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Friday, May 19, 2017

Review: BLURRED LINES by Lauren Layne

Title: Blurred Lines
Author: Lauren Layne
Love Unexpectedly #1
Publisher: Loveswept
Publication Date: August 25, 2015
When Parker Blanton meets Ben Olsen during her freshman year of college, the connection is immediate—and platonic. Six years later, they're still best friends, sharing an apartment in Portland's trendy Northwest District as they happily settle into adult life. But when Parker's boyfriend dumps her out of the blue, she starts to wonder about Ben's no-strings-attached approach to dating. The trouble is, even with Ben as her wingman, Parker can't seem to get the hang of casual sex—until she tries it with him.

The arrangement works perfectly . . . at first. The sex is mind-blowing, and their friendship remains as solid as ever, without any of the usual messy romantic entanglements. But when Parker's ex decides he wants her back, Ben is shocked by a fierce stab of possessiveness. And when Ben starts seeing a girl from work, Parker finds herself plagued by unfamiliar jealousy. With their friendship on the rocks for the first time, Parker and Ben face an alarming truth: Maybe they can't go back. And maybe, deep down, they never want to.
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"Guys and girls can't be just friends. Or not best friends, anyway. Shit gets too complicated."

I love friends to lovers books and this one by Lauren Layne was so good! I loved Parker. I loved Ben. Their dynamic was stellar. I loved that even though Ben enjoys going out and meeting women, he'll cancel all plans to be there for his best friend when he thought she needed him. They had me laughing at their silliness. I cried. When you know how perfect two characters are together, the feels are overwhelming

Blurred Lines was my first Lauren Layne read and I'll certainly be reading more of her books! The story was light and fun with just the right touch of drama. Both Parker and Ben were likable and funny. It's the typical best friends to lovers trope [aka my bread n' butter] but the plot development didn't seem too typical? Not sure how to explain it, but the story took a small turn I didn't expect and had my heard aching bad.

There is a love triangle (Parker does start off with a boyfriend after all) but it's not a major theme and isn't present for a huge chunk of the book. I actually liked it, or at least how it played into the story. I've started to question whether or not I really do dislike love triangles or not now though haha.

Often times, I find myself preferring one character over the other but both MCs had half my heart in Blurred Lines. I think the biggest reason why is how open and honest both characters were to each other. It was obvious that they were besties, and I felt the way that Parker and Ben's romantic relationship developed felt very natural. It wasn't a wam-bam-woah-I-actually-love-you kind of scenario. There were highs and lows, and their dialogue would always have me smiling. Sure, there was a part I wanted to shake some sense into both of them but the confession and ending made up for their stubbornness.

Blurred Lines is a must for readers looking for some cute, grin and giggle-inducing, best friends to lovers romance! You'll for sure be waving #TeamParkerxBen flags and joining me on this ship ;)

**ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review (thank you, Loveswept!)

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