Excerpt · Giveaways · Reviews

#Review of Love.Local.Latebreaking (Book 1 in the Newsroom Romance series) by H. Laurence Lareau w/a rafflecopter giveaway! #contemporaryromance

Love. Local. Latebreaking.

by H. Laurence Lareau

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GENRE: Contemporary romance

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BLURB:

Professional passion in the tradition of Julie James, Love. Local. Latebreaking. is a page-turning romance shining a spotlight into television news.

“Heart-tugging relational tension but with a sophistication that raises it above the romance genre.” — Jlaird, verified purchaser

“Mr. Lareau manages humor beautifully–I was able to envision certain scenes/situations/people so clearly that I was chortling into my coffee. I highly recommend this novel as a light-hearted (and sexy) diversion.” — Sarah K. Clark, verified purchaser

“The heroine had a career that she worked hard for and that she didn’t give that career up simply because she’d found love” — A. Geek, verified purchaser

Local TV news reporter Karli Lewis has one goal: escape Iowa’s cornfields and podunk local news scene to hit the bright lights of the Chicago’s newsrooms. Karli’s career is on the rise, thanks to her talented, dizzingly handsome, yet enigmatic news photographer, Jake Gibson, a dedicated hometown boy who is staying put. Will Karli listen to her heart, or will she choose a dateline over her favorite date? Can she reconcile her unbridled ambition and her longing for the man she could lose forever?

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Excerpt Three:

Jake took the little wallet with the receipt and his credit card sticking out of it from Robert, wrote in a tip, signed, and set it on the table. “Karli, I haven’t said a thing about how you should live your life. I have congratulated you and wished you the best,” he said. “You’re right that I have other ideas, but I have never said anything about how I think you should live your life. If you’re feeling guilty, it’s not because I’ve laid that on you.”

“Oh, so this is all my doing, then, is it?” Karli responded angrily. “If I’m feeling guilty, it’s my own fault, right, and I should feel guilty about that, too, right?”

“That’s not what I said, either.”

“No, of course not,” Karli’s fury rolled on. “You’re just the latest man who wants to control me.”

Jake rose from the table and turned to leave. He went about two steps, paused, turned, and found Karli’s eyes. “No, Karli. I’m not trying to control you. I’m trying to tell you that I love you. And that I love you enough to let you find your own way.”

He began turning to leave, stopped, then reached into his pocket and turned back to Karli. “Here. I guess it’s my turn, now that you’re all finished,” he said, opening the box and handing it to her. He watched her pull out the elaborate platinum charm bracelet with an appreciative gasp.

As she minutely examined each custom-made charm—a covered bridge, a tiny ram with prominent testicles, a miniature microphone, a camera, a little bulletproof vest, a bicycle, a tiny Three NewsFirst logo, and the initials J.G.—he turned and moved silently to leave the restaurant and Karli.

I’m just going to say that this is one of the most intelligent books that I’ve read in a long time.  Sure, I read a lot of romance and most of them I love but when most follow the formula for a romance novel, Mr. Lareau didn’t.  He wrote an intelligent romance about an intelligent woman that has her career life planned out but not her personal life at all.  She never factored in love and friendships.  Just the career.

I fell in love with Karli from the start.  I could empathize with her when it came to her dad and her need to not be controlled by a man anymore.  Plus, she was so smart, maybe too smart for her own good.  I loved how she formed true female relationships with Bailey and Mary Rose.  They both were great secondary characters that really shined.  Mary Rose cracked me up and Bailey was always the voice of reason.  Plus, even with Karli’s ambition at times clouding her better judgment, these two were great friends for her to have and Karli never took them for granted.

Jake, oh my, Jake.  You knew, right?  He had me at hello.  He cries.  He cares and above all, he loves Karli, warts and all.  If you read the last line of the excerpt, it explains all the special moments that Jake made with Karli.  *sigh* and *major swoon*  But I also liked how, Mr. Lareau, wrote him out fo the book for a bit.  That’s where the intelligent part of the book really got me.  Karli didn’t NEED Jake to make her complete, she had to figure out that she truly did WANT him in her life.  Again, most authors don’t take that gamble but it paid off in spades for me at least.

What was really neat was learning the ins and outs of a television studio and how it runs.  I totally understood about the death and I don’t know if I would have handled any better than Karli and Jake.  Plus, there is karate.

Jake and Karli are one of my all time favorite couples.  Seriously.  The best and I can’t wait to read Bailey’s story and plus, to find out about Mary Rose and the sportscaster.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

  1. Laurence Lareau fell in love with romances the first time Pride and Prejudice came home from the library with him. Since that high school summer, he has earned an English degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, worked as a television and print journalist, built a career in law, and has remained a Jane Austen junkie through it all.

The Newsroom Romance series draws from his careers, his voracious reading, and his curiosity about the tensions between real life and real love.

Real life now is dramatically different from the real life of Austen’s times—privileged women no longer choose between eligible members of the landed gentry, nor are they imperiled by the sexist mysteries of the entailed fee simple estate in land.

Modern women with the privileges of education rather than birth now embark upon careers that can satisfy many personal and material dreams. Seemingly inevitably, though, careers fall short of the promise that they’ll fulfill women as people.

Strong, modern women have defined Lareau’s professional and personal lives, and strong women fully occupy center stage in their own newsroom romance stories. Their high-profile journalism and legal careers matter deeply to them and to the people they serve.

Then love comes walking in. These book boyfriends don’t have kilts or billions or pirate ships, though. Their career goals meet and often clash with their romantic counterparts, requiring both the men and women to make hard choices about what happily ever after should look like and how to achieve it.

When he isn’t writing, practicing law, or raising children, he’s working on martial arts and music.

Available on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/author/hlaurencelareau

Website: hlaurencelareau.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HLLareau/

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Laurence Lareau will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Enter to win a $15 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveaway

6 thoughts on “#Review of Love.Local.Latebreaking (Book 1 in the Newsroom Romance series) by H. Laurence Lareau w/a rafflecopter giveaway! #contemporaryromance

  1. I’ve enjoyed following the tour for Love.Local.Latebreaking and I can’t wait to check it out! Thanks for sharing the great review 🙂

  2. I enjoy getting to read about books we had not known about previously for my family. We have found some great ones through these tours so thanks so much.

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