Book Title: Her Stand In Boyfriend
Author: Kelly Jamieson
Release Date: July 28/15
Genre: Select
This boyfriend business is about to get a whole lot more personal…
Event planner Lexi Mannis has a busy life in Chicago—too busy to have a boyfriend. For special occasions, she has her Stand-In Boyfriend, Mac Northrop. Mac offers (almost) all the perks of a real boyfriend—furniture assembly, a date to big events, and someone to cook for. But they’ve never been “with benefits”…until one wickedly hot night crosses the line.
Mac’s been in love with Lexi for ages. He knows he should probably end it, but dammit, he just can’t. When things get deliciously down and dirty, Mac is certain that he’s made the leap out of the friend zone…until Lexi decides she wants to remain friends. With benefits.
What Lexi doesn’t know is that she’s running out of time. And if she won’t promote Mac to Real Boyfriend, she might just lose her Stand-In Boyfriend to someone else…
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Author Bio: Kelly Jamieson is a best-selling author of over thirty-five romance novels andnovellas. Her writing has been described as “emotionally complex”, “sweet and satisfying” and “blisteringly sexy”. She likes coffee (black), wine (mostly white), shoes (high) and watching hockey!
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Excerpt 2:
They stumbled out of the bar around one in the morning, and it was good neither of them was driving. Mac called the car service to pick them up. Back in the car, a warm buzz surrounded her.
“Hmmm,” she said slowly. “I think I’m a wee bit toasted.”
“Uh-oh.” Mac’s eyes gleamed as he smiled at her.
“Maybe I should have eaten more. On the upside, I didn’t spill anything all night.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Um…yeah.”
Mac had the driver go through a twenty-four-hour drive-through. They picked up burgers, fries, and root beers, and he came up to her apartment to eat them.
“I better change out of this dress before I eat something with ketchup and mustard on it,” she muttered. “Be right back.”
She left him pulling the food out of the paper sack and arranging it on her coffee table, and tottered down the short hall to her room. She kicked off her shoes and reached for the zipper of her dress…damn. It was stuck. She bit her lip, then huffed and padded back to the living room.
“Can you help me out here? My zipper’s stuck.”
Mac looked up and blinked at her, his mouth falling open. She gave him her .
“Uh, sure.” He rose and moved up behind her, so close his warmth made her skin tingle. His fingers brushed her bare back as he wrestled the zipper free of the fabric stuck in it, and she shivered. The dress loosened around her as he slowly drew the zipper down. “There you go.” His voice had deepened to a smoky rasp.
“Thank you.” She flashed a smile over her shoulder as she hustled back to her bedroom, feeling oddly hot and quivery. There, she carefully hung up her pretty new dress, the one she probably shouldn’t have spent that much money on, but maybe it had been an investment since she may have acquired some new business tonight. She pulled on a pair of soft gray yoga pants and a loose black T-shirt with cuffed sleeves.
Still tingling all over, she sucked in a breath, then straightened her shoulders and marched out to the living room.
“That’s better,” she announced, sitting on the couch beside Mac. She pulled up her legs to sit cross-legged and reached for her burger.
Mac had taken off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. Her gaze dropped to his forearms and wrists. There was something sexy about rolled-up shirtsleeves on a guy, especially if he had strong arms, which Mac did, darkened with hair. He also had great hands, with long fingers and neat nails.
A little curl of heat wound through her lower belly, and she blinked a few times. First tingling and quivering, now heat curling. What was
Okay, she knew what it was. But why now?
“You look much more comfortable.” Mac glanced at her. “Although I gotta say, that dress was fucking hot.”
She blinked again. “Now you give me a compliment. Before, I looked like a Christmas ornament.”
He grinned. “You know you looked hot. Guys were checking out your ass all night in that dress.”
Then she remembered—so had he. When she’d been bent over looking in the fridge for a beer.
More warmth unfurled inside her. Hello, lust.
She took another bite of her burger, chewed and swallowed, and she couldn’t help it, she moaned. “God, this is good.”
“Jesus. You sound orgasmic,” Mac muttered.
Their eyes met. The air in the room changed, going static. Heat washed through her, burning her from the inside out.
She stared at Mac’s face, a face familiar to her, a face she’d seen too many times to count, but now, she was looking at him, and he was beautiful. Male beautiful. Smooth skin with a hint of beard stubble. Dark hair cut short, neat sideburns. An oblong face with a sharp jaw and brown eyes beneath thick eyebrows. And his mouth…chiseled lips, the bottom lip fuller than the top.
She lifted her gaze to his eyes again and saw that he was looking at her mouth. Now her belly did a full roll of lovely, warm lust.
Whoa.
Their eyes met again, and this time she swore sparks crackled.
I have to admit a couple of things before I start the review.
1. I used to read Kelly Jamieson years go. Loved her then and still love her to this day. I just don’t read that much erotic much anymore. *hangs head* And yes, I know that I’ve missed a bunch. And I’m so sorry Kelly. 🙁
2. I SQUEED (and I don’t squee) when I found out that Ms. Jamieson signed with Entangled. Immediately, I HAD to read the book, regardless of the blurb or anything else for that matter. 🙂
3. I’m a sucker for the friends to lovers trope. And Ms. Jamieson never misses the mark.
Okay…now the review.
BUY.THIS.BOOK. No, seriously. Buy the book. Read it, enjoy it and then go back and gobble up her backlist. I realized while reading Lexi and Mac’s story how much I truly enjoy Ms. Jamieson’s books. There is always a little something of her in the heroine and no, I won’t tell you what that is. 😉 Plus, she writes with subtle emotion. It’s not the in your face emotions but just a subtle hint of what is coming up.
Sure this is a typical friends to lovers book but Ms. Jamieson’s makes it fresh with Lexi’s family. That plays a huge part in Lexi’s decisions and how her relationships in past shaped her today. We don’t get into Mac’s family but it’s not needed. In fact, there isn’t much back story but again…not needed. It would only mess the story up. Ms. Jamieson writes in the present which I love. I don’t need a bunch of info about the characters UNLESS it enhances the story.
We get to know Lexi’s friends and I’m sure there are stories to be told but this is Lexi and Mac’s story to tell. Now, there is plenty of spicy sex, too. I don’t expect anything less from Ms. Jamieson and I could feel the awkwardness of the morning after and I actually kinda giggled. Been there…
What stands out with this book is Ms. Jamieson herself. I can tell that she poured her heart and soul in telling Lexi and Mac’s story. You like her characters…all of them. Not one character do you want to slap or go away. From Lexi’s parents to Vanda, they only enhance the story between Mac and Lexi. Of course, I couldn’t help but laugh at the beginning of the book, too and how Lexi was just so non-chalant about the whole thing with Mac afterwards.
I realize that some readers of Ms. Jamieson will miss her erotic style but truly, I didn’t. Weird, huh? I read an author for their storytelling, not how many sex scenes that they can write. Anyone can do that but to truly tell a story and the sex only enhances the relationship between the characters…that’s a gift. And Ms. Jamieson has that gift.
Again…do yourself a favor and read this book. You will definitely go back and read Ms. Jamieson’s other stuff.
Oh…and your welcome.
A very helpful review thank you.
Awesome review! Thanks for introducing me to this author and book – I’m looking forward to reading about what happens to Lexi and Mac 🙂