Book Review – After the Kiss by Lauren Layne

Julie Greene loves flings. Loves steamy first dates, sizzling first kisses, and every now and then, that first sexy romp between the sheets. Comfy pants, sleepy Sundays, movie nights on the couch? Shudder. But when Julie gets assigned the hardest story of her career—a first-person account of that magical shift between dating and “I do”—she’ll need a man brave enough to give a total commitment-phobe a chance at more.

Normally, Mitchell Forbes would be exactly that man. A devastatingly hot workaholic who tends to stay in relationships for far too long, he should be the perfect subject for Julie’s “research.” But what Julie doesn’t know is that Mitchell is looking to cut loose for once in his life. And the leggy journalist notorious for avoiding love is exactly the type of no-strings fling he’s looking for. In other words, Mitchell is the polar opposite of what Julie needs right now. And, at the same time, he’s exactly what she wants.

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A famed NYC columnist’s article backfires on her when she falls in love with the guy she’s trying NOT to fall in love in Lauren Layne’s AFTER THE KISS. This romance is a quick, sweet read set in the Big Apple and features a serial dater and a serial monogamist who stumble into love.

Julie is one-third of a well-known romance advice column in Stiletto magazine. Julie focuses on dating, while Grace spoke on love and Riley on sex. However her boss assigns her to write a column that’s completely outside her realm of knowledge, “How to Take Relationships to the Next Level?” She ends relationships before they get to the so-called “next level.” Determined to succeed, she and her fellow columnists and best friends help her find the perfect mark to build a relationship, Mitchell Forbes, a Wall Street guy. Mitchell has the opposite problem as Julie. He tends to get too comfortable in bad relationships and stays in them too long. So his friend bets him that he can’t simply date someone without falling in love.

This book was short and fun. The plot was almost too close to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which was  off-putting. I wanted a little more originality from this book on that end. While not part of Layne’s Love Unexpectedly series, this novel continues that vibe. Neither Mitchell nor Julie expected to develop true feelings but they did.

One of my favorite scenes was a scene where Julie tries to plan an intimate date as her feelings for Mitchell grow deeper. But he thwarts her plans and suggests a night club, something that Julie’s dating lifestyle is well-accustomed to. At this point, both are falling hard for one another. Let’s just say the night doesn’t end at the club. There was so much chemistry there and I felt it.

* I borrowed this book from my local library.