*~*Playing With Her Heart by Lauren Blakely ReDesign Cover Reveal, Excerpt & Review*~*

OMG I really liked the first cover – but this redesign is even better!  LOVE it!!!

When you’re acting the role of a lifetime, how can you know if love is real—or all just a part of the show?

Twenty-three year old rising theatre star Jill McCormick has built a life out of pretending. Pretending she’s happy, pretending her long-distance crushes add up to something real, pretending she’s not haunted by the dark secret that shattered her world six years ago. Cast in her first Broadway show, she desperately needs to keep her façade intact, but that’s before she comes face to face with her devastating new boss…

Hot-shot director Davis Milo knows the first rule of directing: never fall for your leading lady. Captivated by Jill’s raw talent, he fights his feelings, but watching Jill on-stage with another man is more than his jealous streak can take. Keeping things professional isn’t an option. He wants all of her.

Soon the ingénue and her director are staying late in the empty theatre, their private rehearsals spiraling into new, forbidden territory. Caught up between fiction and reality, Jill struggles to find the truth in all their staged kisses. But how can she be sure that what she feels is real, and not a part of the play? And when two people spend their lives pretending, what happens after the final curtain falls?

 

 

Catch Up with the entire Caught Up In Us Series

 

Caught Up in Him – Book #0.5

Free on Barnes and Noble!

 

 

 

Caught Up In Us – Book #1

Pretending He’s Mine – Book #2

 

Trophy Husband (not part of the series, but about Jill’s brother Chris)

 

Want to read the excerpt that inspired the cover…

 

From Lauren: “This short excerpt is from chapter 12 when Davis unclips Jill’s hair, and it served as the inspiration for the new look for the cover. To me, this short moment says so much about their relationship.”

 

He leans into the car, reaches for the seat belt, and pulls it across my chest, buckling me in. He’s inches from me, and he smells cold like the night air. But he also smells the way a man should at the end of the day: a little bit of sweat, a lot of work, and all raw power. He brings one hand behind my head and unclips my hair, letting it fall over his fingers. I tremble from his touch as a shiver runs down my spine. “I like your hair up and I like your hair down,” he whispers to me, breaking down all my resistance in an instant.

I can see this playing out if I do nothing—I’ll spend it rewinding this moment and putting it on repeat all night long. But I don’t want to go home with only a memory to feed my body, and I can’t stand the thought of this night ending too soon.

I make my choice. There’s only one choice. “Do you want to share?” I ask, praying he lives in the same direction.

“You’re downtown, right?”

I nod.

“Me too.”

 

You can also check out my interview with Jill and Davis here

 

Playing With Her Heart by Lauren Blakely

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

4.5 “She becomes his, and that changes her.” Kisses

Lauren Blakely is a goddess of weaving emotional and hot as sin love stories that completely melt my heart into a puddle. How does she do it? I have no idea…but I’m hypnotized and left clutching my kindle to my chest with my patented goofy grin, all giddy with love and mushy feelings and of course…because I’m a Dirty Book Whore, some dirtier feelings as well 😉

Jill McCormick…twenty-three years old, dark blonde hair, sky blue eyes and a fabulous actress. After having to act so much in her personal life, it’s become second nature. For 6 years she’s lived half a life…denying herself so much because of the guilt she feels. That’s not to say she’s not happy…but the only real happiness she holds in her heart is the love for the man that made her smile during a time when she thought she never would again. Patrick Carlson. But Patrick is an ideal, an untouchable dream that no one can compare to. Until Jill stops living in the land of dreams and ideals and starts experiencing what real passion is. And all because one man saw something in her.

‘She’s going to bring down the house. She’s going to make the audience cry and cheer. She’s going to make them want her.
And it sure as hell doesn’t hurt that she’s absolutely fucking beautiful.’

