I think a lot of you know that I'm a Lauren Layne fangirl, which is saying a lot since I rarely fangirl about anything or anyone. Lauren is one of those authors whose books I would automatically buy even if I knew nothing about it. I love her style of writing, the chemistry between her characters, and the witty banter. Maybe it's the Jersey girl in me, but I'm all about sarcastic romcoms. One of her latest books, The Prenup, did not disappoint!
About The Prenup
Pulled straight from the Amazon page.
"Ten years ago, I married my brother's best friend. I haven't seen him since. Until now ...
Charlotte Spencer grew up on the blue-blooded Upper East Side of Manhattan but she never wanted the sit-still-look-pretty future her parents dictated for her. Enter Colin Walsh, her brother's quiet, brooding best friend, and with him a chance to pursue her dreams. One courthouse wedding later, Charlotte's inheritance is hers to start a business in San Francisco and Irish-born Colin has a Green Card.
Ten years later, they're happily married. On different coasts. With separate lives. In fact, she hasn't even seen Colin in a decade, and that's just fine by her.
But fate throws her a curveball when her husband calls her back to New York, and she realizes the boy she's married is long gone. In his place is a shockingly appealing man ... who wants a divorce. The problem? The terms of their prenup arrangement state that before either can file for separation, they have to live under the same roof for three months.
Now, in order to get divorced, they have to pretend to be married. For real ..."
Why I Loved It
I always love "close proximity" stories, especially if the characters aren't the biggest fans of one another at the start. That's why I wrote the premise for Tangled Up in You. There's something so fun about making two people deal with something head-on without any escape.
With The Prenup, I enjoyed the whole situation. Not seeing someone for ten years who you barely knew to begin with? Being forced to fulfill a weird rule in a prenup to get out of a marriage of convenience? Realizing you've both changed over the years, which makes something easy to feel that.much.harder? Yesssssss.
There was a lot of tension in this book due to the characters' awkward living situation (as per prenuptial stipulations), which forces them to face personal issues they'd avoided for years...and causes them to catch feelings for one another. Lauren has an engaging way of writing that kept me flipping the pages. There's so much anticipation, you can't help but get invested in what comes next. This book had it all.
Why it Resonated with Me
Lauren has always been a traditionally published author, but The Prenup was her first self-published book. I'm a new author just starting out, so her transparency about why she self-published meant a lot to me. The truth was, even after all of her success, no editors wanted to take a chance on this one. However, she believed in it so much, she decided to do what she's never done before and self-publish. In her blog, she talked about the ups and downs of this process, but I was thrilled to see this book was wildly successful. Of course, I'm no Lauren Layne, but getting a behind-the-scenes look into this and then see her success gives me a lot of hope.
Basically, it showed me that you have to believe in what you write and do whatever it takes to get it out there. A ton of editors and agents might reject it, but you can't let that get you down. In the end, the readers are who you're trying to reach. They're who matter.
This also resonated with me because I had a chance to talk to her at the RWA Conference in July. While she signed a book for me at The Strand bookstore, she asked me what I thought about the book. As one of her more women's fictionish type stories (aka, no sexy times like the majority of her books), she asked me how I felt about it. It meant a lot that she asked her fans' opinions and was willing to listen. Of course, I let her know that even without the sex, all the heat, chemistry, broodiness, and fun that make up a Lauren Layne story was still alive and well. The story didn't need the sex to make it a great one.
I really enjoyed meeting Lauren in person. It's a little surreal to physically speak to someone whose writing and stories you admire. I loved her panel sessions and getting a sense of who she is as a person. I've never experienced that before, so it was pretty cool! I can't wait to read her Passion on Park Avenue book (that she signed for me) next!
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