Review + Excerpt: Come As You Are, Lauren Blakely

Requesting the presence of your pleasure…

What do you get when you mix a masquerade ball, a smoldering secret rendezvous, and a sexy, billionaire hero who will sweep you off your feet? An opposite-sides-of-the-tracks standalone romance that you’re guaranteed to love!

From #1 NYT bestselling author Lauren Blakely, comes the gorgeous and sexy-as-sin forbidden romance filled with wit, humor, and so much heart, COME AS YOU ARE! Secret trysts and stolen kisses abound in this brand new, swoontastic novel. Get your copy of COME AS YOU ARE delivered now!

✮✮✮COME AS YOU ARE is here! Grab your copy today! ✮✮✮

From #1 NYT bestselling author Lauren Blakely comes a sexy new standalone romance!

I couldn’t have scripted a more perfect night.

For one fantastic evening, at a masquerade party in the heart of Manhattan, I’m not the millionaire everyone wants a piece of. Fine—multimillionaire. But who’s counting all those commas? Not me, and not the most intriguing woman I've ever met, who happens to like dancing, witty banter, and hot, passionate up-against-the-wall sex as much as I do.

There's no need for names or business cards. And that’s why I’m eager to get to know her more, since my mystery woman seems to like me for me, rather than for my huge…bank account.

Everything’s coming up aces. Until the next day when things get a little complicated. (Newsflash — a lot complicated.)

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He's charming, brilliant, an incredible lover, and right now I want to stab fate in the eyeballs.

I've had one goal I've been working toward, and lo and behold, my mystery man is the very person who stands between me and my dream job. A job I desperately need since my hard-knock life has nothing in common with his star-kissed one.

But it’s time to put that fairytale night behind me, and focus on learning what makes him tick. Too bad it turns out his quirks are my quirks, and his love affair with New York matches mine.

And as we spend our days together, I discover something else that feels like a cruel twist of fate — I’m falling for this naughty prince charming, and that’s not an ending I can write to our story.

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Review

Come As You Are is a forbidden romance that will win over your heart. 

Finn is a sexy as hell nerd who is one of the big Tech guys and has a LOT of money. He's propositioned all the time with ideas for him to invest in but also by women who are looking to spend some of the money sitting on his bank account. They proposition him all the time, even for marriage. Finn is beyond tired of all the gold diggers and after what happened with his ex girlfriend, he doesn't trust anyone's intentions. With his twin brother and his friends happily married and some even with kids, Finn is looking for more than hook ups, he desires a family of his own.

She curls her hands over my shoulders. “You’re a nerd.” The words come out as if she just said I was a rock star or a pro quarterback. She says it with affection and, honestly, a whole lot of desire. “Shocking, isn’t it, that I’m a nerd?” “A hot nerd, to be precise,” she adds. I bring her closer. “So are you.” “You’re a very hot, witty nerd.” I’m damn close to kissing her on this dance floor. But I’d rather get her away from everyone else. I lean in to whisper, “Same to you, you incredibly sexy hot nerd I want to kiss.”

Sabrina had to grow up way sooner than she should have, having a mother that didn't care for her or her brother, Sabrina was forced to take care of him from an early age. When her mom bailed on them, she took care of her brother and has been doing it ever since. Having just been let go of  at her job, she's desperate to find something else and quickly. She needs to pay her bills and also pay her brother's education. When the opportunity of a life time comes along, Sabrina holds on to it with both hands. This opportunity is a dream come true and is what she always wanted to do. She's gonna interview one of the biggest Tech guys out there. 

When it comes to love Sabrina hasn't had the greatest luck either, her fiance left for another continent two days before their wedding. She was devastated and hasn't opened up her heart or her legs for another man since. It's been a while so her best friend convinces her to go to the masquerade party her company is throwing in hopes she can let loose and have herself a little rendez-vous. There she meets a hot and riveting guy who completely steals her attention, and ends up taking her panties too.

“You’re adorable, and I want you to fuck me.” I pause for effect. “In a fuck-me-senseless kind of way.” He groans, and the sound seems to hum through him, rumbling up his chest, escaping his lips, which rise in a cocky, boyish grin. It’s like a wolf met a tiger cub and they spar for supremacy inside him. “That’s exactly what I plan to do, Angel.”

Finn tired of women who are only interested in him for his bank account. He wants more. He wants someone to want him for who he is. So when the opportunity comes at the masquerade party to talk to a sexy as sin woman without her knowing who he is, he takes it. And boy, the sparks between them fly. They get each other, and the chemistry is off the charts. They share a rendez-vous that night that awakens something within both of them, and they both want to explore what they could have. Except the universe is against them. When they show up to their first date where they'll know who each other are, they find out that they can't explore anything because they're gonna be working together and Sabrina's job is on the line. She's the one who will be interviewing him for one of the best Tech magazines, which makes them dating impossible.