Davis Milo…barely 30 and one of the most sought after directors. He’s been given an amazing opportunity to direct a play that he’s insanely passionate about. Nothing will stop him from making this play a success…except a young actress that he can’t get his mind off of. But it doesn’t matter, because what are the rules of directing? ‘The first rule of directing is you do not fall for an actress. The second rule of directing is you do not fall for an actress.’ Not that it matters, Davis was burned once and burned hard, he’ll never date an actress again. But Jill gives him feelings, emotions he’s not felt in a while, things he can’t deny.

‘It hits me what’s happening.
Because he’s doing it to me again.
He’s fucking me with his words, and I am turned on beyond belief.’

Davis and Jill are hot, hot, H.O.T. Like hotter than hot, set fire to the stage (ha…yeah there are some scenes on the stage!) hot. And it’s not just the sexual chemistry, it’s their banter and connection. They have a very interesting back and forth, they can switch from actor/director, friendly/playful/flirty and of course hot/steamy/seductive. It’s really interesting to watch and just makes you fall more in love with them as a couple. And of course the force that brings the two of them together, they shouldn’t want each other/can’t want each other, he doesn’t date actresses, she is hooked on another man, all of that just drives you to crave them more and more together until you are bursting at the seems.

‘He nods, then presses his lips lightly to my forehead. “You are my sin.” He brushes them gently against my earlobe. “And my heaven.” Then the barest of kisses on my lips. “And everything in between.”’

Lauren Blakely has this innate ability to make me go absolutely insanely crazy for her couples. Insane because I couldn’t love them more if I tried. She immerses you in the characters so you feel like you know them, like they’re your best friend, so you feel their pain, their happiness, their sadness, and wonderfully enough…their passion and their love. BUT…while she does all that, and her comes the craziness, she teases the ever-living shit out of you! Okay…maybe not you, but I definitely feel it. She gives you a taste…then she pulls back…then more of a taste…and she pulls back again…then even more, and you get the picture. Each time she pulls back and you’re like wait…no…please don’t stop! But it’s worth it! I don’t know how to explain it but it’s all part of what draws you more in – it might be insanely frustrating at times, but it’s all for a very good purpose. And of course there is logic behind it, I’m sure she’s not sitting back typing away taking sheer joy in the fact that she could possibly be teasing her readers into a slow agonizing death…but she might be! 😛

‘I wonder if he knows I’ve shared more with him than with anyone else. That I give him more glimpses than anyone before. Maybe it’s because he’s asked. Maybe it’s because sometimes I feel as it he can see inside me, as if he sense things about me, as if he knows that there’s more than what I let on.’

So…confession time….Playing with Her Heart was not my first L.B. book….but it is the first book I’ve read in the Caught Up In Us series. (Please don’t throw stones at me!) That being said…reading them out of order did not spoil anything for me. I still want to read the other books, probably more so now then I did before and even though I didn’t know all of the supporting characters, I still loved them. Especially Chris, and very briefly McKenna, but that’s because I have a soft spot in my heart for the two of them 🙂 *side note, if you haven’t read Trophy Husband….you NEED to…badly!* I was not expecting to see either one of them in this book, had no idea that Chris and Jill were brother and sister – and of course I SQUEEEEEE’D during a very specific scene in the theatre.

‘I sigh heavily, then amanage to get the words out. “Because I don’t want anyone else to have you. Just like how you feel about me.”
He lowers his voice more, his words only for me. “Nobody else has me. Nobody else will. Nobody else can.”’

Oh my sweet HEA’s did I love that ending. If I thought I was hooked on Lauren before, I’m a lifer now. I cannot wait to read the first books in the Caught Up In Us series so I can play a little catch up, but these characters demand to be read. I love her blend of angst and passion mixed with just enough whit and comedy to make you laugh and the super steamy sexiness that I love so much. The writing style is addictive and consider my devotion pledged! 🙂

View all my reviews

 

Lauren Blakely is an unabashed fan of clever jokes, toast, and good guys in novels. Like the heroine in CAUGHT UP IN US, she thinks life should be filled with movie kisses and coffee drinks. Lauren lives in California with her husband and children, and spends her days writing both true stories and make-believe ones.