Schooled by Piper Lawson blog tour with review

Schooled by Piper Lawson

New Adult Contemporary Romance

eBook, 199 pages

Publisher: BookBaby (May 27, 2015)

Twenty-one year old Alexis Caine is so close to her dream she can taste it. And it tastes like validation and Häagen-Dazs.

In a few months she'll graduate with a shiny new business degree and launch a fashion label with her best friend Ava. All the planning, the dedication, and the saying ‘no’ to everything—and everyone—will have been worth it.

Then Dylan Cameron, Ava’s tall, dark and broody younger brother, returns from the East coast. Lex has hardly seen him in years and given his reputation for partying, girls, and worse, that’s just fine with her.

But suddenly Dylan’s all grown up. And a dangerous night of unplanned confessions for both of them threatens to tear Lex's carefully constructed world off its axis.

Because one sassy control freak plus one prodigal son equals chemistry that refuses to be ignored.

Rating: 3.5

Cover comment: I find the cover kind of boring. A lot of NA covers feature hot couples or memorable art. This image is just okay.

Book source: I received a promotional copy.

Alexia (Lex) and Ava are best friends, are about to graduate from college, and have plans. They want to create a fashion label and wow the world so they decide to have a 'no guys' pact. After dealing with her ex-boyfriend Jake at a party, Lex runs into Dylan (literally), and she sees he's not Ava's 'little' brother anymore. He's a man and a hot one at that. After they talk and share a kiss, Lex can't stop thinking about him, but she can't because of who he is. Hooking up with him wouldn't be a good idea, right? the friends have plans after all.

Plans are meant to change. Schooled is Piper Lawson's debut novel, a sexy New Adult contemporary romance. I enjoyed the friendship between the girls and I really liked Dylan more than I cared for Lex. These two keep running into each other at school and try to keep their feelings private. That's not always effective. Lex with her snark and determination is downright mean to Dylan at times trying to keep up the charade. Dylan is a good guy, misunderstood, and has a bad boy rep which is far off base. He cares for Lex and knows she's putting up a fight against her feelings for him. Yet, there's an aura of mystery about him and he keeps the reader guessing. At times their scenes were playful and flirty, other times the sexy scenes literally sizzled off the pages. Talk about chemistry.

I didn't connect with Lex like I did with Dylan and was surprised that he didn't have his own pov (which is the case with many NA romances). As much as Lex is strong, confident, and wants to achieve her dreams and plans, I think the problem of not connecting with her was the amount of time spent in her pov, listening to her thoughts and inner battles about her feelings for Dylan. There were parts where I wanted to see action, hear dialogue, and not just  read thoughts. Having the male perspective would have helped me understand these two individuals more and would have helped with their development. Even though the beginning lagged a bit, the pacing was quick and the writing flowed from scene to scene. I liked Schooled and would easily check out this author's next book.

About the Author

Schooled is Piper Lawson’s debut novel. Piper loves reading and writing stories about sassy, sexy, smart women and the guys who fall hard for them.

Piper’s main household expenditures include books, shoes, and chocolate, not necessarily in that order. Coffee = life (and she’ll defend it accordingly, especially when cornered). Piper has two business degrees, neither of which she’s leveraged into a fashion label.

Home is Canada plus occasional sunny winter escapes.

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