Marina is hot, blonde, and wickedly smart, but when it comes to men? She's hopeless. Between her quirks and her lack of filter, there isn't a man in Los Angeles that will stick around after the third date.
Her handsome, charming friend Lazarus has the opposite problem. Everyone wants to be his girlfriend, but he gets bored and moves on quickly.
There's only one way to figure out why neither of them has cracked this love thing-- they'll date each other. On paper, it's the perfect experiment. But in reality, things between Marina and Laz get complicated quickly.
They might be bad at love, but they are even worse at being friends.
The place is called Tanner Smiths and is one of those trendy bars with a prohibition theme. It’s packed and dark and there’s a small dancefloor by the door so that when you walk in, you’re sucked into a group of people grooving all up in your space. Beyonce blares from the female DJ in the corner and everyone is drunk and happy.
“I approve of the vibe,” I say to Laz.
“What?” he yells back mockingly over the noise, cupping his ear. Then he leans in, close. Very close. “What you havin’ to drink, sweet girl?”
His breath is hot on my ear and I momentarily close my eyes, letting the feeling sink along my skin, down my back, all the way to my toes. “Anything,” I manage to say.
I open my eyes and his face is still at my neck, lips at my ear. “I had no idea you were so easy to please,” he murmurs and I swear his lips are grazing my skin. Goosebumps spread and I’m hot and cold all at once.
My throat feels thick as I speak. “Only when it comes to drinks. Anything else, you might have to work at it.”
“Is that so?” he says, pulling back enough to look me in the eye.
There’s fire inside him. God, how I want to burn.
“We’ll have to see, won’t we?” I tell him.
His languid gaze drops to my lips, his nostrils flaring with impatience.
Fuck, do it, just fucking kiss me.
Kiss me.
Kiss me.
He leans all the way back, gives my hand another squeeze before letting go. “Don’t you dare go anywhere.”
“Bossy,” I comment, my stomach summersaulting like crazy.
“You have no idea,” he says. Then he winks, a bit of a smile, and heads down to the bar to place the order.
I watch him. I watch him and I watch the girls in the bar watching him and I know tonight, tonight he’s mine. I have him.
I’ve never felt so alive before, a swarm of electricity underneath my skin, my heart happy, happy, happy with anticipation, knowing what might finally happen between us.
***5 ‘Maybe Scooby is Right’ Stars***
So. Much. Goodness!
The words, the truths, that were laid out in this friends to lovers journey were all kinds of awesome and had me going from doing the goofy swooning grinning thing to having my heart ache in equal measure. The feels in this one were real and on point and kept me turning the pages until the very end and growling when there were no more words to read.
Marina is something of an enigma. She’s clueless and yet doesn’t see the world through rose colored glasses. She has her insecurities and yet is comfortable in her own skin. And despite how bruised her heart is still holds on to hope of a happy future. She is awkward and even had me doing the wide eyed thing as some of her actions, but it was damn hard not to love her in all her quirky glory.
Laz has the whole soul searing poet rock star thing going on and combine that with an unlimited amount of charm and you have a man who will melt panties and break hearts with just a smile. But even though he gives pieces of himself to others, he never gives anyone everything, not even himself. For all of Laz’s outward appearance and bruised soul, the man has a huge heart and a solid sense of honor that had me wanting to dig out the darkness inside him and truly let him shine.
Laz and Marina’s friends to lovers journey to their HEA was a slow burn one and filled with quite a few emotional landmines on both sides of the coin that was balanced out with lots of laughter, heart and smexyness. I loved how insync they were with each other when we first see them as just friends and how their relationship, and their knowledge of each other, grew and it became more and more apparent just how well they fit together. Unfortunately that other shoe had to drop, and while I knew it was coming, when it did it was intense and boy did it crack them both open wide. But the grovelling was top notch and they ended up right where they both belonged.
Bad at Love is a well written, character driven friends to lovers romance that, while does edge towards the sweet side, addresses some pretty heavy topics that may be triggers for some, but are presented in such a way that is respectful and helps to drive the story and lend a deeper understanding into the psyche of the characters. And as for those characters. I loved and adored Laz and Marina but there is a good number of secondary ones that have me crossing my toes that they may one day get their own HEA’s, especially if it means getting glimpses of how Scooby and Noah are doing.
~ Copy provided by the author/Social Butterfly PR & voluntarily reviewed ~
Release Date: November 16th, 2017
(Free in Kindle Unlimited)
Halle is represented by the Root Literary and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.
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