{"id":4261,"date":"2015-06-22T04:49:52","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T11:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=4261"},"modified":"2017-03-08T11:11:34","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T16:11:34","slug":"review-crushed-redemption-2-by-lauren-layne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=4261","title":{"rendered":"Review: Crushed (Redemption, #2) by Lauren Layne"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy: Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/b><\/p>\n
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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

4.5 Hilariously heartwarming stars<\/b><\/p>\n

I really enjoyed this book. The third in the Redemption<\/i> series (counting the first novella), it\u2019s great fun, laugh-out-loud funny with a bit of drama and a really sweet romance.<\/p>\n

Michael St. Claire is the last of three people involved in a love triangle implosion that forms the basis for this series. Having spent most of his teenage years in love with his best friend\u2019s girlfriend, his heart was further destroyed when the relationship broke down (thanks, in no small part, to him), and then the girl of his dreams went and fell hard for somebody else. Then, he learned that his father is not really his father. And so, desperately tired of his life and searching for \u2018something\u2019, the privileged rich boy packs up and heads down to Texas to scope out his biological father and his new family.<\/p>\n

Taking a job as a tennis coach at the local \u2018club\u2019, he meets and sets his manwhoring sights on Kristin Bellamy, a tall, blonde, gorgeous socialite who is also, conveniently, dating his half-brother, Devon. And then he meets Chloe Bellamy, Kristin\u2019s younger sister who is everything that Kristin is not \u2013 a slightly chubby, frizzy-haired bookworm who is charmingly sassy and sarcastic and doesn\u2019t seem to care what other people think about her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou play tennis, Chloe?\u201d I call out as I pull out another ball and serve it to Kristin, harder this time.
\n\u201cDo I look like I\u2019m all about cardio?\u201d she calls back in a cheerful voice.
\n\u201cWhat about when you were younger? You didn\u2019t take lessons?\u201d
\n\u201cUm, that\u2019s a negative,\u201d Chloe says around a mouthful of chocolate. She has a candy bar now. \u201cSome of us were reading Harry Potter like normal kids.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Michael immediately notices that Chloe is desperately in love with her sister\u2019s boyfriend and, for purely selfish purposes, he offers to help her get her man. But he has no idea that his world is about to get turned upside down.<\/p>\n

\u201dWith Chloe, it\u2019s easy to forget that I\u2019m nobody. Because she makes me feel like somebody.\u201d <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I loved every moment of the interplay between Chloe and Michael. They banter and tease, and their conversations and quips had me laughing so many times! Their friendship develops slowly but beautifully \u2013 they have fun together and they genuinely care about the other, and they are there for each other in a way that they didn\u2019t realise they\u2019d both been craving. And watching that friendship turn into something more meaningful was fantastic! Again, it\u2019s a slow build, but it\u2019s very realistic with fantastic UST and I was bouncing up and down in my chair in delighted glee as I read.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know why I keep doing that. Coming back to Chloe. She\u2019s annoying as fuck, and yet there\u2019s something strangely calming about her manic personality.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love Chloe! I have a total girl-crush on her! She\u2019s feisty and funny, and she totally owns who she is. She speaks her mind and she has no filter, and it\u2019s freaking hilarious!<\/p>\n

I do a squat to demonstrate \u2026 \u201cOkay?\u201d I say, doing another since she didn\u2019t mimic my motion the second time.
\nShe watches my movement in the mirror. \u201cOne more time,\u201d she says.
\nI comply, and then mutter a string of curses because Chloe Bellamy has just reached out in the middle of a busy gym and patted my ass.
\n\u201cVery nice,\u201d she says, sounding surprised.
\n\u201cChloe!\u201d
\nShe shrugs. \u201cYou just got so upset when I was ogling that other guy instead of you, so I wanted to make you feel good.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And her honesty is so incredibly refreshing. Sure, she\u2019s never told Devon about her feelings, but there is a lot of history there, and that relationship is complicated. When it comes to the boy she calls Beefcake<\/i>, she totally wears her heart on her sleeve for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cA girl wants to be loved, sure, and I thought I wanted that. I thought I wanted that from Devon. And now\u2026I don\u2019t know about that. But I <\/i>do know that I want to be wanted. I want to be wanted by <\/i>you.\u201d <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Michael\u2019s motives may be shady, and his initial thoughts about Chloe are not exactly the stuff of romantic heroes, but he\u2019s reacting to his situation, and the devastation of his past so I could understand where he was coming from. And it makes his character development as the story progresses even more impressive. It\u2019s like each interaction with Chloe cracks the wall he\u2019s put around his heart, and he starts to think about his life, about what he wants and what he needs. And I loved watching that shift \u2013 especially as he started to realise just how amazing the girl in front of him really is.<\/p>\n

The thought of Chloe changing kills me a little. She\u2019s one of the most real girls I know, and I\u2019d give anything to have her stay that way, just as she is. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Michael is damaged by all that he\u2019s been through, and even with Chloe coming into his life like the force of a hurricane, he has his own hurt to deal with before he can move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried being someone\u2019s second choice.\u201d
\n\u2026 His voice is raspy, and so quiet that I barely hear what he says next. \u201cI can\u2019t do it again.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, it\u2019s heartbreaking in places, but it\u2019s a fantastic story of two \u2018slightly\u2019 broken people coming together. It\u2019s a bit of an \u2018Ugly Duckling\u2019 story, and there is some focus on Chloe\u2019s weight issues, but I loved that despite what was happening to her on the outside, it never changed who she was on the inside. And it\u2019s tied in well to the rest of the story \u2013 the family dramas, the romantic dramas, and two characters coming to terms with who they are and discovering what they want. And it\u2019s written in a way that is laugh-out-loud funny and totally heartwarming. And the romance (although a bit of a push and pull situation), is absolutely gorgeous.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s about who loves you first. It\u2019s about who loves you <\/i>best. And that\u2019s <\/i>me.\u201d
\n\u2026 \u201c<\/i>I love you best. More than I love anyone. More than you\u2019ve ever been loved.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would have like a little something \u2018more\u2019 from the ending (I wanted Michael to make a grand gesture, I felt like he needed to \u2013 for both his sake, and Chloe\u2019s; and I would have liked some more \u2018together\u2019 time), but the story ends in a great place, and I liked that we got the chance to check in with the other couples from the series. I really enjoyed it.<\/p>\n

Great fun \u2013 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

An Advanced Reader Copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Redemption\u00a0series<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"Isn't<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"Broken\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"Crushed\"<\/a><\/h4>\n

Isn’t She Lovely (#0.5)<\/strong>\u00a0(Ethan & Stephanie)
\nBuy: \u00a0Kindle Ebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Broken (#1)<\/strong>\u00a0(Olivia & Paul)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy: \u00a0Kindle Ebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Cr<\/strong>ushed (#2)<\/strong>\u00a0(Michael & Chloe)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0\u00a0Kindle Ebook<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy: Kindle Ebook\u00a0 Review 4.5 Hilariously heartwarming stars I really enjoyed this book. The third in the Redemption series (counting the first novella), it\u2019s great fun, laugh-out-loud funny with a bit of drama and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,65,9,29],"tags":[253,254,48],"class_list":["post-4261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-friends-to-lovers","category-lol-funny","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-lauren-layne","tag-redemption","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Crushed.jpg?fit=150%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-16J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}