Review + Giveaway! Your Inescapable Love by Layla Hagen

I'm excited to be taking part in the release week blitz for Layla Hagen's latest release, Your Inescapable Love. There's lots to enjoy here - an excerpt, some awesome teaser graphics, and even a giveaway! I hope you'll give this one a try and enjoy Emilia and Max's story as much as I did.

*A new sizzling friends-to-lovers romance from a USA TODAY Best-selling Author* *This book is a stand-alone. Each book in The Bennett Family series will follow a different couple.*  Max Bennett was nine years old the first time he met Emilia. The two formed a tight friendship that lasted for years until she moved away. Now, years later, Max enjoys a successful career, and his brilliant business sense helped him take his family’s company to the next level. Max loves his life: carefree and fun. He has everything he wants and does not intend to settle down anytime soon (even though his family might have other ideas). But when a chance encounter brings him face-to-face with Emilia, he starts questioning everything. The girl he last saw years ago has grown into a beautiful woman with sensual curves and a smile he can’t get out of his mind. Their chemistry is sizzling, and between old memories and new challenges, the two form an undeniable connection.   Emilia Campbell has a lot on her plate, taking care of her sick grandmother. Still, the twenty-eight-year-old physical therapist faces everything with a smile on her face and a positive attitude. The one area in her life where she’s not too optimistic is love. After practically being left at the altar, Emilia has sworn off men. Until the childhood friend she hero-worshiped and hasn’t quite forgotten steps into her clinic. Max is every bit the troublemaker she remembers, only now he has a body to drool over and a smile to melt her panties. Not that she intends to do the former, or let the latter happen. They are both determined not to cross the boundaries of friendship. But as they spend more time together, their chemistry spirals out of control. Can Emilia trust her childhood hero with the key to her heart and accept she might have found her one true love? 

* AMAZON (US) * AMAZON (UK) * APPLE iTUNES * 
* B&N NOOK * KOBO * GOOGLE PLAY * 

MY THOUGHTS

I thoroughly enjoyed Max and Emilia's story in Your Inescapable Love. Meeting as children, Max became the friend that Emilia desperately needed. Years later they reconnect as adults and there's more there than a rediscovered friendship - there's off-the-charts chemistry. Neither Max nor Emilia are looking for a relationship but the time they spend together has them both rehtinking that.

Max and Emilia are such likable characters. Emilia has a lot on her plate working as a physical therapist and also caring for the grandmother who raised her who now has Alzheimer's. She's independent and a hard worker but she's gun shy about relationships after her fiance dumped her three weeks before their wedding date. Max is a success in business but has always sworn off relationships in favor of casual flings with no strings attached. He is equal parts cocky and charming and I loved his desire to try to help Emilia and ease some of her burden.

I really enjoyed the secondary characters, especially the other members of the Bennett family. Max comes from a big family and I loved their interactions. If I had one quibble with the book it would some of the language that seemed so out of place. I have zero issue with profanity or dirty talk but some of it here felt so at odds with the overall tone of the book. It ended up seeming coarse and jarring. 

Your Inescapable Love was a wonderful contemporary romance that left me wanting to go back and read the previous books in the series. That being said, even though this is the fourth book in the Bennett series, I had no issue reading it as a stand alone.

EXCERPT

“I think it’s every man’s fantasy to be stuck with a woman in an elevator,” Max says. “And when it happens to me, I’m nearly having a damn panic attack.”

“I’d say you’re doing fine, Bennett. You scared me a little in the beginning, but now you’re looking good.”  I’m pleased to observe that he seems more at ease than before. His breathing pattern is calmer, even though his hands are still curled into fists. He also eyes the floor right next to me from time to time, which is a telltale sign he’s not completely at ease. Almost driven by a will of its own, my hand inches closer to his, reaching for him. I touch the back of his hand with my fingers. At first, nothing happens, but then he opens his fist, letting me in. Having my hand in his feels familiar and new at the same time, which I suppose is the perfect way to sum up our renewed friendship. Trying to ignore the way my body hums at his nearness, I scoot even closer to him, until my left hip touches his right hip. Max moves our intertwined hands on his lap. “I knew I had to get you to talk in order to distract you.”

