatic, starting Pitcher for the San Francisco Cougars Sullivan is ready to hang up his Batchelor hat and get serious with someone, to bad that someone is currently off limits. Erin is the local sports beat writer covering the Cougars season. Erin and Sullivan strike up an easy going friendship, despite the fact that they both want more. What will it take for these two career and goal oriented people to get past their foul balls and hit a home run together?
JF Harding and Katie Schorr are both still newer narrators for me personally, but I enjoyed them enough to search out other work. I hope to see them again in the LB universe.
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Kiss Your Tulips
Narrated by: Tim Paige and Emma Wilder
The age old problem of misunderstood flirting and lots and lots of flower puns!
Drew is the Catcher for the San Francisco Dragons, he is funny, charming and easy going. He is also a great friend. When he goes to a local flower shop to get some flowers for a friend who recently got divorced, he runs int0 Frankie, The flower shop owner. Frankie is a cute and sweet but definitely has a spicy side to her, just read her flower cards. But she can't tell if Drew is flirting with her or not, I mean he is buying flowers for another women? These two have such a fun story and the puns are off the chart, I am not dandelion!!
Tim Paige end Emma Wilder were just the perfect pairing to bring these two young, flirty, fun characters to life.
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Three Dates with You
Narrated By Vanessa Edwin
Trope: Friends to Lovers, Fake Relationship (sort of ?)
We see Sam and Maeve, you may remember them as friends and/or business partners with Dean from A Guy Walks Into My Bar. While Dean is off planning his wedding to Fitz these two are becoming close and fast friends. Sam is fresh out of a divorce, that might not have been as fresh as it seems. Maeve is working hard running her bar, The Magpie, on her own since Dean left it to her. Neither one wants to worry about dating, so when they have public obligations to go to, they use each other as dates. There was already a slow ember burning there, will it burst into all out flames?
Vanessa Edwin was solo in this Novella, not only was she using a British accent as Maeve but her male voice is one of my favorites. She truly holds her own the whole time. She is a one click narrator for me.
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My Single-Versery
Narrated by Joe Arden and Erin Mallon
Trope: Vacation Fling, Forbidden Love
For those hard core Lauren Blakely fans this one may sound familiar to you, Caleb and Skylers story was originally a short scripted story as an Audible Original, One of those Flings. Lauren revised the original script, expanded the scenes, added new ones and characters and recast.
Skyler is ready to stop being sad about being single and embrace it! she decided to take a trip to Hawaii to celebrate her full year off of dating, or a Single-versery. She is ready to enjoy a single vacation and is still not worry about dating. Until she meets Caleb. Caleb is the owner of his own Hawaiian fun tour company. All he's interested in is the sun, the surf and making sure his business thrives. He has one main rule, Do Not Date The Clients. But the good thing about being your own boss? You can change the rules.
Joe Arden and Erin Mallon are by far some of my favorite narrators out there and one of my top favorite pairings. They are of themselves, one clicks for me but together they are gold, and this is no exception.
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Limo Bang
Narrated by Jacob Diem and Andi Arndt
Trope: Frenemies to lovers
Limo BANG is right!! This story is about the Rival San Francisco Baseball team owners Marlow and Hudson. Despite the fact they should hate each other for being rivals, these two gravitate towards each other and everyone around them can feel the sparks. These two spend the Novella trading off bets for things like Limos, Players and...sex?? Who is really loosing when a good time had by all is on the line.
Andi Arndt as always did a fabulous job bringing spunky Marlow to life. This is the second book/novella by Lauren Blakely for Jakobi Diem and boy oh boy do I hope we get more of him. He is the perfect mix of growly yet sensual. I can not wait to hear more of him and hope he is in a full novel next time.
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There was also a short epilogue, Dog Fishing, with Nova. She is crushing hard on the comedian Matilda, and it isn't until Matilda uses Novas podcast title in her show that she realizes that the crush may be going both ways. This was such a good 6 min story, I sure do hope we see more of Nova or maybe see some more FF stories by LB in the future. This short epilogue was narrated by Victoria Mei, who is new to me but I enjoyed her and hope to hear more from her in the future.
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We were also treated to a sneak peak of A Wild Card Kiss, Preorder available now and as of now should be released February 25th 2022. The Sneak Peak was narrated by Zachary Webber, but will also include Erin Mallon. I am very excited for this one!!
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I very much enjoyed listening to this entire book, and despite the title, not all stories are about virgins.
The Virgin Score card comes out this Friday December 17th to all platforms. Currently available for ebook preorder for $.99!! Thats a deal!