You should know the drill by now. It’s Monday so it’s time for another instalment of A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books and this week is all about authors with surnames beginning with L.
Today might just be my favourite of all the blog posts I’ve done so far in this A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books series because I’ve got 5 x amazing authors (& books) to talk about: Christina Lauren, Lauren Layne, Claire LaZebnik, April Lindner & Stefanie London.
Who cares if my TBR is kicking my ass right now, I’m really enjoying going back through my Goodreads and rediscovering so many old favourites.
P.S. If you’ve missed any of my previous A-Z: Favourite Authors & Books, you’ll find links to them all in the Archives.
AUTHOR: Christina Lauren (Website / Twitter / Instagram)
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The co-author duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced nineteen New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 30+ languages. (Some of these books have kissing. Some of these books have A LOT of kissing) (Goodreads).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 22
It’s extra-difficult when one of my favourite authors has such an amazing back catalogue. 11 of the 22 x books I’ve read by Christina Lauren were Five Star Reads and I kept going back and forth between ‘Sweet Filthy Boy,’ Beautiful Stranger or The Unhoneymooners (My Favourite Books of 2020) as my Favourite Book before ultimately settling on Mia and her sexy, Gallic fling, Ansel in ‘Sweet Filthy Boy.’
BOOK: Sweet Filthy Boy (Wild Seasons #1) (2014)
Series: Dirty Rowdy Thing (#2), Dark Wild Night (#3) & Wicked Sexy Liar (#4)
One-night stands are supposed to be with someone convenient, or wickedly persuasive, or regrettable. They aren’t supposed to be with someone like him.
But after a crazy Vegas weekend celebrating her college graduation—and terrified of the future path she knows is a cop-out—Mia Holland makes the wildest decision of her life: follow Ansel Guillaume—her sweet, filthy fling—to France for the summer and just…play.
When feelings begin to develop behind the provocative roles they take on, and their temporary masquerade adventures begin to feel real, Mia will have to decide if she belongs in the life she left because it was all wrong, or in the strange new one that seems worlds away.
AUTHOR: Lauren Layne (Website / Instagram)
Lauren Layne is a New York Times bestselling author of more than forty romance novels. With millions of books sold worldwide, Lauren has been featured on Inside Edition, The Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, TheSkimm, Oprah Magazine, PopSugar, and Cosmopolitan magazine. She is based in New York City (Author Website).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 41
If I thought it was difficult to choose my favourite book by Christina Lauren, it was nothing compared to the struggle of trying to decide on my favourite book by Lauren Layne. If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you’ll know that I’m a self-confessed Lauren Layne Superfan. I love all of her books and I’m beyond excited for Emergency Contact, which Lauren co-wrote with her husband (and high-school sweetheart), Anthony Ladonne and is due to be published on 24 October 2023. After much deliberation, I eventually chose ‘The Trouble With Love’ because 1) it’s got all the glamour of working in the magazine industry in New York City, it’s a crossover of 2 x series with interconnected characters (Sex, Love & Stiletto & Oxford) & I’m a sucker for second-chance romances.
BOOK: The Trouble With Love (Sex, Love & Stiletto #4) (2015)
Series: After The Kiss (#1), Love The One You’re With (#2) & Just One Night (#3)
As Stiletto magazine’s authority on all things breakup-and-heartache, Emma Sinclair writes from personal experience. Five years ago, Emma was Charlotte, North Carolina’s darling debutante and a blushing bride-to-be. Now she’s the ice queen of the Manhattan dating scene. Emma left her sultry Southern drawl behind, but not even her closest friends know that with it she left her heart. Now Emma’s latest article forces her to face her demons—namely, the devilishly sexy guy who ditched her at the altar.
After giving up everything for a pro-soccer career, Alex Cassidy watches his dreams crumble as a knee injury sidelines him for good. Now he’s hanging up his cleats and giving journalism a shot. It’s just a coincidence that he happens to pick a job in the same field, and the same city, as his former fiancée . . . right? But when Emma moves in next door, it’s no accident. It’s research. And Alex can’t help wondering what might have been. Unlike the innocent girl he remembers, this Emma is chic, sophisticated, and assertive—and she wants absolutely nothing to do with him. The trouble is, Alex has never wanted her more.
