Star Struck, a sexy, standalone from New York Times Bestseller Laurelin Paige is live!
She uses her fame as a wall around her heart, and only he can tear it down.
Seth Rafferty knows Heather Wainwright’s type.
Demanding. Check.
Self-important. Check.
Leggy and blonde. Yeah, he knows the drill.
He’s been a Hollywood production designer far too long to have patience for A-listers with a superior attitude. Beautiful women with a chip on their shoulder are a dime a dozen.
Which is why his obsession with Heather makes no sense. Nothing about her is attractive.
Except the vulnerability under the sass. The honesty under the attitude.
So when wrap-party flirting gets carried away, Seth doesn’t stop it from turning into a sizzling night of passion. Too late, he realizes, one night isn’t going to get her out of his system.
On to plan B: uncover the real woman under the diva.
Soon Heather will find out that Seth isn’t just a simple carpenter she can use and lose without consequences. He’ll play the part of the builder, but it’s her walls he intends to break down.
Star Struck is a reissue of one of Laurelin Paige’s first books, but you can’t tell. There was some re-editing done, and while I had read this book previously, there wasn’t really anything that stood out as a major change in the story.
Laurelin is a favorite of mine, because of books like this. The story is so good, so perfect, and grips you so completely, you are not able to put it down. You don’t want to put it down. You want to know what happens next, and then you are sad when you are done. But, isn’t that what you want from a story? A book you can’t put down, that captures your heart and your mind, and then stays with you long after you have finished it? If you answered yes, this book (or anything written by Laurelin Paige) is a book you are going to want to read.
More.
Than.
Once.
Heather is cold, calculating, closed off, and as her inner dialog shows, at times, a bitch.
Heather should be difficult to like, and she should be the kind of heroine that makes you put down the book because you can’t connect with her. But she isn’t. Instead, she is one of the most relateable female characters I have ever read.
She is all of us.
Does she handle her insecurities in a way that makes her come across as someone awful? Yes, but haven’t we all? Don’t we all have a moment in which we were mean to someone, or less nice in a situation than we should have been, not because of the person, but because of a trigger the situation brought up in us? I know I have. And, this is Heather. She isn’t awful. She wants to be liked, appreciated, and loved. But, she thinks her past makes her unworthy of this…so instead of opening herself up to people, she is closed at the beginning of any relationship. She assumes that people won’t see her value, so instead of showing them the great person she is, she starts relationships as the person they won’t like, with the assumption they will end up feeling that way about her eventually, so she may as well save them the trouble.
Seth almost plays along with her, he doesn’t like her at the beginning, he finds her awful. But he wants her. This leads to some of the hottest angry sex EVER. Seriously, ever. It’s possible I have never read hotter angry sex. If I have, my brain exploded and I don’t remember it.
And, then it isn’t hate at all. It’s genuine attraction, and a desire to get to know one another, and a connection that is so much more than they ever thought they would have. The ending, after “the fight” is perfect, it comes full circle, and it shows not only how close they each have become as they joke about the things that were points of contention at the beginning, but how close they are, and how much they have come to realize they each mean to the other.
Then, you get their story, their connection. You see that, above all else, they really do like one another and there are things about them, about their past, that allows them to not only relate to one another, but to understand.
As you know from the beginning, Seth is not entirely truthful with Heather about who he is, and what he does for a living. But, this turns out to be ok. Well, maybe not ok, but you understand it. I have, usually, a hard time with the books in which one of the characters lies to the other through a majority of the book, as I have a hard time believing the authenticity of the relationship. But, in a wonderful way Ms. Paige makes this work. The writing, and the plotting of the story, are perfect and are done in such a way where his lies are almost necessary. And, what is the best is that they both realize this at the end. They really would not be where they are now if not for the fabrications at the beginning. I also think it matters that they are older characters, as this is a life realization that comes, I think, not only with finding someone who really supports you, but also with the realization that the opinions of others aren't always the most important things in life. This is a realization, I am guessing, that is even tougher when you make your living, as Heather does, in an industry that is all about the perceptions of others and how much they like what you do, who you are, and who they think you are.
Is this an endorsement of the plot based on a lie? No, LOL, as I am still not their biggest fan…but it is me saying that, for Heather and Seth, the lies at the beginning of the relationship made it possible for them to have any kind of relationship at all, as the people they are would not have connected without them.
Heather and Seth are going to stick with you, as they have a romance you can connect with, that you relate to, as more than just characters on the page. Obviously, I recommend this book.
From the moment the book begins I was prepared to dislike Heather...but I never did. Her attitude and diva sense are a coping mechanism for her and one I completely understood. I think we all know someone who can be a bit prickly, and if you don't know someone like that chances are YOU are like that. So Heather is an incredibly easy character to relate to.
Seth is sexy as hell right from the start. I'm not going to lie, his profession fascinated me. I just loved everything about it. He's a man who can work with his hands and I love that. But he's also the man who can give Heather exactly what she needs so I loved him for that too. Now, I don't love that he initially lied. I'm just not a fan of that in books-but it made sense here. The profession that these two are in almost calls for it, forcing the reader to look past the lies and into the truth of the character.
The steam between these two is undeniable. Right from the very start you feel it from these characters and when they finally do come together? Holy hell. Their sexy times were wicked hot and I loved every minute of them.
The pacing of this book is perfect and the writing is sharp as always. I do have to note that I loved the professions of these characters, and I loved how the author brought us into their world. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
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