{"id":10185,"date":"2020-08-19T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/havecoffeeneedbooks.com\/?p=10185"},"modified":"2020-08-18T16:28:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T23:28:17","slug":"book-review-lords-of-summer-by-kayla-wren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/havecoffeeneedbooks.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/19\/book-review-lords-of-summer-by-kayla-wren\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Lords of Summer by Kayla Wren"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Lords
Lords of Summer by Kayla Wren<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Title: Lords of Summer<\/a> (Year of the Harem<\/a> #1)
Author: Kayla Wren<\/a>
Genre: Reverse Harem, Bully Romance
My rating: 3 of 5<\/a> stars<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These bully books always kill me with the tension. Knowing that the awful is in the mail is terrible. I think if you’ve had a bully, you have a hard time romancing that crap up. Still, there is a rare breed of us who read bully romance novels for that crack at a happily ever after. Most bullies will never have Layla’s outcome. Mine? We would be lucky to have a PSA outcome. A lot are just statistics, which sucks because bully romances don’t address those sad numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A summer job in Pembroke Bay is Layla MacKenzie’s jam. She’s rocking the freedom of all the woe college has wrought and the hell her bullies, the Birchwood Boys, wreak on her days. This is her summer, and it’s a new Layla, a fresh start, a way to get a breath finally. But nothing could be so easy when her devils are so eager to see her pay for her imagined sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Did I like her bullies? One or two were not abhorrent. I’m not a good judge of character since I bookboyfriended Carter Mahoney from Untouchable, and he was a despicable bully. In Lords of Summer I adored Maddox Landry, who seems to be the most twisted of the bunch. Still, waters run slightly dark in this book. Jasper was the other I liked, and I liked him best when he was a bookend–go ahead and call me a dirty-minded harlot, but this isn’t a book about the bible, peeps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, Lords of Summer is a steamy read, but it’s missing a few layers here and there to connect one part to the next. Layla struggles with her feelings, but I’d like to see her struggle rather than hear about it. And when she gives in to her temptations, I want it to feel less out of character, so she doesn’t seem so porny. And she does come across many times as a pornstar. That bummed me out. I wanted to follow her story, and where I was lead kept feeling disingenuous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this book read smoother, I would have gladly rated it higher. But I dinged it for having significant flaws in the characterization of the FMC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary advance copy of this book<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Lords
Lords of Summer by Kayla Wren<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

About Kayla Wren:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kayla Wren is a British author who writes steamy New Adult romance. She loves Reverse Harem, Enemies-to-Lovers, and Forbidden Love tropes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kayla writes prickly men with hearts of gold, secretly-sexy geeks, and\u2014best of all\u2014she’s ALWAYS had a thing for the villains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect with Kayla Wren:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Website<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | BookBub<\/a> | Amazon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: Lords of Summer (Year of the Harem #1)Author: Kayla WrenGenre: Reverse Harem, Bully RomanceMy rating: 3 of 5 stars These bully books always kill me with the tension. Knowing that the awful is in the mail is terrible. I think if you’ve had a bully, you have a hard time romancing that crap up. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2,3,2424],"tags":[2432,2926,2925],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/havecoffeeneedbooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Lords-of-Summer-by-Kayla-Wren.png?fit=851%2C315&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1313,"url":"https:\/\/havecoffeeneedbooks.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/16\/character-qa-the-dirt-on-jack-hunter\/","url_meta":{"origin":10185,"position":0},"title":"Character Q&A - The Dirt on Jack Hunter","date":"2014-01-16","format":false,"excerpt":"I received an anonymous email this morning from someone claiming to have the deets on one Jack Hunter and the mystery as to why Miss Isis Blake remains MIA sans the obit after he was alleged to have left her crib only a couple days gone-by, in a hail of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Arranged\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":803,"url":"https:\/\/havecoffeeneedbooks.com\/index.php\/2013\/11\/20\/any-day-that-ends-in-ya-lovely-vicious-by-sara-wolf\/","url_meta":{"origin":10185,"position":1},"title":"Any Day that Ends in YA - Lovely Vicious by Sara Wolf","date":"2013-11-20","format":false,"excerpt":"OMG I am in LURVE and even if it might be skeevy AND even if it might mean serious legal issues I am going to say that I am all about asshat extraordinaire: Jack Hunter. 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Well some people might say the smile of their child and others might say the ruins of Angkor Wat... for me it's the defeat of Jack Hunter. 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