WHAT’S NEXT? Emergency Contact (6 In 6: Most Anticipated New Releases (July to December 2023)) (24 October 2023)
AUTHOR: Claire LaZebnik (Instagram)
Claire grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard University in 1985. In addition to her novels, she has also co-written 3 x books on autism with Dr. Lynn Kern Koegel: Overcoming Autism, Growing Up on the Spectrum & Hidden Brilliance. Claire is married to TV writer, Rob LaZebnik and they have 4 x children (Wikipedia).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 7
BOOK: Olivia’s Sister (2003) (aka ‘Same As It Never Was’)
At 21, Olivia Martin has mastered the art of cynicism. Maybe that’s inevitable because of her dysfunctional family – a desperately needy, alcoholic ex-model mother; a rich, ill-tempered father with an imperious new wife; and a spoiled half-sister. Olivia’s modus operandi has been to ignore them all and just drift through life, tough and alone.
However, just as she is in danger of falling in love – or at least in lust – for the first time, Olivia’s familial responsibilities come crashing down about her. Her father and his second wife are killed in a car crash, and she is left to inherit both their considerable fortune and guardianship of her four-year old half-sister.
Despite Olivia’s view that ‘If I’d wanted to be saddled with a kid at this point in my life, I’d have grown up in Oklahoma,’, she has no choice but to do the right thing and try and raise a child she’s only met on a handful of times.
AUTHOR: April Lindner (Website / Instagram)
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 4
BOOK: Jane (2010)
‘Jane’ is 100% responsible for my obsessions with Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (It’s All About the Jane (Eyre)) because it inspired me to read the original for the first time and Michael Fassbender because it was only after I’d finished reading ‘Jane Eyre’ that I watched my 1st ever Michael Fassbender movie, Jane Eyre (2011) (Michael plays Rochester). If you like modern retellings of classic novels, check out Catherine (Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte) & Love, Lucy (A Room With a View by E.M. Forster).
Forced to drop out of an esteemed East Coast college after the sudden death of her parents, Jane Moore takes a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rock star on the brink of a huge comeback. Practical and independent, Jane reluctantly becomes entranced by her magnetic and brooding employer and finds herself in the midst of a forbidden romance.
But there’s a mystery at Thornfield, and Jane’s much-envied relationship with Nico is soon tested by an agonizing secret from his past. Torn between her feelings for Nico and his fateful secret, Jane must decide does being true to herself mean giving up on true love?
AUTHOR: Stefanie London (Website / Instagram)
Stefanie London is a multi-award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romances and romantic comedies.
Stefanie’s books have been called “genuinely entertaining and memorable” by Booklist, and “elegant, descriptive and delectable” by RT magazine. Her stories have won multiple industry awards, including the HOLT Medallion and OKRWA National Reader’s Choice Award, and she has been nominated for the Romance Writers of America RITA award.
Originally from Australia, Stefanie lives in Toronto with her very own hero and is doing her best to travel the world. She frequently indulges in her passions for good coffee, lipstick, romance novels and anything zombie-related (Goodreads).
Books I’ve Read by This Author: 3 (+ 1 x TBR)
BOOK: Pets of Park Avenue (Paws in the City #2) (2022) (Five Star Reads – February 2023)
Series: The Dachshund Wears Prada (#1) & Confessions of a Canine Drama Queen (#3)
I love the Paws in the City series because I can’t have my own adorable pupster (I live in an apartment and travel frequently so it wouldn’t be fair on them) but at least I can get my floofy fix through Camilla, Star and Molly.
What do you do when The One is also the one who broke your heart?
Self-proclaimed hot mess Scout Myers is determined to prove she’s finally got her act together. Raised by grandparents who saw her as her wayward mother’s wayward daughter, Scout’s used to being written off. So when the opportunity for a promotion arises at Paws in the City, the talent agency where she works, Scout is desperate to rise to the occasion. With shared custody of her little sister also on the line, Scout can’t afford a single mistake…like suddenly needing a canine stand-in for an important photoshoot. Luckily (or not) she knows the owner of the perfect pup the estranged husband she walked out on years ago.
On the surface, it appears Lane Halliday’s life has been blissfully drama free without Scout, but she suspects her handsome-as-ever not- quite -ex-husband doth protest too much. Working together even feels like old times—except for all that lingering, unresolved tension. But Scout’s not sure she’s ready to confront the reasons she left Lane, and when their plans to finalize the divorce become very real, Scout starts to wonder whether second chances might be worth a little hot mess.
Louise Hall 
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