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January 15, 2015 9:53 am
Title: Claiming Serenity
Series: Seeking Serenity, #3
Author: Eden Butler
Genre: NA | Contemporary Romance
Release Date: December 22, 2014
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23303985-claiming-serenity
She left glitter in his AC vents. He put green dye in her conditioner.
She buttered his bathroom floor, and he kidnapped her precious puppy.
Layla Mullens hates Donovan Donley. His crude language, his wide shoulders, his crystal blue eyes…she hates that she can’t stop herself…from kissing him or landing in his bed.
And Donovan Donley wants nothing more than to knock Layla off her princess pedestal. He hates her stuck up attitude and her soft, tempting lips. He especially hates that her father is his coach.
But he’s fine with their arrangement—act horrible to each other during the day, attack each other naked at night. It works.
But one night changes everything. When Layla doesn’t show, and Donovan’s cold bed stays empty, the lies he tells himself to keep Layla out of his mind aren’t enough to keep him from missing her. And needing her. Something he promised himself would never happen.
The white flags in their prank war have been lowered but their high stakes battle has just begun.
Buy Links for CLAIMING SERENITY:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R7YON28
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00R7YON28
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/claiming-serenity-eden-butler/1120944660
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/503039
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/claiming-serenity
Serene is not the word that comes to mind when describing the relationship that Layla and Donovan have in Eden Butler’s newest release Claiming Serenity.
Volatile…Angst-ridden…Tormented…Loathsome are much closer defining characteristics to what make them arch enemies.
So how do Layla and Donovan go from mortal foes to “enemies with benefits”?
An undeniable attraction that scorches the sheets and threatens to consume them even during the day hours when they’re supposed to hate and persecute each other.
But can a relationship with no emotions and no promises really occur and give them the serenity both Layla and Donovan need or will a tormented past filled with evil pranks and bitter words be the only thing they’re left with when their attraction runs its course and the bitterness resurfaces?
They always say that the boy who continuously picks on the girl wants to claim her instead of annoy her, but he doesn’t know how to show it, and that’s Donovan “the Demon” Donley. He’s a man all about control and due to a bitter experience in his past, he’s all about keeping his heart intact, so he fights his feelings for Layla every step of the way, mostly by making her life a living hell. I have to admit…I don’t think I would have liked Donovan all that much without getting his point of view. At face value, he sort of comes across as a cocky asshole, but through his words and personal thoughts, readers are given a glimpse inside the tormented man, and we grow to understand why he is the way he is and what’s at stake for him in getting too close to Layla.
Layla is definitely a firecracker, and she gives as good as she gets when it comes to the pranks she pulls on Donovan. There are a ton of expectations on her shoulders and her path has pretty much been laid out by her parents, which is a lot of pressure on a young twenty something woman. She hates that she wants Donovan, but she can’t fight her attraction to him, and even though she feels she’s setting herself up for a letdown, she gives into her desires and lets Donovan rock her world.
Donovan and Layla’s “enemies with benefits” relationship definitely takes a turn that I didn’t see coming, but I’m glad that it did because it truly shows what they both are made of and what they’re willing to risk when a mistake just might be what they needed from the beginning.
Claiming Serenity is a great story that explores the real feelings below two characters who appear on the surface and behind their masks to loathe one another. The text has a great mix of steam, angst, and heartache that will keep readers’ interest and keep them cheering for the hero and heroine’s happily ever after. It’s not an easy path to grow from enemies to lovers, but when deep down that’s not really what they were, it might just be a bit easier, as long as they’re willing to admit it.
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
4 poison apples
“Nothing but bitchiness comes out of your mouth, you know that?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, did I hurt your mammoth ego, Donley?”
And that’s when Donovan disregarded the heat working between, too annoyed, too frustrated to see it as anything other than his temper rising. She was generally a vicious smart ass. Why would now be any exception? “Like you’re capable of getting under my skin.”
“Then why are you acting so offended?”
“Shut up.”
“Make me.”
She really shouldn’t have said that. Donovan pulled her close, his fingers in a loose grip on her arms. He didn’t think, forgot to remind himself that no matter how much he wanted her, bottom line was, he hated Layla. Forgetting that very important bit of information, Donovan pulled her against his chest.
“That I can do, brat.”
Donovan crashed his mouth into hers, inhaling that delicious peach scent and let the strange, domineering voice in his brain, the one that came up with the most devious pranks and insults to level at her, drown out his reasonable thought. In that moment, he only smelled that intoxicating scent on her skin, felt the easy warmth from breath bouncing against his lips, how her sharp intake of breath told him he wasn’t alone in feeling that hiss. She wanted him, he knew that. Her cheeks were pink, flushed and her gorgeous tits heaved, an invitation Donovan had no intention of ignoring.
Layla didn’t act like she wanted anything else but his mouth, his hands, him leaning her against the wall with her legs wrapped around him as they went after each other like they were starving.
“You smell disgusting,” she said, pulling his sweaty t-shirt over his head.
“Stop flapping your damn lips.” Donovan’s mouth worked over her neck, down to her collarbone and she did not complain that he was sweaty and filthy from the pitch.
“Don’t…oh God…” she pulled his hair and Donovan let her, too worked up by her smell, her taste to care what she did to him.
“God you feel good,” he said, grinding into her, his body ready, eager for her, despite what he knew he shouldn’t want, what he’d told himself he never wanted from Layla. Donovan pulled her closer, pressed his hips deeper, so she could feel all of him, squeezing his fingers into her ass and she released a moan, deep and throaty. Then, as he flicked his tongue behind her ear and moved his hips a bit too eagerly against her, Donovan felt the instant disconnect as though she’d only just realized who was kissing her—the rigid way her back straightened, how she moved her head back to avoid his mouth on her skin.
Knowing defeat when it came to him, Donovan didn’t stop her, didn’t try to convince her to stay with him in that empty, musty room as she untangled her limbs from his waist, as she held her hand flat against his chest to keep him at a distance.
“Layla…”
A shake of her head, she grabbed her bag and went through the door with Donovan right behind her, pulling on his t-shirt and making weak attempts to get her to talk to him. “Layla wait…” and he didn’t follow, couldn’t as they left the hallway and she became lost in the lobby crowd.
Buy Links for SEEKING SERENITY series:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1wPppxM
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1AGUfIc
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/16DEVD9
Kobo: http://bit.ly/13nGQtq
Eden Butler is an editor and writer of New Adult Romance and SciFi and Fantasy novels and the nine-times great-granddaughter of an honest-to-God English pirate. This could explain her affinity for rule breaking and rum. Her debut novel, a New Adult, Contemporary (no cliffie) Romance, “Chasing Serenity” launched in October 2013 and quickly became an Amazon bestseller.
When she’s not writing or wondering about her possibly Jack Sparrowesque ancestor, Eden edits, reads and spends way too much time watching rugby, Doctor Who and New Orleans Saints football.
She is currently living under teenage rule alongside her husband in southeast Louisiana.
Please send help.
Author Social Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eden.butler.10
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EdenButler_
Blog: http://edenbutlerwrites.wordpress.com/
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/21011324-eden-butler
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/edenbutlerwrite/
Tumblr: http://edenbutlerwrites.tumblr.com/
Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Eden-Butler/e/B00FUTKTZC
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/VXQXD
Eden is offering the following prizes! Giveaway ends at 11:59 PM CST 01/20/2015.
(2) $20 Gift Card for either Amazon or B&N (INTL)
(1) Signed copy of Chasing Serenity, Behind the Pitch, Finding Serenity and Claiming Serenity (INTL)
Posted by Rebecca
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