Frisk Me
Series: New York’s Finest #1
Author: Lauren Layne
Release Date: July 28, 2015
Forever
After a photograph of Luc Moretti saving a tourist hits social media, he instantly becomes New York’s most famous and beloved cop. When a major network decides to run a special on the “American Hero,” Luc’s boss gives him no choice but to cooperate in the name of good exposure for the department. Luc doesn’t mind the celebrity status-what he does mind is the gorgeous brunette journalist who’s been assigned to follow his every move. Especially since she also happens to be the same knockout that rejected him rather publicly the week before.
Ava Sims is a woman who gets what she wants. And what she wants is to be CBC’s lead anchor-but to get there, she’ll need to nail the fluff piece on the playboy cop. Luc Moretti is everything Ava knows to stay away from: a stubborn charmer with a hero-complex. But the more Ava gets to know Luc and his oddball family, the more she realizes that beneath the swagger and the blue uniform is a complex man who makes her heart beat too fast. Soon, Ava’s doing the unthinkable, and falling for the best of New York’s finest …
“Hey, so Cap said the hot reporter would be doing ride-alongs with us. That’ll be cool,” Lopez said.“Seriously? You hate ride-alongs,” Luc said.Lopez held up a finger. “No, I hate the dippy, I-wanna-be-a-cop-someday type of ride-alongs. Those stupid kids are always offering advice when they don’t know shit about shit. But Ms. Sims will be a nice kind of ride-along. Just sitting, observing…looking fine…”Luc withheld the snort. If Lopez thought Ava wouldn’t be offering plenty of unsolicited advice, he had an unpleasant surprise. He doubted mind your own business was in her DNA, not to mention it was a blatant contradiction of her job description.“Hot or not, same rules apply,” Luc said, just to set the record straight. “She can come on the tame ride-alongs. That’s it.”“Shit, and here I was planning to bring her to a shoot-out,” Lopez mused.Luc flung the paperclip back at his partner, nailing him in the forehead. “Hey. So, I need you to be my wingman.”
Lopez rubbed the red spot to the right of his temple with a knowing grin. “Ah, so you do want a piece of Miss Media.”
Yes.
No!
Damn it.
“Let me rephrase,” Luc said, sitting back in his chair. “I need you to be my reverse wingman. Do whatever you need to keep that plastic, nosy diva away from me.”
There was a light tap on his shoulder before a female voice spoke up. “Gonna be hard when this nosy diva is hell-bent on getting all up in your business.”
Whoops.
“Nice job, Wingman,” Luc said with a glare at Lopez, whose grin indicated that he’d definitely seen Ava approaching and had opted not to mention it.
Luc pivoted around in his chair so he faced Ava. Only he was sitting, and she was standing, which put him exactly at eye level with Ava’s slim hips.
Generally speaking, Luc liked a little more curve to his women, but apparently his preferences were shifting, because he couldn’t help his sex-starved brain from thinking that Ava Sims’s hips were the perfect size for his hands to wrap around, his fingers holding her still as he prepared to plunge into her…
The fantasy dissolved into a million pieces when she opened her sassy mouth again.
“You know…” her voice was considering, her finger tapping idly against her lips. “I’d always heard that the whole man-in-uniform thing was supposed to be a turn-on. Guess it’s an acquired taste.”
Whatever they had, it wasn’t typical sexual attraction.
It was something deeper.
Darker.
Whenever I see a new series come out by Lauren Layne, I don’t even bother reading the synopsis before adding. I don’t need to because I already know that the chances are 99.9% that I’ll love it. But I was an extra shot of excited when I read the blurb for this book because…HOT COPS! What? Like you didn’t? Don’t judge me! Although admittedly, I could have done with a different cover *cringes*. I know, I know, don’t judge a book by the cover and all that, and this was certainly a huge case of that. My inner cover cover whore just shut her eyes and dove in hoping against hope that the hero looks nothing like what the cover implied…and he didn’t! (thank jebus)
“You’re bribing an officer of the law? Or just really desperate to spend time with me, Sims?”
“Two questions, Moretti. What EXACTLY is up your ass? And how the hell do we remove it?”
He ran a hand through his hair, answering honestly, because honey was what Morettis did best. “Sexual frustration. As far as how to fix it…”
The hate-to-love trope. *dreamy sigh* Can it ever get old? And when you put Luc and Ava in a room together, sparks certainly fly. These two had instant chemistry from the very first time they traded insults. Three years ago they first met when officer Luc wrote Ava a ticket for illegally parking her news van and it’s been on ever since…the unfinished business between them, that is. Now Ava is back (shoving the ticket from 3 years ago right at his chest and everything), only this time it’s business. After his heroic actions saved a little girl has garnered national attention and followed up with a good samaritan video of him giving his coat to a homeless man sealed the deal, everyone wants a piece of Luc, Ava included. But what she wants him for is an exclusive and it goes against everything Luc stands for to put his life on display. He’s no one’s hero, and the last thing he wants is more attention when he’s still struggling with survivor’s guilt after a job got wrong got his friend and partner killed. Thus begins the hate lust relationship that will make your ovaries so blue, you’ll think you’ll die if these two finally don’t admit to each other what they want and give into the inevitable.
