Resistance Training by Kayley Loring is live!
A laugh-out-loud funny, kind-of-second-chance-romance, this is a fun and playful standalone romance that had a constant smile on my face. I had such a great time reading this book, and I loved it.
Amazon
Blurb
Vivian only has one big regret in life–and a million little ones if you count all the calories she didn’t consume while she was living with the guy who dumped her. But Vivian is glad she moved to Portland with her ex.
She’s glad he left her for someone who lives in the city she moved from, because she can now eat her feelings and those feelings taste like wine, tacos, pastries, and gourmet ice cream.
She’s even happy when her newly-engaged sister informs her that she’s hired the toughest personal trainer in town to whip Vivian back into shape for her wedding, because it finally brings her face-to-face with that one big regret—her former best friend from high school.
Brad Mitchell, who claimed she broke his heart and disappeared after they graduated. Who never replied to all those emails about how much she regretted hurting him. The once-chubby, grumpy nerd who was the other person in their two-member book club. The one who now looks infuriatingly hot in a compression tank top and sweatpants.
Brad goes by Mitch these days. He has the same wry sense of humor, a lot of exciting new muscles, and one aggravating, old grudge. But as he puts Vivian through resistance training that tests his own stubborn resolve too, their old spark refuses to die—it just keeps doing more reps.
And those long-ignored emails sitting in Brad’s archived inbox folder? They just might take these former best friends from enemies to lovers and give them the second chance they deserve—if he ever reads them
Review
4 stars
A laugh-out-loud funny, kind-of-second-chance-romance, this is a fun and playful standalone romance that had a constant smile on my face. I had such a great time reading this book, and I loved it.
Vivian is on a mission of vengeance to get herself in shape for her sister’s wedding so that she can stick it to her ex-boyfriend and his new fiancé, who he cheated on her with. Her ever- supportive sister sets her up with a personal trainer, who just happens to be her best friend from high school, Brad.
Vivian and Brad were outcasts together, formed a two-person book club, and were each other’s ‘person’, but it all tragically fell apart, and they haven’t spoken since graduation. Now, eight years later, they are thrust back together and Vivian’s sweet but plain best friend is now a hotter than hell trainer who hates her.
Brad was madly in love with Vivian as a teenager, but he was left broken hearted and has done his best to forget about her since then. He has failed miserably, and now the object of all of his wildest fantasies is his new client, bending and stretching in lycra, while he gets up and personal with her body.
It’s a funny situation, made all of the more hilarious by Vivian’s antics. She is confident and sassy, and she holds nothing back when it comes to trying to reconnect with Brad… in all the ways. She flirts, teases, and openly taunts him, and the harder he tries to keep her at arm’s length, the harder she pushes. The sexual tension is fantastic, and it’s not long before all of that chemistry explodes into wild sexy time. But the anger and pain from the past is still there, and there is much soul searching needed to move on from their past hurts and learn to trust and move forward.
Surrendering to this, to her, is the bravest thing I’ve ever done, and the relief is better than anything I’ve ever known.
It’s a fast-moving story, but the build-up is so good! And when the big romantic moment comes, it’s pretty freaking epic. It’s emotional and intense, but still fun and light-hearted, fitting with this couple and their playful dynamic. I read with a huge smile on my face, feeling all the feels and full of swoon, and I just loved watching these two come together.
“We’re all the same when we’re in love – there’s nothing easier than falling in love for the first time in your life. It’s how we respond to getting our heart broken that first time that defines who we become as adults … But do you know how rare it is to have the opportunity to be healed by the person who broke your heart? For that person to be willing to heal you and grow with you, as the new people you’ve both become?” … “That shit is priceless.”
As a couple, they’re strong, playful, fun-loving and sexy, and so wildly in love. It’s a delight to see them together, and I grinned through most of this book and finished it feeling happy and supremely satisfied.
Such a fun read, I loved it – 4 stars
An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author for an honest review.
About Kayley Loring
Before writing steamy romantic comedy novels, Kayley Loring got a BFA in creative writing from a Canadian university and had a fifteen-year career as a screenwriter in Los Angeles (under a different name). She mostly wrote PG-13 family comedies that studios would pay her lots of money for and then never make into movies. In 2017 she decided to move to the Pacific Northwest and write about all the fun stuff that she wasn’t allowed to write about in those PG-13 scripts. Now she’s breathing cleaner air and writing dirtier words. It’s an adjustment she’s happily getting used to.
Rest assured that her funny sexy sweet romances have no cheating or cliffhangers, and always have HEAs!
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