Review: Kiss Me in the Rain by Lindzee Armstrong

My rating: 2 stars / It was okay

Synopsis

Will she risk the home she treasures for the man she loves?

Cypress Grove has always been a treasured constant in Layla's perfect life. Now the mansion will be sold to the highest bidder if she doesn’t date an investor's son. The problem? The man she really wants just rolled into town.

Tyler is done being responsible and never going after what he wants. Layla's finally given him the courage to quit grad school and use his student loans to flip houses. And he's decided to move near Cypress Grove to do it.

When Layla happens upon suspicious ledgers at the mansion, her family's financial woes take a sinister turn. As Tyler and Layla work together to find the culprit, the attraction between them threatens to burst into flames. But admitting their feelings could spell disaster for Cypress Grove.

My Review

This story did not capture my interest as I read. I think it began with not being able to connect with Layla and Tyler due to a lack of character development. It might have been different if I had read the previous book they were introduced in. I felt like I started the story halfway through. Things just started happening and I was reading what was going on, but felt removed from it all. Layla came across as snobbish in some ways (judging others as "gauche"), yet didn't understand why Tyler thought she wouldn't be okay dating someone who didn't fit her standard of living. The fake engagement plot felt a little over the top, and I agreed with Tyler when he called it a "crazy alternate reality." I thought it was cool that he wanted to restore old properties and flip the houses, but didn't think that using his student loan money was an honest way to get started. Shouldn't he have gotten a personal loan or business loan for that? It felt like the story jumped back and forth between Tyler's project and Layla's project instead of being more cohesive. Even though I thought this book was just okay, some of my other reviewer friends enjoyed it so you still might want to give it a chance, especially if you read Kiss Me in the Moonlight by the same author.

(I received a complimentary copy of the book; all opinions in this review are my own)

Part of the Destined for Love Mansions series:

Kiss Me in the Rain by Lindzee Armstrong
Roping His Heart by Jaclyn Hardy
The Princess and The Pizza Man by Cassie Mae
Mending Faces by Lorin Grace
Love Me at Sunset by Lucinda Whitney
Saving Her Plantation by Cami Checketts