“Sure, I’ll just tape my mouth shut,” she snapped…
For a second, he looked hopeful. “That’s an option?”
Luc was a hero that I fell for right away. He’s just the right amount of tortured but with a dry wit about him that I loved. Coming from a long line of NYPD’s finest, he’s the lowest on the tandem pole it seems. His brothers are detectives and his father is the previous police commissioner. Luc is still suffering survivor’s guilt about the failed rescue that cost his partner his life. His biggest fear is the exclusive that his new boss is forcing him to go along with will allow Ava to dig further than he wants.
My favorite thing about this book was Luc’s relationship with him family and then the icing on the cake was Nonna. This woman quite honestly stole the show.
Neither brother responded, and Anthony very slowly turned his head to look at Luc. “She belongs in a home. One with bars on the window.”
I found myself giggling like a loon at every single scene with her. Everything that came out of her mouth was just absolute gold, I swear.
Luc tipped his head back and looked at the ceiling.
“Try to talk her into it tonight, Luca. Oh, and find out if she’s Catholic, would you? I suppose we can lie about that too, although I don’t know how Jesus would feel about that…”
Ava was a character that try as I might I never quite warmed up to. Considering her intentions throughout the entire book and then finally her actions at the end, it’s no wonder why I felt that way. I’m still not sure how I feel about her, but probably just a step away from tolerating her.
That being said, I did love her and Luc together. Their chemistry was practically crackling with electricity. But don’t let that fool you because there’s no insta-anything in this book. It was a very slow burn that at times left me so frustrated, I didn’t know whether to scream at the ceiling for them to finally do it, or to ice my ovaries. While I can’t say that the story itself was slow paced or dragging, the romance was certainly….worth the wait.
I’ve been thinking on my rating for a few days now. While I disliked some of the decisions Ava made, I still enjoyed this book. I loved the family dynamic and all the secondary characters. I’m absolutely dying for Vincent’s book because oh man, that set up? Delicious sounding. But I’ll certainly make do with the grumpy and broody Anthony in the meantime and without any complaints. I do love me a broody man. Lauren Layne definitely has herself another winner with this series and I can’t wait for more.
Lauren Layne is the USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance.
Prior to becoming an author, Lauren worked in e-commerce and web-marketing. In 2011, she and her husband moved from Seattle to New York City, where Lauren decided to pursue a full-time writing career. It took six months to get her first book deal (despite ardent assurances to her husband that it would only take three). Since then, Lauren’s gone on to publish ten books, including the bestselling Stiletto series, with several more on the way in 2015.
Lauren currently lives in Chicago with her husband and spoiled Pomeranian. When not writing, you’ll find her at happy hour, running at a doggedly slow pace, or trying to straighten her naturally curly hair.
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I was first hooked on this series and this author when I read 
This book had some of the best sexual tension I’ve read in a very long while. It was utterly delicious. I loved the way Chanel Cleeton handled their attraction and ultimate giving into it. I couldn’t get enough of these two.
There is no other trope out there that I love more than hate-to-love. And I think I may have found my favorite hate-to-love romance book to date. Even the Score was full of sexual chemistry, humor, all wrapped around a fantastic story that was utterly delicious. Delicious I tells ya! If this book isn’t on your TBR, you are seriously missing out because what a perfect gam this turned out to be.
Kate Meader devised the perfect formula of hate+lust to make this book absolutely unputdownable. I couldn’t get enough of it. There’s none of that typical and tiring back and forth that you’d normally find in books like this. It just felt like natural progression here.
So here’s the thing, when it comes to my romantic suspense, I’m one picky girl. It’s the first genre that originally got me into reading and I read a lot of it. So suffice it to say it takes quite a bit to impress me. What? I said I was picky. Having had a bit of a taste of Brooke Blaine’s awesome in 
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If second chance romance is your thing, this trilogy will deliver it in spades. I gobbled it right up like the starved addict that I am and it was absolutely delicious. The angst, the secrets, and of course the absolutely scorching hot sex all combined guaranteed for a page turner.
There was not one wasted page in the story. While I felt like the first book was a bit overwhelming on the sex, this one had the absolutely perfect formula. It was just enough to add to the story without taking anything away.
Allow me to preface my review by saying had I read this book immediately after 
I’ve been waiting with bated breath for the conclusion of this story since the cliffhanger in 
There was also a lot of Sin husking things. He husks practically every sentence he utters. Not that I’ll complain about that since he was my favorite part of the book.
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Fifteen years ago Lea and Austin were high school sweethearts that were planning on spending the rest of their lives together. But then the tragic death of her father leaves Lea shattered and she runs; from her life, from her town, and from Austin. Now she’s recently divorced and back to her childhood town to take care of her dying mother, but coming to terms with her past isn’t quite so easy when the boy that stole her heart those years ago is now the man that still makes it pound.
To say that Austin isn’t happy to see Lea again is definitely an understatement. When she left, she took what was left of his heart along with her. He’s bitter, angry, and the fact that she still draws him in like she did all those years ago doesn’t make it easier.