His kisses should be labeled “known to induce swooning.” His touch should be listed as the kind that can melt me into a puddle. Because that’s who I am right now. I’m dissolving into sugary-sweet pleasure as he touches me.

However, the chemistry they have and the connection they share grows more and more every time they are together and every meeting they have for the interview is more like a date than anything else. And with every one of those meetings, they fall a little bit more for each other and it becomes harder and harder to resist the pull. They both realize their feelings and would like nothing more than to act on them but Sabrina fears that she'll lose the job and she needs that job to pay her bills and support her brother, and Finn doesn't want to ruin that for her. He knows how much she needs this job and how scared she is it'll be taken away from her if they are caught together.

Will they be able to find a solution that will allow them to have the best of both worlds? 

Lauren Blakely has been killing it lately. Every book she's been giving us lately is a winner in my book. They're funny, compelling and oh so romantic. Her heroes lately have completely stolen my heart and Finn was no different. He was pretty perfect. Oh so nerdy and sexy and boy that man had game. He really had the romantic bone in his body and the banter between these two was so fun. I loved them together. And I really really enjoyed this book! It was so sensational!

Rate: 5/ 5 stars

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✦The audiobook is narrated by Sebastian York and Andi Arndt! ✦
✦Audible ➜https://adbl.co/2DTfbDi

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EXCERPT :

~FLYNN~

I part my lips to speak, to tell her I’m not a VC. But I flash back to the racquetball game, to the face-lift suggestion from my sister. If this angel thinks I’m a VC, that means my face-lift is working. My costume is doing what I want it to do—it’s making it possible for me to be me. To have a conversation as Flynn Parker the guy, not as Flynn Parker the multimillionaire.

She doesn’t know who I am. And I don’t correct her. “It can be.”

She nods thoughtfully then roams her gaze over my black attire. She taps her bottom lip. “Hmm. Let’s see what we have here tonight because I don’t think you’re a ninja.”

I punch the air. “Keep going.”

She studies me more closely. “You’re something mysterious. You’re trying to fly under the radar. Am I getting warmer?”

More like hot. “Yes.”

Her brow knits. “You want to go unnoticed, at least for the moment.”

I tense, hoping she’s not putting two and two together as to my identity. Absently, I raise my hand to my glasses, wondering if they give me away. But then I remember. I’m wearing my contacts tonight, something I rarely do.

She snaps her fingers. “I know! You’re a stealth start-up,” she says, using the term for a new company that’s keeping quiet.

I raise my arms in victory, a thrill racing through me. “Everyone else has guessed code ninja or SEO ninja, but you’re the first person all night to get it right. I am, indeed, a stealth start-up.”

Admittedly, donning black pants, a black shirt, and a black eye-mask might have made it challenging to guess. But then again, the angel figured it out, and all without the missing start-up button.

“Your lips gave you away.”

She recognized me from my lips? I furrow my brow behind my mask. “What do you mean?”

“Your mouth,” she says, raising her fingers dangerously near to my lips. “I could tell you weren’t a ninja because your lips aren’t covered. Ninjas cover you’re their mouths.” I relax again since she was referring to my clothes. “Only their eyes show. But you’ve covered most of your eyes, and you’re showing only your mouth and your chin. That’s how I knew you had to be something other than a ninja.”

“I could kiss you for that,” I blurt out. I take a step back and hold up a hand. “I’m sorry. That was probably terribly inappropriate.”

A smile slowly spreads across her lips. “No, it wasn’t inappropriate. It wasn’t inappropriate at all,” she says. Something in the way she takes her time with each word tells me she wouldn’t mind being kissed. That gives me one mission and one mission only: keep talking to this angel.

ADD IT TO YOUR GOODREADS TODAY!

“With an oh-so-delectable hero, a heroine who’s a vivacious force of
nature, and a romance that’s both adorkable and scorching hot, Come As
You Are had me hooked from page one.” -Yvette, Nose Stuck in a Book

“Come as You Are blends the phenom that is Lauren Blakely with the
fantasy of a fairytale wish and a dash of cold hard reality. Passion
unfolds with a bit of entertainment, a handful of humor and fistful of
heart.” -Isha, I Love Romance

“Blakely has whipped up an irresistible romance as sexy and witty as
the nerd protagonists she details in Come as You Are. Their chemistry
snaps, crackles, and pops off the pages. " - TJ Loves To Read

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About Lauren Blakely:

A #1 New York Times Bestselling author, and #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that's hot, sweet and sexy. She lives in California with her family and has plotted entire novels while walking her dogs. With fourteen New York Times bestsellers, her titles have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Lists more than 90 times, and she's sold more than 2.5 million books. In April she'll release COME AS YOU ARE, a sexy new standalone romance. To receive an email when Lauren releases a new book, sign up for her newsletter! laurenblakely.com/newsletter

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