Summer Nights Series Book Review
Wow! My first book review of 2022. I will tell you that one of my goals for content creation is to write more book reviews, so I am excited to kick this year’s off with three! This series was not a part of my 2022 book line up. You can look at that here, but I exercised great discipline with these. I don’t know if you know, but being a bookworm is not cheap. Of course being a good steward of my money is a top priority of mine, so when I can get free books I jump on that opportunity. You may see books on the blog that were not on my list and it’s simply because I am being disciplined with my money! This series was a part of my Kindle Unlimited plan, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Let’s review this Romantic Comedy series shall we.
This series was such a good read. I love how each book focused on one friend at a time, but still kept us in the loop of the others. The books meshed well together and I prefer series to be like this. Organized and easy to follow. Lauren is an exceptional writer. Her writing was filled with so much description, comedy, joy, and love. No wonder these books have good rankings in the Kindle store. Lauren made you feel like you were a part of the character's life. The sex scenes were not raunchy at all. They were delicate and sexy, and I can appreciate that as a reader. I loved the different ethnic background and family dynamic each character had. I wish the black woman Sonya would have fell in love with a black man #blacklove, but love is love. This series was a page turner. I finished all three in one month!
Book One: The Catch
Catia Roday has learned the hard way that love always disappoints, so when she finds herself falling for Josh Rideout—the handsome, charming, seemingly-perfect guy she just met on vacation—only to find out they hail from neighboring towns, she has one question: what’s the catch?
Oh Catia. A spicy Latina with a good head on her shoulders, but it filled so much doubt and fear. I must say I could relate to her a little more than the others. She felt she was behind in life. She questioned if marriage and motherhood were right for her, or if she even wanted it. She was closed off to love, but Josh came and turned her life upside down. He showed her that really good men still do exist. This love match was adorable and accurate. I loved how it unfolded!
Book Two: The Rules
Dani Petrillo’s friends are settling down faster than she can escape her latest one-night stand. After her best friend’s wedding, she decides it’s time to leave the single life behind and find true love. She joins a dating site that makes a bold promise—Eight Dates to Your Soulmate—if you can follow their dating bootcamp rules. The first one? No sleeping with any of your matches until the eight dates are over. Sure, she wants to find a good guy, but she also knows that no sex for months isn’t going to work for her. Luckily, she’s always been good at bending the rules. Dylan Pierce doesn’t do commitment, and if his genes are any indication, he wasn’t made for it anyway.
I love Dani. She was such a fun character. Drop dead gorgeous with killer style! The friend that doesn't do the love thing, but secretly wants it. A woman who worked toward her career goals and pushed relationships to the side. It’s funny how the two non committal people out of the friend groups end up together. I didn’t think it was going to work out between them two, but it did! Not only were they used to one night stands, but they came from different family dynamics and came to find out that was why they chose that lifestyle in the first place. Unpacking that was exciting to read about. I am glad these two came out on the winning side!
Book Three: The Exception
Sonya Pope is pragmatic, always rational, and has no time for setbacks, so when she arrives at her elopement to find her fiancé wants to break up rather than get married, she uses the flight home to reprioritize. But when a woman on the plane has a medical emergency, she puts her mental list-making on hold and jumps to action. Unfortunately, so does the cocky, almost-paramedic two rows back. Ben "Trav" Travis totally got to that patient first, but the cranky nurse with the pretty brown eyes made a big show of taking charge.
The exception to the rule is what Sonya is dealing with in this book. Sonya is a beautiful and upfront woman who does not like bending. Her story was not what I expected and I love how Lauren characterized a black woman and her family. Not the typical stereotype, but a home that had real life challenges. I felt for her with her breakup, but it dawned on me that Sonya was so focused on her goals and timeline she didn’t realize she never knew what real love was. A lot of women can admit to that. Being in a relationship based on history and comfortability. She was met with a challenge when she met Travis, and I was here for it. Their relationship was funny because they started as just friends after a heated kiss. Like that was going to work. One thing I loved about this book was the career field Sonya was in. She was a nurse, well director of nursing on a Psychiatric unit. I was intrigued by that since I work on the same unit. Hearing them talk about mental health and how this job field can be really made me feel connected to both of the characters. I love how the two coworkers broke both of their rules!
I would highly recommend reading this series. Here is my rate for the whole series! Grab your copy and enjoy.
