Review: Jayne and Nick - from friends to lovers
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 25, 2014
Laura Drewry is a new author to me, and I am so glad this book found me through netgalley.  I would have hated to miss it.I read all types of romances, from rough MC books to softer best friends to lovers books.  This is the best friends to lovers type of book, and it is filled with the tropes that go along with that kind of book:  angst, a guy who has been involved with other women throughout the times the two leads have known each other, family and friends who know that the two belong together, a set up for the heroine with a friend of the guy, and a slow fire of building the newer type of relationship.Jayne returns home to a small town outside of Vancouver twelve years after she left at 18 for good.  She had a terrible childhood and only had one person--Nick--who she confided in, and she didn't even tell him how bad it was.  Her grandmother (the person who basically ran her out of town) leaves Jayne her bookstore and the apartment over the store, but it's like an episode on Hoarders without even having any books inside.  Nick, a contractor, welcomes her back into town although Jayne, as is usual for her, finds it uncomfortable to get assistance from him.  But Nick is the start of Jayne blossoming; she starts to interact with most of his family and even gets a few girlfriends to confide in.The storyline seems more like real life than most romance books.  There are challenges in both Jayne's and Nick's lives, and they slowly learn more and more about each other.  But, man oh man, can men be stupid sometimes when it comes to women?  And slow!  For about 3/4 of the book, Nick is dating Linda/Lisa (there's a joke there) and doesn't really understand how important Jayne is to him on more than just a friend level. Even so, I enjoyed the slow burn of the storyline.There's no explicit sex in this book but after 75% of the book, there's more thoughts about it.  I read books like this to balance out the darker sports/motorcycle/abused heroine books that are more common today.  This book has a bit more angst than most books of this type that usually have a bit more sweet, and that's one of the things I really liked about it.  And I have to admit that I did cry in a few parts - the hallmark of a good read for me.I am going to investigate Laura Drewry's backlist to see if there's more books like this to read, and I recommend this book to those who like a sweet and angsty friends to lovers book.Thanks to netgalley for providing me this book; my reviews are never influenced by this, and I give my honest opinions.  Thanks for reading.