Cuff Me by Lauren Layne (Excerpt, Review, Giveaway)

Cuff Me

New York’s Finest #3

Author: Lauren Layne
Publisher:Grand Central Publishing
Imprint: Forever
Genre: Romance | Contemporary Romance
Pages: 384
Release Date: March 29th 2016
Find it: Goodreads | Goodreads Series Link
Buy Links:  Amazon | B & N | Google Play | iTunes | Kobo

Book Summary

Meet New York’s Finest-three hot brothers sworn to protect and serve the city they love . . . and the women who’ve stolen their hearts.

ARRESTED BY LOVE

Vincent Moretti is one of the NYPD’s top homicide detectives-and one of the most eligible bachelors in town. His family, however, thinks he should date his longtime partner, Jill-a sassy, sexy, smart-mouthed blonde who drives him absolutely crazy.

Behind the quiet authority, tough-guy demeanor, and dark aviator glasses lies a man with a big soul-and a hard body that can soften any girl’s heart. After years as his coworker, Jill Henley has given up hope that anything could happen between her and Vin. Besides, loving him would break all the rules. But seeing Jill with someone else triggers feelings in Vincent he never knew he had. Now he’ll have to stop playing good cop/bad cop-and find a way to convince her to be his partner for life. . .

Goodreads | Goodreads Series Link

Buy Links:  Amazon | B & N | Google Play | iTunes | Kobo

Book Excerpt

From Cuff Me by Lauren Layne:

There’s something wrong with a man that grins like that at a crime scene.”

Detective Vincent Moretti glanced up from where he’d been studying the gunshot wound of the vic and glared at the officer who’d been shadowing him for the past three months.

“I wasn’t grinning.”

Detective Tyler Dansen never paused in scribbling in the black notebook he carried everywhere. “You were definitely grinning.”

“Nope.”

Dansen glanced up. “Fine. Maybe not grinning. But I’m one hundred percent sure I saw you smile.”

“How about you be one hundred percent sure about who shot this guy instead?” Vincent said irritably.

Dansen returned his attention to his damn notebook, but he didn’t look particularly chagrined by Vin’s reprimand.

Oh, what Vin wouldn’t give to go back to those early days when all he’d had to do was look at Dansen, and the kid practically dropped into a deferential bow.

Three months of spending every workday in each other’s company had the newly minted detective acting nearly as impudent as Vincent’s actual partner.

Nearly being an important distinction, because Vincent didn’t think they made ’em sassier, more stubborn, or more annoying than Detective Jill Henley.

And he would know. They’d been partners for six long years, and their pairing up as partners was proof of God’s sense of humor.

Jill Henley was Vincent’s opposite in every way.

Jill was chipper, charming, and smiley.

Vincent was… none of those things.

Especially not the last one. Although, if he was being really honest with himself, Dansen may have been right about Vincent cracking a smile earlier.

It’s not that Vin was immune to death. There was absolutely nothing humorous about a man lying cold in his own blood and guts, dead from a gunshot wound to the stomach.

But after six years as a homicide DT for the NYPD, one learned to compartmentalize. To let the brain occasionally go somewhere else other than death even as you were staring straight at it.

It was the only way to survive. Otherwise it was nothing but puking and nightmares.

And speaking of puking…

Vincent stood and gave Detective Dansen a once-over.

“If you’re gonna barf, do it outside,” he said, just to needle the younger man.

Dansen threw his arms up in exasperation. “That was one time. One time! And I hear it happens to everyone on their first day.”

“Didn’t happen to me.”

“That’s because you’re a machine,” Dansen muttered under his breath.

Vincent didn’t respond to this. It was nothing he hadn’t heard before. Robot. Machine. Automaton.

He just didn’t know what people expected him to do about it.

In the movies, there was always some reason for the semi-mechanical, unfeeling action hero.

Either a dead wife, an abusive past, or some other sort of jacked-up emotional history. But Vincent had always sort of figured he’d been born this way. Quiet. Reserved. Broody.

It’s not that he didn’t feel. Of course he did. He just didn’t feel out loud. He wasn’t sure that he really knew how to, and wasn’t sure he wanted to learn.

My Thoughts

*ARC provided by Publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review*

It was around this time last year that I picked up my first Lauren Layne book. Then I picked up my second one. And my third and fourth and on and on it went. I’ve fallen in love with each hero and each story I’ve read by this author, but perhaps none more so than the New York’s Finest series and the Moretti brothers. These fabulous men are one of my favorite groups of people to read about and I covet each and every one of them. But I feel no shame in admitting that Vincent Moretti is my favorite. Hands down. Without question or doubt. My favorite. Which means I was completely and totally excited to get an early copy of Cuff Me to read, and boy howdy, was he worth the wait.

In Cuff Me by Lauren Layne, Detective Vincent Moretti (gosh, even typing his name makes me shiver, I loved him so much) has a big problem. His friend and partner of six years, Jill, has been away for the past three months taking care of her mother and while he’d been expecting them to pick up right where they left off when she returns, things take a drastic turn on him. Because while Jill was away, she met a man–a man who isn’t Vincent.

This story was absolutely everything. Beautiful, heart wrenching, light-hearted, suspenseful, romantic, sexy, with loads and loads of sexual tension, self-doubt, fear and plain old stupidity—both male and female—thrown in. In a word, it was…perfection.

I adored this book. I loved this book. I want to hug and marry this book. And Vincent Moretti. Vincent the most, let’s be honest here. He’s an utterly swoon worthy hero. His doubts and insecurities, his inability to tell Jill—tell anyone—what he’s thinking, how he feels. He plays his cards close to the vest, but he feels so much, thinks so much, and damn, if I didn’t I fall in love with him even more on every single page he appeared.

And Jill. I adored her. I’ve loved her and Vin from previous books, obviously, but never more than I did in this one. They flat out killed in this book. Their friends-to-lovers, push-pull relationship was everything I wanted it to be, and more. So much more.

Because they mattered. Because I cared. Because Lauren Layne created these amazingly deep, psychologically sound characters that felt as real and as natural as a couple I might see and hear talking on the street. Their every scene played like a movie in my head, and I loved each and every vivid, Technicolor shot of it. They entertained me. They made me smile, and laugh, and I fell in love right alongside them in this book.

If you haven’t read any of the New York’s Finest series yet, or any other Lauren Layne book, don’t be afraid to jump in with Cuff Me. It might be the third in the series, but it’s also a gorgeous, well-written, well-crafted, feel-good romance that can stand alone, and one I could not—nor did I want to—put down.

Rating: 5 Stars

*Okie Dreams Top Pick*

Giveaway

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A Custom Mug, $25.00 Amazon Gift Card and Print Set of FRISK ME/STEAL ME

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About The Author

Lauren Layne is the USA Today Bestselling author of more than a dozen contemporary romance novels.

Prior to becoming an author, Lauren worked in e-commerce and web-marketing. A year after moving from Seattle to NYC to pursue a writing career, she had a fabulous agent and multiple New York publishing deals.

Lauren currently lives in Manhattan with her husband and plus-sized Pomeranian. When not writing, you’ll likely find her running (rarely), reading (sometimes), or at happy hour (often).

Author Links Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest

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