“You’re a distraction all by yourself. Especially since your skirt slid up when you sat.”

“Oh crap.” I inspect my skirt, and sure enough, it slid up my thighs. Damn me and my habit of wearing skirts on the way to work and only changing into training gear at the clinic. My ass is not hanging out, but there’s enough to see if you look closely. And Max definitely is looking closely. That’s why he was peering down regularly. It wasn’t a sign of nervousness. It was a sign of him being a pervert. I’ve been so focused on him, I didn’t even notice my panties are almost on display. Hastily I cover myself, pulling at my skirt and wishing it were longer. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“And ruin all my fun? I’m not stupid.”

“I, on the other hand, am an idiot. A complete and utter idiot.”

“No, you’re not.” He opens his mouth as if he would like to add more, but then closes it again. 

I remain silent, watching the vein pulsing at the base of his neck. Up close, I can smell his scent beneath the cologne, and it’s intoxicating, awakening every single cell in my body. Unexpectedly, he turns my palm up, tracing the almost invisible white line at the base.

“The scar almost faded,” he murmurs. “Did you tell anyone how you really got it?” he inquires.

“No, I kept our secret. Did you?” On the night before Grams and I moved to Montana, I snuck out of my house to meet Max for a farewell walk around the places we used to hang around. I cut my palm badly in the process.

“I don’t kiss and tell, Emilia.” I don’t know if it’s the fact that he used kiss and Emilia in the same sentence, or that his tone is low and husky, but a delicious shiver slithers down my spine. With his thumb, he draws little circles at the base of my palm, driving me crazy. How can a gesture so innocent stir so many sinful sensations inside of me? My breath hitches as I hear Max swallowing hard. Risking a glance at him, I notice his jaw is clenched, as if he is exerting the utmost self-control. Raising my hand, he places a kiss on my scar. The contact sends a jolt directly to my center.

I let out a sound somewhere between a moan and a groan, energy strumming through me. Max turns his head toward me, focusing on my mouth. He is so close. I’d barely have to tip my head, and.... Almost involuntarily, I lick my lower lip.

A groan reverberates from deep inside Max. “Are you trying to kill me?”

Shaking my head, I become acutely aware that our hands are still intertwined. Worse still, we’re both shaking. To someone watching us, it wouldn’t be noticeable. But I can feel it in my bones. Our last vestiges of control are about to give in. I pry my hand out of his and push myself further away in an attempt to put some distance between us, but as soon as I move my ass, my damn skirt slides upward again.

“Fucking hell,” Max exclaims, his gaze following the hem of my skirt as if he wants to set it on fire. Cursing, I cover myself again. He snaps his gaze away, staring at the door instead.

 Don't miss the other books in the Bennett Family Series!

  Your Irresistible Love (The Bennett Family Series, Book 1): 

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2dbUS7s 

  Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2dG4jMj 

  iBooks Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1071839236 

  Nook (Barnes and Noble): http://bit.ly/2cQ8OI3 

  Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/your-irresistible-love 

 Google Play: http://bit.ly/2booehV 

  The AUDIO version: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2dsVfw4 

  Your Captivating Love (The Bennett Family Series, Book 2): 

  Amazon: http://amzn.to/1RISb9k 

  B&N: http://bit.ly/23bz3ck 

  Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1071941774 

  Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/your-captivating-love 

 Google Play: http://bit.ly/2doRv2q 

  The AUDIO version: http://amzn.to/2dH85WD 

  Your Forever Love (The Bennett Family Series, Book 3): 

  Amazon: http://amzn.to/2cQaAcb 

  B&N: http://bit.ly/2bN7Smx 

  Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1105596243 

  Kobo: http://bit.ly/2aHQd0x 

  Google Play: http://bit.ly/2ar1ooN 

  The AUDIO version: http://amzn.to/2dbWMF7              

ENTER LAYLA'S GIVEAWAY

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Layla Hagen: I fell in love with books when I was nine years old, and my love affair with stories continues even now, many years later. I write romantic stories and can’t wait to share them with the world. And I drink coffee. Lots of it.      
Links:
Website: https://twitter.com/laylahagen
Facebook: https://facebook.com/LaylaHagenBooks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laylahagen